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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‘I would NOT like to fall down there,’ the backpacker remarked to his mates with that peculiarly British mixture of overconfident understatement and blinding obvious as he stared down into the depths of the crater. They nodded wisely, unsure whether or not they’d heard something profound, but deciding to play it safe. Banal though his utterance was, however, he was[…]
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The superb double entendre of 70’s conservation poster slogan ‘Save the Poor Bustard’ gave my childish mind what I can now identify as a salacious thrill. It could actually be repeated without the speaker being accused of swearing!! All the same, it shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise when, after testing the slogan out once or twice, I was[…]
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Close up of Jabiru at Lake Argyle, Western Australia Although non-birdwatching Aussies refer to stately and elegant Black-necked Stork as ‘Jabiru’, any twitcher* worth her/his salt will immediately recognise this to be technically incorrect. And will probably take great delight in boring you to death by telling you so – and why. If unlucky enough to be on[…]
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These conveniences could be ANYWHERE, right? Anywhere with tropical vegetation and killer blue skies, that is. But that doesn’t narrow it down much. Nor does its proximity to a beach and picnic and barbecue areas! Unlike many of its tropical counterparts, however, this public loo at Neds Beach on gorgeous Lord Howe Island has no predators such as snakes; the[…]
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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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‘What goes up must come down,’ she twanged, immediately identifying a) her astonishing originality and b) her country of origin. Suitably dressed for a dusty, rocky climb through clinging vines, a charred mountainside and tropical humidity in a white ‘resort’ dress and gold sandals, this gem fell from her pinkly glossed lips and dropped like pearls of wisdom before swine.[…]
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Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve# The muggy tropical night enclosed me in its warm fist, immediately bonding the long-sleeved light shirt I wore to my sweaty glowing skin. A squadron of mosquitoes lined me up and zoomed in for the kill – until they reached the tropical strength DEET forcefield surrounding me and fell back, choking on the blood they’d sucked[…]
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Apart from the snake on the beach, our island circumnavigation stroll was pleasant, albeit uneventful. But a frisson of danger changes everything – and an element of uncertainty elevates the ordinary, or even just plain old pleasant, into something more remarkable, doesn’t it? Or is that just me? Whether Griffiths Island, at the mouth of Port Fairy’s Moyne River on[…]
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Fred Ward Memorial Statue, Uralla Before Uralla, the thought of being tried by a jury of my peers gave me an attack of the screaming horrors. But in the spiritual home of bushranger Fred Ward I found an inarguable defence. Captain Thunderbolt, Uralla, NSW For here in Uralla, halfway along the Thunderbolt Way – shortest route from Sydney to the[…]
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