Australia by Red Nomad OZ
Good enough to EAT!  Big Prawn, Ballina, New South Wales

The Controversial Crustacean! Big Prawn Ballina, New South Wales

Once upon a time – WAAAAAAY back in the dim, distant world of 1989 – Ballina’s tail-less BIG Prawn sat atop the West Ballina transit centre and restaurant. Inside, visitors could climb up into its head and view a distorted world through the thick perspex of its concave eye. Over time, as businesses came and went below, the passive prawn’s[…]

Read more
Big Ned Kelly, Glenrowan, Victoria

The Next BIG Thing! Glenrowan, Victoria

Living in a landscape populated with giant fibreglass representations of fruit and animals is quite normal to many Aussies. Irrespective of whether or not such objects are in good taste! Commemorating criminals by building statues and devoting whole tourism campaigns to the bushrangers who dominated the early days of colonialism is also an intrinsic part of Aussie-dom. Irrespective of whether[…]

Read more
Half Way Across Australia - or is it??!! Kimba, South Australia

Halfway Across Australia!

The 4000 km drive from east to west is such a LOOOONG way even getting halfway across Australia is an achievement. Kimba, South Australia The small town of Kimba, deep in the South Australian Outback on the Eyre Peninsula, leaves cross country travellers in no doubt that they’ve reached halfway mark. If you don’t feel a photo coming on when[…]

Read more
The Big Malleefowl overlooking the Patchewollock Railway Station, Victoria

Only in OZ #22 – The Big Malleefowl, Patchewollock, Victoria

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[…]

Read more
The Big Murray Cod car-surfing, Swan Hill, Victoria

Only in OZ #21 – Big Murray Cod, Swan Hill, Victoria

The huge fish levitating planking looming above the cars parked opposite the Swan Hill Visitor Information Centre ALMOST made up for Pilchard’s refusal to take a detour via the tiny town of Tittybong. Just so I could say I’d been there … But the thrill of ALMOST visiting Tittybong dissipated as I sniffed out a story here on the Victorian side[…]

Read more

Only in OZ #18 – Big Woolbales, Hamilton, Victoria

The Big Woolbales, Hamilton, Victoria Although physical evidence sometimes suggests the contrary, not every iconic object in OZ has been turned into a Big Thing! That’s just as well.  What kind of nightmares would a Big Politician evoke? And the disturbing mental image of the Big Potato – well, let’s just say that was a narrow escape!! Although a Big Politician[…]

Read more

Aussie ABC – C is for Crocodile!

Books of etiquette and protocol offer no guidance on what to wear to a crocodile viewing. So who’s to say that the young woman outfitted as the diabolical love child of Heidi and Morticia Addams was dressed inappropriately for our Adelaide River ‘Jumping Croc’ tour near Darwin?   The fitted black stretch shrug over the tight black lace top tucked[…]

Read more

Aussie ABC – B is for Bushranger!

Kenniff Monument, Mitchell QLD What do Aussies call a person who a) makes a living from criminal activity; b) is on the run from the law; c) is likely armed and dangerous; d) lives outside mainstream society; and e) has probably killed – most likely police officers? WRONG! Not a murdering psychopath!!  Guess again!  NO! Not a terrorist! And[…]

Read more

Only in OZ #11 – The Big Winch, Coober Pedy, South Australia

Big Winch, Coober Pedy, South Australia Like a giant sword of Damocles, Coober Pedy’s Big Winch looms over the head of a hapless tourist. Well … actually, it’s Pilchard, sacrificing himself for the photgraphic greater good – so you can see just how big the ‘Big Winch’ actually is! Luckily for him, the perspective is an optical illusion – and[…]

Read more
The Big Koala many years ago, Dadswells Bridge, Victoria

Only in OZ #9 – Big Koala, Dadswells Bridge, Victoria

Well, now that Oprah-mania has died down we’re left with images of the Uluru sunset thing, the Opera House mega-thon and the koala hugging! But I bet she didn’t hug THIS koala! Dadswells Bridge has the dubious honour (conferred by moi) of having one of the most grotesque and unashamedly unattractive ‘attractions’ I’ve encountered in Australia.  Conversely, however, that in itself makes[…]

Read more