Hello Lovely people!

We made it to Melbourne after a month of campervan adventures! As you know we set off from Brisbane on the 29/02/08 in our little campervan, a Cypriot, an Englishman and a Dutch to discover the Australian Outback.

The treck was fun albeit the squeeze in the car and the neverending need for petrol which was one of our major expences. Petrol costs soooooo much in this country its unreal. Anyway, we drove accross Queensland in about a week which is circa 1500kms ( I think!). We of course stopped in some small towns like Saphire which is not on most maps so dont bother looking. We went fossicking for the precious gems whilst there and found quite a few and had lots of fun in the process. After Saphire we stopped for a while in Mount Isa, which is like the mining capital of Queensland or something of that sort. There we went on a mine tour and yours truly was put up on the wall of fame for being the very first Cypriot to visit the mine attraction. So keep in mind if any of you ever happen to find yourselves on the other side of the world in the middle of Queensland and sign up for the mine tour, to look for my picture lokking stupid in very bright orange overalls...hehehe.

After Mnt Isa we crossed the state borders into the Northen Territories and started our treck to Alice Springs. Our first stop was however Tennant Creek where we hoped to go gold fossicking. Unfortunately we happened to arrive on a staurday which meant that the Tourist Centre was closed...so no gold nuggets for us..boooo.. Tennant Creek was not the friendliest of Australian Outback towns and we didnt like it. Alice Springs was a lot more civilised so we set camp there for a fair few days wondering the surrounding areas. We went to the West Mcdonnels in Glen Helen ( a mere 300kms away) where we had the chancde to get a short helicopter ride for a very good price. Totally worth it as the views and scenery are positevely breath taking.

Being the good tourists that we are we visited the Uluru. For those who dont know its that very famous red rock Australia is always associated with. On our way there we drove through the desert which is actually red no kidding and has trees but no water...go figure! We past an infinite amount of creeks and rivers but none of them had any water in which (after one and a half weeks in a campervan) we found highly amusing. The Uluru and the Kata Tjuta (another rock formation) were impressive but left a bitter taste in our mouth as it costs about an arm and a leg to stay in the area and to enter the park in order to see them. The same is to be said about King's Kanyon which is in the area as well albeit 300kms away. Beautiful but I never paid so much to be allowed to look at rocks.

Anyhow, after leaving the aboriginal sacred places we made our way to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy. Its a weird little community with loads of Greeks ( I dunno why) where you are by law forbiden to walk backwards, walk whilst taking pictures and walk whilst looking at the sky. Its because there are so many opal mining shafts in the ground that the danger of falling in them is great. As you may have guessed we went fossicking for opals and did actually find some but dont get to excited they're worth nothing. the other thing Coober Pedy should be famous for is the vast amounts of flies that live there. I never used to mind flies untill I got to Australia but to my defence Australian flies are soooooooo annoying and always want to sit on your face.

We left Coober Pedy and headed to Port Augusta which is in South Australia ( its a different state). the Scenery changed dramatically as soon as we crossed the border. No longer the red sand of the desert we were surrounded by lush greens and really tall trees which was a welcome change. From there we headed to the Barossa Valley which is famous for its wines and looks remarkably like rural France ( See picture Barossa or France?). Needless to say we went on a wine tour in the area and taseted some REALLY good wines and some REALLY bad ones but had tons of fun getting tipsy and comparing notes with each other. We also bought a few bottles but those didnt make it very far. If any of you ever happens to go to the Barossa Valley make sure you visit the Gibson winery because they make the BEST shiraz....yum!!!!

We then went to Adelaide which is georgeous!!! We stayed by the beach and it was lovely, warm and relaxed. We even manged to get a free Catamarran ride which was really awesome!

I have to leave you now but tune in for the last part of the adventure.... The Great Ocean Road!!!!!!