AWESOME AUSTRALIA.

Bali airport 1830 at night checking in for our 2115 flight to Darwin all is well, food is a little scarce overpriced restaurants leads us to a McDonalds’ counter where you place your order and then the counter assistant rings it through to the local branch and it gets couriered in 15 minutes later, which as it turns out is a good job as our flight gets delayed by two and a half hours. The delay not only means a very early morning arrival in Darwin but also a very agitated Jan in Bali cursing that she should have been there by now but finally at 0050 we leave Bali ready for our last country in this part of the trip, Australia. Immigration is the first obstacle to getting into Australia and our group of twelve have our fair share of problems getting through it, Oscar our Spanish guy is pulled over and interviewed about his length of stay and whether he can support himself, Jane the group leader gets in the Australian queue and so gets told to move across to ours and then Jan gets her bag searched because some organic material showed up on the scanner it’s turns out to be her acrylic paints so we are allowed to continue on our way, we have a new guide called Steve for this leg of the trip complete with a new vehicle a 1982 Denning bus and with only twelve of us remaining on the trip theirs plenty of room on board it also turns out to be much more comfortable than the truck. We arrive at the campsite at 0600 in the morning just in time to see the sun rise along with our tents the first time since India that we have used them, although these seem trivial matters to most people we are pleased to see toilet blocks, with showers that have hot water in them and toilet paper that you can also put down the loo, since Turkey we haven’t been able to do that. It’s a couple of hours kip and then off into Darwin to have a look around adjusting to western style living doesn’t take long and within the hour both Kat & Jan are happily clothes shopping topping up the wardrobe for the next leg of the journey and finally we retire to a bar to sample the local brew which we also discover has free wifi, so remember to return tomorrow with the laptop to catch up on emails. Australia is so empty that’s the nice thing about it, even the streets of Darwin seem empty but the people are friendly, the weathers warm and until the downpour on our second day life’s a dream. We leave Darwin on the second day heading off towards Lichfield Park a National park down to the south, our first bush camp goes smoothly until the local youngsters in their 4x4s discover us and pay a few visits while we are trying to sleep, at least in India they just stood and watched us instead of doing doughnuts with their vehicles, mind you in India that would be very hard to do only having pushbikes to travel around on. Lichfied park a place with lots of waterfalls and swimming holes very refreshing just got to keep the odd eye out for the salt water crocodiles who have been known to partake in the odd human being,

THE BATS WATCHING US SWIM IN LICHFIELD PARK

another bush camp this one much quieter than the night before although with the warning signs for crocodiles at the entrance which they put up everywhere as a matter of course puts Jan on her guard, this wasn’t helped when a small snake slithered across the campsite as we were all sat having dinner, next stop Kakadu National Park the largest in Australia, our girls spent several weeks working here and we are looking forward to visiting some of the sights. Arnhem Land which has 30m to 200m high sandstone cliffs forming the natural boundary in Kakadu and winds 500km through eastern and southeastern Kakadu forming an area the size of Portugal, it’s a vast orche-coloured frontier with rock faces that have several aboriginal rock art sites, which supposedly date back 20,000 years. It was while visiting one of these sights that we were about to put the resources of the Australian rangers to the test, one of our group got lost on the one and a half kilometre walk from the coach to the site, after a couple of hours without being able to find her we had to notify the park rangers who very quickly mobilised all their resources, including the police, a couple of quad bikes and a helicopter to carry out a search, this in temperatures of 40 degrees over the midday period, everybody was concerned when during the first pass of the area the helicopter failed to locate her, but on the second sweep she was found safe and well, a be it a little thirsty resting in the shade of rock overhang, after being gathered up by one of the quads and ferried back a quick check up at the local health centre & we are able to continue on our way. Katherine Gorge is our next stop we opt for the short walk up to the viewing point as the temps are supposed to peak at 50 degrees today on some parts of the walk, and then for a nice cooling swim in the river right opposite the saltwater crocodile trap. Jan kept a wary eye on it whilst she ventured into the water not too far from the ladder for a hasty exit. Managed to top up our beer stocks from the bottle shop in Katherine, the licensing laws are very strict as to where when and how much you can purchase in the Northern territory’s due to the trouble they have with the Aborigines, even the Listerine mouthwash has been removed from the shelves (I must remember to try some next time I didn’t realise it had such a kick) and you have to ask for it at the tills, in Alice springs you can only buy one box of wine (2 litres) between six and nine at night and any time you make a purchase of any drink your I.D is recorded to ensure you can’t go to another bottle shop and buy some more Jan’s starting to get worried about her red wine supply drying up. We continue to make our way south down the Stuart Highway stopping off at Mataraika thermal springs, very welcoming when you haven’t showered for a couple of days needless to say we all piled in, we stop for lunch at a place called Daley Waters, which is a pub in the middle of nowhere that happened to be doing some awesome Barramundi burgers that day for lunch.

