From Darwin to Cairns

Something was strange, and it wasn't just me who felt it. I had been travelling through Asia for five months. I had witnessed a controversial comedy show in a tiny front room, been the sole tourist on a village on an island on a river, and signed a stranger's guitar in a distant part of Thailand. My new friend Jasper had been travelling for twice as long as me and had experienced an equal amount of abnormalities. However, incredibly, both me and Jasper suffered serious culture shock in Australia. This was the last thing we had both expected.

Everything is different here. The prices are so high that you have to watch everything you do carefully. Food needs to be cooked yourself. Dishes need to be cleaned yourself. Laundry has to be washed yourself. And if you don't want to go bankrupt, travel needs to be done yourself. Maybe Asia has just made us lazy! To travel about without breaking the bank, you need to find other people who want to go where you want to go, and sort out a car. All the experience I had picked up in recent weeks seemed useless ... I was once again a newbie.

After two days of trying to find my feet in Darwin, I still felt confused. I just couldn't work out the best way to spend my time and money. However, things finally sorted themselves out at the end of the second day. Jasper witnessed a couple of girls being told that they couldn't put their message on the hostel notice board. When Jasper approached them, they informed him that they were going to Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. This was perfect. Moments later, me, Jasper and Lutz had agreed to join Jaci and Nina in hiring a car the following morning and going on a six day camping trip.

Camping is not something I am normally accustomed to, but the six days went well. The scenery was nice, and the group got on well. The first night in Kakadu, however, was a little uncomfortable. Numerous mosquitoes munched on our bodies, and enjoying the camp proved troublesome. However, we woke up the next day in the knowledge that the following night could not be any worse.

The following night, as it turns out, is probably the hardest night that any of us had ever experienced whilst on the road. The mosquitoes were in swarms. Our pasta sauce was riddled with the bugs. It took us an hour of fighting and squishing to eradicate all the insects from our tent. The following day I was riddled with hundreds of bites - although for some reason they were not too itchy.

We decided to move to Litchfield park at this point, and from then on things got easier. This was preluded by the 'Jumping Croc' show, which was good. By the end of the trip, however, I was tired of camping, and we all spent one extra night in Darwin before going our separate ways. For me, I took the bus down to Alice Springs.

Shortly after checking into my dorm room in Alice Springs I met one of my room mates; a retired Australian guy who for some reason chose to live in a backpacker hotspot. As he rattled on at me in the way that only old people know how, he began to baffle me and more. He seemed proud to show me his water cooler, the shoes he found in the park, and also his hat that was apparently used in both World War One and World War Two! Moments later he happily pointed out to me the label of the hat as well, stating it was made in 1991. Eventually I just decided to agree with whatever he told me. He seemed like a decent guy though, and when I told him that my sunglasses had broke, he donated me the ones he had bought in the charity shop. I'm not quite sure if realised that they actually didn't shield the sun.

Once I managed to escape the local man, however, there was little else to do in Alice Springs. I therefore soon booked myself onto a tour of the outback. I knew a tour would be expensive, but it seemed worth a try. Our group of ten was a relatively small group, and once again we got on well. While I found Ayres Rock quite dull (after all, its just a rock), King's Canyon on the final day was actually a very impressive landscape to trek through. One night some of the group were awoken by the howl of a nearby dingo. Moments later it was right by us, rummaging around with a mug that someone had left out.

After my tour ended, I wanted to go the East Coast. Fortunately, luck was on my side. A couple of Belgium guys had bought a camper van, and there was one place left. However, once I boarded the vehicle the following morning, I realised that I had miscalculated slightly. I expected 2 days of total driving, but they informed me it could take up to a week of driving and camping. This was okay though, despite the fact that I had already done a lot of camping lately. I joined Koen, Roel, Sofie and Katy on the journey east.

There was little to see on the journey, other than a brief visit to The Devil's Marbles. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though, although the entire time I was looking forward to getting to our destination; I'd done enough camping for a while. We all got on well though, a vital attribute considering that the majority of our time was spent in the van or around the campfire. The evenings were made especially enjoyable by the cryptic and baffling conundrum which Koen and Roel entitled 'The Game Of Snaps'. Katy, Sofie and me are still hoping to one day solve this riddle and perplex our future travel buddies with it.

We now find ourselves in Cairns on the east coast, and our next few days are already planned out. Tomorrow we go to Daintree National Park. In truth I'm not really ready for yet more camping, but its only for a couple of nights, and afterwards I will be able to accompany the group in what will probably be my final activity with the group; sky diving. This is terrifying, but it's something I feel I have to do. It's about as far away from camping as you can get.