Travelling from Lake Argyle to Keep River National Park was a short journey, however it took nearly 3 hours. No this wasn't the result of bad roads or heavy traffic, we crossed the state boundary into the Northern Territory and consequently lost an hour and a half. So with the day nearly gone there was just enough time for a walk into the Gurrundalng. This is the Aboriginal name for Keep River N P, and suits it much better I think. It's also the name of a beautiful blue/grey stork-like bird, many of which we saw in the park. Scrambling through rocky gullies and over wooded banks of woolly-butt trees we felt completely alone amongst this beautiful wilderness. The undulating cliff faces and sporadically placed palms seemed to stretch forever with no hint of human habitation. ... read more

It was 7am, the sun was already burning our skin and the eggs were almost frying themselves without the need of our gas cooker. We had driven 10km on dirt roads jarring our bones to reach Shothole Canyon. 10k doesn't sound much but when rocks and slippery shingle mean you can't pass 20kph it sure feels it. It was, however, worth the rattle and the heat, we enjoyed our breakfast alone in this huge chasm and clambered to the peak to take in stunning views along the long, dry river bed. At 11am we were waiting outside the Exmouth Novotel for our friend Unik to finish her shift. It had been 12 months since we first met Uni and her boyfriend Joni in the ferry ticket queue on Havelock island in the Andamans. We've all travelled ... read more

Shark Bay is a world heritage site and rightly so, it contains so many wonders within its ample, protected waters. The first of which was located at Hamlin Pools, a sheltered super-saline cove. Stromatolites, their name sounds interesting, the biological and evolutionary significance of these cynobacterial organisms whose presence on earth dates back 3.6 billion years is pretty impressive...But to look at they are simply a collection of lumpy rocks. We respectfully noted the tiny bubbles of oxygen that made their way to the surface and thanked Mr Stromatolite and his ancient relatives for this basic act which made it possible for animal and human life to exist. Suitably better informed about the beginnings of life on earth we left the respiring rocks to it and continued our drive up the cape to Denham. It was ... read more

After all the long hours and days spent tracking down the perfect car it was a welcome and astonishing surprise to us that it took mere minutes to become her owners. The stacks of cash that we'd been routinely withdrawing all weekend had exchanged hands, a big bundle of fifty dollar bills swiftly deposited into Stewerts wife's handbag. Now for the transfer of ownership...a cursory look at Lewi's passport and a few taps on a keyboard and the lady proclaimed we were done. It was as easy as that, she didn't even look at his drivers license, apparently you don't need one to own a car in Western Australia! With a wave goodbye to Stew and an excitement bubbling within we drove off, it felt so great to be back behind the wheel again, in our ... read more

Flying east back to the west We arrived into Perth International airport at 10pm local time having spent the previous two days gorging ourselves on delicious Indian, Malay and Chinese food in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. We had absorbed as much of the bustling Asian character of these friendly cities as we could, savouring their multitude of flavours, and storing it up until next time. We were feeling very sad to leave Asia, collectively it's diverse countries had been our home for the last year, and on the short five hour flight back to the waiting western world we reminisced about the incredible times we'd had. I was nervous about the re-entry to western civilisation and all the changes that we would be faced with. How can Australia compare with our fantastic experiences so far? Will ... read more