One last G'Day from the Top End, little K! Wasted a few days in Darwin being sick like a dog (read: I actually went to see a doc!) but it went considerably better last Tuesday so I embarked upon a four day Northern Territories Blitz to visit Kakadu NP, Katherine Gorge and Litchfield NP in airconditioned tour group comfort. Witnessed awesome display of power of crushing Saltie croc jaws, hiked all the way up to the top pools of Gunlum Falls, canoed up Katherine Gorge to take a dip in the Southern Rockhole, crossed the new Ghan several times along the way, checked out Charlie the famous water buffalo (well, the stuffed dead one) from Crocodile Dundee movie fame in Adelaide River, end finished with many more waterfalls throughout Litchfield NP. Long flight ahead this night - via Sydney and Johannesburg to Cape Town. No worries mate, as Yours Truly has the upper deck, first row window SkyBed... woohoo!!! The only way to travel...

Yo KJ - here's the current short-term update:

04/18-04/25 Darwin and NT, Australia Wrestling salties in Kakadu NP.
04/26-04/28 Cape Town, South Africa Table cloths and Robben Island.
04/29-05/17 Overland safari Southern Africa Garden Route, Lesotho, Drakensberg, Durban, Zululand, Swaziland, Maputo and Mocambique, Kruger NP, Jo'burg.
05/18-05/21 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Side trips to Zambia and Namibia.
05/22-05/22 via Jo'burg, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenia Bad travel planning.
05/23-05-30 Mahe and Praslin islands, Seychelles [Bugs would say:] Ain't I a stinker? Hahaha... more tropical islands for me!
05/31-06/22 Overland safari Eastern Africa Masai Mara NP, Kenya. Via Kampala, Uganda to Kigali, Rwanda and the Mountain Gorillas. Into Tanzania to Serengeti NP, past Mt. Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar and the Spice Islands, on to Dar es Salaam.
06/23-06/29 Tel Aviv, Israel. Long trip via London. Swimming in the Death Sea.
06/30-07/04 Madrid, Spain Time for nightlife al fresco!

More details later.

G'Day little Kermit... Still enjoying the last days of summer here in Perth - discovered a beauty of a beach, Swanbourne/Nedlands, right between Cottesloe and Scarborough, for some desperately needed FKK. No more tan lines, woohoo! Went to see some kick-ass ass-kicking at the Subi Oval - the Freemantle team showing off some of the impressive Aussie-Rules Football, better known around here as Dockers Footy. Indulged in yet another wildlife park, Caversham in the wine country of Swan Valley, but the skippies weren't up to much jumping around as they had been fed all day by children out of school. After a sunny day in Freemantle, a.k.a. Freo, which included a fantastic visit to the former maximum-security prison and great people-watching on the city's famed Capuccino Strip, I was not to be denied again: A day trip to beautiful Rottnest Island and a full day of biking all over the place resulted in my next boink, boink, boink moment - little quokkas! Hillarious skippies, basically miniature joeys, that are just a joy to watch and to play with in the limestone and sand dunes of the bays. More Subiaco nightlife today, another lazy beach day and maybe another stroll around Kings Park tomorrow, and then I am off to Darwin and the Northern Territories' swamps of Kakadu NP - Salties, here I come!

Salut Junior! Survived the double-whammy jet lag just fine and went on to Tasmania. Spent some time feeding my favorite little boink boink boink critters (a.k.a. kangaroos, wallabies, etc. pp.) at Bonarong Wildlife Park, cruised around the harbour and even inspected the reasonably famous Cascade Brewery - all in all, Washbear time!!! Back to Melbourne, on to Phillip Island... yes, froze the ass off at the Little Penguin Parade. Via ferry from Sorrento to the Great Ocean Road, a quick side-trip to Bells Beach in Torquay (the famous Oz surfer beach where the annual championships are held), all the way to the Twelve Apostles and back to Melbourne's sacred MCG for some kick-ass Aussie Rules Football at night. Weekend in Sydney with all the bells and whistles (those sharks almost attacked us!!!) plus an afternoon in Manly, and back to Melbourne for a few more days - most notably the Rialto Towers observation deck... woohoo, exactly my thing! I have finally made it to Perth today, all the way out west - it is super sunny and hot here, so beach time now!