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We landed in Melbourne where we enjoyed our first two days.  Then we took the overnight train to Adelaide, where we spent a rather uneventful day before catching the Ghan.  The Ghan is a tourist train that cuts up the middle of Australia, from Adelaide all the way to Darwin.  We broke the journey with a stop at Alice Springs, where we rented a car and drove to Kings Canyon.  We spent two nights in the Red Center and did the Rim Walk.  Then it was another very long and quite monotonous 5-hour drive back to Alice Springs where we again boarded the Ghan and continued our journey to Darwin.

Once in Darwin we joined a 5-day safari exploring the "Top End", camping along the way.  Our first stop was an Aborigine village, Manyallaluk, where we learned about their culture and art.  Our next stop was a cruise through the Katherine Gorge.  Our guides then took us into Kakadu, a national park the size of Belgium, where we spent the next 3 nights.   Interspersed with our sightseeing, we'd visit swimming holes to cool off and relax, taking care to avoid the crocodiles!  The highlight of the safari was a cruise along the Yellow Water Wetlands, which is absolutely teaming with birdlife and, of course, more crocodiles.  This was also our best location for photographs; you can see these in Yellow Water Wetlands Part 1 and Yellow Water Wetlands Part 2.

We returned to Darwin for a day's rest and 7 batches of washing, then flew to Cairns the next morning.  Our transfer drove us north to Daintree National Park at Cape Tribulation.  There we experienced the wilds of the rain forest as well as catching a boat for a snorkeling trip on the Great Barrier Reef.

We transferred back to Cairns where we caught a flight to Sydney, and a return to civilization.  Sydney has got to be one of the prettiest cities in the world, but looks even better after weeks in the Outback! During our 4 days we also visited Manly, Bondi Beach, and Paddington ... before catching our flight back to England.