Page 250 - Mit dem Wohnwagen durch Australien

admired our prey for a short moment and devoured it efficiently. A long one with shiny chocolate icing filled with
strawberry preserve and cream and a white one filled with apple-rhubarb sauce (I) a round one filled with raspberry
sauce and caramel coloured non filled one (Beat) disappeared in no time. Of course we overate royally. The positive
side is: We were quickly finished with the shopping; there was simply nothing which appealed to us and more
importantly: These malicious donuts can lure as much as they want, they will not get us a second time, we are
healed. For the time being.

ELECTRICAL POWER
Not only tyres are good for a surprise, electrical power also has its merits. When I tried to prise the plug of our
external electrical lead out of the socket in the caravan, it resisted with a vengeance. All my pulling and tearing was
of no avail. Beat had to bring the heavy troops. He came with a crowbar. Finally a screwdriver did the job and finally
the plug gave and came out. Albeit with one tooth missing. The socket had partially melted and entrapped one tooth.
No fuse was the wiser and luckily there was no fire. As always in the Outback, this was no problem. An electrician,
who just wanted to go on a fishing vacation with his self-made houseboat, agreed to fix us up in his back shed. New
plug, new socket, no worries Mate.

NORTHERN TERRITORIES – THE OUTBACK STATE
Northern Territories is the most austere state in Australia. Maybe this is so, because the Territories are not yet a
State, but are still administered by Canberra. We notice. The roads are that bit rougher than elsewhere, the rest
areas rarely have a toilet, the picnic places have often none or only just one table and the distances between the
roadhouses or villages get longer and longer and the Pubs more bizarre by the km. For hundreds of kilometre there
is no radio reception even on the main road, the Stuart Highway, same for Telephone or TC. The hospitality increases
and so does the maximal speed limit on the one lane overland roads.

130 km/h are allowed on one lane roads with frazzled edges, soft shoulders, no emergency lane but deep rain
ditches. Policemen on TV are always terribly astonished, when they have another accident with rolled over cars and
even deaths even though there is hardly any traffic.

DEVILS MARBLES
We take a short excursion south on the Stuart Highway to the Devils Marbles. Huge rock balls are stacked upon
each other. Some look like Cheeses and that is also their name; others build high towers and bridges. They are
million years old remainders which have been shaped by erosion through wind, sand and water. At least, this is the
view of us Europeans. The Aborigines see their country with different eyes. They see their supermarket, pharmacy
and hardware store in the land. For them everything lives or has lived. Country, trees, flowers, grasses, and animals
they all have something to do with their history. The Devils Marbles are the signs of passing of a mighty devil who
made a hair belt while he strolled over the country. He dropped tangled hairballs and also spit on the ground, this
has formed the Marbles. The common denominator between both cultures is the knowledge; the marbles are the
most beautiful at sunrise and sunset. They slowly change colour from light brown to red to mauve. We stay two days
in the National Park to enjoy this wonderful transformation. Simply stunning. Each evening we get the visit of a wild
Dingo. He comes just so close, that the beams of our torches reach him, but that we cannot take a good photograph.
It is the last time for a while, that we can free camp. It will get much hotter and much more humid farther up north,
so that we need electricity to run the Aircondo at night.

KATHERINE GORGE
Moving north again we stop in Mataranka at the bitter springs and stayed a few days. Paradise must have looked
like this. From deep in the earth warm, crystal clear water at a constant 33 C comes up to a pool and then flows
gently down towards the next river. The water is sapphire blue and just as translucent as the precious stone. The
water current is rather strong and we let us drift downstream through a sunlit panorama with Pandanus Palms,
Bamboo, Mangroves and other tropical plants. We enjoy the slow cruise through the garden Eden, accompanied by
fireflies and colourful small birds which chase insects. Unfortunately every paradise has its snake. This one comes
in form of sand flies. I look like a pincushion and itch all over for several days, almost not to be borne.

We explore Katherine Gorge via boat It is safe this way. We do see two crocodile traps which are empty, but a 4.5
m large male Salty was caught just a couple of days ago. Once caught, they are transported to a Croc farm where
they are treated very well, fed plenty of chicken and then given a one way ticket to Paris to handbag heaven. Now
in the dry, the gorge is not full of water. We have to change the boat three times and walk over large rock obstructions.