In the individual countries we visited, we covered a lot of ground seeing both coasts in the US and Australia, plus  the northern and southern ends of New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand. We traversed these countries via train, plane, bus and campervan, with the longest land journey the 2,500km drive down the west coast of Australia.

Our visits coincided with major events in several of the countries we visited: election campaigns in Canada, the USA (a particularly historic one) and New Zealand, a solar eclipse in India and devastating bushfires in Australia. All these events, we witnessed through television and newspaper reports.

But we did get to see New Zealand’s prime minister elect John Key on the campaign trail in Nelson. In New York we attended the 9/11 memorial along with Barack Obama, his Republican opponent John McCain, and thousands of other people from around the world. While in San Francisco we watched the third debate between the two presidential campaigners in a packed bar in the Castro, the city’s gay area – the atmosphere was electric!

Another great memory was when we caught a glimpse of the Dalai Lama during our visit to India, as documented in my last post. It was a real privileged to be standing so close to someone with real historic significance.

However, on a slightly negative note, our plans for finding work in Australia did not work out the way we planned. While Kieron eventually found some worthwhile work, my job was shortlived and unsatisfying. The odds were stacked against backpackers on working holiday visas at the time we arrived (roughly this time last year). I hope things are better for travellers arriving now.

Despite this setback, we made the most of our time down under staying  with two families in Victoria and housesitting for three weeks in Melbourne. During that time we looked after numerous different types of animals. My experience of looking after chickens came in handy today when I shared my knowledge of feeders and pens with a contact.

This is just a taste of the time we spent on the road. For a more detailed account, see my other posts, but even those barely scratch the surface. On my return to the UK, I moved in with my parents for a couple of months and have pretty much learned to drive (just the small matter of passing my test left now).

Workwise, I have freelanced for the BBC for a while and returned on a part-time basis to my former employer New Start. I am now back in London – my travels now a distant dream.

Thanks for following my blog – hope you’ve enjoyed it!

“In India, anything is possible,” a tour guide we travelled with was fond of saying. Probably the occasion where this phrase seemed most apt was when we got to see the Dalai Lama in the flesh.

The day after arriving in Mcleodganj, the Himalayan hilltown that serves as the base of the Tibetan government in exile, we decided to visit the temple where the Dalai Lama teaches most regularly. While there, we were informed that his holiness would be visiting the temple for private prayers two days later. We couldn’t believe our luck – he spends only three or four days a month in Mcleodganj.

Two days later, we headed down to the temple half an hour before the prayer ceremony was due to start. We positioned ourselves close to a group of elderly Tibetans at the door on the temple’s left hand side, close to some well ‘ard Sikh guards.

For twenty minutes we sat (taking care not to point our feet at anything holy) watching maroon clad monks and a handful of tourists with invitations to the prayers go into the temple. Many others were lined up along the path between the temple and the monastery where the Dalai Lama lives. All eyes were fixed on a gate into the monastery.

Eventually, the gates swung open and a group of monks swept out. Amongst the sea of maroon was a flash of yellow, and the familiar figure of a small man in glasses emerged – the Dalai Lama.

His holiness made his way slowly down the path, stopping only to speak to a group of excited tourists. Then, to our disappointment, he made his way towards the right-hand side entrance leading us and the Tibetans to leave our vantage point to hurry to the other door for a closer glimpse, trying to bow our heads at the same time. By this time, the man everyone wanted to see had disappeared inside the temple.

Our glimpse of the Dalai Lama marked the start of a fortnight of experiencing Tibetan culture and Buddhist customs. Himashal Pradesh, the Indian State where Mcleodganj is located, is home for many Tibetan refugees, many of whom made arduous journeys across the Himalayas to get there. We travelled through several Tibetan settlements and found them to be very friendly places, and often better run than Indian communities.

Of course, the locals in Mcleodganj and other hill communities have to be congratulated for their hospitality to their Tibetan neighbours. From speaking to locals the perception I got was that Tibetans have settled in well and interestingly, are more welcome than migrants from within India. Himashali people appear less warm towards migrants from Rajasthan and neighbouring Jammu.

