By now we have traveled 2000+ kilometers up the East coast of Australia from Sydney to Cairns. It was a rush road trip as we wanted to get to Cairns in plenty of time to head up to the much more remote CAPE YORK Peninsula for an extended stay of 3 to 4 weeks before the rainy season hits. Once the rainy season hits the roads up north can become impassable even with an all terrain vehicle such as ours.

Nicole's Land Rover is equipped for many kinds of terrain and other emergencies but you can't be too careful in Australia's remote outback. Australia has some of the world's most poisonous snakes as well as some R-E-A-L-L-Y big, carnivorous crocodiles which are referred to affectionately by the locals as "Salties". And bugs.hordes of them! And not to mention the torrential rains. Here is an interesting tidbit for you: by all accounts 119 species (and subspecies) of mosquitoes are known to inhabit the Cape York Peninsula. Scratch, scratch...

On a lonely stretch of road enroute to Cairns we came upon a family of four whose vehicle had been side-swiped by a Kangaroo which suddenly decided to cross the road in front of them. The impact totally crunched the hood of their car and disabled the fan belt assembly, etc. It was a mess. They were lucky that we encountered them for Nicole not only has the right tools on board but she knows exactly how to use them. Prior to encountering the family with its disabled vehicle we came upon that same fresh Kangaroo carcass which Nicole and I (of course) stopped to photograph. Little did we know that the family would be waiting for us around the next bend. Australia's 'road kills' are something else! We're not talking about your usual skunks and stuff that we are used to seeing in the States. You would have enjoyed seeing us on our bellies, with Nikons in hand, trying to capture some artsy photographs of this 'roo that had met such an unfortunate death. We had to keep a keen eye out for rushing road trains that seem to come out of nowhere at a very fast clip.

By the way, most of our photographs will be of live animals. I just thought I would tell you that.

See the photographs of Nicole's Land Rover (The Landy Rover at Work section of the web site) so you can see exactly what this vehicle looks like and how it is packed and outfitted for the Outback. I am doing some of the driving but right now it is mainly on the less treacherous stretches of roads. I don't like the rough stuff, not sitting behind the wheel of that pricy vehicle! I let Nicole tackle that stuff. Driving a 4WD in this terraine is not as easy as it looks but it is fun, I have to admit. And I am slowly learning about the 4X4 world out there. I have a Landy cap now and also a Landy T-Shirt so you know that I am really getting into this Landy stuff big time. If only my mother could see me now!

We have some meetings set up with field biologists in Cape York who will take us into some interesting spots. One trip will include 4 or 5 days in saltwater crocodile country with a well-known croc expert. Another trek will be with a specialist in Australian marsupials. And who knows what else.

How's this for a definition of the Great Barrier Reef: "A tropical aquarium where marine life can observe humans outside of their natural environment." We'll be spending some extended time there, so I'll let you know what I think about that. Did you know that most of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef will be dead within thirty years if global warming continues unchecked? I find that to be a frightening statistic.

The trek to the tip of the Cape should be very interesting - with some naivete probably we are looking forward to single lane dirt roads, lots of rivers to cross (sans bridges), huge gorges and passes through the mountains to traverse, and even some rain forests. There will also be plenty of hot, tropical weather to endure as well as bugs, of course. For the adventure I got myself an Aussie hat with a big rim today and also some good boots. My traditional Birkenstocks are not exactly 'outback' gear someone told me yesterday. I really am not turning into a cowboy out here, it just sounds that way.

Australia in general is laid back and quite 'country' in many ways. And the people are generally friendly, helpful, and humorous.

No one dresses up much for anything which is good, because I have one small piece of Eagle Creek luggage for clothes which doesn't include much more than a few shirts, a pair of jeans, a couple of pair of kaki pants, some shorts, socks and underwear, the usual toiletries, oh, and a rain jacket and my trusty Birks. The rest is camera gear (but you knew that, right??)

These updates with directions to our evolving Australian web site will be coming your way as often as Nicole and I can write and send them. The web site will also have many digital photos for you to see. My idea is to make it possible for you to follow along with us as we criss-cross this amazing continent.

The problem is not so much a lack of things to write about but finding the time and a place for internet connections. So far those opportunities have been sparse!