Hi folks, sorry for the delay, seems the Outback has non-existant internet. Suppose it doesn't help staying in a tent every night but there ya go, we did it right! This post is gonna be looooong , so if you have anything you need to take care of in the coming weeks, perhaps you shouldn't settle down to read this just yet!

Singapore

So we're going all the way back to Singapore now, two weeks ago. First night there, we went to a night safari, which was presented in a way that would make you think you were in Disneyland (if you've been to Disney you'll know what we mean - 'hi, isn't this a magical wonderous place' type) but it was pretty cool we gotta say! We were ushered onto a 3 car safari train of sorts which took us around the entire park, but the catch was…it was at night. The animals were in large, open pens that were fenced off but not behind glass panels so it was cool to see nocturnal animals knocking about. In particular the lions and leopards, beautiful things.

The following day we had time to just wander around ourselves. We spent most of the morning looking for a post office to send stuff home. Found the most helpful post office worker in history to be fair, he sorted everything as we were sending a few boxes of crap home! We just chilled most of afternoon and that night was to be last night of tour. We went for our regular food court visit for dinner. Claire had an Indian… we'll pick that up later… After dinner we went to the Singapore flyer. It's basically the London Eye/ Belfast Wheel except it's bigger than both, much bigger than Belfast, and in fact the biggest in the world. Claire really enjoyed skipping from side to side seeing all angles, bouncing the booth, and taking photos, while Chris held white knuckle tight to the benches in the middle, with a look of terror etched all over his face! Claire obviously bounced about just to wind Chris up!

So next morning, Claire's Indian took effect… actually it was the night before as we were getting ready for bed and she was shivering in 25 degree heat with 2 pairs of pyjamas on under a sleeping bag liner and a duvet. So Claire spent most of Saturday in bed, Chris spent it waiting on her every instruction (usually something like mmmphmmpphmmm chriiiiisss…) it was fun. Though in fairness, she mustered enough strength to hit Raffles for a Singapore Sling and even managed to stay out for dinner, without eating much, and watch a match I will not repeat the score of. We left for Darwin next day, that's about it!

Darwin

We arrived in Darwin at 4am to an announcement by the pilot that the outside temperature was currently 28 degrees, a sign of things to come! We hung around sleeping (well Chris slept) for a few hours then went to hostel in city, had breakfast, went for a short walk, and slept all afternoon. There was a massive downpour that evening so we had dinner in hostel then went to see Gran Torino in local cinema, excellent film. Nice chilled day, needed after Claire's weekend whinging! OK, that's unfair, this is a joint blog entry so she's poking me to delete it but although she did whinge a fair bit, she was ill, and had it been me, I'd have moaned a lot lot more! Possibly been seeking some sort of miracle healing. Oh that reminds us, a 'healing man' stopped us in Singapore and proceeded to tell us that Chris was lucky, had lucky forehead lines and would live long and be wealthy. He actually predicted 4 question answers correctly on a piece of paper…and promptly asked for money for poor children. 'Healing man' = 'Con man'. Walking away, we both confirmed we'd each been watching our pockets the whole time!

The second day in Darwin we went to 'Crocosaurus Cove' on the advice of Colin, who we'd been in email contact with as an ex Sharpe employee who'd moved to Darwin 9 months before. It was great fun, some seriously big crocs, including the one from Crocodile Dundee (he was a diva, sulking at every camera)! Some idiots thought getting into a glass tube in the water with the beasts, winched down from a crane, was a good idea! That night we met Colin and his girlfriend Gail (hope we've spelt that right), who herself had grown up in Darwin before living in Belfast. We were expecting to have a meal, a drink and a natter but we got a great night from them. They picked us up and took us around Darwin in their car, showing us the real city, away from the CBD, and this was a real treat as Darwin is a city that spreads over a big area in segments. We saw the sun set by the water at East Point as people fished and made use of the free open air bbqs (we're so jealous of these people), saw our first drive-through offys, and best of all were taken to a chippy for tea, a real treat after 3 weeks of Asian delights, finished off by delicious ice cream at a parlour! If you two are reading this, thanks again, really enjoyed it!