NOTE THE TWO HISTORIC ITEMS IN THESE PICTURES

Flies, yes flies the Australian outback is overrun with them as we are now finding out they constantly make for your eyes, nose and mouth, kamikaze missions to get at the moisture we are very grateful that we invested in a couple of fly nets in Darwin to at least stop us eating them for breakfast, dinner and tea. Devils marbles the next stop huge boulders formed from eroded granite dotted over the landscape

ALMOST THERE JAN

THATS GOT IT

WELL IT'S ALMOST IN HALF

along with the fly’s, the temperature is starting to drop now especially at night, we are about to pass over the Tropic of Capricorn just a few kilometres north of Alice Springs time to get out the sleeping bags that we put away back in Turkey, but we did have them dry cleaned in Katmandu otherwise i wouldn’t like to think what was growing in them after all this time. Alice Springs I had visions of a one street town stretching for about a mile but it turns out to be much bigger and once we’ve been to the laundrette it’s time to find a bar for lunch ( their seems to be a pattern developing here) no barramundi burgers this time but some excellent lamb shanks. The next couple of days we visit several different gorges with plenty of walks Ormiston Gorge, Serpentine Gorge, then it’s a 300 kilometre drive down the Stuart highway and across country on a unsealed road, colliding with some cattle that run out in front of us but luckily no damage, before bush camping in the middle of nowhere,

AN UNSEALED ROADthe stars in the night sky are a wonderful sight especially the milky way it’s a lot more visible down here in the southern hemisphere, especially after living next to Felixstowe docks for the past 18 years where because of the light pollution from the docks the stars were always more difficult to see. An early start to Kings Canyon the next morning an impressive sight coupled with a seven kilometre walk around the rim including the climb to the top first, which means I should have walked off that Barramundi burger by now!,

ON TOP OF THE WORLD AT KINGS CANYON

A FRIENDLY SNAKE IN THE BOTTOM OF KINGS CANYON Next up its Ulura (Ayres rock)probably Australia’s most iconic landmark, we get there for sunrise (yes its bloody early) along with all the

LOOKING GOOD FOR 0630 IN THE MORNING

other tourists this is probably the most tourists we have ever seen in one place since our arrival, after sunrise I was going to climb to the top of the rock as there is a very narrow path, with a chain to hang onto but it was so windy on the top they had closed the walk for safety reasons, so all that training (discussions over a few beers) I had been doing ready for this challenge, will have to wait for the Sydney bridge climb. We walked round the base of the rock some eight kilometres while Jan ran it!,

FELIXTOWE ROADRUNNER DOES URLURA ROCKI would have but someone had to take the photos! From their we visited Kala Tjuta ( valley of the winds)

FANCY HEADGEAR TO KEEP THE FLIES AT BAYanother rock outcrop some 35 kilometres from Ulura and then back to Ulura for sunset,

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IS DINNER READY YET !!!!!!!

we pitched up amongst all the other tour groups they had tablecloth covered tables with champagne and nibbles for tea, while we being the true overlanders had crates and stools with tins of beer & tuna in pasta with stir fry vegetables (even if our gas rings did start melting the tarmac in the carpark) plus offerings from the other groups such as sausages and salad they must of thought we looked hungry, while we settled down to watch the sunset which was not one of the best unfortunately. Heading south towards Coober Pedy we cross from the Northern Territory’s into South Australia no fresh fruit and vegetables can be taken across the border to stop the spread of fruit fly, apparently south Australia is the only state free of the fruit fly, Coober Pedy famous for its Opals, 75% of the worlds commercial opal is mined here, but what a town it only survives because of the opal mining and its very desolate grass hasn’t been invented here, we spot a place up for sale could this be our dream retirement place, perhaps not!

