We’re back on the open road. Our car is the respectable Nissan Pulsar- featuring the keyless entry which, from this point on, I will be unable to live without. Once out of Canberra, the houses and towns quickly recede into rolling hills and the infamous ‘bush’ landscape of scrubby eucalypt. We were headed to Australia’s tallest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko. This was to be my biggest challenge yet. An outrageous 22km of hiking that would take us about 7 hours in that blazing Australian heat. Clearly I wasn’t thinking when I took a banana with me and now my stuff sack/backpack contraption smells like banana.

But the views were incredible! Australia’s mountains are very old and much of the surface has eroded to expose these Stonhenge-esque rock formations on each hilltop. We stood at the top and proclaimed Molly to be the tallest point in mainland Australia, then took our time following the Snowy River (yes, as in The Man From…) back to our car (whose doors I unlocked and trunk I popped from several meters away).

Twilight had set in so the kangaroos were out and about. Our excitement over this can not be over stated. The kangaroos couldn’t help but notice out excitement as well and decided that the best course of action was to hop away in panic. Now, as if I wasn’t sunburned enough, we head for the beach.