The World According to Erin.

Well,well, well. It is sad but true. Today is my last day in Australia and I'll be back for Halloween. That's right, there has been a change of plans and Erik and I will be leaving a day earlier and getting back 2 days earlier. We now fly into Edmonton on Oct. 30th at 7:15 pm. Its a pretty nerve-wracking tale that I will fill you all in on when I get home. To sum it up though, when we went to pick up our tickets yesterday the lady told us that we couldn't fly on the 31st because our tickets would be expired and we would be stuck in LA and have to buy new tickets to get home. This is especially scary since we're both really broke and couldn't afford new tickets, also our visas expire in a few days and if we happened to still be in Australia at that time we would get in a wee bit of trouble. But, happily it has all turned out. We leave today and have a mere 30hr transit time until we get home - no layover longer than 4hrs! We're both pretty happy about the way it turned out, but sorry to anyone who figured they would get a couple of more days without me (Kim).

Since I last wrote I have finished up in Canberra after a 12 day stay. We had a really good time in Canberra (Erik and I met up there and have finished up the year together). We checked out the parliament buildings,some galleries, the war memorial, museums(including the erotica museum) and a science discovery centre that was really cool. The best part was that most of this was free.

I also went out to Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains for a few days while I waited for Erik to show up in Canberra. The Snowies are lovely with some pretty walks and nice views, but I wouldn't exactly call them mountains. It was between seasons (summer walking/winter skiing) and the place was pretty deserted. Kind of like Waskesiu in the winter and the hostel was huge and cosy and all but there was only me and a Dutch guy staying there and it reminded me a little of the Shining. I kept expecting to see a couple of twin girls come out and ask me to play. Freaky. When all is said and done though, I had a great time.

After Erik and I left Canberra we got on the Oz bus and headed to Gelantipy by the snowy river and in the foothills of the Snowy mountains. It was nice there, we stayed over night and went on an evening wildlife spotting tour, had a huge meal and met some great people. The next day our year of travelling came to a sort of end when we pulled into Melbourne again. It was pretty sad for us and we were a little down - maybe due to the wine from the wine tasting we had in the morning, who knows!?

We've spent our last few days with a couple of Americans hanging around Melbourne, going to a couple of festivals, taking in a puppet show, a bit of jazz and a lot of cake. Not a bad way to end off a terrific year.

Anyhow, this will be my last email for the year, thanks to everyone who read them and especially those who wrote back to let me know how everything at home was going. I look forward to seeing everybody again and the next time you hear from me I'll be in Canada (hopefully).

Take care everyone
xoxo
Erin

Hi everyone,
Whew! It has been a very busy last month while I try to cram as much of Australia in as I can before I head out. Fast, but fun.

I left Sydney in the middle of September to spend a few days with Erik in the Blue Mountains. This time we were able to spend more time walking around the area and seeing more of the pristine wilderness the Blue Mountains are famous for. We also ended up seeing more of the Three Sisters and I still fail to see why so many people make the pilgrimage out here to see then - I guess it has something to do with the Australian fascination with rock formations. Don't get me wrong, they are majestic looking, but there are plenty of other beautiful scenes in the area that are worth taking a look at. Oh well.

Erik and I parted ways in Katoomba - he headed back to Sydney and I mosied on out to the stud farm - yeehaw!! Actually, I really enjoyed my time at the farm. I gardened and did other domestic chores for my room and board and ended up learning a hell of a lot about breeding horses in the outback. The area was lovely and peaceful and the people were really great AND I GOT TO EAT AND DRINK AS MUCH AS I COULD-which by this time is an even bigger deal since I'd pretty much been living on cheesy beans, two-minute noodles, bread and pasta. - I can't wait to get back to Kim's home cooking, straight out of the freezer and into the tummy!

After my 7 days on the farm I headed back to Sydney to catch the Oz experience down to Melbourne and my flight out of here. Since I have a month I have decided to take my time and really see the area between Sydney and Melbourne. So far its been a good decision. My first stop was the small fishing town of Ulladulla where I took in some beautiful aboriginal walks, a wildflower reserve and and ofcourse, the beach. I spent 4 nights in Ulladulla before I headed onto Bateman's Bay. Bateman's Bay was okay - not too exciting or interesting, but the small historic town (Mogo) next to it was fantastic. Mogo has an endangered animal zoo with sumatran tigers, red pandas and loads of rare and endangered primates. It was fascinating and sad to see and learn about these animals since they are on their way to extinction. There is also an old goldmining village called Old Mogo town. It is set up exactly like a turn of the century gold mining town with shops, huts and gold mining stuff. You even get to try your hand at goldpanning. Unfortunately, I didn't get rich. Mogo town is definately worth a visit and I had one of the best days in Australia there.