After three days we left Mcleodganj behind, but it wouldn’t be the last time we would experience Tibetan hospitality in India.

During our time in Vietnam we heard a lot about what it was like to travel around Cambodia – most of it negative. Undeterred by these reports we decided to go and see for ourselves and arrived in Phnom Pehn after one of the more sedate coach journeys of our trip to date. So far, so good.

Phnom Pehn seemed pretty lifeless after the hustle and bustle of Saigon and Hanoi. Another difference we’d noticed on arrival in the Cambodian capital was how visible the country’s poverty was. Around one of the city’s many temples, amputees would sit on the steps begging, while young children would approach you asking for dollars.

Unfortunately state support for the most disadvantaged people, such as amputees, is minimal. Things look more positive for the children of Phnom Phen with a number of NGOs working on their behalf. We supported one of these organisations by eating in their restaurant, which is managed by former street kids, and buying souvenirs from their gift shop.

There was plenty to see during our two days in Phnom Phen, including the spectacular Royal Palace. But our main reason for coming to Cambodia was to explore the Angkor temples in the north of the country near Siem Reap. A bus journey later and we were in the thick of Cambodia’s most bustling tourist centre.

The most common way of seeing the temples is to hire one of the local tuk-tuk drivers for a few hours. However, we decided to take advantage of the free cycle hire that our guesthouse offered. We were rewarded for our efforts to get up at 5.30am with an almost empty Angkor Wat. By the time we’d spent two hours exploring the temple the crowds were starting to build up and it was time to move on to the even more impressive Angkor Thom.

A citadel rather than a temple, Angkor Thom covers a lot more ground than area’s other historic sites. We cycled between its north and south gates, stopping occasionally to check out the ruins along the way. Our two-wheeled mode of transport offered us the freedom to stop whenever we felt like it, unlike tuk-tuks or taxis.

After a long morning of sightseeing we noticed a dark cloud drifting overhead. But our attempts to get back before the afternoon deluge began failed miserably and we arrived back soaked to the skin.

Our second day of exploration took in the overgrown ruin of Ta Prohm, which was used as a backdrop to the film Tomb Raider. Abandoned for centuries, nature had taken over the temple, with the roots of trees wrapped round the temple’s stone structures. The temple is far from neglected now. By the time we arrived, it was already overrun with tour groups both large and small.

Before we headed to the Thai border, we took a detour to the nearby city of Battambang. After an eight hour boat trip, we arrived in a place that couldn’t be more different to Siem Reap. Once we’d shaken off the tuk-tuk and moto drivers at the boat launch, our stay in Battambang was remarkably hassle free. – A nice change from the touts and the hawkers who make their living around the Angkor temples.

When we arrived at our guesthouse, the Australian owner told us that Battambang is “the real Cambodia”. Indeed, it is a place devoid of the commercial gloss of Siem Reap and other places we’d visited on our journey. One of my favourite memories of my time in Cambodia is watching hundreds of women taking part in a public workout in one of Battambang’s parks. It’s quite a sight and as I returned to our tuk-tuk I thought how nice it was to have finally found “the real Cambodia”.

IMG_0131

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

As our taxi driver in Hanoi told us, the problem with Vietnam is it is “a very small country, but a very long country”. I was reminded of his words several times as we made our way slowly to Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when it was capital of South Vietnam before reunification in 1975.

Our journey to Saigon started appropriately enough on the Reunification Express, which chugs up and down the 2600km track between Hanoi and the southern city. After a fairly comfortable night in a sleeper berth we reached our first destination, the city of Hué, the capital of Vietnam until partition.

In the early part of the last century, Hué was one of Vietnam’s biggest cities. Now it’s population has dwindled to the size of Gateshead’s, while cities such as Saigon, Hanoi and Danang have boomed. One of the main reasons for its decline was its position just to the south of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that was established during partition. But this location means it is now popular with tourists eager to see the places that made the headlines during the Vietnam War.

We eschewed the popular DMZ excursion in favour of a motorcycle tour of the city and its surrounds. Our guide had a pretty interesting background. He had worked as a local scout for the American Army and had some great anecdotes about the Viet Cong and the GIs. His tour took in some of the pagodas in the locality, plus the tomb of one of Vietnam’s emperors and some war relics.

