Thursday, August 27 Leaving Kununurra this morning for the Northern Territory, the only part of Australia that is not a state. A not so quick fuel stop begins the trip--Trevor is annoyed that the BP station is charging too much for petrol, so he goes a bit out of his way to the Shell. The border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory is about 50k down the road, just past where we turned off the other day to go to the Ord River Dam. There's a border check for cars entering WA, but not leaving, so our only reason to stop is to take a photo of us in front of the boundary sign. The road alternates between "quite good" and "poor", but the scenery is spectacular: high cliffs, jagged rock formations, boab trees. The road climbs above the valley floor and we;re treated to a view down to the beautiful green waters of the Victoria River. We pass through Timber Creek and ultimately to the Victoria River Roadhouse. There's a sign announcing that the establishment is under "new wife". The lady at the counter tells us she's not the new wife or the old one either. We have lunch, refuel, and just before moving on, Trevor mistakes the bottle of home-brewed insect repellant for his water bottle. Luckily he doesn't swallow any, but he'll hear about it for the rest of the day. Next stop is Katherine. Rory is cooking dinner tonight and we need the necessary ingredients for one of her culinary creations. Trevor goes off for beer and comes looking for Rick. He needs an ID in NT and he can't find his wallet. So Rick goes back with him to pick up a case of beer. The clerk turns out to be from Chicago--only the third American we've encountered in the 5+ weeks we've been here. We camp tonight at Edith Falls, and after getting set up, Rick and Fay walk down to the plunge pool. The setting is perhaps the most stunning of any Rick has seen, considering the natural beauty and the colors the sun produces in the late afternoon on the cliffs and in the water. Rory's dinner is outstanding--a gourmet Italian-style meal in the outback, and Rick and Rory continue their pledge to give Fay the night off, by taking care of cleaning up.

Friday, August 28 Glad to get out of Edith Falls--hot/humid/too many flies. On the way out to the Stuart Hwy, we're amazed by the rock formations along either side of the road, especially the round rocks that are somehow balanced on flatter ones. It's about 260k to Darwin (the area north of Katherine is referred to is "The Top End"), a bit less to the caravan park we've booked in Howard Springs. The temperature the past several days has been well above normal for this time of year--well into the 30s C (90s F.) and humid, making for uncomfortable sleeping. On the way north, we pass through Adelaide River, the home of "Charlie" the water buffalo. This is the creature stared down by Mick Dundee in the first Crocodile Dundee movie. We search all over for him and finally find him: in the bar--he's STUFFED! Seems he died several years ago and has been preserved for posterity. We arrive at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park inb Howard Springs (about 20k south of Darwin city) around noon and pick a nice site that promises afternoon and evening shade. Once we're organized, we take a ride into Darwin, a city about the size of Columbia--105,000 people living primarily in suburban communities. The harbor is beautiful and we'll have some lunch here. Next stop is the "i", where we collect enough brochures to put us over our airline weight limit. We've got a lot of choices for things to see and do. This evening we go to a night market in Palmerston which has some crafts kiosks but is mostly filled with eating spots and fresh fruit, vegetable and meat stalls. Approaching from the carpark, we're greeted by a cacaphony of thousands of lorikeets--what a racket. They'd normally be quiet at night, but seem to be responding to the live music--maybe they're just annoyed that they're being kept up past their bedtime.... Trevor and Rick enjoy chicken spring rolls (and go back for seconds); Fay has another mango smoothie, Rory declines all temptations. Back at the caravan park, we're kept up past our bedtime as well by a group of young, noisy backpackers nearby. We'll get even with them in the morning.

Saturday, August 29 Revenge is sweet. At 8am, Trevor pulls the car up next to their tents, pops in a Beach Boys CD into the car player, and blasts away! When they come out to complain, Trevor lets them have it and they retreat with their "tails between their legs". We're going to see some sights, so T&F drop us off in town at the WW II Oil Storage Tunnels. It's a A$5 admission fee and well worth it. The ticket taker sounds exactly like Greg Norman (the golfer) and explains what we'll see. In addition to the walk through the storage tunnel, the walls are lined with old photos of WW II activity in Darwin. Darwin was pretty much destroyed by Japanese bombers in early 1942 and there's lots of WW II history here.