After 3 nights at Bateman's Bay I headed to the Australian Capital Terrritory and Canberra. I've been here a couple of days and it is gorgeous. Full of parks, flowers, trees and water it is a very peaceful and picturesque city. Canberra was designed and built specifically as the nation's capital which is why it is so beautiful. The city is mainly made up of politicians and government workers, but it also has the biggest pornography industry in Australia. Ironically, it is the only legal place to produce pornographic films and literature in Australia. Politicians and porn.....
The other interesting thing about Canberra is that it has very strict laws on billboards and advertising - simply put, its not allowed. You won't see any billboards, advertisements or even big signs on the buildings and stores -just small, tastefull informative sigsns. It does give the city a classier look, but I think its a bit eerie as well. Despite what people say I could definately spend a couple of weeks here enjoying the sights of the city, the many bushwalks, museums and galleries.

Having said that, I am actually heading to the Snowy Mountains tomorrow (Thredbo) for a couple of days and then back to Canberra for 5 more days and to meet up with Erik before we head on to Melbourne.

Take care everyone, and I'll see most of you fairly soon.

Erin

Well, its September 10th and I'm back in Sydney - I guess I just can't stay away. I ended up spending six weeks with Matt in and around Newcastle and had a fabulous time. We spent a week camping in Red head and Matt showed me around the town he grew up in. Red head has one of the nicest beaches I've seen in Austalia and the surrounding area is lovely. Matt's mom and her husband, Don even took us to a National Rugby League game to watch the Newcastle Knights beat the Penrith Panthers - it was a terrific afternoon and it was great to see a live game.

Then we spent the next 2 weeks in Newcastle, which despite its reputation as an ugly industrial town, is actually very picturesque with lots of green space. I ended up seeing loads of dolphins whenever we went near the water and Newcastle is full of historical sights and hidden reserves and parks. We spent a couple of afternoons with his grandparents checking out the Shortland Wetlands and Blackbutt animal and bird reserve. Matt also started my surf lessons around this time. After my several attempts to master the sport (or at the very least stand up on the bloody board) I now have a very deep respect for surfers. They are truly gifted atheletes. I was definately less than graceful, which was only accentuated by the fact that Matt had been a competing member of the surf club for over ten years.

Right after my birthday we borrowed his mom's car and headed up the coast. We spent the next week camping on the coast, doing bushwalks, checking out the historical sights and continuing my masochistic desire to learn to surf. It was a blast. My favourite spot was Point Plommer - where we camped for 4 nights. We pitched our tent right off the beach and were surrounded by the most amazing wildlife - kangaroos grazing beside our tent, possoms stalking us at night, dolphins swimming in the surf and whales passing by. Truly a magical place - and not busy at all.

When we headed down the coast we stopped off at Barrington Tops National Park and world heritage park for 5 or so nights. This was a beautiful area with rolling hills (mountains), rivers and lots of forest. The weather was beautiful the whole time and hardly a soul in sight. We spent hours just exploring the area and watching the amazing bird life. In the mornings 30 or so king parrots would come to our campspot and the kookaburras, crimson rosellas and rainbow lorikeets surrounded us in the trees. It was so beautiful I didn't want to leave.

We spent the next week and a bit in Newcastle catching up with Matt's family - especially his sister's newborn baby who arrived 2 days before I got there. A couple of people we had met in Tasmania and Matt had worked with in South Australia stopped in for a couple of days and we had a good visit before I headed back to Sydney. The day before I left for Sydney we headed out to Port Stephens for the day to see some more coastline and do a couple of more walks. The Newcastle area is definately worth a visit if you ever head over this way.

Having spent the last 6 weeks surrounded by Australians, it was a little weird to get back to the backpacking world. But I went straight back to my job selling gardening supplies in shopping centres. Funny enough, I even went back to Newcastle to work for a week and ended up staying with Matt at his mom and Don's place.

