Wow! Wow! Wow!!

(SOME photos are at www.flickr.com/photos/jilllucas - others are to come in time!)

I have just finished my 25 day tour from Darwin to Sydney (sorry, hello everyone! hehehehe)
and what a tour it was! I have seen and done sooo much that i need to make room in my brain to make sure i remember everything!hahaha. I'll have to push out some irrelevant memories!)
Our tour bus for the Northern Territory was called Annie. Bless. and I think there were about 16 people to begin with. (It was a bit odd as people kept leaving and joining all the time!hmmm!)
We entered Litchfield National Park and swam in three of the most beautiful, natural falls I have ever seen in my life! There was even a crocodile warning by one of them!! eeek! But luckily, the saltys left us alone. We stayed a night in a horse-ranch kind of place and the sunset there was like nothing you've ever seen before (unless of course, you've stayed there too! hehehe)
I never thought I would say this, but termites are pretty cool! The mounds that they build are fantastic and so damn clever to make sure they get all the heat of the day that they need AND they are ma-hooo-sive! I, for one, was very impressed by the little b*****s!
and talking of crocs (yes, i did mention it earlier if you've been paying attention!) I went on a croc spotting cruise on the Corroborree billabong (Aussie word for a lake!) and saw quite a few of them. Very graceful they are and quite cute too (if you don't put your hand in the water!!)

After that was the biggeeeeeee!! Uluru (Ayers rock for those of you not in the 'know' hehe) and it was well worth the wait! So much bigger than i expected and not as smooth as i expected either. Tis odd actually....it's advertised that you can do the walk up it, but our tour guides (Natalie, our driver and Tara who looked after the other stuff!) and actual signs at the base, suggested not doing it, because of spiritual reasons from the aboriginal people. Which is fair enough I think. There are actually bits of Uluru that they ask you not to take photos of, again because of the sprituality of the place. But I was exptrememly happy to be there. We also had champagne (or to be PC - sparkling wine!hahaha) and cheese and biscuits whilst watching the sunset over it. Such a beautiful sight (but not as beautiful as sunrise over Uluru, which we saw the next day, whilst supposed to be watching the sunrise over Kata-Tjuta (the Olgas), which is another rock formation!hehehe)

Saw lots of rock art and theres always a story to tell behind it. Tis really interesting but our guides only know what the aboriginal children know and becuase they aren't aboriginal, they aren't allowed to know the full story. That is only bestowed upon adult aboriginals. :(

Got to see (on one of our VERY early mornings...) walabies playing around before the sun came up, which I have to say was very a magical moment.

We then entered Nitmulik National Park and did some canoeing in Katherine Gorge. Wow, this place is immense. Such a still beauty about it that it was quite breath-taking. But then, isn't everything over here?!?!!?
oh and the thermal pool in Mataranka felt like I was in the Carribean! seriously! This country so many diverse places, it's unbelievable~
Apart from Uluru, the other 'rock' places as i affectionately call them, were Devils Marbles and Kings Canyon. Wow-bloomin-wow to both of them. Have a look at the photos as they are an amazing site to see!
One place we stayed at was called Tennant Creek and oh my god it was like a flippin ghost town. and a seriously creepy one at that! You would not want to walk around there after dark! but we managed to find a cool little pub that had a live band on. and a good one at that! so we all danced the night away, not drunk the night awway though unfortunately as it's too expensive!!
You would never believe it, but it was sooo cold in the lower part of the Northern Territory! I did not expect to go to Uluru and be cold. but I was. Very...! but to be honest, if it would have been hot that day, it would have been impossible to walk around it as there is hardly any shelter there at all, so I shouldn't complain really! slap hand for Jill!

After the Northern Territory, it was over the East Coast and the first stop was Cairns (yes, I know i've been there already!) and theeeeere...I went Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef!! Yes, you heard right...after the disaster in Kho Tao - when I thought i'd never dive again, i did!! Wiippeeee!!! I had such a nice diving instructor and it was soooo much better that 'DiveMasters' on Kho Tao. i was bloomin ecstatic afterwards. YAY ME!! hehehe.

Also, I sailed on the Whitsundays, vistited one of the most beautiful beaches i've ever seen in my life (whilst being extremely close to some sting rays!! marvelous!) and had a near death experience on that sail boat! eeek!! but i'll leave the explanation of that for when i come back...gotta have something to talk about! hahaha
This is already an essay i've written here so i'll try and wrap things up.....Been Whale watching...Hang gliding....got taken to a rodeo(not told exactly what it was and to see a bull being tormented like that was disgusting and i walked straight back out!)..went bowling in Byron Bay, visited Brisbane and stayed for a bit on the Gold Coast.

Our last day was driving in a coach for about 11 hours to get to Sydney!! What a fun day that was!!! hahahaha.
It was an amazing trip and I'm sooo happy i did it. Now i'm in Sydney for one week before I go to Melbourne and around that area for another 2 weeks. Then, it's off to New Zealand!! yay!

Hope you enjoyed the read and that you are all well my lovely friends!

ta-ra for now
love and hugs
Lilly
xxxxx