From the tunnels we walk past a large water park complete with wave pool. There are dozens of kids (and some adults, too) romping in the "surf" with big blue plastic innner tubes and some body boards. Looks like great fun and for A$8 for adults and A$5 for kids for the day, it's cheap entertainment. We're heading for the Indo-Pacific Marine where we watch a video about the marine eco-system. The young woman (Deana) at the front desk is from New York and went to Syosset HS on Long Island, near where Rick lived and went to HS in the early '60s. We're "collected" by John, who with his wife, owns the place and, for the next 90 minutes or so, we're entertained and educated. They have created approximately 18 tanks which display various marine eco-systems. The entrance fee of A$18, which seemed high when we paid it, turned out to be well worth it for the experience. Afterwards we got to chatting with John and he offered us a taste of "sour sop" a fruit with agreen/yellow rind and seeds like a watermelon. The eating part of the fruit had the consistency of a fibrous yogurt, but tasted great--sweet and refreshing. We chatted with Deana for a bit about where she and her boyfriend might like to go in WA and gave her our website link for reference. From the Marine, we headed to the mall for lunch and found a nice spot. As we finished eating, Rick noticed that the guy sitting down at the next table was wearing a "Lehigh University" t-shirt. In all our travels, we've never met anyone who went to Lehigh. This fellow got his PhD there in 2006 and was working in Melbourne. His mum was visiting and he was in the midst of showing her Australia for a month. He got our web link as well.

After lunch, we tracked down some points of interest: the Chinese Temple (not much), the "Tree of Knowledge" (a huge banyan tree), passed by where the Darwin Festival was holding it's evening musical performances, and, in Centenial Park, the Cenotaph (a monument to Australia's war dead), and the Peary Memorial (which took us a while to find, hidden as it was, behind a playground. The Peary was a battleship that suffered the most casualties during the bombing of Darwin in 1942. We were getting ready to phone T&F to pick us up when Rick noticed the 4-wheel parked on the Esplanade. We looked around and there they were, sitting on a bench watching us. In a town of 105,000 they'd managed to track down the only two people they knew. Fay said she'd spotted Rick's red shirt and yellow hat! They had been to the movies and saw "Inglorious Basterds" and insisted that we go see it. We returned to the caravan park, dropped off our stuff and off we went. While we watched our movie, they went to another one. Back at the caravan park, we enjoyed hot showers and the peace and quiet--no noise from our neighbors tonight!

Sunday, August 30 We're going to Litchfield Park for the day. Litchfield is located about an hour's drive south and west of Darwin. We're actually up and out before 8:30. Litchfield Park is supported by the Northern Territory government and there are no admission fees. At the "entrance" to the park is a large display and a printed map, a copy of which will serve as our guide through the park. There are several sites to visit--all natural. Our first stop is the Magnetic Terminte Mounds. Australia has millions of termite mounds, we've see them almost everywhere we've been outside the cities. There are several kinds of mounds, some look like big clumps, some like tombstones, and others like contemproary sculptures. The latter are the "magnetic" ones, so named because the termites build them on a north-south axis. They vary in size up to several meters high. As we get out of the 4-wheel, who do we meet?--the young man (from France who went to Lehigh) and his mum. Small world!! Next stop is Buley Rockhole, a series of pools connected by small waterfalls. It's a beautiful area and a popular site for swimming. We're reserving swim time for later (at another site) when it's hotter. Third stop is "The Lost City", which raises the question: "if they know where it is, how can it be lost?" Anyway, we have to leave the paved road and follow a twisting, bumpy, dirt track for 10k. Not many people bother to go here, but we don't figure to ever come back, so it's now or never. After a while, the road(?) ends, and we're there. The "city" is actually what's left of a sandstone range. Sandstone tends to develop fissures at right angles and as it is eroded by wind and rain, it breaks up into block-like boulders. Over time, the blocks break up and fall down, leaving structures that appear like buildings. The result is a series of "structures" that appear to be the remains of a city. It's hard to imagine that what we're seeing is a result of the randomness of nature. There's a path to follow, but it would take hours to see all of it and better explored when it's not so hot and humid. We'll spend about half an hour wandering around. Everhwere we turn there's another unique formation to photograph. There are only three other vehicles here, and we chat with a woman while she waits for her husband and brother to come back. She gives us some good information on where to stay in Kakadu National Park (where we'll be heading later this week) and in Alice Springs, as well as some suggestions on what to see besides Ayers Rock. As we retrace our route back to the main road, we agree that the detour was well worth the time.

