Epic Roadtrip Leg 6: Crocs and Car Failure

9th -14th Dec 

I spent two nights in Darwin to recharge my batteries and have a couple of nights of non-interrupted non-sweaty sleep. I thought before I left I would get my car checked out as the brake fluid light had come on a few times now. It was usually in the morning but when it warmed up the light would go off. I looked at the manual and it said the brake fluid needs to be topped up which I thought makes sense. When its warmer, it expands and goes above the line. 

I took it to the mechanic in Darwin and he said the level of fluid was fine but it might be old and have water in it and that’s what’s making the light come on. He replaced it for me and did a bit of a once over on the car to check everything else. That was just an excuse to charge me an hours labour but it did come in useful, in a way. Turns my car is falling apart. There were a couple of oil leaks, the front left tyre was bald at the edges and there was something more major to do with the gear box. It meant that I was fine to continue but I wouldn’t be able to sell it to another backpacker. If they got the car checked out then they would get this list of all these problems and not take it. More than that, I wouldn’t want to sell to another backpacker as it would ruin there trip. 

That was an issue for another day though as today I left Darwin in search of crocodiles!

Adelaide River

The first stop of the day was Adelaide River for the first crocodile tour of the day. I was running a little late and had to test out that 130km/h speed limit that they have here in the Northern Territory. I think driving at that speed for an hour didn’t do my car any good but I’ll get to that.

Look out!

He's comin!

I got to the river with only seconds to spare and jumped on the boat. I was very excited. This was one of two main things I wanted to do after leaving Karratha. Real life wild crocodiles! I thought I would have seen some on my way to Darwin but they proved elusive until now. We were barely made it out of the dock before we saw one coming swimming towards us. It was so cool to see one. They move really quick and are very fearsome looking. I was just considering how dangerous this one was when big daddy came along!

Stumpy

Terrifying

They called him stumpy as he had a foot missing. They think it was either bitten off by a shark or in a fight with another crocodile during the difficult teenage years where they all kill each other. We were quite lucky to see a big one. It’s a rare treat apparently. The little female didn’t see stumpy coming until he was right next her and she shat herself and swam away extremely quickly.

Dinner Time

The woman on the boat then tried to get Stumpy to jump out of the water but he was being lazy. The lady said if the chunk of meat that she was dangling infront of him was man size then he would have put a bit more effort in.

Jumping Crocodiles

Feed me!

We went a bit further up stream to find some younger and more energetic crocodiles. It didn’t take long and then we got the full show. Crocodiles can get there full body out of the water if they wanted to and the ones we saw nearly did. It was very impressive to watch. We were quite lucky as there had been a large storm pass over the night before, the first of the wet season. This sends the crocodiles into nesting mode but luckily for us they decided they couldn’t be bothered just yet.

The eagles are coming

Good catch

On the way back to the dock we did a spot of bird feeding. Our boat captain threw out bits of food for the eagles to catch and they were very good at catching them.

SNAKES!!!

Back at base I got the chance to hold a snake which was truly terrifying. I saw a guy holding one and I asked if I could have a go. She put it around my neck and then buggered off into the office. That was a little unnerving. What if the snake had decided he was hungry?! I held it for a couple of minutes and said that’s quite enough. I had got my picture and that’s plenty.

Lucky its not real!

Wetlands

I had wanted to get to the first tour of the day because I had a big day planned in Kakadu National Park, one of the highlights of the Northern Territory although some prefer Litchfield. The first stop was the Mamukala Wetlands which were kinda dry but it was still the build up season and not really wet yet. There was still some wildlife to be seen though.

Not all that wet

Here’s where everything started to go wrong.

On my way to the second destination my car died. I started losing the electrons and then when I was just cruising along it started to stutter and then nothing! I had no idea what was wrong with it. It didn’t seem like it was the same thing as last time. It wouldn’t start as the battery was completely dead. I managed to pull into a ranger station just as it went. I waited for an hour before a ranger came along. He jump started the car it seemed fine. I drove a few kilometres down the road and it went again. He saw me and jumped it again. This time I sat there for a little bit to try to charge the battery a little bit before setting off.

I got another 10kms down the road and it went again. I resigned myself to the fact that this could well be the end of my roadtrip. I even started packing my bag. I had said when I left Karratha that if I had a major breakdown then I wouldn’t pay to fix it. I had already spent so much money on repairs and since I had that mechanics report I could see that it wouldn’t even be worth fixing it.

My cars poorly

As I was packing a very helpful couple of guys stopped to jump started the car for me. I got another 10kms down the road and it stopped again. The guys had followed me and jumped me again. We did this a couple of times until it became obvious that it would take forever. They towed me into the town of Jabiru which was another 30kms. There was a mechanic there who could take a look at it.

The guy poked around for a while but by now the car had fixed itself and there was no issue with it. The battery was find and would charge properly when it was running. He told me to come back tomorrow where they could have a proper look at it so I drove round to a campsite and tried to relax in the pool. It was a very nice pool actually.

