Happy Christmas from a very hot day! mid-30s and thats in the shade! it has been a very interesting chirstmas this year not only it being hot but also with early nights and early mornings! having travelled 20hours on a bus i was actually not too bad! xmas eve was spent watching a reptile show advising us what to do if we see or get bitten by a snake and what not to do if we see any of the other animals! xmas day was then spent doing a 6km walk in the heat and hen watching the sunrise at ayers rock with some wine! had a little xmas party with crackers and champayne! but it was an early night as boxing day we had to get up at 4am to watch the sunrise at ayers rock which was accompanied with a 9km walk round it! Bascially did a lot of walking. we also did some camping and I AM NEVER CAMPING again! it was horrible sleeping in the field worried/petrified about the creepy crawlies and it didn't help when a girl next to me got pinched by a centiped! so me and her slept underneath the coach! and then the next night it was very windy so we decided to cap underneath the sheltered kitchen/eating area. Whilst playing cards there we were accompanied with big spiders and a massive centiped-i have never seen anything like it, it was so big that it rolled itself up into a ball and it took a few big hits from a big guy to kill it! then apparently there was a scorpian in the mens loos so we moved from the sheltered bit to the grass which was worst so i didn't sleep at all! other than that the outback has been interesting and i glad ive done it and now i know i'll never do it again! Overall the temp has been what they called mild as the wek before it got up to the mid 40s! next stop back to sydney for new years! till then, have a great new year! ying-ying x