What an adventure - 276 days, 132 different places to stay, drove 30,000 miles and flew many more, seen many fantastic sights and met many memorable people. ( ...and drunk 250 bottles of red wine, ate 1 and 1/2 cows etc)

Last night in Sydney

Climbed the Sydney habour bridge.

On our last day we decided to do something special so we climbed Sydney habour bridge.

The climb took three hours but the views from the top were worth it.

Half way up and still smiling.

Made it to the top.

Ghan train trip - Darwin to Adelaide

River Finke

Animal tracks leading to the river Finke.

The main road running alongside the train.

The vastness of the Outback

The Ghan train is three-quarters of a kilometre in length and takes 3 days to travel from Darwin via Alice Springs to Adelaide. (It was a long 3 days in one seat)

The camel symbolises the part the Afghan people played in building the railway to Alice Springs through the Outback.

Camping in the Outback

Had a brilliant few days camping in the Outback, sleeping in Swagbags and hiking Uluru and King's Canyon. We had to get up very early each day to see the sunrise and to avoid the hottest part of the day (and the flies) One night we even had Dingos circling the campsite, howling. Fantastic!

In the middle of king's canyon was an oasis called The Garden of Eden. To view it we had a steep climb in and out but it was worth it as it was teeming with bird life including the rare spinifex pigeon and the spotted bower bird.

Rock art

Sunrise over King's canyon (and another 4.30am start)

Uluru (Ayers rock)

Sunset at Uluru.

Crested pigeon caught in the silhouette of the sunset at Uluru.

Woken up at 4.30am to walk around the base of Uluru as the sun came up. The walk was 8km but easy in the cool of the morning and without the flies.

Sunrise over Uluru (Ayers rock)

Sleeping in a swagbag under a million stars was brilliant.

Thought we were staying in a 4* hotel instead we were working in the camp kitchen! This is chicken stir fry enough for 24 hungry hikers.

Kata Tjuta at sunset - stunning photo Dave took.

Hiking through the valley of the winds, Kata Tjuta

First sight of Kata Tjuta, meaning many heads.

First camp, note the facilities.

On the road to Urulu, miles and miles of red sand.

Alice Springs, NT

This is Alice Springs, a small town in the very heart of Australia made famous by Neville Shute's book, 'A town like Alice'

Different parrots in Alice Springs - Port-lincoln parakeets.

Todd river Alice Springs, an Aboriginal sacred site. No rain here for a while!

Flew from Cairns to Darwin, Australia's most northerly city.

Hot and steamy Darwin at night.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

There's only one way to really see the Great Barrier reef - learn to snorkel. We did and it was great!

It was incredible like looking down into a colourful new world. The fish swam all around, tiny shoals of darting fish only a few centimetres long up up to fish as big as us.

Took some photographs through the window of the semi-submersible boat but the results aren't very good.