Next stop is Tolmer Falls. There is a paved path of about 300m from the carpark to a lookout point. Even though it's the dry season, there are sevaral waterfalls visible from our vantage point. There's a pool at the base of the falls, but it's not easily accessible. There are caves at the base of the cliff walls where ghost bats and orange horseshoe bats can be found. We're not likely to see any, both because we're so far away and beacuse they are very shy of people. Our last stop in the park is Wangi Falls. This is a popular spot for swimming, as the falls form a large pool as well as a couple of smaller ones at the base of the cliffs. It's a spectacular site. Trevor, Fay and Rory take the opportunity to cool off with a swim. Rick goes exploring, following a stone and boardwalk path about 400m to a treetop lookout. He's disappointed to find that it doesn't overlook the falls and pool. Rather than proceed another 400m, he returns to the pool to take photos. We take a different route through Berry Creek back to the caravan park than the one we took to get here. Half the distance will be on an unsealed gravel road. The road is good enough to proceed at a decent speed and as we turn a bend, a young kangaroo hops out right into our path. Unfortunately, he has no chance..... We return to the caravan park to relax a while and then we're off to a night market at Mindl Beach.

Monday, August 31 This morning is laundry time and general clean up of the van. We don't leave until 10:30. Trevor wants to get the 4WD serviced and finds a place that can do it tomorrow. They're meeting friends for lunch so they drop us off at the Darwin Military Museum. This museum is dedicated to remembering the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in 1942. There's a 15 minute film and a slew of exhibits, including weaponry, documents, memorabilia, and the like. A 9.2mm gun emplacement is intact, as well as displays of several actual artilery pieces. We felt it was worth the A$12 per person admission fee. We spend about an hour and a half, then borrow a mobile phone to call T&F. They're still at lunch, so we decide to walk about 3 miles to the Fanny Bay Gaol. It's a hot day. but there's a nice breeze blowing in off the harbor. We follow a bike/walk path most of the way, keeping an eye out to see if T&F have come to get us yet. When we get to the Gaol, the attendant calls them for us. In the meantime, we wander the grounds of the prison, which was in use right up until late 1979. Admission is free and we spend about 30 minutes roaming the grounds and checking out the prison buildings including the cells and the gallows room. Shortly after we finish, T&F arrive and we're off to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (free admission). There are elaborate exhibits of the birds, shells, reptiles, insects, and animals native to this area. One of the highlights is a stuffed 17 foot crocodile named Sweetheart who was captured in a lagoon about 50k south of Darwin. This was a notorious beast responsible for the deaths of several people and numerous animals. There's an elaborate exhibit dedicated to Cyclone Tracy which totally destroyed Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. The entire town was rebuilt into the city it we've been visiting. The art portion of the museum contains numerous examples of Aboriginal painting and sculpture. T&F are meeting their friends again for dinner, so on the way back to the caravan park, we stop at the local Coles for groceries and something for us to have for dinner. We haven't had any lunch, so a meal of steak, brocolli, and gourmet bread sounds good to us--and it is. We've got some computer work to do tonight, and with T&F out, it's a perfect time to do it.

Tuesday, September 1 Trevor was up early to take the 4WD in for service and was gone until about 2:30. We relaxed, did some reading, updated the website. When he got back we went to the local RSL (Returned Service League--like our VFW) to check on something for a friend of T&F. The movies are right next door, but there was nothing playing any of us wanted to see. Back at the caravan park, while Trevor was taking a shower, Fay accidentally spilled a drink on the portable fridge. The fuse popped, but we were able to hook it up again in the back of the car. We'll have to find a fuse tomorrow on our way out of town. The weather has been unusually hot,but there was a nice breeze blowing tonight for a while. It stopped just after we went to bed and sleeping wasn't too good.

Wednesday, September 2Happy Birthday to Rick's "baby" sister. She turns 60 today!! Rick got a chance to chat with her via Facebook--it wasn't her birthday yet in the US!!!! (13 1/2 hour time difference). We were up early today to leave the caravan park. We tried several places to get a replacement fuse for the fridge and finally found a place. Unfortunately, it didn't do the trick. The portable power supply was no good, so we bought a new one of those to the tune of A$130. Finally, after getting fuel and putting air in the tires, we were off for Kakadu National Park. Early on we passed through the town of Humpty Doo (no joke!) and bought some mangos and prawns from roadside vendors. Along the way, we saw our first dingo in the wild. He was a pretty sorry looking creature and looked a bit like a hyena to Rick. We reached Jabiru in Kakadu National Park before 3pm, got camped at Kakadu Lodge Caravan park in Jabiru, and then ran a couple of errands. We booked two tours: tomorrow we will take a 45 minute helicopter trip over the park and Friday we will take a 2 hour river cruise. Tonight we actually had "shrimp on the barbie" for dinner.

