Well, who'd have thought that visiting a big rock could cause such a kerfuffle!! Had an adventurous few days but firstly to finish off 'The Top End' - Kakadu was great, saw v v old aborginal rock art at Ubirr and an amazing look our pint without without a manmade structure for miles and miles. Had luxury camping accommodation which was great and amazing clear skys where could see loads of stars including the milky way. A few more walks and swims later we were on the train to Alice Springs. Train was fab and arrival in Alice Springs fine...

Had to be up at 5.30am to catch tour bus to Uluru etc only to find that the hostel/tour agency had only booked one space, not two! The tour was fully booked and as no-one could alter their travel plans we basically had to get off again! Eeveryone very accommodating etc and hostel booked us on a two day tour that pretty much covered everythingwe wanted to see. Had a day in ALice Springs and had a fab free didgeridoo lesson (we were both OK although we do say so ourselves!) and visited the Flying Doctors museum - no mention of the TV show though!

So, up again the next day at 5.30am only to find that this tour was a 30-seater coach (rather than a 15-seat 4WD) and was full of middle aged-elderly people!! Argh! Not what we had in mind! Got better when changed buses halfway to a minibus with four other people to go to Kings Canyon. Had a great tour guide who told us loads but the other people on the tour included a woman of 80 who walked with a stick and everyone else was at least 30 years older so our 3hr canyon rim walk (not dissimilar to cheddar gorge) was out of the question! Did a very nice base walk instead, spectacular scenery and also visted another canyon. A very nice night in a motel (which had a hairdryer!) and thenwe ended up on the big coach again to go to Uluru. Again not much walking but really intersting tour around Uluru with lots of info on the Aborginal creation stories etc, followed by the ubiquitous sunset - made even better with good BBQ and couple of glasses of champagne!! Really was spectacular, pics wqill be up soon. Long drive back to AS dropped us off at 11.30 - only to find hostel reception shut and no room to go to!! Ended up staying the night on sofa in TV room, not good! Needless to say that was final straw so Greg wrote an excellent complaint letter and we got some money back, and a story to tell you guys! Overall we've learnt from it and although we had a good time and the sights are great we'd like to go back and do it 'our way'!

Now in Adelaide and have met up with members of my family who have organised some fab things to do for the next few days, can't wait and will obviously update you all soon. Loads of love to all

S&G xxxx

P.S The weather's gone cold!!!