Adventures in Australia

You told us where to go. We heard you.

Each year we ask Miami Herald readers to tell us the places they'd most like to read about. For each of the past three years, Australia has been one of your top picks.

So here I go.

Don't count on me to be hanging out in all those places you've read about, though. My job, I figure, is to discover the Down Under you don't know, beyond The Big City and the Great Barrier Reef.

For the next 18 days, I'll be traversing the Outback via car, foot and camel. My
itinerary includes a three-day camel trek into the desert (yup, I'm in a tent!), a stop at the world's largest monolith (Ayers Rock), a long drive to the mining town of Coober Pedy, a stop in the Flinders Range, wine-tasting in the Clare and Barossa regions, a visit to Adelaide, and a sojourn with the koalas and 'roos on Kangaroo Island.

I'll post most days, but some I'll miss: My tent doesn't have wireless.