Our final days in Australia were spent in a luxurious penthouse apartment in an exclusive part of Sydney. Well, when I say "luxurious penthouse" I mean a top-floor room in a hostel; and by "exclusive" I mean Kings Cross, which can be regarded as exclusive only by backpackers, prostitutes and drug dealers.

On the other hand, the room was huge, with a sofa for watching TV and a small separate kitchen. Best of all was the view, which took in the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the City. If you ignored the peeling paint and the holes in the sofa, then it would have been about $300 just for the outlook. If anyone stays at Kanga's hostel on Victoria Street, ask for room 7 - a bargain at $70 a night.

We left Sydney on the morning of February 3rd, having spent 295 days in Australia. Before we started, neither of us had been camping apart from the odd night and given the problems we had at the start with our tents and the weather it was touch and go whether we would manage. In the end, however, we only spent 27 nights on a proper bed and 268 on our self-inflating mattress.

Despite the odd moan and grumble, we came to thoroughly enjoy life under canvas. (Ok, I know none of our tents was made of canvas, but "life under nylon" has a slightly perverse connotation.) One aspect which we hadn't anticipated but which we grew to appreciate was a greater awareness of the natural world around us.

This could be something as simple as feeling changes in temperature much more than if we had been living in a house. In a tent, we could be freezing when we woke up, then baking within half an hour once the sun rose and hit our tent. We were also much closer to animal life - everything from being woken rudely by the screeching cockatoos, to drifting off to sleep listening to kangaroos munching on nearby greenery.

In all, we drove about 27,000 km - about 17,000 miles - on our Australian circuit. It would have been more, but we never managed to get to the middle of the country. I drove more than 90% of the way, but Katy was behind the wheel for 90% of the off-road driving. This was what she said she wanted to do before we arrived and she loved every second of it - from ploughing through the Pentecost River with water foaming over the bonnet, to sashaying from side to side on the sand roads of the Francois Peron national park.

With Australia behind us, we thought we would hand out some personal awards to reflect our time there:

Best Campsite Overall, we found commercial camps in Australia to be inferior to those in New Zealand, but there were some exceptions. Pride of place has to go to the Wallamba River Holiday Park near Forster in NSW, which was in a great location on a lake, well laid-out and had an immaculate and well-equipped kitchen.

Others worthy of note were the Blue Lakes park in Mount Gambia (a luscious green location with plenty of space), the Exmouth Cape Big 4 (very good kitchen, good atmosphere), the Toora Tourist Park in Victoria (free pool and jacuzzi and very cheap) and the Newmarket Gardens park in Brisbane (best of the city sites)

Best National Park Campsites Unlike their commercial counterparts, we found all the Australian national park sites to be much better than those in New Zealand. This was particularly the case in Western Australia where unpaid camp hosts keep the sites clean and collect the fees.

Our favourite was Ned's Camp in the Cape Range national park near Exmouth. The hosts have been welcoming visitors there for the past 20 years and even organise happy hours and a book swap. Honorary mentions go to the camps in Windjana Gorge and the Bungle Bungles.

Worst Camps One stood out a mile in this category. The Wanderers in Airlie Beach was uncared-for with a filthy and downright dangerous kitchen. Dishonorable mentions go to the Shady Glen Tourist Park in Darwin with its rude staff, and to the Denmark Rivermouth park for its cupboard-like and dirty kitchen.

Best State This was Western Australia by a mile. Many tourists don't go to WA because it is so far from anywhere else, but they are truly missing out. For us, WA contained the best scenery and had the most character, particularly in the north of the state.

Best City None of the major cities could be described as bad, though Sydney was our favourite by quite a margin. The Opera House and Harbour Bridge give it a focal point and a buzz which none of the others can match.

Best Beer and Wine It is a costly struggle to find a decent drink in Australia, no matter what the locals believe. The standard beers such as XXXX and VB are the proverbial gnats piss and you have to pay a high price to get something decent. That said, we really loved the beers brewed by Matso's in Broome, particularly the Mango. Other good, though expensive, beers included Fat Yak, James Squire Amber Ale and Little Creatures.

We didn't drink much wine because of the cost, though the Shiraz we got at the Willespie winery during our Margaret River wine tour was excellent.

Richard and Katy