Hi Flash - and welcome to the forum - you don't say what city you are coming into here in Australia - that may help a bit. Also, have you done your research, and know that the Centre and North of this country are extremely hot, humid and quite often very, very wet in the summer months? Not a good place to travel through at that time, people have been caught in floods, etc.

As for travel companions - you need to meet up with some Grey Nomads - maybe head to a place called Green's Lake in Victoria - over the summer there are usually quite a few of us camped there, some for a long time, some come and go - we met one of the members from this site there, and he is travelling down the centre of Australia with us at the moment -we came over from Brisbane, and are heading south from Alice Springs early next week. That is one of the ways it works, go to known Grey Nomad spots - join in the happy hours (you don't need to drink - I only drink soda water) - read some of the blogs from Yeoeleven on here - or Solo Steve - or Oma - all very informative and helpful.

Hope it all works out for you - might see you on the wallaby sometime!