Seeing the area from the back of a motorbike was also quite a thrill – I’d last been on a motorbike when I was about three years old and that was only down the street and back. This time, I just hung onto the back of the bike and tried to enjoy the view and ignore the few near misses we had!

A few days later I was on the back of a bike again, this time through a thunderstorm. We had been enjoying some rest and recuperation on the beach near the town of Hoi An when the weather began to change. By the time our bike had arrived to take us back into town, a rainstorm was well underway and we had the pleasure of riding into the driving rain, whilst the roads turned into rivers.

With the beginning of the Monsoon Season, thunderstorms became a familiar occurrence on our trip. The storms of Hoi An were repeated the following day in the beach resort of Nha Trang. By this time we were keen to escape the humidity and decided to head up to the hill town of Dalat, a popular retreat for the southern Vietnamese during partition.

Dalat was experiencing something of a heatwave while we were there. But with the temperature a pleasant 26 degrees Celsius – significantly lower than in the places we had visited so far – it was cool enough for walking, so on arrival in the town we booked ourselves onto a trek.

When our guide turned up to meet us the following day, it transpired that we were the only bookings for that day. So we had a private guide for our 18km trek through the central Vietnamese countryside. Among the highlights along the route were a coffee plantation, two creaky suspension bridges, a forested ridge walk and an almost deserted ethnic minority village.

Our 22-year-old guide shared some interesting information with us relating to ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, of which there are more than 50. One of the most astonishing facts was that two new ethnic minority groups had recently been “discovered”, with their own language and customs, living in a remote part of northern Vietnam . It’s incredible to think that even in this highly connected globalised world, there are still people out there that no-one knows about!

After almost two weeks of travelling down the spine of Vietnam, we reached Saigon. It was interesting to note the differences between the two former capitals of divided Vietnam. Here are just a few:

The traffic jams in Saigon are much worse
Poverty is much more evident in Saigon
You’re more likely to get ripped off in Saigon than in Hanoi
Saigon people have a better sense of humour than Hanoians (or they like to think they do!)
It’s easier to cross the road in Saigon
More people spoke English in Saigon

You can judge for yourself which one I preferred, but bear in mind that we spent three nights in Saigon, but six in Hanoi. There is, however, plenty to see in Saigon and we could easily have stayed there longer. A lot of tourist attractions relate to the war, such as the famous Cu Chi tunnels. We visited the tunnels, but felt our visits to the Reunification Place and the War Remnants Museum were more worthwhile. An exhibition of wartime photojournalism in the War Remnants Museum was one of my highlights of our time in Saigon.

So after three weeks in Vietnam it was time to bid farewell to this small, but long country. I have no doubt that we will return someday.

IMG_0233

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

It’s not too hard to find Vietnamese food in London: just walk ten minutes up Kingsland Road from Shoreditch and you’ll find London’s Little Hanoi. But the food I tasted in Vietnam was nothing like the food I’d sampled in London’s Vietnamese restaurants.

While I’d always enjoyed the food in Vietnamese restaurants in the UK, my expectations of the real thing was very low. I expected that a typical Vietnamese dish would contain lots of rice, various different parts of an animal’s anatomy and few vegetables. When I got to Hanoi, I found out that the only thing I got right was the bit about the rice.

In contrast to my expectations, I discovered the Vietnamese use lots of fresh ingredients, especially vegetables. Our first experience of true Vietnamese cuisine was Pho Bo, a thin beef noodle soup, flavored very simply with lemon grass and basil. In the north, this is served with lime wedges and fresh chilli, which you can use to change the flavour. As you travel south the optional extras become more extensive, to include fresh basil, mint, greens and bean sprouts.

Whilst in Hanoi we ate at a number of Vietnamese restaurants. A typical dish would be some delicately flavoured fish or meat, served with rice and lots of vegetables (including a dish consisting of stir-fried greens called Morning Glory). There were quite a lot of regional variation. In the north they were very into barbecued chicken and pork, while further south pancakes and dumplings were popular. Good seafood seemed to be available everywhere
.
The Vietnamese seem to like a beer or two. And while in Vietnam, we were keen to make the most of the cheap beer. Unfortunately, most of the Vietnamese beer is very gassy and light. It is often served a little on the warm side too. But I did try two or three really good Vietnamese beers. In Hue I enjoyed Huda and Festival – unfortunately both are difficult to find outside the city. Saigon “Red” beer was also pretty good too.

