Final leg to Sydney

18th August. Since the last blog we have completed our travelling through the length of Australia!

11th August we travelled to the world famous Kings Canyon. 12th to Ayres Rock and seeing the sunset on Uluru. The 13th started with a 5am awakening to see the sun rise on Uluru! The nights of the 12th and 13th were my first experience of sleeping in a swag bag, and it was under the cold Australian sky. The stars were awesome even though it was minus 2 degrees and frosty, the bag was so warm and comfy! We also visited the Olgas, a group of rocks very near to Uluru and equally impressive.

The 14th meant a long journey to Coober Pedy, made famous by the discovery of the worlds best opals. Coober Pady is a desert town and the safest place to live is underground. Everything was underground even the churches and we visited the 'underground Catholic Church' which sounds very suspicious! But not to be left out the Anglican Church was also underground. Our accommodation was a large dormitory cut out of the rock which was surprisingly comfy and warm on a freezing evening - it was the remains of an Opal mine!

The 15th meant another long drive to our first large Australian City. Adelaide was impressive and the girls on the bus were very happy to find out the shops were open late for a bit more shopping. The 16th meant that Narrandera was our destination. A small out of the way place with very good camping facilities. We were told that we were only 100 kilometres away from the snow line here and it felt like it. With the exception of Adelaide, Coober Pedy and Darwin our evenings were spent under canvas! The other nights have been in hostels.

The 17th was the final leg, leaving Adelaide and going via Canberra to Sydney. Canberra was reminiscent of an old American town of the east coast and it was great to visit the Capital and the Parliament building. We arrived at Sydney just after 6 last night to have photos taken overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Last night meant a PARTY!! And we all enjoyed ourselves at "The Gaff" which provided us with free meals. (Great to have fish and chips).

So what else can be said? Australia has meant really long days on the bus travelling on really long roads through deserts and between salt lakes seeing sheep, kangaroos, cows, wallabies and loads of wedge tailed eagles eating road kills. And loads more!! Our guide Mark Raine of Venture Tours Australia made this part of the trip extra special. So thanks to him.

So much more has happened. There have been arguments and fall outs and making up and laughing and crying. Making new friends and also meeting people who you perhaps wish you never had. In fact this journey would have been a great Big Brother TV programme. Perhaps this will happen soon.

But this has been a wonderful time and has given me so much to think about. I have especially been challenged by the faith of many people from all over the world from all types of religions. (Also the faith and spirituality of those who say they have no faith!!)

As I am running out of time all I can say is "Thanks" to all who have accompanied me on this journey and made it so special. I have moaned at times but it has all been a part of the journey. I'll try to update the blog with photos soon or even get up and running with Facebook!!

Thanks for reading.

Martin