go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers
The lyrics of Aussie folk ballad Waltzing Matilda* are responsible for most people’s entire knowledge of billabongs**. So visiting a real one – like Marlgu Billabong – raises certain expectations. Visiting a real Billabong That’s why I found the unexpected lack of swagmen, coolibah trees, jolly jumbucks and troopers at the Marlgu Billabong, oasis in the Kimberley west of Kununurra,[…]
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Does it REALLY take 7 days to drive the ~3000 km from Adelaide to Darwin? Only if you want to see a few sights along the way on a REAL adventure! Driving yourself is the best option (try Car hire if your vehicle isn’t up to scratch) to experience a cross-section of Australia’s unique countryside from the dry south, through the Red[…]
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I don’t know what made us decide to stay overnight at the Victoria River Roadhouse as we pulled in for fuel, late on a Northern Territory July morning. Perhaps we took the Grey Nomad’s experimental driving technique involving an inexpertly executed U-turn directly in front of us without warning as a sign to stay off the roads that day. […]
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Is BLUE the new RED? It is downunder where blue and red have been interchangeable for YEARS! But before you start thinking us Aussies are a nation of colour-blind fools, it’s all due to the colloquial contrariness that means we call things the opposite to what they are. So a tall person becomes ‘Shorty’. A skinny person becomes ‘Fatso’. And[…]
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The dry, dusty and unseasonally hot wind that had kept our fuel consumption at an all time high swept us out of the car, whistled around our ankles and bent us double until anchored by our lunch bag we landed in the shelter shed. With any luck, being behind the windbreak would stop our sandwiches filling with sand. Despite the[…]
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Is high tide the best time to see the amazing rich red soil, and the coloured layers of the rocks against the astonishing blue sea at Gantheaume Point Broome? Well … maybe! Broome’s iconic point, at the northern end of the 22km white sand curve of world famous Cable Beach, is a stunning scenic masterpiece during the strong light of[…]
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‘It’s just a short walk up the gorge starting over there,’ the kiosk attendant told the three fit young women in front of us, waving casually towards the trail head. Then it was our turn. Pilchard produced his senior’s card. ‘The track is uneven and rocky, and there’s a couple of creek crossings so please take it easy and take[…]
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The insatiable curiosity that leads me off the main road to explore an interesting sounding place or rumoured oddity isn’t always rewarded. But in the tiny town of Patchewollock, deep in the Victorian Mallee and just off the Hopetoun/Walpeup road, I hit paydirt. Big time! Unmarked on any tourist literature (that I’d seen) Patchewollock hosts one of the most bizarre[…]
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I’ve yet to meet a Calcareous Concretion I didn’t like. Although there’s some confusion about exactly where that magical Moon Rock meeting is likely to be. My first sighting in Outback Queensland’s Richmond was supposed to be ‘unique to the Richmond Shire’ according to the town guide. BUT … I’d clocked up several hundred Moon Rock sightings before heading a[…]
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Think of ‘Australia’ and ‘Paradise’ in the same sentence and I’ll bet you’re thinking tropical. White sandy beaches, palms and and clear blue sea. Colourful fish, corals and lush rainforest. Balmy, moonlit nights and cocktails under the stars. But that splendid vision – while undeniably fabulous – is only one of many versions of utopia in this country of diverse[…]
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