Greetings from Cairns, Queensland - our third state in Australia so far!

Since our last update we've been on a fantastic road trip down to the red centre. Started it in Darwin at 5:15am on Sunday 11th Feb. Met the gang - 6 Brits, 4 Germans (god did they get some stick!), 2 Fins, 3 Irish, 1 Canadian (really annoying!), 2 Swedes, 1 Dutch (prostitute who didn't stop eating!), 1 Austrian and a Belgian who had falled in love with an Indian and we upset her on the first night by slagging the place off! Our tour guide was called Justin, funny little fella with glasses and dreadlocks who never once put any shoes on, or had a shower! Very interesting though, really knew his stuff!

Visited Katherine Gorge on the first day, had a boat trip along the river, couldn't canoe cos of the crocs! Instead went for a hike into a natural two-tier waterfall, which we were able to swim in. Absolutely stunning place, the best falls we've seen so far. In the evening we had an Aboriginal man and a didgeridoo maker visit us at our outback camp showing us how to play and telling us the real cultural meaning of the didge and their lifestyle. We're not allowed to know too much as their stories are sacred but he told us the basics and we realised how spiritual they are and how powerful they can be when necessary! Never seen 20 people of our age so quiet and interested in what the Abo was telling us We all had a go playing the didge and managed to get the sound but need to perfect our 'circular breathing'! That's when you play constantly without having to stop to take a breath. The Abo's can play for up to 3 days solid during a ceremony, it is like meditating to them. The worrying thing is James has a didge already at home, he also has a bongo, he's now gone and bought a bullroarer so we're auditioning for a third band member! Any offers? (Phillpot)

Next day went to Mataranka thermal springs - tell you about that one when we get home! Then visited the oldest pub in NT, Daly Waters. Awesome place! Got there at 12pm, first to the bar with the paddys and sat there drinking pint pots of XXXX Gold, not like home! There's a tradition that everyone who visits must leave something as a souvenir so there's underwear, flags, name badges, flip flops, footie shirts, all sorts pinned on the walls. But seeing as we're on a budget we decided that we'd leave our mark on the wall, so wrote on it! Due to a poison spillage on the highway, Justin decieded we may as well stay at the pub for a bit longer so four and a half hours later the Brits and the Paddys got dragged from the bar back onto the coach (see pic)!

Next day stopped at Devils Marbles - an area full of granite boulders that have been formed by the earths plates moving and then shaped by the weather into round balls. It was like being at a big playground as we got to climb all over the huge rocks.

Arrived at Alice Springs that night and cheked in before heading straight to the bar, those Irish were a bad influence! Mind you James didn't do a bad job of leading everyone astray when he came back from the bar with a pitcher of beer cos he didn't like the idea of drinking scooners! Nine hours later Justin packed us off to our rooms, all pissed and had to be up in less than 3 hours!

Next morning met our new tour guide, Karl, now he was a different kettle of fish altogether! What a funny bloke, he looked like Steve Irwin but with the real laid back attitude of a daft surf dude! The way he spoke and described things had us in stitches, including the stories of his previous travels and his bad luck along the way. First impressions were "this is gonna be a funny three days!" Met some new groupies too but they weren't much fun so won't bore you with their details! Apart from 2 more Irish that is, they were a good laugh and like a drink too (gonna meet up with Becky in Sydney)! So this 6 day safari was starting to turn into a 6 day piss up in the desert! This may surprise you but this was the first time we'd had a proper drink since our leaving do, apart from our usual 6 bottles of strongbow a day (between us). No wonder you came home with no money Aaron!

Next three days were spent between Ayers Rock (Uluru as its known now, its the traditional Aboriginal name and they have taken back ownership of it), The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and Kings Canyon. All were spectacular, more impressive than we both hoped they would be. And all very different from each other. Got to see the Rock at both sunset (with bubbly on Valentines Day, it'll take something special for James to beat that next year!) and at sunrise before walking around the base of it. Wanted to climb but too windy and hot at the summit so it was closed, gutted! Still, took us 2 hours to walk 8kms around the bottom of it and got to appreciate the sheer size of it (348m high). All went round in similar time apart from one of the paddys, Kenny (looks like a ginger Robbie Keane, proper Irish look about him, but very funny!). As he doesn't get on with the sun he put on his iPOD and marched off to get the walk done as quickly as possible. But 2kms into his second lap of the rock he realised it all looked a bit familiar! He's now known as '2 laps Kenny' and all the other tour guides are using him as an example of what not to do! His response "Karl told me to keep the rock on my right hand side, i stuck to the rules!" Not the thing to do when its 44 degrees and blazing sun! Typical paddy!

That night, instead of sleeping in canvas tents as we'd done so far, we got to sleep out under the stars in swags (sleeping bags with sewn in mattress) at our Kings Canyon camp in the middle of the desert. After a proper bush camp dinner cooked over the fire the sounds of the desert started. Dingoes howled in the hills and reptiles and insects buzzed and rustled around, including a big scorpion that we saw on the way to the toilet! How the hell are we supposed to sleep amongst that lot! Doesn't matter how old you are, it was like being on a school holiday camp! Typical Germans and French slept in their tents! Had a bit of an astronomy lesson before bed, never seen so many stars before! It was like a light show, or like being in space! Saw the Seven Sisters and the Southern Cross formations and some shooting stars, unbelievable! Well worth it! Woke up in the morning to see dingo paw prints all around where we'd been sleeping!

Visited Kings Canyon the next morning and walked another 6kms, but this time over more mountainous terrain, the first hill is called Heart Attack Hill just to give you an idea! 1km up to the top of the canyon but a great view when we got there! Unfortunately James had been bitten by some strange creature in Alice Springs and his ankle had swollen like a balloon and was starting to change colour! He still managed the walk but struggled towards the end, not the best of two days to rest it! On our tour we had 2 pharmacists, a nurse and a physio, all female so James quite liked the attention! None of us cured it though!

Flew out of Alice Springs to Cairns to start our next adventure along the East Coast in Lou Carpenter (remember?). However, Cairns is like Kak - its raining constantly (to everyone's amusement!). Mind you a couple of days out of the sun won't do us any harm eh! That's why we're back on the computer, it's either this or the pub, and we did that yesterday! On that note, we've got 4 litres of wine to drink before tomorrow so we best be off!

In the last month it's been pretty intense travelling, we've driven about 10,000kms which is equivalent to London - Singapore! And we've seen some amazing natural wonders which we'll never forget. Looking forward to picking our van up tomorrow for the next instalment, this is what you call travelling!

Hope everyone is ok, what are you all up to?

Lots of love, the Campers! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx