Australia by Red Nomad OZ
Cullen Street, Nimbin, New South Wales

Postcard from … Nimbin, New South Wales!

Hi There! Amongst Nimbin’s main street throng of weekend hippy trippers, bong-brain backpackers and Rainbow Region locals I stood out like a tourist. The specially chosen bright orange chain store T-shirt I’d worn to Australia’s alternative lifestyle capital just didn’t stack up against the psychedelia of wildly experimental natural-dyed organic hand-woven fibres in daring and cutting edge styles. The locals[…]

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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[…]

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Radio Telescope #1, Australia Telescope Compact Array, via Narrabri, New South Wales

Australia Telescope Compact Array – Loo #36

Australia Telescope Compact Array At the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the future of Southern Hemispheric radio astronomy was in my hands, at least for the next 30 minutes or so. Staggering advances in technology channel radio signals from deep, DEEP space through the 6-Dish Australia Telescope Compact Array.  The dishes work together to simulate a much larger antenna. However, the[…]

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Surf's UP at Sharpes Beach, Ballina, New South Wales

Drama Queen Dreaming … Ballina, New South Wales

Being a drama queen is a good thing, right?? So the naturally monochromatic landscape of a stormy day on Australia’s east coast where an offshore low made mountains of the waves and piled the sky high with clouds thrilled my little DQ soul to bits. And has given me a rare opportunity to silence those who, based on my photos, ask if[…]

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Sawn Rocks, Mt Kaputar National Park, New South Wales

Sawn Rocks, Narrabri, New South Wales

Risking it all at Sawn Rocks! ‘You’d be REALLY unlucky to be underneath when a rock column fell,’ the Grey Nomad to his wife as I stood, camera pointed up at the rock face directly above me, waiting for the sun. They laughed merrily. While the notoriety of being the first person killed by a falling organ-pipe column in living[…]

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Sugar Pine Walk, Bago State Forest, New South Wales

The Pines, the Portal and the Parallel Universe!

STOP PRESS:  Tragically, the Sugar Pine forest was burnt in the horror bushfire season of 2019/20. The Sugar Pine walk has been closed pending removal of the trees which are a danger to visitors.  I hope this glimpse into my past experience inspires readers to get out there NOW and explore Australia while you can.  Don’t leave it – tomorrow[…]

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Khancoban Pondage at Sunset, New South Wales

The “Daleks” of Khancoban Pondage

Aglow in the setting sun, the Khancoban Pondage encircled with impossibly high mountains* was a calendar shot just waiting to happen**. So picturesquely pleasing, the scene seemed perfect. We looked out from the vantage point of our campsite in the Khancoban Lakeside Holiday Resort. Perhaps instead of crossing the River Murray border from Victoria into New South Wales, we’d inadvertently[…]

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Charlotte Pass Amenities Block, Mt Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales

Australia’s TOP Toilet! #33 – Charlotte Pass, New South Wales

The road wound ever upwards through rocky peaks and alpine meadows studded with non-operational chairlifts.  The temperature dropped, then dropped some more. Fresh from the 39°C of an Adelaide autumn heatwave, we’d plunged (right along with the temperature!) into a parallel universe.  We’d gone all alpine near Charlotte Pass in the Mt Kosciuszko National Park in the heart of Australia’s[…]

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Roebuck Bay, Broome, Western Australia

5 Cool BLUE and 5 RED Hot Aussie TOP SPOTS!

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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White Cliffs Waterhole, Outback New South Wales

7-and-a-half Minutes in Paradise! White Cliffs, New South Wales

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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