It's been a while since I updated my blog and I've experienced so much that I've actually been putting it off. Since my last entry (Queenstown, NZ), I've been back in the beautiful city of Melbourne, toured from Alice Springs right up to Darwin and Perth up to Broome. I'm currently sitting in Perth airport with a few hours to kill 'til my flight, so I guess there are no excuses now...

So, how can I possibly sum up the last few weeks?! It's amazing to think what I've crammed in to 6 weeks in Australia. I wouldn't have been able to do anywhere near as much if I hadn't booked tours, so I'm glad I stuck to my guns. I'm going to have to stick to bullet points to highlight what has been covered, but you can 'see' the full picture in my photo albums. Incidentally, on my last tour my camera got covered in sand and would no longer take snaps, so I was reduced to borrowing/sharing other peoples' cameras.

Alice Springs

Great place to relax for a while. Very hot and sunny, flies galore, travellers come and go every day, great reptile centre. Slightly dangerous at night however - lots of drunken Aboriginal locals wander the streets aimlessly. Spent most of my time hanging around at Toddy's Backpackers, where I had the fortune of sharing an apartment with a fantastic Aussie fellah called Scotty Raim who I'll be keeping in touch with.

Heaven 11 tour up to Darwin

(Note: Full itinerary can be found at http://www.adventuretours.com.au/index.php/tour/nt/11_day_alice_to_darwin_heaven_11)

This 11 day tour was made up of 3 small tours put together during which I met several other travellers at different stages.

Stage 1 - Highlights included:

• Uluru (Ayers Rock) - despite the overcast weather, this was still fantastic. Whilst doing the base walk I came face to face with an Australian brown snake - the second deadliest in the world!
• The Olgas - I celebrated St. Paddy's day surrounded by brilliant oranges and greens!
• Campfire - getting soaked whilst trying to keep the fire burning, only to be told that we had to move site! It's all character building I suppose.
• Kings Canyon - the tour leader Carl swam me to a secret lookout point which was simply breathtaking.
• Palm Valley - palm trees in the middle of an arid landscape - impossible surely? Not really, since it rained while we were there!

Stage 2 - Highlights included:

• Our tour leader Chris 'Watto' Watson.  If it hadn't have been for his dry wit we'd have been bored silly.  Lots of driving and several places shut due to flooding.
• The Devil's Marbles - precariously balanced granite boulders sacred to the traditional owners.  So named because vast amounts of cattle have died there overnight.  This was actually due to the razor sharp texture of the stem of a certain flower.  Great place for taking optical illusion-style photos.
• Banka Banka cattle station - home to a naughty emu, cute baby kangaroos and the best sunset I've seen so far.
• Adelaide River Inn - Outback Waterhole which is home to Charlie the (stuffed) Water Buffalo from Crocodile Dundee.  His horns are absolutely massive.

Stage 3 - Highlights included:

• Jumping crocs river cruise - However, I was so tired and still p155ed from the night before that I slept on the coach instead.  When I woke up to find that I'd missed out, I threw a massive sulk, pulled my bags off the bus and requested to be removed from the tour!  Thankfully, a young couple (Liam and Anne-Marie) talked me out of it.
• Kakadu National Park - Swimming in potentially croc-infested pools (only freshwater) and sitting under numerous refreshing waterfalls.  3 in 1 day!
• Litchfield National Park - Despite most of the areas being closed to the public due to high water levels and the subsequent potential presence of saltwater crocodiles, we were still able to see a great variety of wildlife, including 2 large 'courting' lizards.
• Darwin - 3 days relaxing in the hot and sticky 'city' of Darwin, followed by 1 very hectic day sorting out my passport which I managed to lose somewhere in the tour above!  During one of the days I hired out a car with 4 others and I finally got to see my jumping crocs.  The cruise company were even kind enough to let my friends come along for free!  We went out in a smaller boat than normal which allowed for a more intimate experience with the crocs.  However, it got a bit close for comfort when a 5 metre croc started climbing up on to the deck!!!

In my next entry, I'll write highlights on my tour from Perth to Broome...