JUS4US

Our return flight from Darwin to Alice Springs was pleasant...although we had transversed this same trek by train heading north 5 weeks earlier it was amazing to view the ground from the air with all its vastness, beautiful ochre colours and at times the main highway between Alice and Darwin also the train track which we had happily rattled along in The Ghan... We felt a bit like we had come home as our Qantas flight descended to Alice, over The Gap landing smoothly...no air bridges here, so down the steps we went and before we knew it we were contently settled back in our van at East McDonald Ranges Caravan Park for the next few days. Hitched up and on our way again we headed north up the centre to an interesting place called Gemtree ... read more

..after 5 days at Broome and all the excitement of farwelling our APT Coach Trip friends we re-packed our bags to board the Coral Princess 'Oceanic Discoverer' bound for Darwin! 1800 we departed Broome jetty...it was dusk and the sunset was beautiful, one of many beautiful sunsets to come! Up to the Bridge Deck Lounge for a safety briefing and introduction to the crew...also a briefing on the following days activities...all sounded good! Our 10 day cruise was an Expedition Cruise...on board we had 72 guests, 25 crew including 3 guest speakers...a Marine Biologist, Geologist and an Environmental Scientist....each morning a 40 min talk was held in the lounge area for all who would like to go along...always very interesting! Just prior to dinner the day was re-capped with photos on the large screen and ... read more

After several days enjoying Darwin the time arrived for us to meet up with fellow travellers for our APT Tour from Darwin to Broome...as usual when folks meet for a tour everyone is a little quiet and very polite. Before long we were all seated at our 'Welcome Dinner' and we met Chris our Tour Director and Trevor our Coach Driver, both very pleasant. As we continued through our tour we found them to be friendly and helpful right to the end when we said our farewells! The following morning after an early breakfast we were on our way to Katherine, a town situated south of Darwin...we enjoyed a Dinner Cruise on the Katherine Gorge admiring the Aboriginal Art as we went along. Passing over Knotts Crossing we crossed the border into Western Australia and The ... read more

Our arrival at McDonnell Range Caravan Park was most welcomming...a lovely park with a good site, what more cold we ask for? We quickly unhooked the van and went into town to have a look around, it was nice for me to be in Alice...the town that Michelle and I had visited years ago for our Mother and Daughter holiday. Not a lot had changed but certainly with us being there almost a week both Keith and I were beginning to feel like locals, we found a good coffee shop (always important as you know) a great hairdresser who certainly took a lot off but the haircuts turned out OK after the first week...after we got used to feeling like we didn't have too much hair left at all! He was a young fellow from London ... read more

After a wonderful 3 nights at Mildura we popped into Deakin Cafe' before heading off towards Burra in South Australia...what a delightful little town Burra was tucked away in the Clare Valley...well known for its wineries and gourmet food. The countryside changes almost daily in some way, approaching Burra we wound down through glorious green rolling hills to the town which seemed to be straight out of Europe...we thought so anyway! The old blue stone buildings like you find in Adelaide were everywhere...very chilly though! There was a feeling of Europe for sure as we strolled around the town, spotted an old Pub where we found a beautiful open fire...there we stayed and stayed and stayed, eventually having 'bangers and mash for dinner and was it yummy...oh yeah! The following day we braved the cold, rugged ... read more