At 6.30am on the 2nd May 09 we set off on a 9 day tour to Darwin. Within 5 minutes of being around our new guide, Tony, we knew this was going to be a different and better experience - thank goodness for that!!

The unique thing about these 9 days was that we could sleep under the stars every night if we chose. Tents were available and I have to confess we wimped on 2 nights and did sleep in a tent - well it was cold!!

The trip was made all the better by the excellent group of people on the tour. Everyone got on remarkably well and a combination of Anne-Marie and Guiseppe as entertainment organisers made our evenings loads of fun - dice games, card games and the all important connect 4 tournaments! Anthems for the trip were strange but funny songs firstly 'Somebody...somebody put something in my drink' by the Ramones (from Guiseppe) 'Bara pa pa pa pa pa pa pa' a dutch song (from Sabine) and the Muppets theme tune. We also sent quite a few spaceships into space as introduced to us by Jonathon from Denmark (when you see me ask for a demo because that is easier than trying to explain it here).

Throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory controlled fires are carried out in the winter. This is in the tradition of the aborignes and it's the best time for it as the ground is still wet and the grass not too long. The big fires that occurred earlier this year are an example of what can happen if the grass is left to grow - once it starts to burn it takes on such a ferocity that it can cause emormous damage to the trees and buildings that surround it. We saw a number of natural fires on our journey and you can see the black kites circling around the fire waiting for the lizards and snakes to leave the area - easy prey!!

So where did we go!!!

Day 1 - After a morning of driving we stopped at Derby a small place famous for its record breaking feeding trough accommodating 50 bulls at any one time and a 1200 year old Boab tree with a 14m girth trunk which has a sad history as being a place where aborigine prisoners were schackled on their way to Derby gaol. In the afternoon there was more driving until we arrived at Windjana Gorge and our campsite for the night just before sunset. The gorge is beautiful and has a colourful history as it is the area where an aboriginal guy called Jandamara hid from the police for 3 years. The aboriginal people believe in Napoji Napoji 'what is mine is yours and what is yours is mine' - so when some drovers killed one of their kangaroos to eat they killed one of their sheep to eat. The result was that white mans law prevailed and Jandamara was arrested. They soon discovered that he had amazing tracking skills and decided to use him to help wth their policing. The problem was that they let him get in contact with his tribe who convinced him to come home so he killed the policeman, escaped and went on the run.

Day 2 - In the morning we visited Tunnel Creek in the Oscar Range. One of the entrances to the tunnel is where Jandamara was eventually shot dead after 3 years in hiding. The tunnel walk was quite adrenalin pumpng as we walked in the dark for about 750 metres surrounded by the red eyes of the freshwater crocodiles and the threat of snakes. In the afternoon we set up camp and went for a walk and swim at Bell Gorge.

Day 3 - We visited Manning Gorge which was next to our campsite at Mount Barnett Road House. To get to Manning Gorge you have to put all your belongings into a polystyrene box and swim over a river pushing it in front of you. After quite a hike we eventually reached the gorge which, like all other gorges, had the obligatory waterfall and pool. At one point I was lying on a rock readikng my book when I heard my name being yelled. It turned out that an iguana was swimming over to join me. I took a few photos but then had to retreat to a neighbouring rock - the iguana had won!!

We had a kangaroo bbq for dinner tonight which was actually really good!

Day 4 - We drove to El Questro to visit Emma Gorge where we had a dip in a pool with the coldest water ever! The camp site we were stayng at that night was 5 star - the toilets even had lights, thank goodness because one of my torches has stopped working and the other one has fallen to bits!

Day 5 - First stop today were the lovely Zebedee Hot Springs before heading off on a 5 hour drive to our campsite in the Bungle Bungle (Purnululu) National Park. We very quickly set up camp and then jumped back on the bus to get to the Kungalahay lookout along wth drinks, nibbles and stools for sunset. During the night I awoke to the howling sound of a pack of dingos - Aaaggghhh!

Day 6 - What I haven't mentioned is that on this trip you get up when the sun rises, which is at approximately 5am, so there was great excitement today as we were allowed to sleep in until 7am! Today was spent exploring the Bungle Bungles with walks through the Domes, Cathedral Gorge, Echidna Chasm and the Osmond lookout.

The highlight of today was viewing the Bungles Bungles from a helicoptor - with no doors may I add! I was on a flight with 2 larger ladies both over 100kg. To determine how much fuel is required for the flight you have to be weighed. When our total weight was calculated one of the guys really insensitively commented on how heavy it was and made a big deal about which helicoptor to use. As he'd made such a show I started panicking thinking we were too heavy and that the helicoptor would crash. In the end I went and spoke to another guy who told me the horrid man was a windbag and that the helicoptor could easily carry 400kg so not to worry. Turns out we had a lovely English pilot called Tommy and we had a lovely time.

Day 7 - We drove most of the day to get to Kununurra and when we did arrive we went on a really great sunset cruise on the biggest man made lake in Australia - the Ord River Dam. Again we had drinks and nibbles so it was a really nice atmosphere. We saw rock wallabies, freshwater crocodiles, the sunset and then we were taken to a safe swimming area where we could jump off the rocks and have swim. It was so cool swimming in the dark!

Day 8 - We had a morning off so most of us did absolutely nothing! We just relaxed by the campsite pool. We had quite a long afternoon drive so ended up stopping by Victoria River to make our evening meal. As we were there Anne-Marie was joking about the film Wolf Creek (which is about travellers being murdered) when a white van pulled up by us...she freaked! Fortunately they were just checking out there vehicle and as it was 17 people to 2 our odds were quite good. Our campsite for tonight is full of kangaroos, in fact I went to the toilet in the middle of the night and when I got out of the swag they were relly close to us.

Day 9 - This was our last day so we were on the road into Darwin! We stopped at Edith Falls for breakfast and an early morning swim and then drove to Adelaide River town the home of the water buffalo which appeared in the Crocodile Dundee movie. It is called Charlie and is now dead, stuffed and on display in a pub - nice!!