Darwin didn't turn out as planned and we got let down by the flat owners so we picked ourselves up and started looking for the next adventure, the only question we asked was do we head West or South? We trawled the internet for liftshares and campervan relocations that were leaving Darwin and eventually found a camper that needed relocating to Adelaide; decision made!

During our last day in Darwin we headed to Mindil beach for the sunset market and feasted on both Thai and Indian curry - it was bloody yummy! We couldn't move for a little while afterwards.

We were so excited when we picked up the campervan on the Friday morning. The camper was massive!! It had enough space to sleep 5 people, a kitchen and a table and chairs. So we loaded our belongings and hit the road....

The route from Darwin to Adelaide is really easy because it's just one highway that runs all the way through the middle of Australia but it's over 300km so we were given a week to get the van to Adelaide.

The first day we stopped off at Katherine for a rest then continued onto a small place called Mataranka where we parked up for the night. Mataranka is famous for it's thermal springs so we found a campsite near the Elsey National Park so that we could have a swim at the springs in the morning.

The water was lovely and warm, it was just like getting into a bath. It was such a nice change because all the other water we have swam in has been cold or "refreshing" as we like to call it. As it was 7:30am we pretty much had the place to ourselves too. When you get in the water there is a pool bit which you can float around in and then there is a current that takes you down the river to the end where you clamber out and walk back around to the beginning. It was so beautiful and so tranquil until we turned the corner and came across a massive spiders web with about 10million big spiders in it (they were about as big as my hand) I was terrified!!! There was enough head clearance to just float under the web without disturbing the web or the spiders but I just couldn't bring myself to do it and there was no way I was turning back so the only way I could get past was to swim under the water! The only problem was I didn't have any goggles so I couldn't see where I was swimming and in the end I surfaced right next to one of spiders -gross!!! Other than the spiders it was beautiful and a great way to start our day.

Day two on the road took us from Mataranka to Tennant Creek where we by some small miracle we found somewhere to watch the first Lions test.

Day three we drove from Tennant Creek to Alice Springs via a stop off at the Devils Marbles. The marbles are thousands of gigantic boulders all piled up on themselves besides the highway. they were quite magnificant so we got out and had a climb and took some pictures.

The landscape around Alice Springs was breathtaking as it's surrounded by red mountain ranges and it's a rather large town considering we were in the outback!

Day four we took a detour from the highway and went to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, home to Ayers rock and The Olgas. Both Davie and I were surprised at how green the desert was, we assumed it would be baron land covered in red sand but we were so wrong! The red sand was correct but there was so much green vegetation and on top of all that it looked like it was going to absolutely chuck it down with rain.

Our first siting of Ayers rock was not actually Ayers rock it was a lookylikey called Mt Conner, according to the Lonely Planet Mt Conner is the most photographed red herring and we could see why. By this point I was getting really impatient and just wanted to get there! Sometimes it can become quite tedious driving for hours and not getting anywhere but alas we got closer and eventually we spied our first real glimpses of Ayers Rock and the Olgas! From the distance you could see how magnificent they were; they were humongous!! The closer we got the bigger they got and at first I was quite overwhelmed by them.

The first stop we made was at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Kata Tjuta means "many heads" and the area is made up of 36 domed boulders standing shoulder to shoulder forming lots of valleys and gorges. Davie and I chose to do the Walpa Gorge walk which was a pretty, but popular, walk along one of the gorges.

After our visit to the Olgas we drove round to Uluru (Ayers rock). Uluru is really impressive when you can see the shear size of it all but when you get to it's base it's quite underwhelming and I couldn't help but think "ooo yeah it's just a great big red rock" We continued on our walk none-the-less and we were stopped in our tracks by the sight of people clambering up the rock side. Well of course Davie couldn't come all the way here and not climb it now he'd seen others do it. So we found the start of the walk and up we went - it was flipping steep! The views were amazing, I didn't make it all the way - I kept going dizzy if I looked down - but from my lookout I could see for miles!

After climbing Uluru we drove to the sunset viewing spot to get a few pictures. We set up our chairs in front of the van with a bowl of noodles ready for the sunset but unfortunately, it was this point that the rain decided to come down! Never mind!

Day five we had a long drive ahead of us so we got up at the crack of dawn and started out towards Coober Pedy. We were driving as the sun was rising and it was absolutely beautiful, the sky was a multitude of colours. We've seen lots of sunsets this holiday but I think this was our first sunrise!

During the drive we passed through the Northen Territory border into South Australia and the scenery started to change slightly. The roads became slightly more windy and much more hilly and you could see lots of mountain ranges in the distance. That day we just drove, stopping off at a few towns to refuel and stretch the legs. We stopped for the night just shy of Coober Pedy in one of the free rest areas.

Day six we arrived at Coober Pedy, a small town famous for it's Opal Mines. The landscape become riddled with holes and piles of sand where the mines were and a lot of the town is actually built underground so it has refuge from the scorching hot summers. It was pouring with rain when we were there so we didn't hang around for too long.

We drove most of the day until we were about 70km away from Port Augusta and set up camp in another free rest area.

Day seven we had a lie in and drove the rest of the way to Port Augusta. This was our favourite day of the trip, the sun was shining and because we'd done so much driving we were in no hurry we could have a nice relaxing day. As we reached Port Augusta and civilisation we got our phone signal back yippee!! Davie received a message to let us know that his sister Tina had given birth to a little boy the day before - CONGRATULATIONS!! On top of that it was my Dad's 50th birthday so we were both in a celebratory mood.

We had a wander about, played pooh sticks on the bridge (my stick won!) And then found a seat in the sun. After a massive portion of celebratory fish and chips we hit the road again and set up camp at a place called Port Wakefield. It was nice to arrive when the sun was still up so we set up the outdoor table and enjoyed a few celebratory beers!! It was beautiful and as I said before it was our favourite day.

Day eight we arrived in Adelaide! It was quite sad handing the camper back because we'd had such fun on our roadtrip but I'm sure it won't be long before we embark on another roadtrip!!!