All over the place by various modes of transport. Planes, trains and automobiles.

Brisbane - Darwin - Alice Springs - Adelaide - Melbourne (for Christmas) - Sydney (for New Year) - Cairns - Brisbane. That should keep us busy!

"Maps courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission"

As mentioned above trains, planes and automobiles. Planes we've seen a lot of with 6 flights in 5 days to get from Laos to Darwin (although we did have a nice stop off in Hong Kong and Singapore).

Because of the clocks changing for Aussie summertime we missed our direct flight from Brisbane to Darwin, so we had a 5 hour stop in Cairns. It wasn't too bad because we spent the day in a large open air swimming pool on the sea front.

Day 48

Kakadu National Park, in the Northern Territory, is one of the largest in Australia it is the same size as Switzerland.

Usually people take 2-3 day tours we crammed it into one day. We visited Noulangie rock which has some great Aboriginal rock art, and experienced some bush tucker. Then we took a cruise on Yellow Water, a billabong off the South Aligator River. We saw lots of wildlife, many species of birds, flying foxes, a turtle and some scary looking crocodiles. On the way to Kakadu we also saw Emu, water buffalo and wallabies.

Day 49

The Ghan described by the conductor in every anouncement as the legendary Ghan. The Ghan is named after the Afghan explorers who traveled through the centre of Australia.

The Ghan's symbol is a camel with mounted Afghan. The camels were brought in with their trainers, because they were the only animals that could survive the desert heat of the Red Centre of Australia.

The section of track from Darwin to Alice Springs which we travelled on was a dream since 1929 and only became a reality February this year. The journey took 24 hours.

Day 50

The trip on the Ghan was a highlight we were really sad to leave our little cabin.

We spent the day in Alice doing mundane things like washing and shopping.

While we waited for the washing to dry on the washing line, we relaxed by the pool, which in the intense desert heat took about twenty minutes to be dry as a bone.

Day 51 - 57

6 Day Plus Bus Tour

Six day adventure tour through the red centre of Australia.We went with a great company, to find out more. www.adventuretours.com.au

Day 1

We had an early start pickup at 5.15am which in Aussie time actually meant 6.00am (laid back Austrailia rarely runs to time).

Day 1 we went to Kings Canyon, usually visited at dawn to avoid the heat of the desert, we arrived at 1pm midday.

What do they say about mad dogs and Englishmen? Well it was 38 degrees  C when we went up the from the base and 44 when we returned.

Our tour guide reakoned that the direct sun and heat bouncing off the rock probably made it more like 50 degrees C.

Do you like the new hat Clare bought in Alice? Well it was needed here on the canyon rim.

After Kings Canyon we jump into our tour bus to Uluru to sleep in our swag bags under the stars.

Day 2

Uluru formally called Ayers rock is a large lump of Arkose, rising above the desert floor, which has a surface weathered to a wonderful rust red colour.

This is a very sacred place for the local Aboriginal tribe and since it was returned to them it has returned to its traditional name of Uluru.

The Aborigional people request that people do not climb the rock , so in respect for their wishes we did not climb we went around the base.

Day 3

We left Uluru early, to get in a lot of driving down to South Australia.

En route is a great little town called Cooper Pedy, a town build around Opal mining. Prospecters searching for gold stumbled across Opals.

They started digging holes in the ground to find the opals. Then they found that underground the temperature was a cool 24 degrees so they began to live underground.

Cooper Pedy is Aborigional for "white man in hole in the ground".

Cooper Pedy is a wierd place people have been known to enter and not return. People who upset the locals can "accidently" fall into holes in the ground.

We stayed in an underground hostel here. Not only people but things have a habit of disappearing and we were constanly warned to keep an eye on our belongings

Day 4

We left Cooper Pedy with all of our group and all our belongings intact at 5am.

Cooper Pedy is such a hapening place that as we were leaving a car full of locals chased us out of town and overtook us to speed down the highway.

A few miles down the road the car had pulled in to the side of the road and its occupents were lined up in front of it pulling moonies.

They must be really stuck for entertainment.

Miles and miles and miles of nothing the GAFA the Great Australian FA, (I'll leave you to work out the rest of the abbreviation).

If you don't click on any other photos below please look at "Overheated", its a great picture of our tour bus after too long in the desert.

Believe it or not our bus actually did break down and we spent a few hours in a park by the river in Port Agusta.

This was made up for the fact we got to stay in a hotel and the next day we had a better four wheel drive bus waiting for us.

Day 66

Sydney is the place to be on New Year's Eve tens of thousands of people were at the harbour to see the New Year in.

Celebrations were toned down after the Tsunami disaster.

Everyone respected a minutes silence before the fireworks started and donated $2 to the appeal.

Day 67

The Blue mountains North of Sydney are a popular weekend destination for city dwellers.

We headed up on the train for a couple of days of fresh air and exercise.

Our accomodation was a little cabin in the woods called Possum Lodge.

We put some apple out on the porch and were rewarded with a visit from a lovely little possum.

She enjoyed the apple but loved the banana that Steve gave her.

Day 68

We had an enjoyable but exhausting day walking through Wentworth Falls Gorge.

The scenery was beautiful, well worth the 10km walk. Clare's glad she had some walking boots for Christmas.

Day 69

After seeing the Three Sisters we returned to Sydney to fly to Cairns.

Thanks to Steve and Julie for their hospitality and helping us enjoy New Year.

Day 70-73

Hop aboard the Reef Encounter for  four days on the Great Barrier reef exploring the coral.

Beautiful tropical fish and turtles swim around the reef.

We bought a waterproof case for the digital camera ,so yes all these photos are our own.

Day 74

"In the Van..."

We pick up our little campervan and we're off to explore the highways and byways of Queensland.

North of Cairns towards Cape Tribulation is some great rainforest.

The climate is hot and steamy, but you can cooldown in some of the creeks, or you could swim in the sea.

Not recomended, this time of year is jelly fish season.

Day 78

The Whitsundays are a group of Islands discovered by Cook on Whitsunday (actually it was the Monday but the international dateline had not been invented).

They are a group of islands with natural park and coral beaches. We were unlucky to visit the same time as Cyclone Ceri.

This added a little bit of excitement to the ocean rafting  (www.oceanrafting.com ).

Day 79

A lot of driving to be done today, but we took time out to visit the Capricorn Caves.

We have done a few caves on our travels, but needed a rest before driving further, they were well worth the visit.

Highlights were a sound and light show in the Cathedral and a candlelit tour of some of the narrow zig zag passages

The Cathedral is popular location for weddings, it is a part of the Cave system which has been consecrated and is used for church services.

At 6pm we arrived in Bundaberg, a coastal town famous for Bundaberg Rum, known as Bundy. Bundy and Coke is a favourite tipple.