The rocky road to Broome - Sep 30, 2009 - Broome, Western Australia, Australia

What a month it has been.... lots to update you on.

I spent the rest of my time in Darwin in a generally drunken state, frequenting probably the worst nightclub in the world on a nightly basis with a load of people I met. I did indeed meet up with the French girl, Julie, about a lift to Perth and all was good. She's a great girl, really funny and a great taste in music. She had a German friend who came along too, Tania. We set off on 1st September from Darwin and about 200km south of Darwin Bertha decided to blow her friggin head gasket, FUCK! We managed to hitch a lift with a trucker to the nearest town so I could use a payphone to get roadside assistance to pick us up (no phone signal available) and then we hitched a lift back to the car. We had to be towed 90km further south to Katherine - very costly indeed - and stay in a motel for the night. After speaking to a few people around the motel bar I learned that Katherine mechanics were notorious time wasters and would keep me waiting as long as possible. It turned out it took them a little over 2 weeks to put a second hand engine and new oil tank in the car. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't already been to Katherine and done all the things on offer!

The French girl got a job in the motel for a week and I spent the entire time completely drunk with 2 Irish fellas that were camped next to us. The German girl just behaved like a spoilt little brat, never putting her hand in her pocket for anything and moaning that she was bored all the time. For 2 weeks, life revolved around waiting for the bottle shop to open at 2pm and messing around in the caravan park pool, the local hot springs or canoeing along Katherine River. Things were becoming a little desperate when we realised we were becoming like the Aboriginal community. We were queueing up along side them at 1:55pm every day waiting for our booze! There were some real characters at the Caravan Park, one of them was Shane (actually called Phil but we thought he looked more like a Shane). He was the caretaker and from some of the stories he told, we were convinced he was Mick Dundee's cousin - he throws a mean tin of beans at the kids that try and steal from the shop you see. We got drunk with him on a few occasions and asked his opinion on our re-enactments of Crocodile Dundee. He took it in good humour, thankfully. There was the old VB (Victorian Bitter) lady, who would poke her nose in everyone else's business but not really have anythign constructive to say because she had sunk 12 cans of VB by lunchtime. And finally, there was a young couple with a 5 month old baby living in a tent and arguing and getting violent with each other at around about 4.30am everyday. Due to the guy (Chuck - I kid you not) having shitty dyed red hair and always wearing some shitty sunvisor, he became known as Dennis Rodman. Interestingly enough, I think the real Dennis Rodman has been convicted of wife beating too! His daily saying was "another day in paradise" - maybe for you matey, but it's not fucking paradise when you've been woken up at 4.30am with you shouting at your missus telling her you will punch her in the spine! His girlfriend was known as Britney Spears. Not because she looked like Britney per se, but because she was basically trailer trash, plain and simple! I just felt sorry for the baby, even though I dislike the creatures somewhat. Anyway, after silly drunkeness on a regular basis, my car was finally ready, although it was not certain. They kept saying "it will be ready tomorrow" and when I called the next day I got "it'll be ready tomorrow". The girls decided they couldn't be bothered waiting any longer and took a lift with some strange old dude we nicknamed Cheech to Broome. My car was ready the following day, so if they had waited one more day we could have travelled on together. They abandoned me and then had the cheek to ask me to pick them up in Broome - WTF. I had received some sad news whilst stuck in Katherine so, instead of heading off to Broome, the two lovely Irish guys invited me on a mini road trip with them to Kakadu, Darwin & Litchfield to cheer me up. I hadn't been to Kakadu so thought, sod it and went travelling with them for a few weeks. The drunkeness subsided a little, although we had our moments!

Kakadu was shit. The only thing of note was a place called Ubirr, this massive rock face with some excellent Aboriginal art and fantastic views, especially at sunset. We camped at a place in Jabiru - Jib Jab Jabiru as it is now known and must be said in a Mr T voice! There were flies everywhere and no bottle shop, which was actualy probably a blessing in disguise! There was no atmosphere and it was just a bit of a shit hole to be honest. We then headed to Darwin. It was like I was returning to the scene of a crime or something. This time we stayed in a caravan park outside of the city so fortunately I was not able to get smashed and end up in the shitty nightclub, Discovery, again! We went to an Irish bar to watch the Utd v City derby and some shitty GAA final with Cork and Kerry (the two Irish fellas are from Cork) and got pretty pissed, yet again! We got back to the campsite and I went to bed and the lads sat in the car listening to rah rah tunes by The Dubliners for a few hours. The guy camped next to us (we nicknamed this dude Gollum for obvious reasons) was none too pleased and the following night he kept us up until 4am blaring the Sex Pistols from his car. He went a bit overboard. The guy (I think he was from London) obviously took offence to the anti-British tunes the guys were playing the night before and this was his payback, but I find it ironic that the only person he kept awake was a fellow Brit - ME!

We left Darwin after a week and headed to Litchfield. Back to Wangi falls. The nights had been so bloody hot in Darwin that we bought mosquito nets to sleep under instead of the tents. That was probably the worst nights sleep I've had so far, other than the shenannigans at Red Gum Caravan Park in Katherine. It was nice to go back to these places again though as I had really enjoyed them the first time round. I enjoyed them more this time, and no, it wasn't the alcohol! We headed back into Katherine, calling in at Pine Creek for the best slushie in the world on the way. We stayed at Red Gum again. Although Dennis Rodman and Britney's shit was still there, they were nowhere to be seen and had been missing for a few days. Strangely, we were a little disappointed. Shane had gone too, left the job, gone on holiday and was starting at a new Caravan Park in a few weeks - gutted. Some of the old faces remained, but most people had moved on or gone missing! After 2 nights of drunkeness again, it was time for me to bid farewell to the Irish guys I had become very fond of and attached to. It was a little emotional for all 3 of us as we had got on so well in such a short period of time. Even though we had spent a month together, it felt like a few weeks or less. The time had flown by.

They headed to Daly Waters and then Alice Springs - meeting Shane at the Daly Waters pub, getting drunk and all three of them thrown out for trying to steal an ice-cream, honestly! I, on the other hand, set off for Western Australia alone once more and a little depressed at the prospect. I basically drove as far as possible, for as long as possible, enabling to make it to Broome within 2.5 days - bloody good going. I had to stop at the border Quarantine, which was strange. I've been through 3 borders in Australia so far and WA is the only one that has a guard to check your car for fruit and vegetables! The bastard, from Rochdale, took my red onion! I stopped off at a place called Lake Argyll that the lads had told me about. It was 50km out of the way, but well worth it. Sublime scenery and totally different from everything else I've seen up to now in Australia, barring Lake Morris in Cairns of course. I pit stopped at Kununurra and Fitzroy Crossing, until finally landing in Broome at 12pm this afternoon. I tried to get into the YHA but it is full, so am treating myself to a motel room for a few nights. I think I need it after another 6 weeks stint in a tent! Next stop is Port Hedland, then Karijini National Park. Given up on gathering new travel mates, can't be arsed anymore and now in a bit of a rush to get to Melbourne by 24th October!