The coffee in Vietnam is also very different from coffee in Europe. It’s served strong and sweet, sometimes hot and sometimes cold. White coffee is made with sweetened condensed milk, though you can sometimes ask for it with fresh milk.

There is definitely a very different flavour to Vietnamese coffee. Most of the beans are grown locally, and are sold as a powdered blend. While in the southern highlands we visited a coffee plantation and found out that fish sauce is added to some of the cheaper blends sold in Vietnam. That might explain the interesting flavour then!

One treat I enjoyed particularly in Vietnam was the range of fresh juices and fruit shakes. Vietnam is one place in Asia you can have drinks with ice, because the water here is relatively safe. It was a pleasure to be able to have smoothies and lassis without paying through the nose for them, although I discovered that dragonfruit does not work very well in a milkshake!

With all this food and drink there was a real danger we would leave Vietnam several kilos heavier. Fortunately, the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh City had been enlarged for westerners. Whoever made that decision probably knew how much weight travellers can pile on while staying in Vietnam!

IMG_0032

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

After nine months traveling around English speaking (apart from a brief Quebecquois interlude) countries, we were long overdue some culture shock. We reckoned Vietnam would provide this, and it did to some extent.

We’d been warned about how crazy the roads were, and yes, everyone seems to have a scooter and drives it everywhere (including tiny little alleyways). But it wasn’t the complete chaos you’d be led to believe. It is still possible to cross the road, which is a relief. You do, however, have to abandon the Green Cross Code and stride out slowly into the road and the traffic drives around you.

Having visited India, I imagined that Vietnam would be similarly chaotic. But it’s not. In fact, I was surprised how European Hanoi felt, with its French colonial architecture and cafe culture. It even has pavements you can walk on (unlike many parts of India), although you normally have to dodge a line of mopeds in the process.

There were some reminders that we were in Asia, though. Stalls selling street food were everywhere and you couldn’t go five minutes without meeting a hawker, very often women wearing traditional gear who sold bananas and pineapples. The culture of the far east was also very evident, elderly ladies doing Tai Chi by the main lake in Hanoi’s old quarter.

Vietnamese food in Hanoi was very different to the type we have in the UK. I was impressed with the freshness of the ingredients and the simplicity of the dishes, most of which used just a few seasonings. In Hanoi, the speciality dishes includes Bo Pho, a noodle soup with beef, and pork cooked on a charcoal stove.

We were captivated by Hanoi and ended up spending six nights there in total, far more than we had imagined. This was partly because we liked the place, but also due to Kieron having the flu, which delayed our journey down south.

Whist in the north we took a trip to Ha Long bay, which featured predominantly in the French film Indochine and scores of travel brochures advertising Vietnam. The bay is made up of hundreds of rocky islands that rise hundreds of metres out of the sea and has proved a useful hiding place for the Vietnamese in a number of wars over the years.

Our tour included a night on a “junk”, on which we explored the bay during the day. Highlights of the trip included a visit to the surprising cave and a kayaking trip into a secret lagoon. I also took a dip in Ha Long bay, jumping off the middle deck of our junk, but on entry the sea water went straight up my nose so I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone!

Australia’s East Coast is Australia for many visitors. The Pacific Highway from Sydney to Cairns is heaving with campervans during the busy summer months. In contrast, the West Coast feels empty, even its capital Perth is notable for its lack of bustle.

During our visit to Australia, we took a road-trip in a campervan along both coasts (though admittedly, we only saw a 1,000km stretch of the east coast). Aside from the differences in visitor numbers, the two coasts share a lot of similarities. Both have reefs, National Parks and lots of sandy beaches. Here’s a crude comparison of their main assets.

