Australia by Red Nomad OZ

7 Wonderful Walks in Innes National Park

Sand dunes and shipwrecks.  A wild and windswept heli-pad. Magnificent cliffs, an old wooden railway transport line and exotic lighthouses. Historic ruins and a sailor a long way from home.  None of these are visible from the entrance to Innes National Park. And you can’t see them from the ~30 km of road winding through the park. To discover the[…]

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Random Adventures in the Scenic Rim: Part One

There’s a magical, mystical land where ancient, dense rainforests cloak majestic mountains, their serrated silhouettes marching across a dramatically sensational skyline. Where vertically columned cliffs fall into fertile valleys patch-worked with produce and criss-crossed by rocky streams. Picturesque hamlets dot the landscape providing shelter, food and a base from which to explore their impossibly scenic surroundings. Numerous National parks showcase[…]

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The Bunkers, Wilkawillina Gorge

Walk Wild Wilkawillina!

A six hour drive north of Adelaide takes you deep into South Australia’s Outback zone AND into the Flinders Ranges National Park. It’s considered remote. By most people’s standards, anyway. Factor in its staggering scenery, wonderful wildlife, numerous hiking trails and awesome natural beauty, and you’ve got one of the best eco-tourism adventure destinations in the country! That makes it[…]

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Mt Abrupt from Dunkeld Arboretum

Climb Mount Abrupt! Grampians, Victoria

It took an awfully LOOOOOONG time to climb Mount Abrupt. It took a long time to even get there. Over 20 years of regular trips to the Grampians National Park and its amazing natural attractions had passed by before we fully explored its wilder, more remote southern end. We’d always found plenty to do from Halls Gap, in the Central[…]

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Lone Gum at Stubbs Waterhole

Arkaroola Wilderness Adventureland!

For a place explored, surveyed and ravaged by pastoralism, mining and smelting; overrun by sheep, camels, donkeys, rabbits and dingoes; and more recently under threat from an avaricious government looking to sell off uranium mining rights, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is looking mighty fine! That’s due to the extraordinary Sprigg family* – visionaries, eco-tourism pioneers and explorers – who bought this[…]

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View across the Bunbinyunna, Elder and Red Ranges from Bridle Gap, Wilpena Pound, South Australia

Walk the Bridle Gap Wilpena Pound Trail, Flinders Ranges

The last few kilometres were heavy going as I trudged back to camp. The bright daylight faded into twilight as the sun sank below the eroded peaks surrounding the amazing Wilpena Pound valley, centrepiece of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges National Park. The evening coolness rose as we entered the campground. While taking an 18.8 kilometre (11.7 mile) hike might not[…]

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Sunset at Dales Gorge, Karijini National Park, Western Australia

Walk Dales Gorge! Karijini National Park, Western Australia

The Evening Before … I gripped the railing and looked through the deep shadows down the deep RED gash of Dales Gorge. WAAAAAY down. Late afternoon at the lookout meant the sun was long gone from the gorge floor.  Even though it had lit up the eastern wall quite spectacularly. Ho Hum. Another day in the Pilbara, another killer landscape[…]

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Nature's Window, Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia

Surviving Nature’s Window – Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia

The sun wasn’t that hot.  The track wasn’t that long. The going wasn’t that tough. And yet, all along the short Kalbarri Natures Window walk, people were dropping like flies. Nature’s Window Warnings There are detailed warning signs above the steep staircase accessing the track below the gorge rim.  But the walk to Kalbarri National Park’s favourite attraction still looks[…]

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Coulthard Lookout View, Arkaroola Ridge-top Tour

Ride the Arkaroola Ridgetop Tour!

‘Now we’ll see some REAL scenery!’ Doug announced, herding us away from the spectacular outlook from Coulthard’s Lookout towards our convoy of two vehicles.  The Arkaroola Ridgetop tour was well underway. But I was sceptical. The ragged mountain ranges (yes, I’m channelling Aussie poet Dorothea Mackellar*) glistened and glowed in a glorious 360° panorama in the perfection of a clear Outback[…]

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Mt Kosciuszko from Charlotte Pass Lookout, Snowy Mountains

Aussie ABC: M is for Mount Kosciuszko

‘Good on ya, love,’ a bloke sang out, one of a trio of pensioners trotting past me as I trudged wearily up the last slight steady impossibly steep incline before the Mt Kosciuszko lookout. Leaving the summit behind I only had 2km of the 13 km (8 miles) round trip summit hike to go, and altitude sickness was kicking in.[…]

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