go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers
Watching people do things you just KNOW they’re going to regret is one of life’s guilty pleasures. Even more so when there’s a cruel laugh to be had at their expense – without their knowing! So the staggering 360° view from the top level of western Queensland’s Cawnpore Lookout didn’t completely distract us from the horrifying sight of a pair of Grey[…]
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We Arrive on Green Island Although it was 20 LOOOONG years since our last Green Island National Park visit, Pilchard’s first action on our return just MAY have been a little bit extreme. I mean, propelling a perfectly good hat into the sea wasn’t some kind of superstitious ritual, was it? Did he perhaps think it meant we wouldn’t have[…]
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Well, the government was never going to do it – and it probably didn’t occur to anyone else. So when casting about for something other than its 100 year sugar milling history to put it on the map, Gordonvale, deep in the wet tropics of Queensland’s far north, didn’t have to fight too hard for the right to immortalize what[…]
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Hervey’s Range Heritage Tea Rooms I never thought I’d be grateful for my unsophisticated palate until it saved me $50 and a mouthful of cat-poo … That publicity favours Townsville’s Paluma Range National Park over the much closer Herveys Range may be due to the unfortunate council boundary line placing Herveys Range on the wrong side of the Townsville regional[…]
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Cockroaches, cane toads and camels are generally considered physically and/or temperamentally unsuited to commercial racing. But here in OZ, the absence of animals traditionally raced, such as horses and dogs, is no hindrance to holding a race meet… Although all these races are held in Australia, I’ve yet to experience the pleasures of cane toad or cockroach racing. But …[…]
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At first glance, the setting of these conveniences in western Queensland’s Richmond is far from exotic. It’s nowhere near as scenic as Lord Howe Island’s #15 – my favourite to date! Unlike Largs Bay’s #12, there’s no colourful loo-art adorning the amenities block either. And it also lacks a quirky connection, like the poetry of Gunnedah’s #8! Fossicking fields – loo[…]
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The Musical Fence, Winton, Queensland Here we are in sunny Winton. Well … it was sunny on our previous visit in June 2009 – and it was sunny the day we first arrived earlier in June 2011, but a couple of days down the track and unseasonal rain has forced us indoors and off the roads, which are blocked in several directions. Looks[…]
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Emus near Quilpie, Outback Queensland The Australian emu*(Dromaius novaehollandiae**) is arguably the most highly evolved bird on the planet. Or perhaps even in the universe! But whether or not you agree may well depend on your gender … After mating, the female emu sticks around just long enough to lay the eggs, with the male in attendance night and day. Then[…]
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The Cape York Road The customary morning rain had finally let up. Even the locals had remarked on this dry season’s uncharacteristic wet spell – normally by mid-July they’d have the sprinklers going to kill the dust and save the lawns. But 2010 was an aberration. Of course! Now the sun turned every drop to sparkles in the Endeavour[…]
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Looking 23 metres down – the Canopy Tower The Demon Duck of Doom (Dromornis stirtoni) at the Daintree Discovery Centre is unlikely to cause panic unless you’re of a particularly nervous disposition. That’s because it’s a metal cutout, the real life version having been extinct since the late Miocene period. Likewise, the Giant Ripper (by name AND nature) Lizard (Megaliania prisca) –[…]
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