We made it to Perth! Well, Ellen and I did - the Land Rover expired near Cape Leveque which is 4000 km north of here.

A high-pressure oil hose split, probably from bouncing along endless bumpy tracks - the engine overheated within minutes and a piston seized. End of story. Well, surely there is an oil pressure gauge with a warning light? Nope, only a small warning light which is invisible during the day when the sun shines on the dashboard. One of the endearing features of a car designed 50 years ago. And, yes, I had checked the oil that morning and all was well.

There we were stranded on a sandy 4WD track 130 km from the nearest garage. I knew that the car was running on three pistons and moving it would only make matters worse. So we waited and sure enough a Toyota Land Cruiser pulled up in a cloud of dust, "Ya right, ladies?" shouted the driver.

"We have a minor problem - engine died." we replied in true laconic Aussie fashion.

"Let me have a bit of sticky beak (Ozzie for "look"), Joel said." He peered under the hood then under the car. "She's crook (sick) awright, mate" he said - we agreed, the patient had truly expired.

Meanwhile a handful of tourists climbed out of the overstuffed Toyota. One woman trotted over and asked, "How come I recognize you both? Weren't you at Tunnel Creek last week back in the Kimberley? What are you doing here in the middle of woop-woop?" Ellen chatted about coincidences and unexpected reunions while Joel and I hooked up the tow rope and chains.

The Toyota towed us to an Aboriginal settlement 10 km down the track with the only phone and we called for a tow. The truck arrived five hours later, a huge flatbed affair and the Defender was slowly winched aboard and strapped down like a corpse on a stretcher. The only thing missing was a black body bag. I was despondent.

The next day the Land Rover garage confirmed it all. It would take weeks to get a new piston and buff up the crankshaft. "Maybe two weeks, maybe four, could be longer. The parts have to be shipped up from Perth. " We had visions of being forever stuck in Broome watching camels on their sunset walk up and down the beach as our only distraction. So we opted instead to send the Landy on ahead to Perth by truck, a mere 4000 km away, and rent another 4WD to finish the trip. It turned out to be cheaper to have the Landy trucked to Perth than it had been to tow it 120km to Broome. Go figure.

The rented Toyota Land Cruiser camper van was functional, it took all our gear, but also proved to be an uncomfortable, back-breaking truck with flat springs. We had never fully appreciated the form-fitting seats of the Landy or its divine Old Man Emu suspension until we had a bone jarring reality check in the Toyota. But more adventures lay ahead.

We had longed to spend some time on a cattle station in the Kimberley. It's as close as you can get to a true cowboy lifestyle except here they're called jackaroos. But try as we might all the stations we phoned were still "too wet" and the cattle were spread out over hundreds of square kilometers. "Won't be mustering until August, I reckon." said one owner. And the muster was just what we wanted to see - when cattle are rounded up by helicopter, truck and horse and herded into small stock yards.

On a tip from someone we called Anna Plains station closer to the coast where it looked as if it might just be dry enough. Pay dirt. Joe Grace, the head stockman, welcomed us and said they'd be rounding up a few head the next day. Anna Plains is a fair sized spread of one million acres (that's 110km long by about 60 km wide) with 26,000 brahma cattle. Texas ranches are puny in comparison. Only 15 people live there including the ranch hands and the cook. We spent an unforgettable day and half there learning the ropes and loved every minute.

The jackaroos, Scotty, Russell, James, and Dennis were not your macho nightmares but sensible and articulate young guys. Funny too. At dawn we watched as the cattle raised a dust storm, threading their way up squeeze cages into the waiting cattle truck. One ornery bull charged the fence I was leaning on and then kicked it for good measure. "They're a little bit cranky this morning, cheeky devils," apologized Joe as the whips cracked and the men shouted and the cattle bunched and glowered: "Not going onto that truck, no way," they promised but eventually they did. The huge road train, a mega truck with 86 wheels, hauled off 150 of them in its three double-tiered trailers to be shipped to Egypt for shish kebab.

From there we headed south to Exmouth and the Ningaloo reef off Cape Range National Park, a completely different experience, believe me. Diving with manta rays and whale sharks is an eerie experience - both are huge, one flies by like a black bat and the other just glides slowly beneath you in total silence. Neither could be called "cheeky devils" but rather majestic creatures of the deep. We also saw many humpback whales on their way to the warmer waters of their calving grounds off the coast of Indonesia. This is one place we will return to and stay longer. It is pristine, unspoiled and sheer heaven if you love the sea and endless beaches.

And so we landed in Perth after our seven-month long tour of Australia. Now we pack the Landy into a crate and pack our bags to head back to the United States with a book to write, images to edit and memories to cherish. What a trip!

It was often hard and tiring but we kept on going and the adventures kept on coming - what more could you ask for?