Ok, computers being annoying and not allowing me to upload photos, but I can at least start telling you about what I got up to. Arriving in Darwin was a bit of a culture shock having grown so used to South East Asia. Suddenly everything worked, was clean and in English...hadn't experienced that for quite a while! Darwin one could describe as small but perfectly formed. I had 4 nights here to recover and prepare myself for the adventures ahead. I met a lovely Australian called Vivian who introduced me to the joys of French Toast and mapel syrup before showing me some of the town. The day before I left Darwin I met up with David, the guy I bumped into at Singapore Zoo. He lives in Darwin and as such knows it a great deal better than me! So we jumped on some bikes and toured the coast of Darwin before heading back to Mindil beach and it's hippy style markets. Here we watched the most gorgeous sunset over the beach, I believe Australia boasts some very good sunsets so I'm sure they'll be more to follow! Early start next morning as I began my 6 day tour of the Northern Territory. Said hello to my fellow travellers and Grub/Jess, our tour leader, before falling back to sleep as it was still insanely early. First stop was Edith Falls in the Katherine National Park. We were assured that no crocs lived there so went for a dip in the falls- freezing but the scenery made up for that! Then drove on to the Katherine Gorge itself and climbed to the top for some awesome views. Our accommodation was described as a permanent campsite which consisted of sleeping tents, a kitchen tent and toilets and showers etc. As we were basically in the middle of no-where each night, the stars were the brightest I've ever seen them. It got pretty cold each night once the sun had gone down so the guys took it upon themselves to go foraging for firewood and build us a fire, each of which got bigger as it got colder until we were burning whole tree trunks and could probably be seen for miles around! We were introduced to the Australian swag...a kind of sleeping bag for your sleeping bag, designed to just throw down and sleep wherever you felt the urge. Some people decided to sleep outside under the stars in theirs but I chickened out and went in the tents after seeing the size of the spider sat in the shower cubicles I then had visions of crawling over my face during the night, had I slept outside! The next morning consisted of swimming in natural thermal pools-lovely! Then in the afternoon we traveled onto our next campsite, stopping off at some random pubs along the way. You can go for miles in the Northern Territory and see no signs of life, and then all of a sudden a 'blink and you miss it' village jumps out at you. These settlements were built around the telegraph stations positioned along the Stewart Highway. Being left to their own devices, the communities would go a bit....eccentric. The Daly Waters pub was one of many, its walls draped with people's underwear, clothing, flags, photographs, currency...anything really that was a memento of their visit. A 4am wake up call greeted us the next morning as Grub ensured us that sunrise over the Devils Marbles was a sight not to be missed. So huddled in our sleeping bags we sat on the cold rocks and waited for the sun to rise, and yes, it was quite spectacular (see the photos). After a lunch prepared by the boys, having lost the battle of the sexes quiz, it was on to Alice Springs. Oh and not forgetting the spectacular visit to the Stewart Tree...fascinating (notice the sarcasm!). Just before dinner that evening, we had a bit of time to go and visit the kangaroo orphanage just next door to our hostel. The owner had given up everything to be a full time surrogate 'mother' to some baby kangaroos who's real mothers had died in road kill. (Always check the pouch of a kangaroo you find at the side of the road!). They were incredibly cute and we were allowed to hold them as we were told about how each of them had been found and how they would be looked after and eventually released back into the wild. So that was the end of one tour, the next one around the Red Center started early the next morning...!