As the guys dropped us back to our hostel, a big storm rolled in, with near horizontal torrential rain, epic thunder and lightning, and serious winds! It sounded like our windows were going to shake themselves out. The streetlights were swaying, the tables and chairs by the pool ended up in the pool, and there was a river in the road. As I (Chris) was in the loo, I heard Claire let out a scream of terror and wondered what could be wrong - was she hit by something, had a spider just bitten her, had she fallen through the window…no, a palm leaf fell in front of her outside the window. She claims it was half a tree, it was more like half a branch! But they were…quite..big…palm trees…ok it was pretty big, like the size of a door! Next day it was off to Kakadu, and time for Claire to type cos my arms are sore!

Kakadu

Ok we were picked up at stupid o'clock to go on a camping trip in Kakadu National Park.On the way we stopped at Adelaide River for a boat cruise.Steve the captain lived on the river many a moon and even had a kind of croc chum that ate dinner from a bowl outside his cabin back in the day.We were meanderingup the river and spotted our first croc, Steve got a hunk of meat, tied it to a stick and teased the wild croc with it, making it jump out of the water like 3 feet away from us.This was the jist for a lot of the cruise, loads of crocs, but the highlight was when the 'king croc' of the river appeared.This guy was damn big, like 4 metres long and about 80-90 yrs old apparently he didn't have a mark on him being such a big croc all the other crocs in the area either loose fights to him or just wont even go there.Steve decided to tempt the guy up on the mud alongside the boat.This was the time when Steve gave us some serious warnings.There was no mucking about with this guy.He dandered up onto the mud right beside our boat about 2 feet, his entire body (photos to come asap).This dude got a huge chunk of meat in one fell swoop - making us all jump like little girls.The king was standing perfectly still then started to move towards the boat - steve quickly decided we should get off scene in case he decided to have a snack of tourist sandwich.(oh and when we landed in Darwin there were reports on the news about a young girl being taken by a croc in a river - that filled us with confidence).Steve also spotted some whistling kites (birds a bit like hawks to people like Chris) and showed us their speed and agility by throwing little chunks of steak into the air and seeing them swoop in right above our heads and catching them before it hit the water.Class. All the bird geeks I used to work with would have wet their pants!!!

Later that day we went to the Kakadu visitor centre where I think every person in the tour group fell asleep watching a movie about the wet season and wildlife (it was seriously dull).Next was a visit to Anbangbang to see ancient aboriginal rock paintings, to learn a bit about their culture and to climb to the top of the valley to watch the sunset.There were huge big black leggy spiders here on golden webs - lots of people were fascinated but me (Claire) thought they were horrid and I pretended they didn't exist.

We arrived at our campsite for the night in total darkness.We passed the toilet block then a fenced off area saying 'EXTREME DANGER - crocodiles - do not enter' and beyond this was our camp… the guide did a guide dander and basically said erm as long as you don't walk any further in that direction you'll be alright - aye right, bloody moron - crocs can walk you fool especially in extreme croc danger areas.So confidence knocked we went to find a nice tent.Chris pulled back the door to one tent to find one or two giant sandy coloured spiders the size of my hand looking right at him, on the door flap.So to get into the tent they had to be poked off somehow - I don't know how this happened I was watching from a very safe distance.Chris assured me that we were def not sleeping in there as there was one or two of these spiders on each of these beds.So after a full on panic attack and Chris (my hero) assuring me I was not going to die we found a reasonable tent - Chris was on the floor but it was dark and there were no spiders in sight.One of the other tents had a huntsman spider sleeping in with them that was far too big for my liking.Eughh gross.

