Australia holidays

The next morning, Brad, arrived to take us on our two-day adventure. Brad was ...a typical Australian, nothing was a bother and his motto was "it's all good, no worries". He took us to the Oak Valley Aboriginal community where we met Craig, an Aboriginal rocker, just back from the AC/DC concert in Sydney, having driven for 28 hours... He proudly showed us around his land, explaining his heritage and by the time we were leaving I dared to address him as "cous".

And then it was off to camp, where we gathered wood and built a campfire (well, Brad was the one who actually built it), and the girls prepared the potato bake while the men stood around the barbie sipping beer. Nothing changes. Sparkling wine, steaks and potato bake under a star-filled sky. What more could you want? Brad maybe. We slept under the stars in swags which are, to the uninitiated, a sleeping bag and mattress all in one.

After a hearty hot breakfast cooked by Brad, we motored on towards Ayers Rock ...We stopped off at Kings Canyon, a spectacular sandstone gorge in Watarrka National Park, where we undertook a three and a half hour walk, the first half of which was vertical. Given that I'm no longer young and a smoker, I must admit I did lose the plot a small bit on the vertical stretch. In fact my legs started to turn to jelly, but with the constant exhortations of our hero Brad, I got to the top. We travelled around the rim of the gorge amid amazing scenery and those, unlike me, who were not afraid of being out of their depth enjoyed a swim in the water hole.

We arrived at Uluru, the Aboriginal name for Ayers Rock in time for the much talked-about sunset and it wasn't a let down. It was spellbinding and what better way to enjoy its ever changing copper, ochre and orange hues than sipping a glass of champagne.

(Irish Independent, April 25, 2010, Eleanor Goggin)

The-Irish-Independent reviewing 4WD Uluru Safari

It’s a slog to get there with a 50-minute flight to Port Lincoln from Adelaide, plus a two-hour drive to Widunna (pop: 680), but if you want to see the real thing, this is it. So far Geoff is the only person with a concession to run a camp on the boundary of the Gawler Ranges National Park, 1,500 sq km (600 sq miles) of film-set Australia with red-dirt tracks, sheep stations, gullies, creeks and gum trees.

Nothing beats seeing your first roo in the wild, and unless you really want to be a jolly swagman you may as well do it in comfort. Geoff’s Kangaluna Camp equals five-star Africa, with three roomy tents, sleeping four each. They have sisal floors, sheepskin rugs, hot showers and flushing loos, plus extra touches such as beds made from local woods, silk throws and cushions painted with cockatoos, wombats and other Oz wildlife.

The Australian bush hasn’t got the cover-girl cats and big game of Africa, and it helps if you love birds, but for me the kangaroos make any effort worthwhile. We had countless encounters with these gentle creatures, who always stop to stare back, gazing obligingly into the camera.

There were so many highlights: the emus of course, but also the time Geoff persuaded me at a slow limp to stalk a wombat. It twitched its cute piggy nose at my strange shuffle and let us get close before it ambled off down its hidey hole. Then there was the day he drove us to Lake Gairdner, a spookily beautiful white salt pan that featured recently in a series of BMW car ads. It’s a famed beauty spot, but it was ours alone.

(Jill Hartley for The Times, October 27 2007,

Times reviewing South Australian Outback Safari