Thursday, September 3We were busy today! We got up early for the RUM Tour. RUM stands for "Ranger Uranium Mine", the only mine operating on Aboriginal land. The tour cost $30 per person. We met the bus at the Jabiru Airport--yes they have one there! Yuri was our guide. We boarded the bus and donned hard hats and reflective orange safety shirts. We toured the open pit mine as well as the entire facility (getting out of the bus only at the mine itself). We learned how uranium is mined, processed,and turned into finished product (U-238 and U-235) for export. We were amazed at the massiveness of the mine and the complex chemical processes that allow uranium to be turned into a usable energy source. This mine alone produces 20% of the world's uranium.

The highlight of the day was our helicopter tour of Arnhem Land and the aboriginal sacred lands of Kakadu (A$395 per person). The chopper was a 4-seater, so T&F took the 3:00pm trip and we took the 4:00pm flight. Rick is not comfortable in small aircraft and the thought of 45 minutes in a small helicopter (with the doors OFF!!!) almost made him sick before the trip began. He took a motion sickness pill and we gamely boarded the chopper. Rory sat up front next to the pilot, with Rick in the back. The experience was unbelievable--not for the helicopter flight, but for what we saw. It's almost impossible to describe it. We had no idea of how extensive the ranges were. Driving thru the park all you see is trees and an occasional creek. But from the air, you realize just how massive the park is and why the area is so sacred to the Aboriginals. We could see rock formations that went on forever. We flew into gorges and along the Aligator River. We followed the river for a while and were able to spot crocodiles, wild horses, wild pigs and hundreds of birds. The flight itself wasn't as bad as Rick's morbid sense of humor would have you believe, but he was glad to be back on the ground at the end of the 45 minutes, and a bit green to boot. Rory, on the other hand, could have done it all again! When we got back to the caravan park, Rick took it a bit easy, but was ready to eat dinner when the time came.

Friday, September 4We got up very early this morning. We wanted to visit the Ubirr Aboriginal Rock Art site before moving on to Cooinda. T&F had already seen as much rock art as they cared to, so we went off in the car on our own, leaving at 7:00am. Unfortunately, the site didn't open until 8:30, so we got there about 45 minutes early. This limited our time at Ubirr because we had to be back before 10am to check out of the park. We did see several examples of ancient aboriginal art: on the rock walls and under rock ledges. We would have liked to have another hour here, but we'll get another chance on Saturday at another site.

We got back to the caravan park a little before 10am and drove the 49k to the Cooinda Lodge Caravan Park, where we booked in for two nights. We set up camp, had a light lunch, and had a swim in the freshwater lodge pool. At 4:10, we met the bus that took us to the boat for our Yellow Waters River Cruise. There were about 75 of us and it took three bus loads to get us all to the jetty. We filled three boats. The cruise set off at 4:30 along the Yellow Waters River and then onto the South Alligator River. Highlights of this excursion included the siting of many crocodiles (including "Wartus", the biggest one on the river at over 4 meters--about 14 feet), and hundreds of wild birds (several that Rory had never seen before). We cruised for almost two hours and concluded the trip by watching the sunset over the wetlands of Kakadu. We had dinner tonight at the Lodge restaurant with a couple (Cole and Laurel) from Victoria who had the camp site right behind us.

Saturday, September 5We slept in until almost 8am--what a luxury! We took the 4D and drove out to Nourlangie Aboriginal site to see the rock art. We had no time constraints today and were able to see the complete site including the cave gallery and the lookout. The flies in this heat are relentless and took away from our experience, but we did our best to enjoy this bush trek. Some of the paintings were more elaborate than the ones we saw at Ubirr yesterday. We were also able to listen to the tail end of one of the ranger talks. On the way out, we stopped along a bilabong and while Rory was watching birds, Rick spotted a dingo casually walking along the road. He seemed to realize a couple of us were taking his photo and it looked like he stopped to pose before wandering off into the bush. Before returning to the caravan park, we stopped briefly at the nearby Aboriginal Culture Center and it's elaborate exhibits. The park swimming pool was the big draw this afternoon; so refreshing in the heat of the day and we enjoyed talking with Alistair from Sydney who is traveling with his wife on a 2-week holiday. They met up with their son and his family in Darwin. Alistair's 8-year old grandson is an avid birder. Rory was hoping to talk with him. Temperatures have been in the high 90s and low 100s--unseasonably hot and humid.

