It's only been a couple of weeks, yet we've done so much. After my last posting, we went to a Dinner & Show presentation. For dinner we got to try some Kangaroo kebabs, not my favourite, but at least I tried it! The show was quite fascinating. During dinner an Aboriginal played an instrument known as the 'didgeridoo' - it's a hollowed out log that's makes a really low humming-gargling sound. After that, a group of Aboriginals presented some traditional dances. Trev got to try his hand at the didgeridoo, and I got to dance around pretending to pick fruit.

We spent a day touring the West MacDonnell Ranges, just outside of Alice Springs. In one day we saw Simpson's Gap, Standley Chasm and Ormiston Gorge, though I don't know the difference between a 'gap', a 'gorge' and a 'chasm' - they all were rivers that flow through the mountains.

We decided to splurge on another dinner. We went to the Overlander Steakhouse and tried their 'Blowout' menu. We started with tomato bacon soup and fresh damper (damper is just thick bread, like a biscuit). The next course was a sampling of Crocodile, Camel, Emu and Kangaroo. Suprisingly enough, they all tasted quite good - even the kangaroo. The camel was a bit tuff, but I think we decided we liked the emu the best. The next course was fish (Barramundi) or steak, I had steak and Trev had fish, but we ended up switching part way through. To top it all off,we had fresh apple pie servied with whipped cream and ice cream and a cup of tea - we didn't have to eat for days after that meal!

Another highlight of our stay in Alice Springs was our tour around the Desert Park. We walked around for over 4 hours looking at the natural wildlife, the birds and trees (not many in the desert) and we got to watch a birds-of-prey presentation and saw a couple of different birds. It had 4 different deserts and the different wildlife in each.

Oh, and I almost forgot! We went on a camel ride! That was my idea, but Trev really enjoyed it as well. We rode for about an hour while the sun was setting, it was quite beautiful. Riding a camel was much more comfortable than riding a horse, and you don't have to do anything - I could have read a book while the camel trotted along.

After Alice Springs, we went to the small town of GemTree, just outside of Alice. We went gem fossicking there. We got to sift through buckets of sand looking for the precious zircon. It looks like a diamond - just not quite as clear. We found one good sized one and 4 a bit smaller, but still good enough to make a ring or earrings out of. Maybe I'll get a ring someday:)

Our next stop was Mataranka. We had been told that the Hot Springs there were really good. To our disappointment, the whole area was overtaken by bats. There were thousands of them everywhere, and they smelled really bad. Trev even got pooped on while we walked to check our the hot springs. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. We moved right along to Elsey National Park. It was a small park, but right on the Roper River. We got to go swimming and even took a canoe out for a day to some small waterfalls.

We also went canoeing in Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park. The Katherine Gorge is a succession of 13 gorges - we were only able to canoe to the end of the third gorge in the one day we had the canoe. It was a lovely day though. The second gorge was by far the most impressive, the walls were massive towering over us. On our way back down the gorges we saw some sparrow nests, some turtles (at least the diameter of a basketball) and a freshwater crocodile! There are two types of crocodiles - the freshwater (freshie) and the saltwater (salty). The freshie is only small, it shies away from humans unless provoked, and then, it can only nip at you and maybe get a toe. The salties are the big ones - we haven't seen any of those yet, but there are warning signs all over the place letting you know where not to swim.

We wanted to do a day of Barramundi fishing on the Daly River, but when we got there the tours were booked out for the next week. The Barra is known around the world for its strong fights. We only stayed the one night, but the lady at the reception felt bad we couldn't go fishing, so she gave us some fish anyway. She gave us a large fillet of Barramundi, the most popular fish of the Northern Territory. It was delicious - we cooked over an open fire.

Instead of heading straight into Darwin, we stopped at Litchfield National Park. I think it is one of my favourites so far. We swam at the Buley rockpools, at Florence Falls and at Wangi Falls. It was so picturesque, swimming in the waterholes and the waterfalls cascade down infront of you.

We are now in Darwin. Not too sure how long we are going to stay. Last night we got to experience the Mindil Sunset Markets - a must do in Darwin. It's not like a real market, there were all sorts on international food vendors and tons of buskers. There was one guy that was painting with spray paints - the paintings were quite elaborate with lots of detail. There were two guys - one playing the didgeridoo and another on drums - they were really good, we bought their CD. And another guy was cracking whips. He could crack them in a rythm you could almost dance to. We each got to try cracking the whip. Trev was really good, he was even able to pass it behind his back and crack it with his left hand. Me, on the other hand, took forever just to get it to crack once, I ended it there.

After Darwin, the plan is to go to Kakadu National Park to see the salties, then head out to the East coast.

Well, we are doing well. The van is actually serving us quite well, it's become our little home.

We've taken tons of photos, but again I don't know when we'll be able to get them on the website. We'll let you know. Hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all.