WHAT A STUNNING PLACE COOBER PEDY !!!!!

The flinders ranges our next area to visit down near Port Augusta a 400 km range of hills that date back to 600 BC, we bushcamp the first night after spending an hour in the Parachilna Hotel which stands entirely out on its own in the middle of nowhere and is run by a family who originate from the Isle of Man, we have a couple of beers while waiting for the sun to go down so that the flies disappear, trying to cook & eat while fending off thousands of flies is becoming tiresome to say the least.

CREATURES FROM THE OUTBACK EVEN WEARING HATS ( STEVE OUR GUIDE)Wilpena pound our next stop, a large natural basin with several interesting walks to do, we picked the one called St Mary’s Peak 21.8 km’s long, climbing to the peak for some stunning views, this as it turns out is more of a climb with some walking parts thrown in, very steep rock faces makes the Babek castle climb in Iran feel like a walk in the park, some seven hours later returning to camp the fact that our knees ache and won’t bend very well tell the tale of just how difficult this climb was.

WE THINK IT'S DEAD

I SHOULD SAY SO !!!!!!

THE VERSITILE CHEF WITH FRIED EGGS ON TOASTWell after all that exercise we are looking forward to reaching Adelaide, but before we do we spend a day driving through the Clare Valley visiting the vineyards tasting the local wines especially the reds, what with that and camping next to a pub that night means we all sleep very well. The scenery around here changes dramatically, after the very barren red coloured lands covered in flies down the centre, we move into rolling green hills with fields of wheat and vineyards looking very much more like the English countryside everyday, although the flies continue to be a pain. Adelaide is our first large city in Australia and very impressed we are too, clean, busy, but not packed we spend the day firstly shopping I had earlier overlooked the fact that my wife had been looking to purchase a Opal ring from Coober Pedy I didn’t realise how serious she was about getting one until after we left without one, and then it was made very clear and I was left in no doubt that an opportunity had been missed. But true to my motto that I’m only happy if my wife’s happy led us to the Opal Jewellers shops in Adelaide where there was a much better selection than in Coober Pedy, so to ensure the happiness and stable relationship that travelling for two years together brings, we ended up buying two because we couldn’t decide between them and then headed promptly off to the pub to celebrate the happy occasion or was it to buy a beer before I didn’t have any money left. We are pleased that we will be returning through Adelaide later in our trip because there’s a lot left to see and a few more days here will certainly not go amiss. As I said the countryside is looking very much like being back in England but unfortunately so is the weather, long trousers, fleeces and waterproofs are required for the trip along the Great Ocean Road, (this is Oz it’s not supposed to get this cold must be the E.O.E influence or is it that the next stop is Antarctica). The fierce seas have sculpted the soft sheer limestone cliffs into a series of stacks, gorges, arches and blowholes such as London Bridge and the Twelve Apostles which we visit through the showers and gale force winds,