Perth vs Brisbane

On our first day in Perth, I’d almost written the place off. It was a Sunday afternoon and the streets seemed deserted, in contrast to Brisbane, the city we had just left. It was only on our return two weeks later that Perth started to grow on me.

On our first visit, we’d cruelly overlooked Northbridge, the backpacker’s suburb. After staying there for a couple of nights, we discovered its pubs, ethnic restaurants and parks. Northbridge also has lots of historic buildings and interesting architecture, including this warehouse conversion, which really impressed me.

Other attractions in Perth include the Western Australia Museum, where we saw a free exhibition focusing on the work of the musician Nick Cave. We also enjoyed a visit to King’s Park, which has excellent views over the city. Nearby are the “Jacob’s Ladder” steps. The steep ascent to the park is surprisingly popular with joggers, who like to race each other to the top.

While Perth is reknowned for its remoteness, Brisbane is known for, well… being boring (to quote the Pet Shop Boys). On arrival we were dismayed by the confusing traffic system – there are far too many one way streets. But after some dinner we chanced upon the South Bank, the city’s cultural heart.

With its concert halls and art galleries, Brisbane’s south bank reminded me of its London counterpart. But while Brisbane’s south bank is less crowded in the evening than London’s, there seems to be more going on. And much of this activity is spontaneous. As we walked around we saw groups of people sitting on floodlit lawns having picnics and playing music on guitars and flutes. There was also a night market along one of the streets and a paddling pool with its own artificial beach.

Perth and Brisbane get overlooked in comparison to Sydney and Melbourne, but our brief visits revealed that the two cities have a lot to offer the visitor.

Fremantle vs Byron Bay

Freo is to Perth what Greenwich is to London. Walking through its historic streets you could almost be skirting the 0° line, although in reality, you couldn’t get much further away from it. Like Greenwich, Freo has a Maritime museum, a market and some great shops. It’s also popular with students, and as alternative as it gets in Western Australia (it’s hardly Brunswick though).

Alternative living is Byron Bay’s raison d’etre. There’s a lot of hype about this place, but we found most of it to be justified. The bay is amazing, the hinterland is stunning and while the town itself is nothing special, it has everything we needed and more. We were fortunate to be there in early May, long after the end of Peak season. Perhaps if we’d visited earlier in the year, we’d have found it too crowded.

Kirijini National Park vs Blue Mountains

The Kirijini National Park is a long drive from the WA coast, but there’s a lot to see, especially if you have access to a 4WD. We didn’t but still had a great time exploring Dales Gorge and the surrounding area. The gorge itself contains hidden gardens and some interesting wildlife, plus the Fortescue Falls and the gorgeous Fern Pool (where I fulfilled my lifelong ambition of swimming under a waterfall). Camping in the NP is also a thrill, though it gets cold and the howling of dingoes make it a bit eerie.

On a crisp autumn day, the hazy views over the eucalyptus valleys of the Blue Mountains are second to none in Australia. Just two hours from Sydney, the area is great for walking, climbing and long scenic drives. Our two day stay in the mountains was enough to experience the expansive views from Echo Point, the vertigo inducing walk to The Pulpit and a relaxing drive in the much overlooked Megalong Valley.

The Ningaloo Reef vs The Great Barrier Reef

O.K. here’s a confession. I’ve not been to the Great Barrier Reef. But I did visit the Ningaloo Reef and can confirm that a length of “the little pool” in most British leisure centres is further than the swim from the shore to the reef in one of the bays we visited. In contrast, seeing the Barrier Reef involves a day’s boat trip.

The Ningaloo reef appears pretty dowdy at first glance, compared to pictures of its eastern counterpart. It’s nice to snorkel over it and look at the abundant sea life, though. There are many different types of fish, plus sea cucumbers and other funny looking things. Further out at sea you can see whale sharks and if you are there during the summer you might be lucky enough to spot some sea turtles.

Another benefit of the Ningaloo Reef is that you can experience its magic with few people around. We drove down from Exmouth to Turquoise Bay in the Cape Range National Park and there were just a handful of swimmers there when we first arrived. It filled up later, but by then we had set off for a beach further down the coast which was deserted, apart from a few friendly crabs.

