Update #1 (29th April)

We arrived in Alice Springs at midday on Saturday (29th). As we'd done in Perth, we booked in with one of the hostels who had staff waiting on the platform for tired backpackers. However, this time we'd been given advice to choose one in particular by a lady on The Ghan. So, off we trotted with the extremely eager staff to our home for the night.

On arrival, we dumped our packs and then wandered into town. Alice Springs really is - like Vegas - in the middle of the desert and is miles from its nearest neighbour. However, due to its proximity to Ayers Rock, etc, it is a busy little place and has a distinct character that sets it apart from every other place we've seen in Oz thus far. There was also a mass proliferation of Aborigines in the town, some of whom seemed OK, although many were of the drunk & dank variety we'd seen everywhere else in the country.

It really is depressing that they seem intent on a course of self-destruction. They really cannot take even the slightest bit of alcohol, as most of us can, but they still spend most of the money they have on the stuff. Many we've seen also get their malnourished kids to beg for money, which then goes straight on the booze. Some of the Alice Springs people sat on the grassy banks and sold original artworks and would chat to you about this & that, but the feeling remained that these were a people in disarray, which is truly sad.

Anyway, enough of the depressing side of Alice Springs. Things were about to look up, as 4pm arrived...

We headed towards a pre-arranged meeting place - a pub, naturally and an English-themed one at that - and a mere 150yds before we made it there, I spied a coach pull up alongside the front door. "I bet he asked the driver to drop him off at the bloody pub, the git!" I said to Emma. She laughed and then my suspicions were confirmed as I spotted a very familiar figure hop off, grab his backpack and head towards the baroom doors. "OI! MULLET!" I shouted, but to no avail, as he disappeared from sight.

We strolled up to the pub and walked in. In the space of the 45 seconds it took to catch him up, Johnny Boy had secured a place by the bar and ordered a pint - so typical of the bloke I've known for over 25 years. Ours was a rather bizzarre meeting, it being on the other side of the world from our usual haunts - The Red Lion or Stewart's. However, Emma & myself were so chuffed to see him again and it made us realise how much we'd missed both him and our other good friends and family.

He looked every bit the traveller, with his cowboy hat, flipflops (called thongs in Oz!), shorts and 'sunnies'. Within minutes, we were nattering away and we tried our best to catch up with each others' many stories. Yes, he'd already collected a few, even after travelling for less than a fortnight! This included him appearing in a World Cup advert for Tiger Beer, only a day after arriving in Singapore! He had to sit in the stands & shout "Gooooooaaaaaalllll!" a million times for the cameras - quality!

After a pint, we checked John into the same hostel as us and then worked out our itinerary for the next week. Emma & I had already secured a campervan for 5 days, from a company called Britz. The three of us would all have been designated drivers, but unfortunately on our first night in Alice, Emma tripped on some spilt cooking oil and twisted her ankle badly. She wasn't best pleased and you have to wonder why the culprit didn't clean up something as dangerously slippy as oil...!



Update #2 (30th April - 1st May)

In the morning, we packed our bags & hopped into a taxi (driven by an Englishman, of course) to the Britz depot. On arrival, we were lumbered with a host of extra charges we hadn't been made aware of, which is so typical of rental companies! However, the van I'd been given the keys to was not the right one. We'd actually been supplied with bedding stuff and the nice guy who checked the van over also grabbed a 3rd set for us - free of charge! So, in the end, the snotty girl on reception didn't have the last laugh and we had a rather well-equipped campervan for a pretty good deal! Hoorah!

So, with everything sorted and a full quota of fuel, food & beer in the van (a Toyota Hi-Ace Pioneer, 3-berth), off we set on a mini-adventure - Emma, James & John, the mad English loonies. And what an amazing 5 days we had...


The first stage of our journey was a long, long drive south of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway and then west on to the Lasseter Highway. This was real outback driving and we passed very few other vehicles along the way. Those that did go past waved and John & I soon took up this nice gesture too. A mixture of scenery unfolded before our eyes to keep us interested and lots of roadkill also, some of which had rather large company - wedge-tailed eagles, which are stunning birds. Sadly, we didn't spot any 'live' roos, which was a shame because the larger red species live in the desert and we've only seen greys previously.