GUESS WHO ? NEXT TO THE ARCH

I DON'T REMEMBER LONDON BRIDGE BACK IN UK BEING THIS COLD

WELL THATS FOUR OF THE TWEVLE APOSTLES

stopping for lunch at Apollo bay we actually find a property in the estate agents that almost ticks all our boxes, a two bedroom red cedar retreat located on 3.8 acres with private bushwalking tracks set in a National park, large windows and decking areas allow for the observation of a huge variety of wildlife all for one hundred and sixty three thousand pounds it certainly beats a three bed semi at home but the weather could still be an issue. PIC'S BELOWKeeping with the cooler but now sunny weather we arrive in Melbourne another impressive city with an excellent tram and bus network, a mixture of old and new buildings makes this again another enjoyable visit, amongst the highlights, we visit the historic gaol where the notorious Ned Kelly was hanged and go up the Eureka Tower the world’s tallest residential building at 300 metres, the skydeck viewing area is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere with the expanse of Melbourne laid out before you for as far as the eye can see a definite must do if any of you get to Melbourne, hopefully when we return here next March the weather will be a little bit warmer and we will be able to take in the Formula 1 GP as well. Back on the bus to Wilsons Promontory National Park the most southerly point of Australia this is supposed to take a day to get there but one week later due to a broken gearbox we arrive, our first breakdown in the whole trip and what a breakdown, it’s the gearbox and the main shaft has broke so not a simple repair, we take refuge in a residential caravan park in Tooradin,

ALL CRAMMED IN IN TOORADINas we are about to find out the mosquito capital of Victoria. Steve stays with the bus to try and speed up the repairs but due to a shortage of spares to no avail. Jan, Kat and myself take this opportunity to hire a car and drive to Phillip Island which is only 80 km’s away, I have often watched the moto gp’s which are held on the race circuit there and always wondered whereabouts it was, it’s like a mini Isle of Wight with place names like Cowes & Ventnor and scenery to match but fortunately not the coach loads of pensioners that you get on the I.O.W in the UK. We take in the Koala bear sanctuary and the highlight of all is the penguin parade where at sunset between 400 and 600 little Penguins the world’s smallest, emerge from the sea and waddle across the beach to their land based nests a truly amazing sight as they gather in small groups usually of only 14 to make the dash across the sand while up to 3,800 spectators look on from purpose built concrete amphitheatres after that you can wander over the boardwalks and watch the penguins as they feed their young outside their nests amongst the dunes. Saturday the 15th , E.O.E hire a bus to complete the trip we are less than a week away from Sydney and originally we should have finished on the 16th but with no sign of the gearbox being repaired a decision is taken to finish the trip in a hire bus luckily there are only a few of us left so a 25 seat coach will suffice, we pile on as much as we can of the camp kitchen stuff

ONE WELL PACKED HIRE COACHand make tracks to Wilsons prom walking around here reminds us very much of our visits to the Scilly Isles with clear seas and empty beaches.

CAPITAN PUGWASH AND HIS FRIENDLY PARROT Eden our last stop before Sydney, a great place to do whale watching, well it is if the weathers not so bad that they cancel the trip which is exactly what happened to us when we got there, but a few hours in the killer whale museum which was very interesting and kept us dry from the downpour outside means the visit isn’t a total loss.

LAST BUSH CAMP, UPMARKET VERSION IN ANIMAL STALLSSydney the last day, the 20th November four days later than planned which for a trip that has travelled halfway around the world in some real varied forms of transport! can’t be bad,

MADE IT!, BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT, JOHN, ADEY, FIONA, MARY, JANE, LORRAINE, LUCINDA,FRONT LEFT TO RIGHT, OSCAR, ME, JAN, ROB, JACKO.

CELEBRATING OUR ARRIVAL IN SYDNEY WITH THE LEAN FAMILY, PETER, JOHN GARTH.

we’ve had our disappointments namely not being able to enter Tibet and China but there’s always the next time. The trip for both of us has been a great experience and very enjoyable even Pakistan or the P place as Jan would call it are parts that we wouldn’t have missed, allowing us to sample parts of the world that would normally be off limits to the majority of lone travellers, whether group travel is for us in the future though is another matter the ability to set and follow your own agenda is something we are looking forward to doing for the rest of our trip around the world. We would just like to thank all our fellow travellers for their companionship over the past seven and half months and wish you all good luck and safe journeys in the future. Our next step is to sort out an apartment and then purchase a camper so we can go off and circumnavigate Australia over the next ten months so stay tuned for the next instalment hopefully in a couple of weeks time to start the next leg of our round the world tour.