Right now I am still selling the gardening supplies - not a very exciting job, but cash in hand is hard to say no to. I will finish up work on Sept.15th and then Erik and I will head out to the Blue Mountains for a few days. Erik will then head back to Sydney and I will try out a farm stay on a stud farm for a week or so (free room and board for work) and it should be interesting. After that I will be spending the last month of my trip making my way down to Melbourne and my plane home (sigh).

Anyhow, that's that. I'm a little sad that we are down to our last 2 months in Oz, but its not over quite yet and there are many adventures to be had along the way. Wish me luck. I hope everyone at home is doing well and I will see you all in a few months (whether you like it or not - Alf, Todd, Mike, Scott...).
Take care
Erin

Hi everyone!

Well, after 12 months of summer, we've finally hit winter. Sigh, I guess all good things must come to an end. Although, winter here in Sydney sure isn't like winter back home. First of all, there is no snow and it doesn't actually get very cold (only about 12 or 15 above), but after 8 months in scorching hot Oz, I can't handle this cold. And I don't want to be hearing anymore complaints about how hot it is back home - its just not right.

We've been in Sydney for about 3 weeks now and the time has just flown by. We did a bunch of sight-seeing around Sydney when we first got here. Kim was a touring machine. She had us out and about all over - to the Blue Mountains, walking tour of Sydney and a bunch of sights in the city, up and down Kings Cross - the whole lot. It was great. Its hard to believe that it has only been 2 weeks since she was here.

We did a day tour out to the Blue Mountains which was really nice. We started at a zoo to see some sad, lonely animals. This zoo was terrible, one of the worst I've seen. The cages were small and harsh looking and the animals had all given up on life. We did, however, get to see a sheep shearing show at the zoo which was one of the funniest things I have seen in my life (and they don't mean it to be). Two 'real' cowboys ride up on horses with whips and a dog while a laser lightshow and some 'pumping' music surrounds you. They herd half a dozen dozy sheep into a tiny little pen, then they take two out and shear them while entertaining us with witty banter. Kim and I couldn't stop laughing despite the dirty looks of other audience members who were busy enjoying this 'authentic' cowboy show. Yeehaw. The Blue Mountains were very nice though. We saw some lovely views and did a few walks. The mountains aren't very big, but there are millions of trees. I wouldn't mind going back for a few days to do some more bushwalks and maybe some camping. We also stopped at an aboriginal art shop thing and listened to this amazing digeridoo player. He is world famous and was absolutely fabulous - I've never heard such expressive and impressive digeridoo playing.

We spent a whole day walking around Sydney and took in all of the great sights including Darling Harbour, the Opera House, the Bridge (we didn't spend the $130 to climb it though), the Quays, art gallery, maritime museum (where we went on a battle ship and submarine), Paddy's markets, botanic gardens and a bunch of other sights. It was a very busy, but fun day. The maritime museum was really neat - especially the submarine - Kim and I went through twice. We ended the perfect day with meat pies topped with mashed potatoes, mushy peas and gravy. heaven.

This last week I have been busy working. I've been selling gardening/home/camping supplies at a little booth in a mall. It was pretty good, the lady I worked for was very nice and paid me cash in hand (no tax) and the work wasn't hard at all. Actually, I seem to be pretty good at it - go figure. It seems like the biggest part of my job was talking to the elderly people from the neighborhood who would come over to look at the display. Now this isn't bad, most of them have some terrific stories and are really nice, but you could just tell that some of them were very lonely and that their kids and grandchildren didn't call or visit them and when they saw you trapped behind the booth with no possible way to escape they would take this golden opportunity to share every thought and story they could think of. So after you've finished reading this email pick up the phone and call (or visit) your grandparents, or parents, or aunts and uncles and listen to what they have to say (now that Kim has turned 28 I've started with her- she's almost 30, you know. And since she'll probably never talk to me after this witty email someone else will have to take over - really, I love you RM!).

I did have a couple of other money making schemes lined up, but they all fell through. First I was going to donate my skin to sunscreen testing (my beautiful skin was even accepted) for $70-$100, but they couldn't fit me in around my work schedule. Then I called a number in a magazine by a medical lab looking for healthy subjects - but they didn't call me back. Then I heard that you could earn $6000 for letting a medical student cut off your toe and sew it back on, but I just kept hitting dead ends on that one too. Anyhow, I hear you can make a lot more money for one of your extra kidneys!

