go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers
Lake Bellfield – AND Scenic Public Toilet – from Dam Wall, Grampians, Victoria At first glance you’d think the only thing lacking in this staggering panorama is a scenic public toilet, right? Wrong! Look again – they’ve thought of everything on the shores of Lake Bellfield, deep in the heart of Victoria’s Grampians National Park. Lake Bellfield from the Amenities![…]
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‘Now you’ve ‘done’ Australia, are you going overseas?’ If Pilchard and I had a dollar for every time we’ve been asked that question, it’d pay for a round-the-world ticket! BUT … the answer would still be the same … Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against the concept of ‘overseas’ – after all, I was born, and have[…]
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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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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[…]
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The dim yellow light cast a long dark shadow flickering balefully over the seeping rock as we descended deeper into the gloomy cavern. Treading carefully over the uneven rock floor, we dodged the oozing columns towering high above as we rounded the corner to leave the daylight behind. Channelling ‘Becky’ to Pilchard’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ in a weird re-enactment of Mark[…]
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Sometimes, not planning turns out best. And sometimes the planets align and fabulous weather, bizarre experiences, brilliant destination and perfect moments all come together on one fine day … Fine in every sense! And the sky! The glorious sky!! Yes, Innes National Park at the very southern end of South Australia’s York Peninsula was already one of my favourite places.[…]
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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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The benign, blue sky stretches away to infinity around western Queensland’s Boulia, mostly unrelieved by clouds, birds or planes. Unremarkable – at least by Outback standards – Boulia’s boundless blue backdrop is the ultimate Big Sky luring travellers to the Outback. But it’s not the splendidly panoramic sky of daylight hours that attracts visitors to this remote capital of the[…]
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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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With an official population of two, tiny Toompine is barely a blip on the radar! And yet, all roads seem to lead there in the western Queensland Outback. A simple distance measurement between the outback towns of Eulo, Thargomindah and Quilpie yields Toompine’s coordinates almost exactly. Is that enough reason to visit? Of course not! But finding out why the[…]
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