We started the day bright and early being picked up at 06:05 for out trip to the Kakado National Park! That's early in anybodies language but when you're traveling it's painful! It took the coach around 4 hours to reach our first stop an aboriginal culture center. This was a really interesting place where culture, tradition and history were displayed in an interesting and thought provoking way. From here we went to "The Yellow Water Billabong" for an hour and a half cruise spotting crocodiles and the many birds that inhabit this area. After a buffet lunch we headed to the "Nourlangie Rock Art Site" where we saw examples of aboriginal paintings which were pretty cool even when we found out some were painted in 1962! Our last stop was for Cheese & Wine (chilled bloody ... read more

Today we left Sydney for Darwin. The best laid plans of mice and men. Once again we had issues with our airport shuttle, this time they completely forgot us! Luckily I could contact them on my mobile and could arrange another pick up. Again nothing is straight forward as he only had one seat. We finally arrived after twenty minutes with Charlie in the cab and myself sitting on the engine between Charlie and the driver. Though I shouldn't complain as I was the only one with a heated seat! For the second time we managed to fly domestically without having to show any photo ID! Don't be surprised to hear of an Australian 9/11! The first thing you notice about Darwin is the humidity! Wow, Hot & Very Sticky! We were also really surprised to ... read more

Blessed with fantastic weather and with a touch of the sublime we watch with thousands of others the Sydney Christmas Parade! This comprised of multiple Marching Bands and Girl Guides holding large inflatable Xmas objects (from reindeer and candy sticks to panda bears!). Next up was the Rocks Sunday market followed by our free Bridge Pylon Lookout. This included information about the construction of the bridge and the political struggle to initially get it built, along with the fantastic views of the harbour. We then spent a few hours still trying to decide what to do about the "Bangkok Issue". To lighten our souls we then watched the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace, though this time with the general population in the cheap seats! ... read more

Due to the Bangkok not being a viable route for our plans we have been forced to change our itinerary! We now fly to Darwin tomorrow (2nd) and then on to Bali on the 7th. From Bali we fly to Hong Kong on the 15th staying there until the 18th. Landing three days early (due to flight availability) in London at 13:30 on the Friday the 18th. ... read more

Wow what a day! We started off slowly at Paddy's Market browsing around the stalls and grabbing a quick breakfast before we walked to the Sydney Fish Market via the Darling Harbour shopping center where Charlie finally purchased a pair of Uggs. The Fish Market was awesome (well for a fish lover). It took awhile but I managed to find some "Morton Bay Bugs" recommended to me by Melbourne Nick. They tasted just like Crayfish. I also finally tasted my first (well, half a dozen) Oysters. We then sat down for lunch. I had half a Mornay Crayfish & Charlie had a whole grilled Snapper. Suitably well fed we undertook our biggest Australian adventure and climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge! The weather for once cooperated and we had beautiful sunshine and not a cloud in the ... read more