I am heading off to Newcastle tomorrow to visit Matt (I met Matt in Devonport when we were picking apples) for a few weeks. I haven't seen Newcastle yet, so having a local show me around should be pretty cool. Then we are going to head up the coast (where it will be slightly warmer) and hopefully I will learn to surf with minimal embarrasment - wish me luck.

And that's all I have to say for the moment. I hope everyone is having a spectacular summer and enjoying the weather. Take care everyone and keep in touch.

Love
Erin

Hi everyone and Happy Canada Day!

Well, it has been a very fast and furious month on the East coast. We've made it all the way down to Sydney, said a sad farewell to Kim, and started to look (but not really hard) for work. Our plan for the moment is to spend some time in Sydney relaxing and working, then I'll be going up to Newcastle for a week or so before coming back to Sydney and hopefully making enough money to head over to New Zealand. Wish us luck!

We had a pretty amazing time on the east coast with Kim. Airlee beach was a neat place. Essentially, it was a backpacker town. Lots of hostels, tacky souvenier shops, bars, backpackers and not much else. I don't think any Austalians actually live their (except for the Aussies that are backpacking around Australia themselves). We went on a lovely 3 day/2 night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. I really enjoyed the trip because I had never spent that much time on a sail boat before. Our boat was called the New Horizon and it was a tall ship. I'm not entirely sure what a tall ship is (and neither are Kim and Erik) but it looked to me a lot like a pirate ship would look like and that made me happy. Unfortunately, no one had to walk the plank (that would've made a great photo), but I guess you don't always get what you want. Sleeping on the ship with 25 other backpackers and a crew of about 6 was cozy, but I thought it was pretty cool all the same. We spent most of the time just sailing around some very picturesque islands, stopping to snorkel/dive and check out some beaches. The snorkelling wasn't the best, but the Whitehaven beach we stopped at was breathtaking. The sand was as white and soft as icing sugar and there was so much of it. On the one side of the beach was bathwater-warm pure blue sea and the other side was very lush, dense rainforest. Definately one of the prettiest places I've been to.

After the boat cruise we headed down the coast and spent the night at Rockhampton. Rockhampton isn't too exciting - just a little city with your usual city stuff. What makes it memorable was the adventure Kim and I had while grocery shopping. We headed out in the car to get groceries that evening and 2 hours later we came back with pizza. During the 2 hours we went to 4 grocery stores (all closed) and 2 gas stations (not even a loaf of bread), got lost in a car park, hit a post, got stuck in a 'bad area' where Kim had to push us out because the reverse in the car doesn't work, almost got in a car accident (not my fault - honest), got honked and yelled at in a roundabout (my fault), almost hit a cat and had a lot of laughs. Did I mention that I am an exceptional driver?

Next, we headed down to Bundaberg to check out the rum distillary which was a pretty good tour and gave us free samples (yes, tasty rum beverages) at the end. Then it was off to Hervey Bay to get ready to go to Fraser Island. Fraser Island was very neat. It is the largest sand island in the world and people drive in the beach like it is a road. Actually the 58 mile beach is the main road and air strip on the island. We spent 2 days on the island doing a safari - the usual visiting of beautiful beaches and lakes and rainforests. We even got to go to a place called Indian Head, which was a big cliff rock thing on the beach that gave a lovely view of the ocean and beach. Obviously not as cool as the real Indian Head which was established in 1882 and known to be quite a progressive prairie town.

And finally, for the sight we had been waiting 8 months to see....yes! The Australian Zoo - home of Steve Irwin the illustrious crocodile hunter. Although Steve and Terri weren't there (which was sad) it was a really nice zoo with lots of crocodiles, koalas and such. We even saw a crocodile feeding done by a guy who obviously got his enthusiasm from Steve himself. We also spent some time at the kid's zoo petting the piggies, sheep, lambs and little cows. We even splurged and spent some money to feed the animals (I know, all the farm kids are cringing that we would pay money for the privelege of feeding some pigs). A splendid time!

Brisbane wasn't too exciting. A nice little city like all the other nice cities we've seen. We did a sights tour of Brisbane one day while our car was getting a new old transmission - yes, that's right, our second secondhand transmission. sigh.

