This is D’s POV.

 Free wifi everywhere.

We thought we can pop into a cafe or at least a Starbucks and get free wifi. Nope. Free wifi was even rarer than live kangaroos. Part of the reason was we stayed in Caravan parks which didn’t always have wifi available. And those sites that did, the wifi was so slow it might as well have been two tin cans and a string. The one consistent place that had free wifi throughout the country was McDonalds. Yes, I will have fries with that and make that a supersize because I am going to be here for a while.

P.S.  Silicon Valley can you please stop hogging all the wifi and give some to Australia?

By driving, we thought we would experience the changing landscape, scenery and culture.

Most of Western and Northern Australia is boring. We totally underestimated how monotonous and far the drive would be. In the US when you drive long distances, at least the driving is broken up with dilapidated structures, lonely towns or abandoned barns. In Australia, a whole lot of nothingness, let alone that you need actual humans to have culture. Interestingly, many of the men in the Outback do indeed dress like Crocodile Dundee.

Not having a 4WD would not seriously inhibit our access to “national parks.”

If I had to do it again, I would drop the campervan in Broome and rent a 4WD from Broome to Darwin. As it turned out it didn’t really matter, as many 4WD roads were closed due to unexpected heavy rains.

National park pass covers all national parks in the country.

We bought a national park pass in Nambung WA thinking it covered all national parks in the country. When we were asked by two Kakadu park rangers to show them our pass we proudly pulled out our national park pass only to be told that the pass covers only WA and not Kakadu, which is in NT. We had to pay 80AUD for the both of us. Ouch. That’s as much as three park entrance fees in the US for a carload of people. Also, what exactly is the definition of “national” out here?