The Bayou in Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans.

Native to the swamps is the alligator; a strangely majestic, dinosaur-era creature. Although they were pretty big, they have nothing on the salt water crocs in the Northern Territory.

Inside Carlsbad Caverns. These were huge underground structures, lit beautifully and filled with people.

Monument Valley. A collection of huge red stone structures rising out of the desert in Navajo country.

It’s very hard to get a good idea of just how big these things are, and how unnervingly silent it is to stand amongst them.

The Grand Canyon, from a helicopter, with the Colorado River running along the bottom.

A rainbow over the canyon. The weather was quite beautiful on the chopper ride, we saw the rain sweeping over the canyon, leaving a patchwork of light and dark spots all over the rocks.

There is no way to explain to someone who has not been there what it’s like to stand on the edge of the canyon and see nothing else all the way to the horizon. The sheer vastness of the landscape was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.