After Ashleigh made the sea even more salty with an abundance of tears, we finally said goodbye to our time and friends on Lindeman Island on the 15th August. What fond memories we have left with and we finished our time on the island with a brilliant few days of sunrise's and sunsets with the gang and the cherry on the cake, we spotted a whale making its way through the passage of water between the islands as we watched the sunset from the 8th hole of the golf course with a few beers. Leaving the island was an emotional affair as the whole gang turned up on the jetty to wave us off. We have made some amazing friends over the past two months, many we hope to see again back in blighty and around the world as we continue on with our travels. It was hard saying goodbye to the people that we have not only worked with but lived with during our time there. Ashleigh found it hard saying goodbye to the girls and salty cheeks were eminent, as for me I found it hard even looking at Mat aka Banana as he had a look on his face like his pet dog had just died. We are both really going to miss his daft jokes but we know for many of the people we have met it was not goodbye but see you later. We have left Mat in good hands though as Marcus has promised to call him Banana at least once a day and to make sure that he is fed, watered and taken for a walk each day. But we had to tell Marcus that just because he is German that he cant just feed Mat sausages all the time. German's love sausages, they all deny it but it's all they eat and talk about.

So boarding the ferry to take us back to Airlie Beach we were sad to go but also excited to be getting back on the road again and back to our super camper van, Bert. As a bonus on our way through the spectacular Whitsunday Islands we spotted another whale surfacing for air every few minutes and it is something we will never forget, seeing a whale in its natural environment is something else, such a beautiful thing to see with our own eyes. Arriving at Shute Harbour a few hours later we said our final farewells to other Club Med staff that were on the same ferry as ourselves and made our way up the hill to where we had left Bert parked some two months previous. We were a little concerned about the van starting up as it had sat idle during that time and we thought the battery might run flat as they do in old vehicles but as reliable as he is, with a turn of a key, Bert fired into life on the first go. We pulled round the corner to pay for our parking as we had only paid for the first week and we gave our slip to the girl at the counter telling her that we needed to settle our bill, she took one look at our slip and handed it back saying "Yeah that's fine and all paid for, have a nice day" We were expecting to pay a further $400 for the parking but to be told that we were good to go was music to our ears. This trip had started just the way we liked it, spending less than we had originally thought. We decided that we needed to set off straight away to start our adventure into the desert and departing at 4pm we drove for four hours to Home Hill as the sun set in front of us. Spending our first night in a rest area with a pizza and a few glasses of red was the perfect way to kick start our first day back on the road.

As we clock up the days, the distance we have covered is quiet incredible. The sites we have seen are quiet mind blowing as well and you definitely get a sense of the vast expanse of land that is Australia. As you make your way though the outback there are sections of plants and trees by the side of the road that look like an artist has splashed green paint over a canvas of a landscape painting. Other parts have rich terracotta coloured soil topped with sun scorched grass as the mountains in the distance cut into the rich cobalt blue sky. There are vast sections of termite mounds that look like little terracotta people watching you as you drive by and sometimes there is just nothing for miles around as the empty straight road stretches on ahead of you as far as your eyes can see. As for the sunsets out here, I can only describe them using one word, WOW! It is like all the colours of the spectrum battling it out to dominate the sky with the inevitable rich purple eventually pushing all other colours down over the horizon for another day. It never gets boring and never fails to amaze us in it's beauty. The driving side of the trip is all part of the fun and fuelled on by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Oasis and many a blue's brother and soul sister, the time goes by with ease. Our fuel consumption is not to bad either as we are averaging around 400km per tank and we are backed up with two 20 litre and a 10 litre jerry can just in case as some petrol pumps can be over 300km apart. We have been alternating between the captains and co pilots seats and have both done some epic drives. Ash pulling off a 9 hour 750km drive (470 miles) and myself doing an 11 hour 910km drive (570 miles). We are driving as economically as we can to save on expense of fuel as it can be pushing nearly $2 a litre in the more remote places of the outback. So cruising along between 80-90kmph (60mph) can take us some time to reach where we are going. Sometimes we open up the throttle and drive at the dizzy heights of 120kmph (75mph) if we are wanting to reach a place before sundown but as you drive you can see the fuel gage dropping before your eyes. The speed limit in most places is 130kmph (80mph) but we can only achieve such speeds going down hill. Even if professor Doc Brown had 1.21 jigawatts to power our van, we wouldn't even be able to hit the magical 88mph (140kmph) needed to propel us back to the future. Great Scott's!

