Darwin – Australia's Top End

Very tiredly we arrived at 5:15am in Darwin. Like real backpackers we fell asleep on the sofas at the airport. Afterwards we tried to catch the airport shuttle bus to Darwin downtown, however as there were no planes arriving at that time no shuttle buses were traveling. We then met a Japanese boy who had the same problem and we shared a taxi. After a short walk through the city we went to Travellers Auto Barn to pick up our home for the next two months. Some time later (the car wasn't ready and had to be cleaned) we drove to the Esplanade and parked there. We then visited Darwin downtown, including a street artist with a snake and lunch at the mall. We also saw the lagoon, the only saltwater swim area without crocodiles (salties) in Darwin. Afterwards we went on to the campground called Shady Creek and then bought a starter-package for our van, including food and 30 liters of water. After getting comfortable with our van, we went to Mindli beach market in the evening. We enjoyed the sunset and the little shops, As this market is a very popular meeting point for locals and tourists, we were hardly able to find a place to park.

We slept very well in our new campervan, however we realized that one curtain and some mosquito nets were missing. After putting on 50+ sunscreen (we're a little afraid of the Australian sun *gg*) we went back to Travellers Auto Barn to get it fixed. After searching for an Internet connection to send some reports to you, we went on to Litchfield National Park. However we arrived there quite late thus no free places were available anymore at Florence Falls campground. We asked a couple if it would be possible to share a spot. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened: Lee is a musician from Tasmania and he played some songs for us in the evening, while sitting around a campfire with his wife Sandra and a German couple.