But all was good and we were off again to Surfer's Paradise which was the tackiest, ugliest, most disappointing place I have been in Australia. Essentially, it is an overdeveloped underclassed piece of coast. Don't go there. We drove in, ate lunch and left. Byron Bay, which is right down the coast, is much better. A nice town with lots of character, beautiful beach, lovely walks and well worth the visit. We did a great walk along the beach to a lighthouse and back through some rainforest. We ended up seeing a pod of about 15 dolphins swim by, which was quite a splendid surprise and then ate lunch at a Girl Guide BBQ at the lighthouse. Girl Guiders are always so nice. Everyone should buy their cookies. Those cookies are hard to sell and the girls work so hard they deserve a break. And then their moms don't have to buy all the extra unsold cookies and keep them in the freezer to pawn off on guests...

Anyhow, Byron Bay was nice. We spent the next night in Coff's Harbour before heading down to Sydney. Driving through Newcastle and Sydney took 10 years off of my life. No joke. Newcastle had a plethora of confusing, big, busy roundabouts - some with 3 lanes. Honestly, I just drove in and hoped for the best. I'd ease into the roundabout trying not to hit anyone or be hit (kind of like frogger) and eventually, I would get spit out of the roundabout and head for the next one. And that wasn't even the worst part. Sydney was hell. We got in at rush hour while the sun was setting. That's right, millions of angry, stressed, fast driving workers heading home while the sun is blaring into my poor little eyes before disappearing entirely and leaving me to navigate the streets in the dark. Kim, the navigator, had her flashlight out to look at our inadequate maps, but since we had no idea where we were or where we were going it didn't always help. I ended up paying $3 to use a huge tunnel to drive under the harbour. Eventually Kim got out and asked for directions. 2 hours later (still remembering to drive on the left side of the road) we made it to King's Cross. Whew.

Just thinking about it makes me sweat. I don't need that kind of stress, I'm going to go and make myself a nice calming cup of tea. Take care everyone and enjoy all the hot weather.

Happy Canada Day.
Erin

Hi everyone.

I know I just did an update, but I am already behind on my email. Since the last update we've gone across to Cairns, picked up Kim and started down the East coast. Right now we are at Airlee Beach getting ready to head off to the Whitsunday Islands tomorrow on a 2 night/3 day sailing trip. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it?

But I'll start where I last left off so that this will all make sense. After we finished off at Litchfield we headed up to Darwin and dropped Kimmy off, then we hopped back in the car and headed off into the outback (again). The next 5 days involved a lot of driving through nothing in the blaring heat and then freezing to death in the tent every night. We headed down from Darwin to Three-ways and then east to Mt. Isa and on to Charters Towers, then up north to Cairns. The trip wasn't too exciting. We saw a lot of roadtrains, roadkill and a huge toad. The nights got down to 5 degrees and we thought we would freeze before we actually got through the cursed outback, either that of die of heat stroke during the day. But we made it with hardly a problem. Our tire blew out and the reverse doesn't really work anymore, but who really uses that gear anyway?

So we made it to Cairns on June 3rd to pick up Kim at the airport. It was really great, and at the same time really strange, to see someone from home. But this next month with kim will definately be a blast and we may not let her go back. Cairns is a pretty cool place. A little city with a big party attitude. We didn't do any real partying but we did do a day tour up to Cape Tribulation and saw some gorgeous rainforest, beautiful beaches and all around lovely scenery. The lunch was also pretty remarkable. I nice barbie with a huge selection of fruits I had never seen or heard of before, let alone tasted. I ate and ate, like a goldfish. Honestly, I almost ate myself to death - definately a close call. We also did a tour out to the Great Barrier Reef to do some snorkelling. I had no idea how big the Great Barrier Reef actually is. Sure, I'd heard and seen it on a map, but actually going out there and then following it down the coast really opens up your eyes to its immense size. And the snorkelling out there is beautiful. The coral is magical and the fish are just amazing. It kind of makes you wish you were a mermaid or at the very least some kind of bottom feeding fish.

We left Cairns after an amazing and busy 5 days and started down the coast. Our first stop was Townsville, which isn't too amazing itself, but it is the city you leave from to get to Magnetic Island - and that is amazing. Magnetic Island is a pretty tiny island about 12km long and 10km wide with beautiful bays and coastline and then a surprising amount of trees and hills in the middle. Quite an impressive place - I may end up retiring here (if I ever make enough money that I can retire). We spent 2 days on Magnetic Island - drank a lot of beer and lost very thoroughly at the trivia contest (damn that beer- killing those much needed brain cells!), we spent time lounging on the beach and did some walks through the forest and up to the WWII remains. The remains were pretty crappy. They actually had three sights dedicated to latrines. I mean, how pathetic is that?! But the rest of the walk was quite scenic and we ended it off with fish and chips at a little shop looking out over the beach so it was a lovely day indeed. We left Magnetic Island today and headed over to Airlee beach where we have again just gorged ourselves on fish and chips and are now getting ready for the sailing trip. I hope everyone is doing fabulous back home and getting ready for the summer(sadly we are heading into winter right now).
Take care everyone!
Erin

