After crossing the border from Ethiopia into Sudan, everything changed very quickly.

We encountered so many roadblocks, mostly friendly and always asking for names and nationality, and very often requiring us to get out of our car into a little 'office' by the side of the road, where we showed our passports and they wrote down all our details.

The elevation changed dramatically, down to about 500 metres quite quickly, and with it a huge rise in temperature after the coolness in mountainous Ethiopia. The landscape was now vast stretches of beautiful black soil open plains, obviously broad-acre farmed and harvested as far as you could see, though it gradually became a lighter coloured chocolate soil, and more arid towards our bush campsite. The people changed as now we were in a predominantly Muslim country again after Christian Orthodox northern Ethiopia, the men in white flowing robes and heads wrapped in white cloth, and the women often in black from head to toe, but at the very least their heads covered with scarves. The houses were now mud brick and square, in treeless compounds - no more eucalyptus trees - often with elevated 'cages' of earthenware pots out the front, obviously filled with the day's water supply.

Our first night was a bush camp between Doka and Gedaref a short distance off the tarred road to Khartoum, very hot and with very little shade and myriads of little bush flies which disappeared with our first spectacular sunset in Sudan - and followed by a full moon. And all good fun camping with our fellow travellers - three vehicles still travelling together since Nairobi - Dickie and Claire and their girls Sonja and Natasha; Bob and Maria; and ourselves.

The next day we travelled to Khartoum and the landscape became more arid and desert-like, the driving more glary and dusty, but still an excellent tarred road. Arriving in Khartoum, we headed straight for Khartoum's oldest hotel, the Acropole, run by the Pagoulatas family of Greek origin, and that evening we met George with whom we had been in contact since before we left Australia. George is extremely helpful and obliging, and can help out with anything you might need in Khartoum.

We spent three nights at the Acropole, and explored Khartoum during the day, catching the local broken-down taxis, one of which had to connect two wires under the steering wheel every time it stalled, which was at every intersection. We found a supermarket to stock up for the trip north; and the Ozone Cafe for lunch, and good but expensive coffee at Monte Cafe next to our hotel. We caught a taxi to the luxury Burj Al-Fateh Hotel where from the 17th floor there is an expansive view of the confluence of the two Niles - the Blue Nile from Ethiopia and the White Nile from Lake Victoria in Kenya. While driving around Khartoum in taxis, we found we could quickly learn the Arabic numbers, very handy when you want to know the real prices for market goods. Number plates have Arabic numbers with ours underneath, so learning them was made easy, and we can both now read and write them - only to 10 though.

We had a huge wind whipping up a sandstorm the day we left Khartoum, travelling north and following the Nile, though it is not visible from the road. We drove to the Meroe Pyramids through the country of the Nubian people which stretches through desert to Wadi Halfa and Lake Nasser on the border with Egypt. The road was straight, and littered with blown-out tyres from the constant stream of trucks that travel up to Port Sudan. The road blocks were once again prolific, but George had made sure we had all the necessary travel permits and that we had registered with the police, so they were all hassle free and we were welcomed to Sudan with huge smiles and great enthusiasm for Australia - nearly as good as Sudan we were told and we decided it was not the time to argue the point.

The pyramids of the Royal Cemetery of Meroe are spectacular in their own way, mainly due to their isolation. They sit on top of sand ridges not far from the road, and we camped in the desert around behind them and explored them in the evening in fading light, and again the next morning. They are different apparently to those at Giza in Egypt, not quite as old, smaller, and the tomb chambers were dug directly into the rock below, covered in rubble and the pyramid then erected above. Each one has a funerary chapel on the eastern face where offerings could be made to the dead. There were no other tourists, however at our camp it wasn't long before four of the locals with a couple of camels had set up an outdoor 'stall' next to our camp selling artefacts and locally made crafts.

We travelled across the desert and back on to the Nile River at Karima and visited another group of Sudanese pyramids at Jebel Barkal, again fascinatingly remote and off the tourist track. Another desert camp just north of Karima, and the next day more wonderful driving through the Nubian Desert, the landscape so stark and bare, but truly beautiful. Dongola is situated on the Nile with a huge bridge across and was an interesting little place where we could re-fuel and buy fruit and vegetables. Continuing along the Nile from Dongola, the river snakes its way through the desert landscape, with only about 5 to 10 metres of incredibly green crops and date palms along its banks, in contrast to the absolute desert of surrounding sandy hills.

Our next desert camp was right on the Nile just south of Abri, with a few Nubian fishermen intrigued but untroubled by our visit. So after three wonderful nights camping in the desert, with cold nights and not so hot days which really surprised us, we reached Wadi Halfa where we were to catch a ferry across Lake Nasser to Egypt, while our cars would go separately on a barge. We had been in touch with our fixer, Mazar Mahir, and the ferry and barge were booked, but it is only on arrival that you truly know and understand the whole situation. Mazar was a delight, and very hospitable, inviting us to have our picnic lunch at his house. The ferry as we knew was leaving on Wednesday, and Mazar had warned us there was a chance we would not get cabins, so we had resigned ourselves to sleep on the deck, which it now appeared was a certainty. Luckily, the barge was now leaving the same day as the ferry, so there would be no need for hotel accommodation in Wadi Halfa, which was a relief. So arriving on a Sunday meant that we had three more relaxing nights in the desert a few kilometres south while we waited for our departure, and gave us time to prepare for our night on the deck. It was very pleasant camping, great sunsets and spectacular stars, with odd trips into town checking with Mazar and keeping track of the paperwork.

Our ferry day was one of patience and waiting, while vehicles were loaded, and Mazar did a sterling job with all the paperwork involved with immigration and customs when leaving a country with a vehicle. By late afternoon, after squashing on a bus from the terminal to the ferry, and Mazar helping us secure a great spot on the deck, we settled in for the next 18 hours, and eventually the ferry pulled out and we were on our way. We could see the barge with our vehicles on it across the lake, but we were travelling much faster and soon it was out of sight. There was a 'call to prayer' followed by a large group of men praying on the deck close by, and then yet another spectacular sunset over the lake with a backdrop of desert landscape. We ate our own food we had brought with us, deciding not to risk using our meal tickets, and with the border crossing now complete, we settled down into our sleeping bags for the night, the engine of the boat just purring, and no sensation of moving as you looked up at the stars. We were snug and comfortable and ready for Egypt - or so we thought.