Central Australia Trip Day 1 Adelaide to Quorn

The day started with a very early registration and then it was on to the bus to head off up the middle of Australia. The bus was pretty old and very, very cramped, but most of our time on it was spent sleeping anyway. We drove up through beautiful winery regions and the Clare Valley and stopped at a cute place called Clare. Nothing much to do apart from stretch the legs and grab an ice-cream as it was getting hot already.

Next was our first walk of the trip, up to a peak in the Mt Remarkable National Park called the Dutchman's Stern, as the first Europeans here thought it looked like the stern of a boat. It was worth the walk to the top to see the rolling hills below us - a very refreshing break after a few hours in the bus.

Then it was back on the bus for a bit more driving before reaching out accommodation for the next two days, in Quorn. It's a pretty sleepy outback town with not a lot to do apart from a few pubs. Accommodation was good, bunk-bed dorms of 8 and Danni, Zoe and I were all able to be in the same room. The evening was spent sorting out our things, getting the evening meal ready (BBQ - the first of many!), and generally getting to know the rest of the group.

Our group was made up of 22 people from all over the world: Australia, Holland, Japan, USA, England, Irish, Luxemburg, Germany, Belgium. Seemed like a really nice bunch with a good mixture of ages and travelling experiences, and it was good fun comparing lives! Danni managed to learn everyone's name in about 10 minutes and didn't forget any the whole time… She should have been a teacher!