The next day - after not the best night's sleep as dingoes were every howling right beside our tent, we swiftly got up and out of danger camp and left just as the sun was rising.We went for an hour and a half walk to Motorcar Falls, a blissfully cool waterfall and lagoon that the crocs only visit in wet season (oh no wait it is wet season, well when the water is higher). We walked in the heat and the sound of the waterfall was music to our sweaty ears.When we jumped into the water it was the ultimate refreshment.We swam our little legs off ourselves in the lovely lagoon and sat in the sun before the long walk back to the bus.A wee drive down the road and off we went to another waterfall and lagoon, this one smaller but somehow nicer (though the horrible spiders were here too - the black long leggy ones) and bonus no long walk to get here.Our drive back to Darwin was long and we stopped at some bar that had the water buffalo from the start of Crocodile Dundee stuffed and standing in the bar - how random…

Back in Darwin that night for our first steak and chips dinner, and another stupid o'clock wake up loomed for our 1492km drive from Darwin to Alice Springs over 3 days.

Darwin to Alice Springs road trip.

So we all met at 5.30am, or at least it would've been 5.30 had out tour guide, Brett, not slept in! He later revealed to us that he'd been on the tear the night before, so I'm glad he didn't make that obvious at that time as we were all pretty furious standing around waiting until 6.15am. The tour consisted of a lot who'd been at Kakadu the previous day so obviously we were all feeling the effects of that still! After getting on the microphone at the front of the bus and telling a bit about ourselves and doodling our names and home country references on the windows, our first stop was at Katherine Gorge. After a quick lunch we set off on a 'gentle' 90 minute walk to the Southern Rockpool and back. It was surely almost 40 degrees when we were walking and honestly, one of the toughest walks we've ever done! Claire almost passed out, the heat was so intense, she actually started tingling, it was quite worrying. Most of the walk was over bare rocks and the heat reflects back off these so it was probably more like 50 degrees on these parts. Once we got to the gorge, Claire didn't care how beautiful it was, she just wanted into the water, and once totally submerged it was as if she was slowly coming back to life! I was just glad she'd made it down the gorge on her feet not rolling! It was a pretty nice stop though, and really enjoyable chilling.

Brett stopped to let us grab a few beers each on the way to camp at a drive through offys (these are seriously cool - if you know what you want someone will bring it to you, you don't have to get out of the car), and we spent that night getting to know everyone a bit better with a ridiculously nice Moroccan lamb with cous cous dinner (not bad for a campsite), a camp fire, and an incredible view of the Milky Way above (not the choc bar Fulton before you crack an awful joke…).

The following day had driving, with a short stop at Mataranka natural thermal pool, which really wasn't needed in 30 degree heat but hey! The owners had hand reared a baby wallaby called Charlie too, ridiculously cute, should have some photos up soon. We then stopped at Daly Water's Pub for barbecue lunch and a few pints (drink was a theme on this tour). This bar, for those who haven't heard, has a tradition where visitors are invited to leave behind something to mark their visit, usually an old ID, some note of currency signed, a flag, a badge or a bra! The photos will show some of it, and we were really wishing we could just have stayed there and drank the night away. We drove all afternoon that day and got some more beers for camp that night when dancing on the tables actually came into the evening.

The following morning the bus wouldn't start and Chris was unjustly blamed for running the battery flat listening to United losing again (wish I hadn't bothered), so we had to push start the bus 3 times that day. It was really good fun, and something to look back at and have a laugh! But I didn't cause it, (OK Brett and Katrina)! Lots of driving that day with only a lunch stop really, and then eventually arriving in Alice Springs around 7pm. We'd covered 1,492km in 3 days. We all met up that night for a $5 dinner and a few jugs of beer (again!) and it got a bit messy. Claire, sensibly, went to bed with the first people around 11, I didn't, staying out to closing time and really struggling the following day as again we were up at 5am to head off towards Uluru.

We met some really cool people on this short tour, and they made it really good fun to be on, which was great as a 3 day drive without fun would really have felt long but in reality, we didn't want it to end. We would have gladly travelled all the way to Sydney with these guys!

