The last week or so has been great the first stop Coober Pedy is a little town in the middle of nowhere it has alot of greeks and a lot of opals.We went into an opal shop and the guy in there was very nice he gave us a little tour of his shop and let us look through his pot of opals and he said he would clean them up for us and let us keep them,mum and bronte got one polished and they look very nice. In the summer the book says it gets up to 50 degrees in summer so all their houses are made under ground to keep them cool. Then on the way to the next stop we were caught in alittle dust storm we got out of the car to have lunch and and everything got covered in sand and dust so we carried on to a very small town called williams creek the population’s only 5 but when we arived it was 9.We had a drink in a pub and moved on to our stop for the night Flinders Range it was really good there very green and lots of emus and kangaroos to look at. We went on some walks but we only had a day there but even a day was good. Now we’re in a property near a place called Broken Hill. Its a sheep farm and we have been doing a lot of sheep rounding up and driving in the little suzuki we have to sit in the back and its very bumpy but fun. We have been sleeping in the shearers quarters. Its a small room with a few beds and a kitchen there’s two dogs and they’re both fun to have around, we’re leaving tomorrow and heading for Brisbane,ive also found to shingle back lizards nests and ive got lots of pictures to show everyone,see you in 11 days……..jack   

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The wierdest place we’ve been to yet…Coober Pedy is in the middle of the desert and looks like a moon landing station. It gets up to 50 degrees here in the summer so most of the houses are built underground. It’s famous for it’s Opal mines. Mad Max 2 and Prisilla Queen of the Desert was filmed here. While Robbie was off doing manly car things, we popped into an opal shop. The man that owned it was Greek. He took us to the back of the shop and showed us how to find opals. I think the kids have already told you the rest.

I don’t really need to say much about this place as you know it all already. It is much bigger than I thought. You can climb up it normally but the climb was closed when we arrived. The aborigines don’t want you to climb it anyway so it took the decision out of our hands. We walked round both areas. In fact we did a huge amount of walking..about 11 miles in all. It is sunny here during the day but cold at night. Ideal travelling weather. Tomorrow we are off to the Flinders range which is a bit further South. We might be out of range for a while.

Ularu or Ayres rock is not as red as i thought but up close its definately more interesting than i thought. It was 6 miles around the rock and it was really hot but not as hot as Darwin (34 degrees).We went for sun rise and sun set they were both good.After that we went to the Olgas which is lot’s of big red rocks.Every time we have had a tv i’ve been watching the olympics it,s great I don’t know who to support, Australia or England.see you very soon ………….jack

Today we went to Ularu and it was cool because we walked around the bace of Ayers rock.We didn’t get to climb it because it was closed because of the winds at the top were to strong.It wasn’t as red as i thought it would be but it looks good in the pictures when the sun was rising.

Wow, we got in the van up North in Kakadu and when we arrived in Alice Springs 2 days later, the weather had gone from unbearable heat to freezing cold! We wrapped up warm for the Rodeo in Alice Springs, lots of testosterone and bulls. We then travelled to Ayres Rock via the Devils Marbles. This is an area where rock has broken away into strange egg like mounds. The aborigines think that these are the rainbow serpent’s eggs. The attached picture shows one that had broken in half.

hi everyone yesterday we went to a rodeo were they ride the bulls and horses, but i liked the horses more because they stay on for longer and there was one horse which jumpt really high but he didn’t manage to stay on. see you soon by

The kids have been amazing on this trip. All credit to them, they never complain about the long drives. They do whatever we ask them to without complaint. They work hard every evening in the heat putting up their swags, and then packing them away in the morning. All the way round people have said what great kids they are…and they really are. They have kept spirits up when things are hard. Bronte is covered in Mosquito bites but never complains. Jack has been bush tucker boy on this part of the journey and is always coming up with good ideas. His penknife has come in handy many a time! They have both managed to keep Robbie occupied with his constant demands to go swimming and play games in the water. He’s always first in and last out and always stealing their goggles!

Kakadu is a huge National park just East of Darwin. It is a beautiful place with a real sense of the aboriginal spirit. We spent the first evening watching the sunset over the wetlands. It was really magical and even the kids said it was the best thing they had seen so far. I attach pictures but it just doesn’t do it justice. We also saw some great aboriginal rock art accompanied with a talk by the local ranger. On the following day we did a boat trip on the Yellow River. Again it was amazing. Barry I wish you were with us on this trip. The birdlife was incredible. We were taking pictures for two hours. You would have loved it. The highlights were the Jesus birds appearing to walk on water and the huge brolgas, showing off by doing this mad dance in front of their mate. Jack loved the crocodiles. One caught a turtle while we were watching. The saltwater crocs are huge…and dangerous. Most of the waterways in Kadaku are out of bounds for tourists. There are a few swimming holes though that are perfect for cooling off. One of the attached pictures shows on of these in Gunlom (one of our campsites in Kakadu). You may recognise this as it was featured in Crocodile Dundee. Where there is such beauty though, there is also misery…the mossies were awful and the heat of the sun is so intense, almost unbearable. The attached pics are all of places in Kakadu. Dot, I’ve even attached one of me to prove I am really here!!