As the kilometres unfolded, we entered wilder & wilder territory and hardly any life could be seen. Most, if not all, of the other vehicles we saw were either other campervans or huge road trains - trucks that haul at least three trailers and are built by MACK, so are suitably huge. It made you wonder how lonely it must be to be a long-distance lorry driver here in Oz. My dad's friend, Clem, does this for a living in the UK and must've covered huge distances over the years. But doing the same job here in Australia... well, it's certainly not for the fainthearted or easily bored!

After driving for a while (it was actually almost 5 hours!), I started suffering what the locals call 'the long blink'. So, after handing the wheel over to Johnny Boy, off we set again for our primary target of the day - sunset at Ayers Rock! More eagles were seen along the way, either soaring on the thermals or picking at carcasses on the ground. Cattle were also spotted and we've been told that the farmers have to round them up by helicopter or plane due to the sheer vastness of their land. Incredible, when you think about it....


A long way down the Lasseter Highway, I spotted what I thought was Ayers Rock in the distance. Sadly, I was mistaken, but Mt. Connor was still a wonderful sight to behold - a raised rock platform, with a flat tableau on top. The locals in its vicinity are justly proud of 'their rock' and you can see why (pics in Gallery 4). Just to be safe, we filled up the tank soon after seeing Mt. Connor, in a town called Curtain Springs - we didn't wish for a repeat of our Gt. Ocean Road experience out in the desert!!

An hour down the road from Curtain Springs, once again I spied what looked like a big rock. This time, to our amazement, I was right! Ayers Rock was looming ever closer, but even though the map confirmed it, the thing infront of us didn't quite look like the rock we'd seen in countless pictures over the years. As we rounded another bend in the road, however, we were no longer unsure - here, 30km away, was that most famous of monoliths and what a sight it was.

A little way along, we had to pay the Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park entry fee - $25 each and valid for 3 days. Apparently, 20-30% of this money is given back to the local Aboriginal community. The park itself is owned by them, but was leased back to the Australian Government (for 100 years) who maintain the roads, etc, etc. A strange arrangement, in a sense, but a very lucrative one at that.

On entering the park, we had about 30 minutes before the sunset. Typically, Emma needed a loo break (I swear my bladder must be freakishly large compared to everyone elses) and Mullet a ciggie. So, after a 10-minute detour to the Cultural Centre, we ragged it back to the sunrise viewing area. There, we were joined by at least 50+ other vehicles and their occupants, all of whom were after the magical experience we were about to witness.

We picked a nice spot and simply stood & waited. Over the course of an hour (or more), we watched the sun go down over the horizon and The Rock change colour a dozen times and then a dozen more again. It really was an amazing sight to behold and one that will live in the mind until dementia or death seizes it. Truly amazing!!

A selection of images are in Gallery 4, but none of them really capture the true experience of being there and the colour-changes we witnessed. I tried my best, though and hope you enjoy viewing them.


After leaving the sunrise viewing spot (we were last, of course), we drove back out of the park as all entrants had to leave by 19:30. We needed a place to stay and so headed for the Ayers Rock Resort campground. On arriving, we discovered the cost of staying a night was a little excessive so decided to just park up near the highway instead. Then, being a bright spark, I chose to drive into the local airport and stay there for the night.

After starting preparations for our first campervan meal, we heard a knock at the window. Outside in the cool desert air was a beefy security guard. "Ooops, we're for the chop" I thought. Fair dos, though, he was a nice guy and said we could "Have a feed" but then had to vacate the area. In fact, no one is allowed to sleep by the road in the area owned by the Resort (which is rather large). So, after eating, we drove about 5km back east and found a nice spot by some trees (yes, they do grow in the desert!).

We spent an amusing hour or so talking and John & I wound Emma up by mentioning the film Wolf Creek, which is a true-story-based story about an outback killer who hunts down some youngsters one-by-one. How cruel we are!! Therefore, when Emma needed a nighttime loo break, I had to accompany her outside the van. That'll teach me...!


