Hi Les,
The National Park you're thinking of must be Kadadu, I think. I'm ashamed to say I've never been there. My brother worked at Jabiru up in the Northern Territory for a year of so and that's where he met his Swedish love. They spent a lot of time in Kakadu and have amazing stories and photos. It's best to go in winter (your summer) when the weather is warm. The summer is unbearable unless you love extreme heat. Hairdryer - well, yeah, a girl has to look good if she's going to be eaten by a croc.
My hideous overseas trip? I went to Zurich via Singapore and Dubai (I didn't stay over). From Zurich I went to L'Abri, which I've mentioned before. It's in a tiny village near the ski resort of Villars, in the south of Switzerland. It's not too far from Montreaux and Lausanne. Very pretty.
Then I went to London, then on to LA and home via Hawaii and New Zealand (again I didn't stop over). I was away for four and a half months, and yes, I was alone. Not much fun - especially when you need someone to mind your bag. And I'd never flown before. I didn't know I had to hand the flight attendant my boarding pass, so I just took a seat. They thought I was a stowaway, and instead of coming up to me quietly, the attendant yelled out from the front of the cabin: "Excuse me, we have reason to believe you have something in your possession that you shouldn't!" I thought, "Oh no, someone's planted something on me!" Everyone in the cabin looked at me! I was so terrified. I didn't know if I would like flying and I couldn't turn around and come home - it was 'other side of the planet or bust!'
That was the beginning of the journey, and it went down hill from there. But I did meet some wonderful people and see some amazing places. So there you go. I made a lot of REALLY dumb mistakes on that trip, but I was in my early twenties and was extremely naive.
So you traded the business world for stinky diapers - I don't think there's that much difference, is there? The contents of both are pretty much the same! I think that motherhood is probably more challenging and it has the disadvantage in that you can't send a memo to a baby to tell them to go back to sleep.
Good to catch up wicha.
Liah