go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers
Most people know what a traditional Scotsman wears under his kilt*. But far fewer people know what a Frenchman wears under his sarong! I’d never given this tragic gap in my knowledge any consideration whatsoever – I mean, who associates Frenchmen with sarongs? But if this vexed question HAD been keeping me awake at night, I certainly wouldn’t have expected[…]
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My mother was born and bred in Western Australia, right in the heart of the fabled wildflower zone. If I had a dollar for every time I heard how wonderful the Western Australian wildflowers were compared to anywhere else in Australia – if not the world – I could have travelled round the world to find out for myself! But[…]
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I’m a technophobic dinosaur. Losing my – gasp – film camera to economic rationalist anti-technological conspiracy* was a devastating blow from which I’m still recovering. Then after I’d cut my digital photographic technique teeth on partner Pilchard’s 2 year ‘old’ camera, he gave me a new one for Xmas! Too much too soon. So when I was nominated by both[…]
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Crocodiles are a weird combination of Aussie ‘Big Thing’ and perilous prehistoric predator. Maybe our fascination with crocodiles in Australia is what makes this my most viewed post of all time*. Or maybe it’s because of the awesome photos and superlative writing … read on, and decide for yourself 😀 But before you do, PLEASE NOTE this WARNING: Crocodiles are VERY dangerous and[…]
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The pairing of Australians and Cane Toads works well. Almost as well the pairing of pavlova with pepperoni! Although, come to think of it, while the Cane toad is an introduced species, so are its colonial counterparts … but I digress! 77 years after ‘experts’ deliberately introduced the Cane Toad (Bufo Marinus) into the wild, this alien animal has infested[…]
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A good morning in Kununurra starts really early. That’s because this town in the East Kimberley is just west of the Northern Territory border and the Central Australia time zone. Crossing the border into Western Australia means you gain 1½ hours so what was 7:30 am in the Northern Territory is now 6:00 am! And the sun is well and truly up[…]
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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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So many days at sea before a wondrous land loomed broad and high Its lush and glittering shores so far from home And no one there! So its emptiness, its bountiful emptiness They claimed for a faraway queen. But the proud and ancient race who roamed these vast and trackless plains And in their comprehending wisdom left the land untamed[…]
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It’s getting increasingly difficult to do something that no one else – or at least very few – have done. Even the ‘I’ve-climbed-Mt-Everest’ club is not the insider clique it once was … But conquering Mt Wycheproof, deep in the heart of Victorian Mallee country should cement my mountain climbing credentials once and for all. Because I’ve now done what[…]
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Cairns is one of the best Australian travel destinations – and I’ve got the photos to prove it! This laid back city 2000 km north of Brisbane between World Heritage Listed Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, has come a long way from its sugar-cane farming roots to become Far North Queensland’s tourist hub. Cairns has just as much to[…]
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