RETURNING HOME!

I must admit that yesterday is now a little of a blur! After my train journey, I arrived at Sydney airport to delays due to fog in Melbourne. I finally arrived in Darwin at about 1:00am to find a very tolerant Suzanne waiting for me, she had been at the airport from 10:3pm. I can't thank her and her family enough for the wonderful nights sleep and 1:30am tour of my favorite Australian City! YES, my favorite city, Darwin is misunderstood by many, it is a unique stunning little city that is not only charming, but progressive and growing very quickly. The new Convention center is wonderful and the number of new Hotels popping up is going to provide a much wider choice for visitors.

Things to do in Darwin:
- Dinner at the Wharf
- Sunset Markets at Mindel Beach
- Visit the Darwin Museum
- Paspaley Pearls
- Darwin Race Season
- Local Art/Culture
- Eco Lodges

I departed Darwin at 10:40 this morning via Qantas Regional Jet to Kununurra. Very comfortable 75 seat jet - 45 minute flight.
Kununurra sits near the largest manmade lake in Australia, Lake Argyle and the smaller Lake Kununurra. The region is famous for the Argyle Diamond mine, the world's primary source of rare pink diamonds, a girl's best friend so I am told!

I was met at the airport by the wonderful Ann of 2KTours who drove me around Kununurra and provided me the opportunity to view the Ord river area from above the township. We then drove to Wyndham, about 100km's through amazing scrub lands dotted with Boab Trees (many of the locals carve the nuts from these trees, they look fantastic and sell for around $25 - $30). We stopped to view the Dreamtime Statues at Warriu Park and the 20m long Crocodile Statue, plus the Wyndham Bakers (best pies in town) and the Wyndham Pub for a Barramundi Burger (huge and fantastic) This was of course washed down with a nice cold Australian beer.........

Many of the folks on board took the opportunity to take the Bungle Bungle scenic flights and have been raving about the experience.

I am now on-board Orion. We have just received our briefing for tomorrows events - King George River. I am booked for the 5 hour Zodiac and Waterfall climb so stand by for some wonderful pics. We also received a very educational presentation the Indigenous seasons of the top end of which there are 6, I am going to have the Expedition Team leader put together some notes for my next Webex.....

My Stateroom is a Cat A, very spacious, wonderful marble bathroom, flat screen TV with CNN BBC Sports etc and for all you gals a hair dryer that is full size.

We ate dinner of the back deck tonight under the stars and can I just say that the sunset tonight was amazing. So much color, the cobalt blue of the water, the orange, yellow, red color of the sun and the amazing greens and browns of the mountains. No words can explain how beautiful it is, how small you feel and how you just don't want to leave. This is an ancient country and I can't think of a better way to experience its beauty than from the water.

I will have a full report tomorrow about our climb and swim at the top of the falls so stay tuned..........I am off to bed.