Cooda

ING for us. No branches. All on line or telephone contact but 24/7 availability and always helpful people on the other end. Make cash/cheque deposits at the post office. Use any ATM; the ATM fee is fully refunded at time of transaction. EFT deposits are usually in the account on the day they are released by the paying bank. Reasonable fees too.

Sorry to hear that FD. We are noticing a strong movement of both locals and tourists dispensing with the delights of the NT and heading off to Bali and Thailand. Aussie dollar's too strong and the NT's too expensive. Even the local marriage celebrants are doing it tough, with young couples taking their weddings off shore. When you look at the comparable costs, you can't blame them.

All the more reason to stay on the bitumen. Check on Emmkaytee closer to the date. I'm told that we might be up and running again soon.

By all means check out the hire companies. Deals can be done if they have surplus stock in hand. Allow 4-5 days for the trip. The rock will take you 400km to the south west of Alice and you retrace your steps to get back to the highway. There's no road south from the rock. Book your accommodation before you go out there. And treat the Lassetter Highway with extreme caution. We lose or damage a lot of tourists on it. The rains are late this year, so we could be looking at a very wet Feb-March. One year this happened, I lost a Camry in floodwater at Gilbert Swamp south of Tennant Creek and it turned out the road crew closing the road was travelling down behind me. This was in the first week of May. Going the other way across the Barkly can bring you up against the flooded Georgina River at Camooweal. I suggest you review the weather conditions in late February/early March as they may give a pointer to how things will be in late April.

There are two main ways to drive from Darwin to Sydney. Down the Stuart Hwy through Alice Springs to Port Augusta and points east or Stuart Hwy to (almost) Tennant Creek then the Barkly Hwy to Townsville and points south. This time of year through to May you face the risk of the roads being cut with flooding; so keep an eye on the weather forecasts. Going out to "the rock" will add 800 km to the trip as it is further from Alice Springs than most realise. If you're not in a hurry, it's not a bad trip - but can be boring now that you have to drive according to an artificially low speed limit rather than to the conditions.