We'll be heading south tomorrow and expect that in the next few days and expect the temperatures will be in the high 70s and low 80s. We are several days ahead of the schedule Trevor had spec'd out before we left and we discussed options for the extra time. We're excited to be able to see Coober Peady, Kalgoorlie and Esperance before heading across the southwestern coast and back to Perth. (NOTE: of these accounts seem a bit "dry", it's because Rory hasn't had a chance to edit them yet.....)

Sunday, September 6 We left Kakadu this morning. Our destination is Katherine--more specifically Nitmiluk National Park and the Caravan Park at Katherine Gorge. We stopped at the "i" in Katherine and saw a great video called "The Big Wet", all about the 6 seasons of the Top End, the effects of each season on the plants and animals that inhabit the area, and how the food chain sustains the entire region. After the video, we booked The Two Gorge Boat Cruise for 3pm (A$56 per person). When we got to the caravan park (30k from Katherine), we found it anything but "luxurious" as it had been described in brochures. In fact, not only was the pool closed and the barbecues not working, but the place was filthy. There was only one rubbish bin for all powered caravan sites and the lid was so heavy, the average person couldn't lift it. The place was also overrun with little wallabies--seemingly nice, except for their droppings, which were everywhere. We walked to the boat ramp and boarded the boat promptly at 3pm for what we expected to be a 2-hour cruise. The first part of the cruise took in the first gorge (there are 13 in the national park). Then we got off and walked along a path about 400 meters to the second boat which took us through Katherine Gorge. There was virtually no animal or bird life in the gorges, apparently they don't show up until the wet season. We retraced our route and returned to the boat ramp exactly 90 minutes later--not exactly a 2 hour cruise! So Rick marched back to the main desk and demanded a 25% refund for our two tickets. It took him a bit, moslty by convincing the supervisor that he would not leave the lobby until he got his refund. (But first he talked two couples out of taking that tour!) The supervisor finally saw the logic in Rick's request and handed over A$28. Before dinner, Rory enjoyed feeding a couple of the wallabies and then Rick took over as grill chef, cooking up some steaks. It was terribly hot and there was little breeze. Even with the air conditioner on in the caravan, we weren't too comfortable and looked forward to getting out of there early in the morning.

Monday, September 7 We were up, packed, and out of the caravan park by 7am!! We didn't even wait around to fix breakfast, driving back to Katherine for fuel and a few groceries. We've got almost 1200k to get to Alice Springs, and wanted to knock off a big chunk of it today. We opted to skip the "rare" gem factory, but we (R&R) did take in the Cutta Cutta Cave tour (A$15 per person). We got there 45 minutes before the first tour (at 9am). While we were waiting, we chatted with John and Robin, a couple our age from Brisbane, who we had met at the Jabiru airport and were also on our uranium mine tour. The cave tour was ehjoyable. Our guide, Sonya, was knowledgable and had a great sense of humor. Rick and John kept feeding her lines. When someone asked what kind of bats were in the caves, she said there were ghost bats and one other type (can't remember). Rick asked if there were any cricket bats--which got a laugh from Sonya, who then decided to add it to her future commentary.

We were on our way by 10am and drove through until after 1pm. We stopped for lunch at the Daly Waters Pub. What an experience!!! The pub was founded in 1930 and ever since, the owners have been collecting things for the walls: t-shirts, foreign currency and coins, license plates, women's underware, ID cards, flip flops, and more. There was all kinds of old stuff everywhere, and, best of all, the food was great. We had huge barramundi burgers that were probably the best sandwiches we've ever had in Australia. After taking dozens of photos, we returned to the highway, with slight detours at local sites: 1) the Stuart Tree (should be called the Stuart trunk, since there were no leaves or branches), and 2) the WW II air museum (that it appeared no one had visited since, well, WW II). We drove over half way to Alice Springs, stopping at Threeways Roadhouse and caravan park for the night. Just before we got to Threeways, we decided we didn't have enough petrol to do the last 5k, so we stopped and used one of the spare 40 litre cans of fuel we'd been carrying since we left Denham for just such and emergency. The temperature here is mercifully cooler. Rick grabbed a quick shower and we are looking forward to a light dinner and a comfortable night's sleep!