In the morning, when it was still dark, I hopped into the drivers seat and then drove at full speed back into the park. This time, to check out the spectacle of sunrise at The Rock.

Watching it change colours, but in reverse, was every bit as good as the night before. It was, however, a wee bit colder! We took a few pictures again, of course, but these included some silly ones showing us freezing our bits off (much to the disgust of some 'serious' tourists). As before, we were the last to leave the viewing area, which was naturally on the other side of the monolith. A cup of tea was needed to warm our cockles and a quick brekkie was also had. Ayers Rock provided a rather spectacular backdrop for this impromptu meal, too... After eating, we made our way around The Rock a little more to the place where the perimeter walk begins & ends.

This is where a debate that'd raged in my head for weeks was finally settled. Initially on entering Australia, I had my heart set on seeing Ayers Rock - who wouldn't? However, I was almost certain I wouldn't climb it, mainly as a gesture of respect to its traditional owners, the Aboriginal people in the area (known as the Pitjantjatjara). As I've made my way across Australia, though, virtually all my encounters with these native Aussies have been bad - from aggressive begging & verbal abuse aimed at me, to the sheer state of the people themselves (drunken & drugged, angry & bitter mostly).

Even after all of the above taking its toll, I still harboured hope that the people in the vicinity of The Rock itself would be more like the desert-dwelling Aboriginal people of my imagination. Sadly, this was not the case and we soon encountered a group of drunken, abusive locals who went out of their way to intimidate us. It really is, as mentioned before, a great shame and no amount of regret for our colonial ways of the past should detract from what we've seen and been subjected to.

So, the end result of all this? I decided to climb to the summit of Ayers Rock/Uluru and John also decided to go for it. Unfortunately Emma's twisted ankle stopped her in her tracks, although she too was equally keen to scale its vast heights. It was probably a good thing though, as the climb UP The Rock was something else!


We took lots of water with us and our cameras too, of course, but what we really needed was a bloody chair lift! God, was it tough. The sheer steepness of the first section is difficult to describe and a chainlink fence is there to help you get up (& down again) and stop you falling off. However, the well-trodden path is extremely narrow and allows very little room for manoeuvre. So, when meeting other climbers (and yes, there were more than a few other nutters up there), you really had to be careful.

John was steaming ahead at several points, but I had to keep stopping to catch my breath. He later admitted he thought he'd never make it, but was determined to get up the thing so kept pushing himself. After the last bonkers chain section (near-vertical), we stumbled across a path, in white lines, up the remainder of the mountain. This was much easier, but was still hard in places and involved us getting on all fours occasionally! At one point, we met a couple of very camp guys, who enjoyed some good-natured banter at our (British) expense. You really do meet the strangest people in the most unlikely places... this included a lady who works as a nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She joked that if I fell, she couldn't help as she was off duty!!

After much huffing & puffing, we finally made it to the top of Ayers Rock and what a view awaited us there! It was absolutely incredible and made all the effort more than worthwhile. We could see for literally tens of miles and more besides. The desert can be a beautiful place at times and this was reinforced from our vantage point atop The Rock. There was a plinth up there too, which was erected in the 1950s. This named all the visible landmarks and also gave their distances too (in miles, we think).

Whilst up there, we chatted to a young German guy who looked like he could've run up the climb, but also admitted to being exhausted (which made me feel better). We also met a nice family from Melbourne, whose young daughter had virtually jogged up The Rock. We took photos of all of them and the German guy also returned the favour. Pics from the top can be found in Gallery 4.

We also made a couple of phone calls to the UK, even though it was almost 01:30 in the morning there! However, it was a Bank Holiday, so we thought we'd get away with it... we're glad the recipients received their gleefully-shouted messages and hope they enjoyed them!

The walk back down was much easier, but we still had to be careful due to the sheer steepness of The Rock. As we neared the bottom of the white-lined section, we met an old chap who was not only climbing but also carrying about 2 grand's worth of camera equipment with him!! He then proceeded to snap some 'action' shots of John & I jogging down the path... mad!