And finally…

I apologise for such a hasty write up of what was a big part of our trip, but we are now in Asia and there’s lots to write about here. I hope to be able to come back to this and flesh out some of the detail. For a more exhaustive account please read Kieron’s account of our west coast odyssey.

For now, I will leave you with some words on Broome, the former pearling town where we embarked on our west coast trip. It is possibly the most isolated major town in Australia with Perth 2,300km away and Darwin not much closer. But at this time of year its hotels and caravan parks are full of people in search of winter sun.

Despite its popularity as a tourist destination it has a small-town feel. Sometime you feel like you are in a remote Scottish village like the one featured in the film Local Hero. You’ll go into local microbrewery Matso’s and the waiter who’ll bring you your beer will have served your coffee in a cafe that morning. On another occasion you might go and steal some WiFi at McDonalds and the girl working there will be the same person you saw on the Coles fish counter the day before. If you stay there a week, you’ll probably get to know the whole town!

IMG_0690

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

During our time in Melbourne, we noticed that the locals seemed to have a slight obsession with Sydney. It would be fair to argue that this was largely media driven; for example we saw a number of articles in backpacker magazines pitting the two cities against one another (most of these contests seemed to end in an unfriendly draw).

Melbourne’s local paper The Age would regularly have a pop at Sydney: about how the city had done very little with the site of the 2000 Olympics, and about how Melbourne, being Australia’s “sporting capital”, should have the honour of hosting a future soccer world cup final, not Sydney. With all this animosity, it’s no wonder they designated Canberra as the “compromise” Federal capital!

Melbourne is viewed by many as the more cultural and cosmopolitan city, while Sydney with its multiple waterfronts and hills appeals to the more active, beach loving type. However, Sydney’s detractors argue that its charms are more superficial: for them, Melbourne has more depth.

After spending five months in Melbourne, I can vouch for the fact it is cultural and cosmopolitan. But until last week, I had not experienced what Sydney has to offer. We had five days in the Harbour City to find this out.

Our first day in Sydney coincided with ANZAC Day, a holiday to commemorate the Gallipoli landings, which seems to have evolved into a pub crawl for Australia’s armed forces. If you ever want to see men and women in uniform partying hard then go to Sydney on ANZAC day. Alternatively, you could go down to JD Wetherspoons in Aldershot on a Saturday night.

All this activity was just a short bus journey from our hostel in Newtown, as was the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. After seeing these icons of engineering lit up at night we returned the following day to take a peek inside the Opera House (you can’t see much without going on the tour) and to walk across the bridge. The walk is really worth doing, though I can’t help being a little disappointed that it is painted black. I was expecting it to be a stunning turquoise like the Tyne Bridge.

Not all of Sydney’s attractions lie in the Harbour. The city is also famous for its beaches, so we went to the most famous of all – Bondi. Now, I’d heard some slightly negative reports about Bondi Beach – mostly to do with the fact it was brash and crowded. But on a Monday in late autumn it seemed neither crowded nor brash. In fact, we had a very pleasant afternoon doing the Bondi to Coogee clifftop trail, though I did expect both bays to be bigger than they were.

Our trip to Manly gave us a chance to see another famous beach and to embark on another walk. The Manly Scenic Walkway is 11km long and goes through part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. We didn’t manage to get to the end of the walk, but still got to see some pretty little bays and nice views over the Harbour from Dobroyd head.

The trip to Manly is worth it for the ferry ride alone. Spending time in a boat on the harbour was among the highlights of our time in Sydney and we got another opportunity to ride a ferry across the harbour when we visited a family friend in Mosman one evening. On that occasion we were treated with a double rainbow across the opera house and a great sunset.

So after five days in Sydney, I would agree that its charms are pretty evident from the outset, though I can’t comment on whether it is superficial and lacks depth. I got the impression that the rich cultural life that exists in Melbourne is probably there in Sydney too, but I think you have to be there for more than five days to see it.

What I will say is that Melburnians are wrong about one thing: having visited the Olympic site whilst in Sydney, it is not the underused wasteland that they would have you believe. There seem to be plenty of visitors to the site, including 180 native bird species and seven different types of frogs!

