by Carolin
We have both been off-roading on Fraser Island before and knew all the theory but we gained or first real and self-dependent off-road experience in Gregory National Park, Northern Territory. We started off in Timber Creek, which is basically a ranger station with information boards about tracks and animals of the region, a gas station and a couple houses. We stocked up food and water for a week and hit the first track with mixed feelings - mostly excitement but also a tiny bit of respect, depending on which part of the travel group you look at...
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We quickly got used to the conditions of the tracks, took it slow and got out of the car often to move rocks around, to spot and to maneuver each other up and down the rocky jump-ups.
The landscape was jaw-dropping and it was easy to spend hours just looking out of the
window and enjoying the remoteness. That was, of course, before we were unfortunate enough, to get to know the biggest and meanest enemy of all 4x4 overlanding newbies...
...if not of the whole of mankind: New noises in and on the vehicle! Every overland will know, what we are talking about. At first you think it’s just your imagination but as the way continues and time passes their existence become clear to you and won’t let go of you. Something inside your vehicle is trying to drive you crazy, slowly but steady, by moving, scratching or squeaking and it sometimes takes days to find out what it is. If you are lucky. And watch out: As soon as one noise is found and fixed, there's another one right away, just waiting to drive you crazy.
While fighting "the noise" we spent the first night at "Bullita Homestead" which is more of a campground near old and historic farm building from the very early pioneering days. The second night we spent really remote after hours of off-roading along a lonely track at "Drovers Rest", which is a tiny camp space alongside a river. To get there we had to go down a very steep and sandy hill. Getting down there is one thing.
You look back up and for the rest of the night you ask yourself
how in the world you’ll ever make it back up again.
One of the most pleasant things we noticed, when waking up in the outback, is the silence you are surrounded by. No traffic, no people, no cellphones, just no sounds at all apart from a couple nocturnal animals passing by. That is, of course, before the sun rises and all kinds of birds start singing and the Kookabarra (who became our favorite) starts laughing at us. In addition an army of flies is starting to attack you all day long as soon as there's cattle around. Other than that it is incredibly peaceful. Not a bad start and something we could easily get used to.