A little later, we met another older guy making his way up. However, this one looked like he was about to collapse! We warned him how steep it was and that he still had a long old way to go. In the end, common sense prevailed and he made his way back down shortly after us. We really didn't want to see him make the next days' headlines!!


As we'd done at the top, we crossed the bottom threshold together and a real sense of achievement was felt (along with the wobbly legs associated with walking steeply downhill). Emma, the star, had made us some sarnies and we tucked into them greedily. After regaling her with our 'climb stories' for an hour or so, we went to visit the Cultural Centre - this time for intellectual reasons and not just for the loo!

It was very interesting walking around all the exhibits and I must admit to feeling a little guilt afterwards (regarding my decision to climb on the Pitjantjatjara's sacred site). However, we once again encountered some of the more unsavoury characters (and their dingo-cross dogs), which allayed my fears a little once again. Some information on the animals that live in the area was on display and it was quite sad to read that many introduced species were to blame for several extinctions, etc. We humans really do try our best to destroy everything, whether it is intentional or not. C'est la vie, I guess...


After leaving the park once again, we decided to swallow our purse-strings & book a night in the Ayers Rock Resort campground. The main reason was that we were all knackered (can't think why!!) and a powered site was also a good idea for the van. So, we pitched up, disembarked and then went for a swim in the pool. This lasted a mere 20 minutes, as the water temperature was surprisingly cold considering it was exposed to the desert sun all day! We had a warm shower instead and then sat & fed the local birds whilst discussing our day over a cold beer (oh the joy of small fridges!).

Later that night, we cooked up a barbeque that attracted some rather unwanted guests - dingos! They are dogs, but cannot bark, only howl. So, whilst cooking sausages & onion, I was suddenly bombarded with what seemed like howling from all around me. A little later, another camp resident spotted a lone female pad up to the BBQ area after I'd finished, sniff around & then turn to the fields behind her. She then let out a monstrous howl that the three of us heard from the safety of our van. Me being me, I grabbed a torch & legged it over there to see what I could see.

The words of a lady in Adelaide sprang to mind as I stood there, scanning the field with my Maglite: "You might not be able to see the dingos, but believe me you can feel their eyes on you - watching... waiting..." How right she was...


Update #3 (2nd - 3rd May)

We left the Ayers Rock Resort early(ish) and made our way back into the Park grounds. This time, however, we veered right before The Rock and headed towards its neighbours - The Olgas/Kata Tjuta.

Before arriving at the mountains themselves, we stopped at a 'viewing area'. John & I donned our ever-so-fashionable fly headnets and strolled up to take a look. What a view awaited us there! The Olgas really are fantastic-looking things and have more visual character than Ayers Rock itself, believe it or not. They are also made of the same red sandstone, which looks so good under the sun (be it rising, falling or just moving across the sky).

After a 15-minute sightseeing session, we made our way back to the van & Emma (who'd not wanted to brave the flies & baking-hot sun). Hopping in the drivers seat, I darted off once again towards the main Olgas car park. This was still 30-odd kilometres away - as with Ayers Rock, you really appreciate the size of the mountains as each kilometre passes by.

On arrival at the car park, we found a relatively shaded spot for the van and then hopped out all eager to stroll through the infamous 'Valley of the Winds' (a path that carves its way through the middle of The Olgas). Emma came with us as she felt her ankle had suitably healed, which was great!

Within the first few minutes, John & I had once again met up with a group of Japanese travellers who we'd bumped into on 2 previous occasions! The first one was at the hostel in Alice Springs - John had opened the back gate for one of the lads, who had a handful of shopping. Then we'd met them as they were making their way DOWN Ayers Rock. It's a small world, or outback, as the case may be!

When we reached the first viewing area (which took me 5 minutes longer, as I'd stopped to help 2 old chaps with their 'terribly modern camera equipment'!), we were greeted by a spectacular mountainous valley. Sheer rock faces reared up on either side of us and the valley below was a lovely shade of green - such a contrast to the red sandy desert that lay just outside The Olgas. View like this really give you an incredible feeling (& what is known by some travellers as 'the shiver-shake moment', apparently!).

