Olympic flame arrives in Australia

The Olympic flame has arrived in Australia -- exactly one hundred days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sydney.

The torch, lit at the ancient site of Olympia in Greece in May, has made its way slowly across the world and arrived on board a plane at the sacred Aboriginal site of Uluru or Ayers Rock, in Australia's central desert region.

The first runner to receive the torch, which will be borne around the country, was the Aboriginal hockey-player, Nova Peris-Kneebone -- her moment of glory was delayed momentarily when the flame was twice blown out in the blustery wind and had to be re-lit from a back-up torch.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service