Cairns 19th-29th November 2006

In Darwin and Alice Springs the aborigines are quite problematic; they all seem to be drunk, and to be screaming and shouting. In Cairns they have had longer to adapt to white culture and we haven't seen any causing any trouble.

We visited the Cairn's wildlife dome, perched on top of the casino, and held two cockatoos. We also took a day trip to Green Island - along with about 100 Japanese tourists! Whilst there we took our first snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, which was very picturesque.

Taking Steve and Karen's advice we took a day trip to Kuranda. We took the Skyrail there, which is a cable car ride for 4.7 miles with great views over the Coral Sea, and then the rainforest and Barron Falls. In Kuranda we visited the Butterfly Santuary. There we saw the Cairn's Birdwing and the beautiful, but elusive, Ulysses butterfly; we had seen one of these flying over the rainforest from our cable car.

On the way back we took the Kuranda scenic railway - the views were fantastic, with waterfalls all along the way and almost sheer drops.

A couple of days later we dived the Great Barrier Reef. The boat trip was a bit dodgy but the visability was really good and we saw a white tip reef shark, large cod and giant wrasse.

Some great photographers have galleries here; check out Ric Steiningers website : www.steiningger.com.au or Pete Lik : http://www.peterlik.com.au/bestofcollection.php

We stayed at a really good backpackers called Global Palace, which included a meal at the irish pub around the corner called P J O'Brrien's.

Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) 16-19th November 2006

We flew to Alice Springs. About 20 mins into the flight of 1hr 40 mins the ground was quite bare and red. Luckily they were having a cold snap at Alice Springs and it was only about 36c! We stayed at cool backpackers called Alice's Secret, but only for one night as we had to get up at 4.15am for our trip to Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Our bus was full with people from all over the world. The first stop was at Stuart Wells which is pretty much the very centre of Australia. After another 3 hours of driving we arrived at Kings Canyon where we went for a 6km walk around the rim. The canyon was quite spectacular with 300ft vertical drops in places. Where we stopped for lunch there were wild pink cockatoos in the trees. As we got nearer Uluru we saw it silhouetted against the sky and also Kata Tjuta, which from one aspect looks exactly like Homer Simpson, lying on his back!

That night we slept ouside on (and under) the swags - an Australian thing. Its just like a mattress with cover. The stars were amazing.

We had to get up early again (4am!) to catch the sunrise at Uluru and it was an amazing sight. After sunrise we walked around part of it (it is 9.4km all the way around) and it was nice and peaceful. Then we headed off to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) which are actually higher than Uluru. As it was due to be hotter than 36c, the climb up Uluru and walk around Kata Tjuta was closed (it reached 40c). In the afternoon we visited the cultural centre whilst two crazy members of our group decided to run around Uluru in the blazing heat. In the evening we headed off to catch sunset - it was quite a sight, but as with sunrise wasn't quite at it's best.

We slept out again under the stars and at 5.30am waved the rest of our group off. We got a few more hours kip and then headed for the airport for the easy way out.

It was almost a bit scary being right in the middle of Oz, as it is so remote and hot and dry. Our flight to Cairns was 2hrs 10 mins and only in the last 10 minutes did the landscape turn green.

Darwin Australia 13th-16th November 2006

We arrived in Darwin Australia after a flight of only 2 and a half hours and with a time difference of one and a half hours. Our backpackers accommodation has a shared bathroom and is a lot more expensive than what we are used to. We headed straight to the supermarket to stock up on vegemite. We had to prepare our own food and wash up for the first time in five weeks!

We went on the jumping crocodile cruise as recommended by Lee. It was cool, the biggest saltie we saw was 4 metres but they do grow up to 8 metres. They leap right out of the water with all legs showing (when they have all their legs, lots have lost them in fights) It was just before the mating season so we only saw the big males, the females and small males were all hiding!

We held a water python and also saw Kites as shown in the photo. We saw spoonbills, a kingfisher and crimson finches at Frogg Dam River. On the way back we saw our first Wallaby and also drove through a town called Humpty Doo!

Bali 3-13 November 2006

We had 9 nights in Bali. The beaches are not as nice as in Malaysia but are really good if you surf. We had a go at surfing but only managed to kneel up; using the surfboard for bodyboarding proved more successful, although I did graze my knees.

Bali is excellent for shopping - Steve got two cashmere suits tailor-made and I had three dresses made. We didn't pick our last items up until two hours before we left Bali which was cutting it a bit fine! Everything here can be made to order, including the antiques! We saw the local dances and a street carnival as well as visiting the volcano, rice terraces and a couple more temples.

Our accommodation at the Grand Kumala was the last "luxury" hotel we could afford to stay at, as backpackers hostels in Oz are twice the price!

Lots of love Helen XXX

Singapore 1-3rd November 2006

After almost getting locked in in an upstairs internet cafe in Tanah Merah Malaysia we caught the second class sleeper train to Singapore. It was an experience! The whole sleeper coach was open and full of kids. A screaming baby on one side of us and kids the other. We did manage to sleep and arrived in Singapore one and a half hours late (bringing the journey time to 15 hours). Singapore is a nanny state with rules and regulations everywhere, having said that it was nice to have proper clean toilets and hot water! The first evening we went to the Long Bar at Raffles for a budget busting Singapore Sling.

The next day we set off to Orchard road for shopping but yet again everything was too small. We visited the botanic gardens and national orchid collection instead. In the evening we went to the night safari which was a fascinating experience. We liked the giant ant eater and flying squirrels the best and the entertainer at the show being quite unPC to the little fat kid.

On our last day we visited the Kwan Im Temple (as it was right next to our hotel) and set off for the airport. We liked Singapore but it is expensive compared to the rest of South East Asia.