Not satisfied with just that to remember, we ventured down into the valley itself. John was streaking ahead of us, because Emma was being careful on the uneven/rocky surface. I was helping her pick a way through one tricky section when I managed to turn my own ankle over - how typical!! Luckily, I caught it before any serious strain occured, but was a bit more careful after that!

We caught John up a little way down, at a drinking-water area with some benches. After a short break, we then started on the main part of the walk, which led us into the 'Valley of the Winds' itself. This is where things got really interesting, from both a scenic and humourous viewpoint!!

A lovely stream was meandering out of the valley and some beautiful butterflies were seen on its banks. The water was very shallow, but you could imagine the raging torrents in the valley after heavy rain (I'd seen a picture of the rain cascading off Ayers Rock the day before, which was a sight indeed!). A little further up the path and we were totally surrounded by mountain, with the rockfaces once again right above us, on all sides. This is one of the situations where you feel nature has total control over you - which is something I, myself, love. My cottage in North Wales evokes similar feelings, what with its huge mountains and valleys totally surrounding you. Fantastic.

We passed a handful of people along the way further into the valley, all of whom were smiling - a good sign. The views just got better & better as we rounded each twist & turn, but soon we left the brightly lit path behind and found ourselves under a huge section of the mountain. Then, one of the girls we'd just passed said something to her friend and I noticed her voice echoed not just once, but several times around the valley. Excellent!!

Typically, John & I started clapping to check out this marvellous effect and were soon grinning like buffoons. After making sure no one was in earshot, I then let out a ripping rendition of one of my favourite movie lines... many of my mates back home will probably guess what this was, but here's a clue anyway:

"What're you selling?!"

HA! It sounded comically hilarious to the three of us, but for memory's sake, Emma & John both recorded it on to [digital] film. When I watched the playback, I was almost in tears. I never realised my Welsh accent was quite as comically good as that! As I was on a roll, I then shouted another of my faves:

"Give us a fiverrrrrr!!!"

Dear God, the result of this one had Emma & John in stitches. Only later, when watching the playback, did I also fold up in fits of laughter, and for good reason (it's all to do with the gestures, you see!). I still do now when viewing it! So, for those who've heard me say "Fiverrr!" over the years, I will put it in Gallery Four for you to download and watch for your own amusement. I'm sure it'll keep you all in tears for a wee while...


After spending a rather immature half an hour shouting into a valley, we made our way up the rest of the steep path. At the top, we reached another 'viewing area' and once again were silenced by the sheer beauty of the vista before our eyes. Photos of this will be uploaded into Gall.4 soon, so you can see for yourselves what I'm raving about!

We continued down into the next valley, all the time looking up, down & all around. I could see then why Natalie, the English girl we'd met in Sydney & Perth, had rated her Olgas experience so highly. The eye has so many things to focus on, be it the sheer rock walls, lush green valleys, echoes, the sound of the wind or eagles cries high, high above. Simply amazing and, like Ayers Rock, never to be forgotten. God, how I love mountains.

Over the next hour or so, we continued our stroll through the 'Valley of the Winds' and enjoyed every second of it. At one rest stop, Emma spotted an eagle resting on a tree. He was a bit too far away to see fully, but even a distance of 200yds you could tell the size of him/her - huge! I love eagles more than any other bird, although the Harris Hawk I flew once in Kent was pretty special (he was called Trigger too!!).

A great few hours were spent exploring the Olgas and our trusty Sony Cybershot did some overtime throughout the day, with all the amazing flora & fauna on offer.

When we returned to the car park, we all needed the loo. We didn't need to look for them, as the stench was all too easy to follow! It turned out they were modern-looking enough, but where a u-bend pipe would normally be, a sheer verticle one was found in it place - straight down into a cess pit in the ground!! UUGGHH!! Emma came out of her loo looking rather green and I can't blame her. She did, however, have a laugh whilst queuing up - she took great delight in pointing out a rather large Golden Orb spider to a coach-load of Japanese tourists!! They then proceeded to scream - quality!


We drove back out of the Park after leaving The Olgas area, as we'd decided to make our way, as far as possible, towards our next destination - Kings Canyon/Watarrka (which was at least 300km away). Our 3 days in & around Ayers Rock were incredible and the three of us had also enjoyed our time in the campervan. It's a great way to travel, but we all agreed it's better with good friends - one can only imagine sharing a van with idiots for several days or more.