Driving 105km south of Tennant Creek we arrived at one of the attractions of our drive into the outback and desert, the Devil's Marbles. What a sight. Karlwe Karlwe is their Warumungu name for whom the site is associated with many stories and traditions. According to scientists, the Devil's Marbles are the rounded remains of a layer of granite that has been eroded over aeons. This is defiantly a geological phenomenon and a feast for the eyes. As you walk around the massive boulders that are stacked and balanced upon each other you cant help but feel like you have stumbled onto the set of a new Flintstones movie. Some of the rounded boulders look like they defy the laws of gravity and would tumble down with the slightest push. It was great fun climbing up and between the peculiar rocks that are a rich earthy colour and are a brilliant contrast to the blue sky and dusty scorched ground that surrounds them. Some of the massive boulders are split clean in half and others look like they are carved sculptures by Picasso. What an amazing place and natural spectacle. To round off our time at the Devil's Marbles we saw our first wild dingo, needless to say I wasn't going to try and stroke it like a dog as it would probably take my hand off. Back in the van we drove onto where we had originally planned to stay for the night, Barrow Creek a further 100km south. After one look at the place we thought "Naaaaa, not stopping there" as it looked about as welcoming as a night in with Hannibal Lecter. They might as well have a sign outside saying 'Stay with us for the night and we will throw in the murder for free!' So we opted to fill up on fuel and gun it a further 290km south to Alice Springs.

We finally arrived under the cover of darkness at 8.30pm on the 19th August after driving in the dark making sure that we didn't hit any kangaroos, cows or horses that seem to love walking about on the road once the sun has set. The sides of the road are littered with the corpses of many that have met their maker with the last thing that they see being a set of headlights. We have seen more dead kangaroos than live ones. I thought that the skeletons of dead cows by the side of the road in the desert was a myth, a thing of Hollywood movies but we have seen loads. As soon as we pass one that is nothing but bones, we are going to mount it's skull on our bull bar as long as its not crawling with maggots and smelling like a tramps sock. We have seen a good mix of birds too soaring high above the outback. Massive hawks patrol the skies looking for something to eat, normally being road kill. We were surprised to see a pair of storks flying by our van but I suppose babies need delivering to the Northern Territory too. We had mixed opinions about staying at Alice Springs as we have heard so many first hand accounts of bad experiences that other travellers have had there. People being robbed, cars and vans broken into and even people being chased down a street because an aboriginal wanted the shirt off his back. It seems a crying shame that there is a certain amount of fear and unease towards the aboriginal people as it is hard to forget the stories you hear, more bad than good. You cant help feel a little intimidated as they sit and stair at you as you drive past. I'm sure the majority of them are just trying to get by in life but unfortunately a pretty ugly picture has been painted of the aboriginal people within Alice Springs and it is hard to ignore, especially when we checked into our caravan park for the evening and the man at reception said "Don't walk the streets at night, it's not safe at all" It hardly installs confidence. But after spending the past three nights in rest areas, staying in a caravan park with hot showers and electricity is always a treat. We are well and truly back into life on the road. After a good sleep and a hearty breakfast we set off having a drive around Alice Springs to take a looks at it in the light and it is a beautiful place with great surrounds. It is a shame that we felt uneasy here as we might have spent more time there if not. But that is the bad thing with first impressions, you only get one. What we had heard about Alice Springs and the aboriginal people defiantly added the fear element into our 'Fear and Loathing in Northern Territory' trip.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x