After all my planning today was the day I was flying to Darwin to start my Outback Adventure!

On Tuesday 29th August 2017, My Contiki Outback Adventure journey had begun!

I made my way to to Port Macquarie Airport bright and early at 5 am.

I made my way inside to the Qantas Airways Desk and checked my bag all the way through to Darwin. I received my boarding pass before clearing security and making my way to my departure gate.

Everyone started to board the plane at 5:45 am and I found my seat and settled in for take off.

I flew Economy Class with Qantas Link which departed for Sydney at 6:30 am.

After a short 60 minute flight we were notified by the cabin crew that we would be landing shortly.

We arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport at 7:30 am.

After disembarking the plane we were transported inside Sydney Airport to collect our luggage from baggage claim for those passengers that were catching a different flight from Sydney.

As I walked inside the airport I found a cafe and had some breakfast before making my way to my departure gate for my flight to Darwin.

Everyone started to board the plane at 8:45 am and I found my seat and settled in for take off.

I flew Economy Class with Qantas Airways which departed for Darwin at 9:30 am.

After a 4 hour flight we were notified by the cabin crew that we would be landing shortly.

We arrived at Darwin Airport at 1:30 pm. After disembarking the plane we made our way inside Darwin Airport to collect our luggage from baggage claim.

After collecting my luggage I made my way outside and found Darwin Airport Shuttle Service which my travel agent had booked for me.

I boarded the shuttle and departed Darwin Airport making my way into Darwin City Centre.

After a 30 minute trip I was dropped off at my Darwin accommodation Travelodge Mirambeena Resort Darwin.

After making my way inside my accommodation I checked in and received my room key and made my way to my room at 2pm.

After settling in I relaxed by the pool before making my way to reception for our kick-start meeting at 5 pm, which was were I met my fellow travellers and trip manager for the first time.

As we met our fellow our travellers and trip manager, we got talking about where we all came from and what we did in our home countries.

There was such a mix of people from different countries including: Australia,England,Germany,Switzerland, United States of America and Wales!

After getting a quick summary of what we would be experiencing over the next 11 days from Mark our trip manager, we spent about half an hour talking with each other before every one made plans for dinner.

A group of 9 travellers including: 3 Welsh Girls: Rhian,Elin and Llio (their accents are super cute!), 2 English Guys: Stuart and Tom, 2 Australians Steve and myself, One Swiss Guy: Marc and One American Guy: Rob, decided to take a walk to Stokes Hill Wharf a popular tourist attraction with restaurants and bars for dinner which was a suggestion from our Trip Manager Mark.

This was a great way to get to know our fellow travellers over dinner and a few drinks while watching the amazing Darwin Sunset.

As we walked around the many restaurants, we decided to have a meal of fish and chips while watching the sunset over the sea.

As we enjoyed dinner we got to know everyone better by finding out where everyone was from,what everyone did for a living and what everyone was looking forward to experiencing on the trip and in Australia.

This was an incredible way to start a trip with a beautiful sunset while enjoying a fantastic meal with new friends.

As we walked back from Stokes Hill Wharf,we decided to have a round of drinks at an Irish bar called Shenannigans. As we walked in there was a trivia night and the non-australians tested their knowledge of how much they knew about Australia.

After a such great night we walked back to our hotel to get a goodnight sleep before our tour officially started the next morning at 7:30 am.

Safe Travels!

Campbell 🙂