As the late afternoon drifted into evening, we once again took in the amazing scenery of Outback Australia. Then, as the sun finally set, we had to be extra careful and look out for kangaroos, which become active at dusk and can make a serious mess of unprotected (roobar-less) vehicles! Just after the sun had gone for good that night, Emma suddenly shouted "COWS!!" at John, who was driving. He rammed on the brakes, but fortunately had dropped his speed a little earlier so there wasn't much need to panic. He did, however, drive even slower after that wee scare!

Thankfully, a small one-building town appeared an hour after dark, which had a free campground attached to it. We pulled into there and pitched up for the night, much to John's relief! After an hour, a car pulled up next to us and its occupants started to disembark. One of them, American by his accent, immediately ordered the other 3 about: "OK, you 2 girls go help these guys get some firewood (I'd said "Hi" & told him we were about to make a communal fire)" was one of the first things he shouted. The other person was a quiet Swedish lad, who seemed to resent being bullied about, but was too shy to say anything - God, how I dislike the bullying kind...

We could've shared a nice night by the fire with the four of them, but the American guy seemed intent on bossing his mates about. Therefore, the other three retired early to sleep in their hired car, whilst he went off to the comforts of his own tent. Nice! It didn't bother us too much in the end, as we had a great night in our warm campervan, talking about our Outback adventure and loads more besides! Eventually, we went to sleep, with the sounds of mad cattle in the background, mooing their heads off...


We set off quite late in the morning, but not before we almost sabotaged the American guy's tent that he'd left sitting there on its own! But, we're nice people at the end of the day, so we left it alone... but man was it tempting!

Due to our late departure, we didn't arrive at Kings Canyon until the middle of the afternoon. Therefore, the long walk we'd planned to do was no longer possible due to time restrictions. This meant we took a slow stroll into the depths of the canyon, passing some lovely sights along the way:

- a tree full of chirping zebra finches
- some amazing sections of the rock wall, which clearly showed the changes over the millenia
- the tree-lined riverbed
- some rockpools and trickles of water
- giant rockfaces, rearing above us in the same way as we'd experienced at The Olgas

Then, when we arrived at the end of the path, we walked up to a raised platform to look into the rest of the canyon. As we looked up, we realised how much we'd missed by not doing the longer walk. That would've taken us up above the canyon itself and allowed us to walk along precipices and peer down for an even more amazing view. This was perhaps our biggest regret of all our time in Australia, except perhaps not swimming with the 12m-long whale sharks 1,000km north of Perth...

Oh well, you live & you learn I guess. That'll teach us to sit up all night chatting! To be honest though, I think the exertions John & I had made the previous two days (up/down Ayers Rock & along the 'Valley of the Winds') had probably taken more out of us than we'd guessed. It might therefore have been a good thing not to have climbed up to the top of Kings Canyon.


After leaving the canyon behind, we then drove to the Kings Canyon Resort. This, like the one at Ayers Rock, was quite expensive, so we made the decision to head back towards Alice Springs as far as we could before sunset (only an hour or so away at this point). We had to make a quick u-turn just down the road, as our lovely sealed tarmac surface promptly disappeared! There was no way we were going to drive for 200+km on a gravel road, so we turned back and made for the Lasseter Highway once again.

A couple of hours down the road, Emma & John were starting to get the serious heebie-jeebies as it was now pitch black outside and no other cars had been seen for a while. Much to their delight, I spotted a sign for a picnic/rest spot a few km away. As we pulled in, there were several other vans there too, which once again pleased my two rather nervy fellow passengers. They've obviously watched one too many horror movies over the years...

We cooked up a nice meal and then spent another great night chatting, playing cards and, of course, watching re-runs of my Olgas Movie Magic!!!


