Darwin to Broom II: anyone remember the original colour of my feet?

Because I can't - all this outback dust is making me filthy! In Darwin we met up with our van mates (known as Team Ernie: Richard and Rachael own the lovely Ernie - they're Geordies like; Louise is from Northern Ireland; Jon is from Blackburn). From Darwin we headed to the waterfall paradise that is Litchfield National Park. Ignoring the omnipresent croc warning signs we stablilised our body temperatures in little pools of heaven. The boys insisted on adding years to my life by jumping off every available rock and tree. From Litchfield we headed off to Kakadu National Park (heralded as the best in Oz but not a patch on Litchfield in our opinion). On the way we stopped for a jumping croc cruise (the crocs jump for bits of meat that the driver dangles over the edge - nutter!). Kakadu was cool - we saw Aboriginal rock paintings and soaked up the vibe and then escaped the mosquitos heading south to Edith Falls to cool off.


From there we headed to the Western Australia border and jumped back an hour and a half. To celebrate this we chilled by Lake Argyle. After that was my birthday (see entry below for full details!) and once we'd recovered from that and the mad boab trees of WA we headed to Derby, checked out a rodeo and hired a 4WD for our trip into the Kimberly - Oz's last frontier. We braved the corrugated gravel roads to find yet more waterfall paradise (Bell's Gorge) plus a mad tunnel that you walk through with torches whilst wading through a creek (Tunnel Creek). I braved my first 2 nights in a tent since Fraser and the following day we ooo-ed and aaa-ed at Wyndjana Gorge (we were planning to have a swim but there were hundreds of crocs so we decided against it). We left the Kimberly yesterday and swapped 4WD for Tinks and Ernie and finally made it to the Indian Ocean. We're now resting up in Broome for a couple of days before we start on our journey south towards Perth. Here in Broome I plan to eat (birthday meal out - woohoo!), visit the outdoor cinema and get drunk with our Ernie-mates. This travelling lark is a lot of fun, I tell you. This is gooooooooood.

Darwin to Broome I: from 20s to 30s via the middle of nowhere

Ah, thanks to you all for your birthday wishes. I had a fab day on my 30th. Due to the fact that bush fires had closed the rest area where we had planned to camp, I woke up on my 30th birthday in a service station!













No joke. I woke up in Turkey Creek Roadhouse. Bet none of you can say that, can you? I called the folks back home and then settled back into my comfy Tinks bed to be given a cuppa and some lovely cards and pressies by Pete - books and choccies and all things nice like that. After being made to wear bunny ears and bring treated to coco-pops for brekky by team Ernie (our van mates) we set off to our camp for the day - a free-camp rest area down the highway. With drop toilets it was rest area luxury so we set up camp for the day. Team Ernie had bought hats and streamers and balloons and they made the camp look sooooo lovely. I cracked open my "champagne" (Jacob's Creek Pinot-Noir-Chardonnay) and even the van mascots had a tipple. After a lovely birthday bacon butty it was time for a nap. Honest! I'd think it was my age but even the young 'uns went to bed for a bit - I think it's the heat here. Anyway, after the power-nap I had a lovely Bloody Mary and then we played Kings Bowl, a drinking game that involves cards, gimps, dares and lots of drinking - I ended up drinking the bowl which set me well on my way to memory loss. Richard from team Ernie made me a big fire (which Jon ended up being dared to jump over when he was gimp) and we drank well into the night. Dinner was the biggest steak you've ever seen - it was so big it was cold by the time I finished but it was lurvely. I was then treated to a cake that had been hiding in Ernie's fridge (thanks Ern) and after that it's all a blur. Fab birthday. Thanks to Pete and team Ernie (Richard, Rachael, Louise and Jon) for making it so special. Hic.