Chilling out

I went back to the mechanics in the morning and he told that he wouldn’t take on the job. He said it’s an intermittent problem and blah blah blah. Basically he was saying it would take ages and there was no guarantee it would get fixed and he wouldn't get paid. It wouldn’t be worth it for him or for me. I bought some jump leads and vowed to keep limping on as far as I could. Aussies are pretty decent folk and I was sure they would help me out if I needed it.

Small space to walk through

Luckily, and quite strangely, I didn’t have any mechanical issues for the rest of the day so that was a win. I drove up to East Alligator River to do the Bardedjildji walk. This was a nice walk through a series of big rocks and small tunnels. There were a number of cool rock features too.

Cave

Spot of climbing

Big rocks

The viaduct

I was nearly at the end of the circuit when I noticed these signs warning me that crocodiles have been sighted on the walking paths and there's a buffalo in the area! I didn’t encounter either which was quite handy but it might have been nice to see these signs at the start rather than at the end.

The crossing into the wild

This was the northern gateway to the park. It enters into aboriginal lands and you need a permit to enter. You also need to be very careful crossing the river especially when its been raining. In the wet it's cut off from the rest of Australia and you have to get a boat across.

I started the long drive out of the park thoroughly convinced I wouldn't make it. I thought it was a heat problem I was having so I was taking it pretty easy and stopping every so often to let the engine cool down. So far so good it seems.

Top of Nawurlandja

I went for a hike at to the top of Nawurlandja rock. It was very hot to do be doing this but there was a nice breeze at the top and an excellent view!

Epic

I drove all the way back to Katherine without issue. I stopped at a rest area just outside of Mataranka. They have another set of natural springs here which was perfect for a quick bath then next morning. I went to two different spots. The second one had a lot of flying foxes squabbling up in the trees and some pigs wandering around.

Crystal clear water

Beautiful spot

Going for a swim

Flying fox

PIGS!

The rest of the morning went without a hitch. I drove to Daly Waters Pub which is a famous roadhouse on the way to Alice Springs. Its just as famous as The Lions Den and it definitely had a similar feel to the place with all the random stuff stuck to the walls and funny signs.

Flip flops anyone?

How about some t-shirts?

Or a sticker?

It was all down hill from there really. I just got past the roadhouse and my car decided it didn’t want to play any more. I had anticipated this. I spent a lot of time deliberating whether or not I should carry on with a broken car especially here. The desert isn’t the most ideal place to be stranded as I was. I had come prepared though and my faith in Australians was proved right when I got helped with a jump start a couple of times.

Stranded on the road

One guy with his family took pity on me and lent me his portable battery pack. We managed to hook it up and put on the seat next to me so that I would be able to get all the way to Elliot without stopping again. He followed me and then collected his battery when we got there. He advised me against trying to carry on any further without getting a mechanic to look at properly and I agreed.

In Elliot there was a mechanic who had a quick look at my car and scratched his head. It was late in the day so he told me to come back in the morning and that I would be fine camping in the field next to the shop. It wasn’t a big town at all but at least I was able to buy food and even grab a hot shower. I went back to the mechanic next morning and he scratched his head some more. He pretty much said the same as the first guy which wasn’t really helpful. The problem was that the battery wasn’t charging. Well it would sometimes and then sometimes not which was why it kept dying on me. In the end he charged up the battery for me, which took a couple of hours, and said to try Tennant Creek.

So on I go. The fully charged battery got me all the way to Tennant Creek where I looked for a scrapyard. It was a Saturday so no mechanics were open even if I wanted to try and fix it. By now I was well and truly fed up with the car. The thought of getting rid of it filled me with such joy that I decided it was time to say goodbye to my car.

I spoke to a guy and he told me to sell it to a local. It had never occurred to me before to do this. I had always assumed I would sell it to another backpacker and that no local would want a cheap shitty car but that’s exactly what they do want, he told me. The aboriginals in this town buy cheap cars and just run them into the ground. As much as it breaks my heart to hear that this was to be my cars fate, I saw an opportunity to make back some money back. It would be a good car just to run about town in. Its just not suitable for long journeys any more.

I spent the afternoon wandering up and down the street and talking to various groups of aboriginal people and some seemed interested. No one bought it on the first day but on the second after I spent 3 hours harassing every person that went into the supermarket, someone bought it. I was honest with him. I told him it needed a new alternator and that it wouldn't be suitable for long journeys. He paid me $750 cash. Its not quite the $2000 I had originally hoped for or the $1200 I was advertising it for but it was a lot more than the $0 I would have got had I abandoned it which I was very prepared to do!

Packing

I bought a ticket for the greyhound bus for that night so I could leave town. As I had already paid for a camping spot for that night I did not feel at all guilty for using the facilities for the rest of the day. The bus didn’t leave until 3am so I tried to sleep for a couple of hours in this rudimentary bed.

Sleeping in the wash room

At a ridiculous hour in the night I went to the bus stop and caught the bus that would take me Alice Springs. I enjoyed this toilet sign from where we stopped for breakfast.

Nice

So that was the roadtrip officially over. I would have liked to have done everything that I wanted but it wasn’t too big a deal. Whilst I would be missing out on a few things I actually gained in some ways too. The stress of dealing with a broken car for starters. It was such a relief to be rid of it. I will miss it though.

Onwards on the bus