The final weeks in Australia were spent reorganizing everything, sending 414 rolls of film off for processing, and packing, packing, packing. We now have three months to rest and re-organize. Our trusty stead, the ever faithful Land Rover, went in for revamping and installation of a super duper VHF radio for the next leg of our trek through the Central Desert of Australia (I have a feeling that we ain't seen nothin' yet!)

And now, safely cocooned in Paris where the roads are jammed and the food divine, I look back over these past months with nostalgia. We met wonderful people, cuddled extraordinary animals and experienced the vastness of the Outback with the grinding sameness of 14,000 km of eucalyptus. Even after reading a wonderful novel on eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus by Murray Ball - highly recommended), they do not thrill me at all.

On our flight back to Paris, a mere 19 hours, Ellen and I concluded the following:

1. We would finish the trip no matter what...going back to Australia March 15th for another four months. So brace yourself - there will be more updates coming to you next year!

2. The friends we made were worth the eternal miles we drove.

3. The photos we put up on the Web site were just as fun as the "real" ones we took for work. We are happy-snappy shooters at heart.

What now? Ellen is back in Williamsburg scrutinizing 414 boxes of slides (she is supposed to be doing that, anyway) and I am in Paris enjoying ten days with my extended family. On Dec 31st I fly to South Africa for two weeks to finish the "Little Tracker of the Kalahari" film - the music and voice over script. It will be nice to be in full summer mode again after rainy and dark Paris. Then and only then I will be heading west to the States by late January to also take a look at those 14,904 slides. I'm sure that my friends will be organizing the mother of all blizzards to welcome me back.