Update #4 (4th - 6th May)

We had a long drive back to Alice Springs on the morning of 4th, which was as scenic and glorious as ever. The photo I put in Gallery 4, showing the road stretching into the distance with a scorching-blue sky up above the tarmac, might give you a glimpse of how amazing outback driving can be. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone out there who is considering a trip to either Australia or, perhaps, the USA. Montana & Arizona, amongst other states, would be very similar I imagine.

After several hours on the road, we eventually made it back into Alice. First things first, we had to refuel the motor (expensive in the outback area, but still a damn sight cheaper than at home!). Then followed the gas bottle and we were ready to drop our home for the last 5 days back to the Britz depot. It was quite a sad farewell, as the three of us had enjoyed ourselves so much in our wee HiAce. Our sadness was partially calmed by petting the huge, but soppy, 'guard' dog there. A lovely thing he was.

A cab picked us up & whisked us back into town, but this time to the YHA, which was a damned sight better than the 'orrible place we'd stayed at previously. After unpacking, we all had a quick afternoon nap to recover from the little sleep we'd had over the previous few days (it's a dog's life, y'know...). Then, we cooked up a 'good feed' and, before heading to our room once again, had a wee bit of a shock... an all-too-familiar face greeted us near the kitchen. Our American friend from the campsite in the outback!!! AAGGHH!! We all thought our remaining time in Alice was going to be a case of hide-and-seek!

Luckily, his companions were still with him and, to be fair, he was slightly less irritating after several conversations (although his DJ'ing skills on his laptop left little to be desired - even though DJ'ing was actually his job back home!!!). I think John took a liking to one of the Finnish girls and Emma & I took great delight in winding him up about the fact, as one does! Who knows, he might meet her again somewhere else in Australia...


On our second day back in Alice, we needed to back up all our photos on to CD-ROM. In the end, this was done at a very nice Travel Centre, where, once again, John took a fancy to a young lass. Insatiable, the lad, insatiable I tell you!! Once done, we then needed to make a decision on where to head next - the three of us had already made the decision to stick together for a while longer (ahhh, bless!). All we needed to do was to choose where, in the great expanse of continent that is Australia, to go.

Our decision was, kind of, made for us by the airlines operating from Alice Springs airport. Or, should I say, the AIRLINE operating... Qantas had the market all to themselves, which limited us a wee bit in price terms! Using this monopoly as a basis for our decision, we chose to fly to Cairns, which sits happily up in the north-east of Oz. So, we booked our flights (paying a ridiculous sum, even with a "Nice discount, mate") and prepared to head to the tropical north!

We had a few drinks back at the hostel, then tried to get an early night (we had to drag John away from his Finnish beauty, kicking & screaming).


After checking out of the hostel in the morning (6th), we wandered into town. I sat in a Net cafe for an hour or so, updating the website, whilst John & Emma went in search of a mobile phone - John had buggered his near Darwin, so was using mine temporarily. After updating the site, they came back to see me and together we then went looking for his next purchase - a didgeridoo!

We'd previously seen a lovely one in a shop near the net cafe and after checking out the competition, John paid the chap a return visit. Before making his final decision, I persuaded John to get the guy to blast a few notes (if you call them that!) on his chosen didge. What a great move that was!! The bloke turned out to be quite a famous player, whose had several CDs published in Australia & beyond (Gary Cannel is his name, for the record). He tested the didge out brilliantly, but what followed was simply incredible!

He treated us to a full solo session on his own instrument and also used some seed-filled maracas for added effect. Within seconds, he'd drawn a small crowd outside, who then surged into the doorway. A didgeridoo played skillfully is an amazing instrument and, like the bagpipes for me, one of the most magical-sounding things on earth. Brilliant and totally unforgettable.

Later on, a taxi collected us from the YHA and whisked us off to the airport. Oh, I forgot to mention we also picked out some raw opal from a local Alice shop. John, surprisingly, also bought some opal earrings - the boy will be skint by the time he gets home, I tell you...

After a quick meal in the terminal, we hopped on to our small Qantas jet and flew off towards Cairns. The view from the window was suitably excellent and we watched yet another stunning sunset over the outback (but this time from high-altitude!).


Our week or so in Australia's Red Centre was brilliant - made all the better by John joining us. Most of the memories, from our time in the van especially, will be treasured forevermore!