We chose Darwin as our first port of call due to its proximity to Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is massive, filled with wetlands, vine forests and escarpments, all formed by an ancient inland sea. After weighing all of our options, we decided to go with a tour company that packaged three tours in one: Kakadu, a Darwin-to-Alice Springs camping trip, and the Ayers Rock Region. For the next nine days we were in for 5 a.m. daily wake-up calls, and sleeping in tents or under the stars.

The tour of Kakadu began at a wallaby sanctuary; a wallaby is a marsupial that looks like a little kangaroo. The sanctuary was to serve as our first camp site.

In the early evening of our first night we took a crocodile-sighting pontoon trip on the Mary river. At first the boat's vinyl bench seats were so hot that no one wanted to sit, but within one minute all butts were glued to the seats, as we watched the stealthy croc that lurked four meters from the pontoon.

Being the wet season, the southwestern skies were filling with ominous clouds. Ten minutes into the cruise and the heavens sent down a refreshing cool shower, accompanied by a brilliant electrical storm. Although this sounds bad, it turned out to favor our circumstances. The raindrops lower the temperature of the water, which brings the crocs to the surface. As fast as the parting clouds dropped down rainbows ,the crocs started turning up on the shores.

The highlight of the trip was sighting - and possibly coming too close - to a 6 meter croc, sitting on the shore cooling itself, with its mouth wide open. What big teeth it had! After watching a red sky, savannah-like sunset over the river, we headed back to the sanctuary.

The wallabies on the sanctuary are nocturnal and used to human contact. While walking to the showers we stopped to talk with a friend, and to our surprise we had a fourth for the conversation. We looked down to find a little wallaby gazing around us as if it were part of the conversation.

Our second day in Kakadu was spent at the Jim Jim and Twin Falls. Getting to the falls required two hours of four-wheeling through narrow sand-and-mud roads. The Jim Jim Falls is a 215-meter sheer drop, and at the base of the falls is a huge green pool. After a short swim around the base, we headed to the more impressive Twin Falls. The approach to the Twin Falls is only by water, so we had to swim 800 meters up a canyon-walled river to arrive at the base of the 175-meter waterfalls. The head of the canyon has two sheer, drop falls that fill a massive pool which is virtually surrounded by a sandy beach.

Our last day in the park was spent viewing 2,000-3,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art. We were more impressed by the vistas from the rock art locations than by the rock art itself. We ended the tour in Darwin, where we had dinner with our tour mates. Little did we know that a quick dinner would turn into an evening dancing on tables until the wee hours...

After getting home at 2 a.m., the five o'clock wake-up - for the trip from Darwin to Alice Springs, a city in the center of the country and the launching point for Ayers Rock - was a rude awakening. Our expectation of having a comfy, A/C bus dissolved as quickly as the morning clouds. We travelled and camped our way 1500 kilometers, in 43°C heat, for three days.

Besides visits to quite a few outback pubs, the highlight of the three days was sleeping under the stars in swags, a canvas bedroll with a cushioned bottom and a rain flap for your head. Essentially, you slide your sleeping bag in, zip the top over and sleep under the stars. The outback is so far from any major light pollution that the night sky is brilliant. We spent two nights hoping for no clouds, and watching shooting stars and satellites float across the star-filled sky.

After one night in Alice Springs we set out for Ayers Rock, a massive monolith (364 meters high, 36 km long and 24 km wide). However, the real amazement of Ayers Rock is where it is situated: literally in the middle of nowhere.

The Rock is the highlight of the flat, red-clay, semi-arid center of Australia. We spent an evening watching the sunset on the big, red rock, and the next morning we circumnavigated the 9.4 km base. The sunset on the rock was a hoot. When we pulled into the viewing area park spot there were tons of tour buses and tailgaters. People from the world over come to sip champagne, snap a photo or 12, and then go home.

While in the red center, in addition to Ayers Rock we visited the Olgas and King's Canyon. King's Canyon is a huge limestone canyon that has been eroding for millions of years. The surrounding area is littered with massive limestone domes. It is amazing to see what wind and water can do to rock. While walking in the canyon we were treated to a magnificent electrical storm. At the top of the canyon we could look out over the flatland and watch lightning strike all around, as the residual thunder would roll and echo through the canyon, leaving goose bumps on even the toughest neck.

After the tour we spent another night in Alice Springs, then set out in a minibus for the northeast coastal city of Cairns. The 2300 km trip took us through 600 km of unsealed, red clay road, and 1700 km of narrow sealed road. Most of our way was spent on an old cattle-rustling route. We crossed over hundreds of dry river beds, watched kangaroos bounce by, chased giant goanna lizards for photos (actually Tracy did the lizard-chasing), and we witnessed the result of a road train wreck (dead, bloated cows lay all around the wreckage). We both were impressed by the vast, dry and desolate Australian outback. The red clay and scrub grass stretch forever, but eventually fold into a tall grass savannah, which turns into a coastal rainforest in Cairns.

From Cairns we sorted out a two-day trip to Cape Tribulation, home to the Daintree National Park, about 200 km north of Cairns. In this area the rainforest runs right to the coast to meet huge, white sand beaches. Our journey to Cape Trib was in a 22-seat bus that ended up having to be pulled through flooded streams.

About half an hour into the bus ride, it started raining. The rain came so hard and fast that sleepy streams would turn into 10 meter wide, violent running rivers. Our little bus could not make the crossing, so four-wheel drive trucks had to dragged us through three rivers.

Our two days in the rainforest were virtually and literally a wash. We were torrentially rained on for two days, except for three hours. During the "dry spell" we squeezed in a hike through wonderful mangroves, peaceful rainforests and along the white beaches. Although it did rain intermittently, we were well-covered by the rainforest and mangrove canopy.

The ride back to Cairns proved to be a challenge as well. It rained so hard that for two and half hours we actually had to wait out the rain. Even after waiting for the rain to slow, we had to be pulled through three rivers. Once back in Cairns we hoped for some drier, sunnier weather, as we needed to dry out not only our few possessions, but our pruned skin as well.

Upon our return to Cairns, we were ready to begin the journey down the coast to Sydney.