G'Day,

so after our diving expedition in Cairns we wen't to get ourselves some new wheels to go into the OUTBACK!!!!!

First days driving came as a bit of a shock (to say the least), after driving for seven hours straight we had moved about 1cm on the map. Very quickly we learned the outback rules which are an absolute must.

You must fill up at every petrol station you get to as you may not see another for 300 miles, you must carry as much water as possible (at least 20 litres) cause if you break down out there, you may not see another human being for a few DAYS, and yes you guessed it, no water, desert conditions= BROWN BREAD.

Then you have the wild horses, cows, camels, water buffalows, dingo's, and eight foot Kangeroo's who like to jump out in front of you whilst your going 130 clicks an hour, we were advised that they are most active around dusk and dawn so driving around sunset/rise was a definate NO NO!!!

All this and we have'nt even got onto the got onto the snakes, spiders, frilled neck lizards, crockodiles, etc that either sting, kill you, or give you a nasty bite, which would make you wish you were dead from the pain. With all this in consideration the OUTBACK was BOSS!!!

After 5 days driving 7 hours a day we finally reached Ayers Rock (or as we call it THE ROCK). The Rock is a massive rock in the middle of nowhere, which is a religious site for the Aborigional people. No white person knew anything about it up until around 70 years ago, which is really strange given the size of the thing.

At The Rock we opened up our bottle of champers and enjoyed the sunset. At sunset The Rock turns a bright red/orange colour and the sky behind it turns every colour under the sun, it is a pretty special place. It was here where we got some of our best pics of our travels, and 'sods law,' the camera decided to take the knock and we lost them..........

'WHERE THE HELL THE BLOODY HELL IS BANKA BANKA'

After a further 3 days driving we we reached a SMALL cattle station, about the size of wales; called BANKA BANKA. This OUTBACK really is MASSIVE:

At Banka Banka we were greeted by an Emu (ERNIE), two bush turkeys and a retired sheep dog who enjoyed trying to round up the 7ft emu and the 2 bush turkeys all day (old habbits die hard!!) Now thats something you don't see everyday back home.....

Ernie the emu used to live on the cattle station with his two brothers but they decided to go BUSH a couple of years ago, but he opted for the easy life, and stayed on the station getting fed off all of the people instead, smart bird!!!

Later on that night we sat aroung a huge bonfire with some road train drivers, some jackaroos/jillaroos (australian cowboys/cowgirls) and a few other fellow travellers watching a slide show of how life is on the cattle station, it was a breath of fresh air...... I wanted to stay forever and become a jillaroo.

Update soon Danielle&James XXXX