IMG_0484

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk

Early mornings and me don’t really go together. But exploring the Red Centre is all about early mornings as we found out on our Northern Territory Road trip.

At our hostel in Alice Springs, we had been advised by an Italian backpacker to make sure we reached Kings Canyon no later than 7am. She said that the four hour rim walk was well worth doing, but that it would be too hot to walk by the time the clock turned eleven.

We tried our best to heed her advice, but typically, we left it late and it was 8.30am by the time we set out on the rim walk. Thankfully, there was a bit of a breeze and some thin clouds so the conditions were quite pleasant for most of the morning. The walk itself was more than pleasant. After a steep climb onto the cliffs above the canyon, we were rewarded with some fine views, which got even better as the walk progressed.

Kings Canyon was created millions of years ago from a crack that got wider and wider through erosion. It boasts some spectacular rock formations, including domed rocks, layered rocks (similar to the Pancake rocks on the west coast of New Zealand) and smooth cliff walls. Other highlights include the Garden of Eden, a fertile oasis of green in the midst of the ochre, and the views on the final descent to the car park. It was a walk with a lot of variety that was well worth the long drive.

Uluru is another 300km south and we sent off for the rock immediately after finishing at Kings Canyon. Our accommodation was 20km from Uluru and we could witness the sunset from a hill in the resort. Unfortunately, at both the sunset at the sunrise the following day (the times the rock appears red), we were denied the full Uluru experience because of some badly timed clouds. But seeing the famous red glow of the rock close-up on the base walk more than made up for this.

Our final Red Centre experience was the Olgas, a series of rock mountains that lie 40km west of Uluru. After the 10km base walk, Kieron and I were starting to feel a bit weary from all the trekking, but we managed a couple of short walks through the Olgas. The first was in the Wilpa Gorge, an echoey canyon between two mountains. The second, a walk up to the Karu lookout a few miles away, was the start of the Valley of the Winds walk, a trail we regrettably had no time to do.

By the time we reached the Olgas, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it started raining on the way back to the Ayers Rock Resort. Thankfully, there was plenty to do at the resort – the bar was not atrociously expensive and unlike the Kings Canyon Resort there were cooking utensils. Needless to say, our two evening meals at Ayers Rock Resort were a step up from Pot Noodles!

Our first destination was about as different from Melbourne as you could get. Alice Springs is nowhere near the coast and its river dried up years ago. The feel of Alice is very different. With a population of just 29,000 it does feel like a small town, despite being a major centre for tourism and culture.

The cafe society is much less in evidence in Alice than in Melbourne, but the cultural scene is still strong thanks to the Aboriginal artists whose works are displayed in the town’s galleries. On the downside, social problems are very much in evidence, such as alcohol dependency within some sections of the local Aboriginal community.

Our first day in the Northern Territory was spent soaking up this culture, including viewing some excellent Aboriginal art and a visit to the Royal Flying Doctors’ museum. The following day was the start of the serious traveling – a 1,100km road trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) via Kings Canyon.

We picked up our hire car at half nine before getting our pass for the Mereenie Loop Road – a dusty unsealed road.

After much deliberation we had decided to go for a 4×4, giving us more access to unsealed trails like the Mereenie, instead of restricting us to the Stuart Highway. This paid off as soon as we reached the unsealed stretch of the road. The 4×4 made the corrugated surface much more bearable than it would have been in a 2WD.

As we progressed the dusty trail turned a deeper shade of red, something we would have appreciated even more if the sun had been out. Despite the overcast sky, we were seeing things we would never normally come across – huge anthills, green fruits that looked like giant gooseberries growing on the side of the road and red, rocky ranges, stretching out for miles either way.

As we neared Kings Canyon, we stopped at Ginty’s Lookout. You could see the outback spread out before you, but the dominant colour was not red, but white and green from the grass and the trees.

We are overnighting at Kings Canyon resort before going to explore the Canyon itself. But a word of warning for those planning to stay at the lodge and use its kitchen to prepare a slap-up meal: the lodge’s kitchen has no equipment, so bring your own pans, cutlery and crockery.

If you don’t, you’ll either be dining in one of the resort’s pricey restaurants, or eating pot noodles like us!