G'day everyone.
Well, I guess Erik and I are officially on the home stretch. We are well over halfway through our time here and have now finished over half of the country. And we are both alive. And still travelling together. I guess miracles do happen. (knock wood)

Being in Darwin was a pretty big thrill for us. At the beginning of our trip we had figured that we wouldn't have enough time or money to see that part of the country so being there was terrific. Darwin itself is a very new city. It had been destroyed in the 70s by a ginormous hurricane and has since been rebuilt. The city is built low to the ground - hardly any tall buildings and has that kind of 'seventies' look that makes you thank god for the new millenium. The city is very friendly and relaxed so that really appealled to us. We did a little bit of looking around, shopping and visited a couple of markets. As you may have noticed we have been staying away from museums, galleries and botanical gardens - we kind of went overboard with that stuff earlier on and now just the sight of them makes me nod off.

Two of the biggest draws to the Northern Territory is Kakadu national park and Litchfield national park so we spent a little over a week checking them out. Kakadu is a beautiful place. It is very natural and the Aboriginals have been able to maintain a close relationship with the land there so it hasn't been overly developed. They are instrumental in the running of the park and there are some real quality information centres, films and tours. There are loads of bushwalks, aboriginal rock art, rivers, watering holes and wildlife. It is just the start of the dry season so everything is so green and lush from all of the rain. During the wet season a lot of the park is impassible. They get so much water that entire trees (30feet tall) are submerged in rivers and lakes. In the dry season the water goes away -entire lakes and rivers dry up. The exciting thing about being there at the end of the wet is that the trails and such are just being opened up and the amount of wildlife around is stupendous. Unfortunately, the numer of mosquitos is about a quintillion. They are even worse than up north in Canada and these ones carry the Ross River disease that can be fatal. Just another example of how everything in Australia is out to get you.

There are now only 3 of us in the Falcon (Duncan and Matt are gone) and the extra space is pure luxury. We started off by doing a "Jumping Crocodile" tour on one of the rivers. This was really, really neat. We go out on this boat and they hang meat over the edges. The crocodiles swim right over and jump up grabbing the meat out of the air. I used to do this trick with Muffin but somehow its a lot cooler when it is a 6 meter man-eating crocodile. Some of the crocodiles were just huge and I definately have found a new respect for Steve Irwin.
Next we headed into Kakadu. I absolutely loved Kakadu, it wasn't what I expected, but I was truly impressed. It is so green and vibrant that you feel as though you've stepped into another era and wouldn't even bat an eye if a dinasaur sauntered past you. It really has that kind of prehistoric feel. We stayed in the park for 5 days and did a bunch of walks, saw some really old Aboriginal rock art, watched a few informational videos in the air-conditioned information centres(it was really bloody hot here), saw 10foot tall termite mounds, checked out the Aboriginal cultural centre, fought off swarms of blood sucking mosquitos and saw some sunsets that would take your breath away. I could spend my life just wandering around Kakadu and never get tired of it. One of the best days I've had in Oz was spent in Kakadu. Kimmy, Erik and I did this amazing 8km bushwalk to motor car falls. It was unbearably hot (probably around 36) with very high humidiy. This walk had some pretty scenery along the way which was quite nice, but when we got to the the falls there was a gorgeous (safe croc free) swimming hole and loads of beautiful (not scary) butterflies. We spent just hours swimming and playing. We took another walk that had just opened and had a bunch of crocodile warnings. We weren't supposed to go near the water, but crocs can be found hundreds of miles inland so we were on edge the entire time and the walk kept leading us to the water anyhow. Nothing like getting the old heart pumping!

Litchfield is a very small park with a bunch of picturesque waterfalls and steams. We just spent one night and 2 days because there was so much rain. More rain than I've ever seen at one place in my life. The rain broke my camera. It was spectacular and warm so we didn't mind too much.

And that is it for the Northern territory. An absolutely marvelous place to visit and I am sad to leave it so soon, but there are other adventures waiting...

Take care everyone!
Erin