Tuesday, September 8 Long drive today. (NOTE: We're traveling on the Stuart Highway, which runs from Darwin all the way south to Adelaide--a distance of several thousand kilometers. Stuart "Highway" is one lane in each direction and parallels the railroad tracks ridden by The Ghan.) T&F got up and went for a big breakfast while we packed up the van, rolled up the awning, and rolled up the power cords. We didn't expect we'd see much today, but about an hour south of Threeways, we came across the "Devil's Marbles" a scattered collection of boulders stacked on top of each other in such a way as to almost defy gravity. There were big round boulders on flat ones, stacks of rectangular ones, and any number of seemingly haphazardly grouped ones. We spent some time wandering and climbing, not to mention taking photos. Seems like much of our photo collection this trip is of rocks, rock formations, and rock gorges. We keep wondering how these formations came about--enough that Rick is considering whether he might want to take a geology course when we get home. Back on the road, we came to Wycliff Well which advertises itself as the UFO capital of Australia. Wycliff Well is nothing more than a roadhouse with a caravan park. Some enterprising soul decided to take advantage of several UFO sightings in the area and decorate the place accordingly. Good idea--everyone stops; most people buy something and many stay overnight in the park. Other than a short stop in Aileron to see the statue of the "aboriginal man walking", the rest of the trip was uneventful. Our stopping place for the night (and tomorrow) is Gem Tree, 70k east off the Stuart Highway. We're going fossicking for zircons tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 9 We woke up "freezing". The temperature dropped into the 40s last night and we weren't quite prepared. But the sun was up and it warmed up quickly. At 8am, we picked up our buckets, water containers, metal sieves, picks, and shovels and headed off to fossick for zircons. On the way Rick realized that in a little more than an hour, it would be 09:09 on 09/09/09!! Marg is our expert on fossicking for zircons and she gives us a thorough briefing on the process and how to identify any gems we might find. We can't believe we've payed A$35 each to work like slaves in the hot sun among some of Australia's finest flies. Luckily there's a cool breeze blowing and we purchased some fly repellant from the Gem Tree shop yesterday. (Much to our surprise, it seemed to work.) Anyway, the fossicking process entails determining where to dig, then using the pick to break loose the "wash", shovel a bunch of it into a bucket, separate the rocks from the dirt, dispose of the big rocks which are obviously not of any value, pour the rocks in a washing pan and wash and then rinse them in buckets of water. Then you sift through the remains and try to figure out if you've got any zircons. We did this for almost five hours, before heading back to Gem Tree with small cans of zircon "candidates".

About half way back, we encountered our first lizard of any size. We about ran him over, but he was safely under the 4WD. We backed up, and he was still there. Trevor got out and picked him up, then handed him to Rory. Poor little guy probably had no idea what was happening to him. We put him down in the dust well away from the track. We watched him through the rearview mirror as we drove away. He was just standing still, exactly where we put him down! Back at Gem Tree, we returned our equipment and took our little cans to the shop to see if we'd found anything of "value". Rory had the biggest individual stone, but decided against having it cut. She'll just save it for a souvenir. Hot showers to wash off all the dust were a welcome relief for all of us. Rather than hang around another day and do the same thing for garnets, we'll be leaving first thing in the morning for Alice Springs. We've added extra blankets in case it's cold again tonight.

Thursday, September 10 Not much to report today. Arrived in Alice Springs and booked into the McDonnell Ranges Big 4 Caravan Park for three nights. After setting up, Rick and Rory drove into Alice to visit the "i", do some grocery shopping, and have a nice lunch at the Red Ochre Cafe. While we're roaming around Todd Mall, we see several of those little yellow signs in one of the souvenir shops. One of them says: "If you can read this, I've lost my caravan" We have to buy it and will find an opportunity to stick it in the back window of the 4WD... When we returned, we booked a tour for tomorrow to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and The Olgas. We'll be picked up at 6am, so it will be a short night. We drove back into town to wnader the shops, bought nothing, and had an excellent "black and tan" each at the "Firkin and Hound Pub". (A firkin is a 9 gallon keg of beer.) Trevor is cooking a chook (chicken) for dinner. We'll be hitting the hay early.

