Day 89 Yalara to Coober Pedy (Thur 30th Sept) So we were gone from Yalara at 0430 today, on our way to South Australia. We had to drive back through Erlunda to get to the highway again. We reached the state border at 1000, and made it to Coober Pedy by 1530. The land around the town is all mining area and there are piles of earth all over the place. A bit dangerous if you want to go for a walk, but you aren’t actually allowed to do that anyway. Our first stop in town was at a mine, right next door to the place we will be staying. We had a tour of the old mine tunnels and where the folks used to live. Some of the opal jewellery is absolutely beautiful and it ... read more

Day 86 Alice Springs to Kings Canyon (Mon 27th Sept) Today we had a free morning in Alice Springs. We had to check out of our hostel at 1000 so most of us slept in until than and then left our bags in the storage room. We were leaving at 1230, so we had a few hours to explore. Alice Springs was a lovely little town. It was very clean, and I really noticed how equipped it was for wheelchairs. There were ramps everywhere, and even easy access to the car parks. Strange the things you notice sometimes. I walked into town, which was only about 15 minutes from the hostel, and spent a couple hours just wandering. Did a little shopping, finally managed to send off my postcards, and took a few pictures. Very relaxed ... read more

Day 84 Katherine to Daly Waters (Sat 25th Sept) Up this morning in time to get some pics of the pre-dawn sky which was a beautiful red colour. Heather and I had to be ready to leave at 0645 as we were going for a helicopter flight over the Katherine Gorge. Our pilot was Scott, and he took us up in a little tiny yellow helicopter that looked like a bubble. He explained that while people said there were 13 gorges, there was really just one, but the low water levels meant it was divided into 13 separate pools of water. The flight was about 20 minutes long and well worth it, we even saw some water buffalo and some kayaks on the water. The others came by in the coach to pick us up at ... read more

Day 82 Darwin to Jabiru (Tues 23rd Sept) In the lobby at 0630 today in order to meet our Australia tour guide. His name is ‘Wombat’ and he has been doing these tours for 8 years and we are lucky enough to be his last group. He is the driver/guide and will pretty much run the last couple weeks of the trip leaving Matt with absolutely nothing to do... (no offence intended). We finally departed at 0700 for the first leg of our journey. The coach is a small 21-seater with a little trailer attached to the back. A good size actually with plenty of room for us all, and all the junk we have accumulated along the way. First stop was an aboriginal cultural centre where a few of the simple aspects of life in ... read more

Day 76 Cemorolawang to Bali (Fri 17th Sept) 0500 departure today, so again a packed breakfast. We watched the sun rise as we were leaving the resort. After a fun ride down the mountain (though a few of the group preferred not to look), we rejoined our coach and were on our way. We made it to the ferry terminal just in time to drive straight on to the 1100 ferry. The trip from Java to Bali was only about an hour long and uneventful. The water actually looked quite a lovely deep blue and made me feel like going swimming. And of course the clocks go forward another hour here, bringing us in line with Perth. Again. While on the ferry coming over, Norma turned to me and asked “so, in this part of the ... read more