Uluru

So our next part of the tour took us from Alice Springs to Yulara - the resort of sorts situated beside Uluru (Ayres Rock).We met our guide - the self dubbed 'insaneo Wayno' - who wasn't so much insane as a bit of a militant control freak who wasn't really the fun lover that Brett had been.So on the drive there we stopped at a few places along the way.Chris was suffering big time and our new friend Katrina just made it to the bus by the skin of her teeth.Both had been part of the drinking group the night before and it made the 5 hour bus journey a lot of fun for both of them.We got to our camp then went for a hike around Kata Tjuta (The Olgas).Wayno was pissed off that the long walk was shut as it was 40 degrees and unsafe so we ended up doing the shorter our long walk, much to the relief of Chris and Katrina who I honestly don't think would have made the long walk (I was relieved too but more because it was so damn hot and I didn't want another near passing out incident).The Olgas are 36 massive dome shaped rocks that are similar to Uluru and formed around the same time.Very impressive to us rock geeks.That evening we were early for sunset at Uluru so Wayno decided to take us on a drive around the rock right close up, showing us the steepness of the path for those who wished to climb it.So this inevitably made us kinda late for sunset, that along with a bank of clouds that came in made it, I have to admit, quite an anticlimactic sunset- something both of us had been looking forward to. The tour group were more fussed about standing at the back of the bus to get the obligatory glass of bubbly and crackers than moving around to see the rock.Still it was nice seeing sunset at Uluru.If I ever come back im driving it myself, getting there with plenty of time and bringing a bbq (me too).

So that night there was the option of sleeping in a swag, a kind of mattress on the ground so you can sleep under the stars.Unfortunately the clouds were still there so no stars, so we decided on the tents.As we were going to bed there were a few drops of rain and as the night went on a good bit fell (I know rain in the desert - mad - as my folks say it's the Benone cloud.)So one of the driest places on earth and it rains on us.It was bad for the eeijits who slept in the swags - they ended up in the kitchen, some in the camp laundry room (why they didn't just go back to their tents is beyond me).

Next morning, bright and breezy (as much as you can be at 4.45am) we got up and left for sunrise at Uluru.Now this was more my bag.It was very impressive.Although we did get there later than I would have hoped, we could still see the rock change colour dramatically though the sunrise period.I (Claire) was very snap happy and will be coming home with a plethora of shots to bore you all with - believe me you don't want them all on the blog (there's about 100, she really went for it…).Sunrise was spectacular and I would recommend it to anyone who just happens to be in this neck of the woods.Afterwards we did a base walk the entire way around Uluru, just over 2 hours which was nice as it was cooler in the morning and flat - hooray.We got to get very close to the rock and some parts you were able to walk over or get into little cave like parts at the base.We learnt about the geology and the aboriginal culture related to the rock (I'm sure you can all guess which part we enjoyed more).

That afternoon was fun filled with yet another long auld drive.Wayno dropped us off at that nights camp's pool and returned an hour later and discovered when he pulled up that the trailer was open.So the entire way back to camp there was a trail of all our luggage, booze and sleeping bags scattered across the dirt road. Eejit!That night we got to sleep in our swags.About 11 we zipped up after having a good old spider/snake hunt inside and lay down under the stars to see a whopping view of what the southern hemisphere has to offer in the way of stars.Apparently we saw the Southern Cross but I really didn't know what I was looking at it was just really pretty.The Milky Way was very vibrant and the sky was strange as it was unfamiliar to what we get at home. The stars just went on forever.A few good shooting stars were spotted too.

Our final day of this trip and we had an early morning hike up Kings Canyon. This was yet again another spectacular view point and well worth the day out.It was pretty hot by the end but the cracking views of the canyon and some cool rock layering had us thoroughly enjoying the day.After this it was back to Alice Springs.Maybe 6 hours later we got there and had a wee night out in Alice to celebrate Katrina's birthday.Good times all around, if a little sluggish.

Sorry it has taken us so long to get this thing up to date.I hope you all are still awake after reading all this.

Miss you guys

Oh and keep up the messages we both love the banter

Chris and Claire xx