… started excellently!

We arrived at Darwin airport around midnight with all our luggage intact. The fully automated immigration system was as unfamiliar to us as the subsequent biosecurity check. Unlike most customs officials around the world, the lady greeted us with a friendly smile rather than a grumpy, stern look.

She thanked us for declaring problematic material and then began to thoroughly inspect our tent, sleeping mats, shoes and especially the bicycles (frame, gears, bearings, tires, inside of mudguards, etc.). After about an hour, we were admitted to the arrival hall. We reassembled our bikes there and, given the late hour, lay down for a few hours’ sleep. We were quite surprised when we looked at the clock for the first time the next morning at around 9am😊! Neither the security nor the cleaning staff had woken us up and there was absolutely nothing going on in the arrivals hall.

We had the same impression outside the airport: huge streets with no traffic, everything was quiet and orderly with lots of space. We immediately began to prepare ourselves and the bicycles for the journey through Australia. There was a lot to do, including getting our teeth professionally cleaned again, replacing worn parts on our bikes and having the mechanic put new spokes on the rims. Our Warmshower host Fleur had kindly accepted the long-organized parcels with about 20 kilograms of replacement material for us. We were able to make ourselves comfortable in her garden and finally sleep in our tent again😊!

During the first few days, we were busy with our preparations. Coincidentally, our stay in Darwin fell on July 1st, the Northern Territory’s Day of self-government. Territory Day is celebrated with plenty of fireworks, which can only be legally bought and fired on this day and only in the Northern Territory. Otherwise, fireworks are always banned for private use everywhere in Australia. We spent the evening with Fleur, her son and her mother at the neighbors’ house. The children and some of the adults had to hurry to shoot the huge supply of fireworks into the air that night😉.

We were practically ready to leave when David threw up all night and was lying in the tent the next day with a fever and aching limbs. Not again!
Because David’s fever was unusually high and Darwin is the largest town in a very large area with good healthcare, I dragged him to the doctor sooner rather than later. Here we insisted on a dengue and malaria test, for which the blood samples were flown 3000km across the country to Melbourne😮. It didn’t bother us that we had to wait a week for the results. Despite the medication, the fever got worse and the joint pain and nausea persisted. Fortunately, Fleur was very uncomplicated and understanding, so we were allowed to stay with her in the garden, where we lacked for nothing. Thank you so much, Fleur!

When the fever disappeared after seven days and David was feeling better, we used two sightseeing trips to Darwin as a test of form. We particularly enjoyed the Botanical Gardens and the Art Gallery Museum.

We said goodbye to Fleur, did some final shopping and are now ready for the first kilometers south… Unfortunately, without the results of David’s dengue test.

Written on July 7, 2024, published on July 18, 2024.
After four days of waiting and four phone calls, we finally got the test results: It was a dengue infection.