Now if you look back on the journey so far we haven't really ventured far from the ocean, whatever that specific stretch of water maybe called, The Tasman, the southern, the indian to name a few. So flinching through a glossy magazine of the area I noticed a National Park with pictures of glorious mountain ranges, sweeping planes and springwater gorges with swimming pools under waterfalls. I knew that this for me, was what the trip was all about so off we went inland east from Coral Bay to the Karinji National Park.

The drive as you can imagine was quite lonesome as apart from a few local mines and the local aboriginie communities the aera consisted of saltbush and spinifex grass peircing through an ox-blood stained land with the sky bright blue in contrast.

We got to the National Park, a little later than we thought due to the vast distances that required covering(still only a very short line on a map of australia) and a freindly ranger welcomed us to the campsite. We got out of the car and it felt like we'd steped into a sauna full of the very friendly Aussie flies they seem to be backwards in coming forward about in all the tourist infomation. Setting up camp was a little more difficult than usual due to the searing heat.

It was the first time we'd really bush camped and I was excited by the prospect of using generators and solar showers and my months of preperation to be self sufficient if need be were paying off (Sad isn't it). So with the generator rather noisily going about its business I stopped for a moment to take in my surroundings( through a wall of flies), it was quite a breath taking sight.

We were camped alone (apart from the ranger) in what seemed to be the bottom of a valley totally surrounded by mountains, the same ox-blood red as described earlier. It looked not of this world like it belonged to Mars, I thought if i had to choose peiple to colonise Mars, well the locals here would fell right at home.

A dazling sunset over the mountains of Karinji beckoned the oncome of night. Unsure what the nocternal beasts of the Aussie outback would have in store for two very sweaty Welsh people. It soon became obvious that sleep was not on the menu with howls from dingos surrounding our trailer and rustling in most bushes. I thought rather romantically, or too many Andy Mcnab books i wasn't sure, that desert areas tend to get alot cooler and sometimes quite cold at mights. Boy was i wrong!

Two sweaty masses awoke from an inadequate nights sleep to find the milk had gone off and well everything else in the fridge aswell really. The poor thing couldn't cope with the heat and we knew how it felt. The sun already beating down on us uforgivingly.

For the first time of the trip we ventured out in our walking boots. We hadn't planned to walk far in the slightest but there were posters everywhere telling what to do if a snake bites. Wouldn't really have much chance in thongs (flip flops). So better to be safe than soeey and all that. We went only a short drive and walk to Fortescue Falls where a pool of emerald coloured natural spring water had collected at the bottom of a water fall. Gem asked about leeches I assured here there wasn't any but, honestly, I din't know. Only one way to find out. I found what looked like a deep section and, after a little thought about what could be in the water, plunged into the unknown. It was amazing giving much needed relief from the heat. We saw out the high sun in the shade of the awning and a solar shower that had been kept in the shade.

Later in the afternoon we drove around various parts of the park, mostly to use the car's a/c but still amazed by the isolation, the beauty and the harhsness of the landscape wondering how anything lives in such an environment (apart from martians that is).

The evening came again and it was time of attempt to sleep again but, more so than the night before, the dingos were surrounding us. I felt a surge of adventurousness grabbed a torch and went in search of them but got about 10 meters, heard a growling sound and felt like I was being hunted by something from Jurassic Park and retreated to the van full of trepidation the whole way. We did, however, get a glimpse of one foreging in the bush near our camp wich satisfied our curiosity for now.

The night was a little cooler than the previous and we did manage to get some sleep, no thanks to dingo & co. It was time again to move on so we packed up camp (during which time we were harrased by a rather nasty looking centerpied, unsure if it was poisunous or not, but then again it is in Australia so it will probably have enough venom to kill a whale) and said goodbye to the rangers, told them to give our love to Yogi and Boo boo, and we were on the road again. We exited the Nat Park a different way, to the east and headed straight up to port headland and halfway from there to Broome we stopped the night. It was Frustrating as going through the town we would receive a medley of text messages but when we stopped for the night we were unable to reply-no signal.

Having used a large portion of our adventurousness in the last couple of days and with the heat and flies getting to us a little. We were just about to set up camp at a road house( ironically called Sandfire and the main facilities had recently burnt down, maybe they changed the name to suit I was unsure) and we talked ourselves into paying for an air conditioned motel room for the night, the first time of the trip. Having the general luxuries that an overpriced budget motel room offers (if you don't like it you can carry on another 3 hours drive to the next one if you like) felt palacial in comparison to the Ponda Rosa, A/C (even if the unit did rattle like a C-130 hercules on take off), a real bed, en-suite shower & toilet and a feeling that the place had been decorated last in the mid eighties, modern in comparison...Luxury!

Gem's Note: I'd like to add here that as we pulled up to our National Park campsite Rich pointed to a couple of peices of corrugated tin and said 'ha, ha, there's you're toilet...only teasing'. Turns out, to my horror and Rich's delight at my expense that this was in fact the toilet. A toilet seat over a hole in the ground with bits of tin all that's protecting you from surrounding dingos. That's the only wildlife it did keep out as the first time I went in there a lizard ran right in front of my feet...not a pleasant experience!