Friday, September 11 Up at 5am--UGH! We're going on an all-day trip to Ayers Rock (or, as the Aboriginals call it, Uluru), which is a 700 million year old big red sandstone rock, and the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) which are 36 separate rock domes over 500 million years old, composed of many rocks. The trip costs A$199 per person with Emu Run Tours, including all "meals", admission fees, and transportation--a very good deal!! To compare the two sites, we're told to think of a fruitcake, with all the fruits and nuts held together by cake--that's the Olgas; whereas Uluru is more like a sponge or chocolate cake in its consistency. We're picked up out front of the caravan park and transferred onto a big motor coach. There are 30 of us, and, before we're finished, we'll have traveled over 1100km. We're handed a small snack pack as we board the coach and settle back. We get a rest stop at Erldunda where our two guides (Scott and Tic) switch off driving. We pass Mt. Connor, a big, flat, red rock and then on to the cultural center at Kata Juta-Uluru National Park. The center is considered a sacred site so no photos can be taken (the fines for getting caught doing so are very severe) so we leave our cameras in the coach. We're given a "box" lunch, but it's not too good. We'll be pretty hungry by the time we have our sunset barbeque. It's about 1pm when we leave the center for the Olgas. (We were hoping to get to Uluru, but weren't expecting to get to the Olgas this trip, so this was a nice bonus). We had only enough time to hike into one of the gaps before we had to return to the coach. We'll be spending most of our time at Uluru. We have two hikes there: the Mala Walk (with Scott as our guide) and the Kuniya Walk (guided by Tic), the latter of which ends up at a water hole in one of the most beautiful settings we've ever seen. We also take the drive around the entire base. Throughout the day, our guides relate aboriginal stories about the sites and during the walks, point out the meaning of what we see as related to those stories. By 6pm we're ready to head for the sunset viewing area and a nice barbeque dinner complete with champagne. In this setting, we are positioned between the setting sun and Uluru, so that we can see the changing colors on the Rockn as the sun sets. (Just between us, the sunsets we used to see outside our home in SW Florida were a heck of a lot more impressive.) There were probably 750-800 people spread out at the viewing area, and once the sun set, we witnessed the only "traffic jam" we've seen since we left Sydney. By 6:45pm we're on our way back--a trip of about 500km that will return us to the caravan park just before midnight. It's been a long day--but worth it! We'd seen Ayers Rock in photos and from the air, but until you get right up to it, you can't appreciate it's immensity and significance.

Saturday, September 12 Today is Rick's 65th birthday, and it will last over 36 hours this year. He gets to start in central Australia where it's 14 1/2 hours earlier than in the Eastern US and it won't end until midnight in the US!!! To start the day, we're going to visit Alice Springs Desert Park. By the time we're done, we'll have spent 6 hours learning all about the central Australian desert habitats (Desert Rivers, Sand Country, and Woodlands) and learned quite a bit about the country and terrain we've been traveling through for the past few weeks. Too bad we couldn't have done this first!! For A$20 per person (we've got a 2 for 1 coupon that cuts the cost in half), you get admission to the park, use of a portable audio device and headset, numerous ranger talks, a wild bird demonstration, a video presentation about the desert habitats, and access to several caged areas where you can interact with some of the bird and wild life. The park consists of the three habitat areas. You follow a trail that winds through each of the habitats.and stop at numbered spots to listen to the audio presentation. By the time we're finished, we've gained a much better understanding of the desert regions of Australia. This was one of the best experiences we've had in Australia and certainly the best park we've ever been in. To make it even better, for some reason, there are very few people in the park (probably no more than 50).

On the way back, Rory invites T&F to be our guests at dinner tonight to celebrate Rick's birthday. Rick has a craving for steak, so we make a 7pm booking at The Overlanders Steakhouse. (Before we leave, we stick the little yellow sign in the back window of the 4WD. No one notices....) The restaurant turns out to be an excellent choice. When we're seated flags our placed on our table to indicate our home country. Tonight there'll be diners from UK, France, Austria, Scotland, US and Australia. The food is great, the service is superb, and the company is wonderful. As Rick says, if you're going to have a birthday, you might as well do so in Australia!!

Sunday, September 13 It's still Rick's birthday in the US!! He checks "FacebooK" and finds at least 20 "Happy Birthday" posts from friends around the world. We're going to spend the day taking it easy. We'll be hitting the road again tomorrow. (Trevor hasn't noticed the sign yet.....)