Up to Moree, Australia. Wednesday 20th December 2006.

Up with the lark for an early morning flight from Kingsford Smith airport via Narrabri to that outback metropolis of Moree, N.S.W.

Here I am to meet my other great Australian Mate Big Tom. They build them big in the outback as Tom stands at 6ft 5ins tall.

I am so enjoying my time in Oz meeting up with the lads and remembering those old Surrey days.

I will be spending my Australian Christmas not on the beach but here in the outback with Tom and his family enjoying an authentic and unique experience that you can only get in Australia; after all I've done the beach Christmas thing a number of times in Florida.

Jack (Tom's younger brother), Tom and I headed out from the airport for a tour of the town and a visit to his Dad's yard. Williams Bobcat Hire, the family business are the earth movers and shakers here in the agricultural capital of Australia.

For lunch I had my first ever curry pie and we spent a wonderful day just chillin and catching up and meeting all the family.

Australia is of course a sports mad country and Tom's family are no different.

Moree is part of the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest artesian groundwater basins in the world. The basin lies beneath approximately one-fifth of Australia extending beneath arid and semi-arid regions in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory and stretching from the Great Dividing Range to the Lake Eyre depression. The Basin covers a total area of over 1 711 000 square km and it has an estimated total water storage of 64 900 million megalitres (a megalitre is one million litres and is equivalent to about half the water in an Olympic swimming pool).

The Great Artesian Basin was formed between 100 and 250 million years ago and consists of alternating layers of waterbearing (permeable) sandstone aquifers and non-waterbearing (impermeable) siltstones and mudstones. The thickness of this sequence varies from less than 100 metres on the Basin extremities to over 3 000 metres in the deeper parts of the Basin. Individual bore depths vary up to 2 000 metres with the average being 500 metres. Some of the sandstone sequences contain oil and gas where conditions are suitable.

Groundwater in the Basin flows generally westward to the south-west over most of the Basin but to the north-west and north in the northern section. The rate at which water flows through the sandstones varies between one and five metres per year. Recharge by infiltration of rainfall into the outcropping sandstone aquifers occurs mainly along the eastern margins of the Basin, more specifically along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Natural discharge occurs mainly from mound springs in the south-western area. Mound springs are natural outlets of the artesian aquifers from which groundwater flows to the surface. Dating of the artesian waters has given ages of almost 2 million years for the oldest waters, which occur in the south-western area of the Basin. Water quality in the main aquifers is generally good with Total Dissolved Solids varying between 500 to 1 500 milligrams/litre, although pH may be very high, and high sodium levels make it generally unsuitable for irrigation. Water temperatures vary from 30 degrees C in the shallower areas to over 100 degrees C in the deeper areas.

The issue of water and the Australian drought is a major topic of conversation across the country and particularly here in the agricultural belt. However this afternoon our focus is sport, water polo to be exact with Tom, Jack and their Dad, Bob, playing in a match tonight. The last time I played water polo was with Tom in Surrey.

Anyway, as well as watching the match I take advantage of the natural hot springs of Moree which are fed straight from the Basin and which provide a most relaxing thermal spa.

The original bore for the Hot Artesian Pools was drilled in 1895 to a depth of 2,792ft pumping some 3,000,000 gallons per day at some 114 degrees. Originally the two spa pools were segregated into male and female sections, but in 1995 to celebrate the centenary of the original bore the pools were integrated. The pools however are reflective of Australia's history with Aboriginals only allowed to enter the baths complex in 1967.

The outback is proving to be yet another fascinating area of discovery.

Tonight I get to enjoy the beauty of a starry starry night. So far from the light pollution that blights the major population centres you really to get to see the wonder of the night sky out here in the outback.