Crocodile Dundees in Australia

Mick had been on the road for four days and had two more days to go before he reached home in Perth. When he wasn't driving he was unloading stuff, or sleeping while his co-driver Marty took over.

I was travelling across the Kimberley in Western Australia by road train – a 160ft-plus, three-trailer, 64-wheel truck, which might as well have been a locomotive as far as the kangaroo was concerned.

I met the tattooed "truckies" in Alice Springs, and with personalities bigger than their beer bellies, wearing shorts, "thongs" and singlets, Marty and Mick were every bit the Crocodile Dundees of the road. They spoke of "sheilas" and warned me: "There's no dunny stop, so if you're coming with us, you'll have to pee in a bottle." As a farmer's daughter I can take most things in my stride, but aiming into a bottle seemed a tricky proposition.

Australia voted top holiday spot despite global slump

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Australia has been voted the most coveted destination by travelers in a global survey that also showed two-thirds of people were reviewing their holiday plans because of the global economic crisis.

Asia Pacific was named the number-one region for those intending to travel overseas this year and next in the survey, commissioned by credit card firm Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and which polled over 5,500 people.

Nearly half picked Australia, which is expecting the number of foreign visitors to fall to their lowest level in two decades this year, as a place to visit, a likely boost for a multi-million dollar tourist campaign launched late last year.