go-see-do guide for adventurous travellers
Thank god for Kerry Packer*! When his Consolidated Pastoral Company purchased nearby Nockatunga station in 1990, the Noccundra Hotel, part of the lease, was almost certainly saved from the oblivion often suffered by historic (aka ‘old’) buildings in areas without a critical voting mass. Outdistancing its surrounding very remote localities (Thargomindah to the east, Tibooburra to the south, Innamincka to[…]
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The spectacular Gouldian finches* caged for the breeding program at the Mareeba Wetlands Visitor Centre are great, but there’s WAAAAAY more birds to be seen out and about around the lagoon or on one of the walks in the 5000 acre reserve. So, bins** in hand, we took the Pandanus walk, its varied habitats promising – and delivering – a cross-section of[…]
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As an antidote to the Atherton Tableland mist and drizzle, Irvinebank was working just fine. A few kilometres beyond Herberton, we’d crossed the range to clear skies, warmth, and a spectacular setting – another universe far, far away from yet another day of dampness. Just what Dr Pilchard ordered! Sadly, no bakery but the monster plate of chips accompanying the[…]
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With 200+ bird species over several diverse habitats in its 14000 hectares, Bowra Sanctuary puts out for all all elements of a truly excellent outback experience – spectacular scenery; wonderful wildlife – in this case birds; and eccentric characters – in this case human! But while these elements make it a perfect outback hideaway, Bowra is only 16km from South-western[…]
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The perils littering the Australian coastal fringe are legendary – braving the threat of crocodiles, sharks, marine stingers, stonefish, blue-ringed octopi, sea snakes or stingrays in our waterways isn’t for the fainthearted! Even the rainforest or coastal scrub can be risky – stinging trees, death adders, king browns and other more deadly snakes, spiders, various stinging ants, mosquitoes, scorpions or[…]
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Declining interest and waning attendance rates are the curse of Country shows around the nation. But I’ll bet gun shearer Jack Harvey’s winning performance in the 1934 Blackall Show ‘Quick Chop’ Championship drew the crowds!! After all, who would pass up the opportunity to see someone shear, kill and partially eat a sheep in under 8 minutes?? The above extract from[…]
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Studded with campfires in the late evening dusk, the creek banks were alive with the sounds of trucks thundering across the bridge, beer cans popping and that combination of braggadocio, loud laughter and hi-jinks peculiar to any random group of three Aussie males on a boy’s own adventure. Yes, Cooper’s Creek earned its Aussie-rite-of-passage status in the June 2009 week[…]
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Puffing and panting, we haul ourselves up the rocky path, our feet sliding on the dusty gravel. Another few metres and we reach the base of the rocky outcrop at the summit. We peer through the gap. We’ve climbed Starlight’s lookout – a mound rising high above the surrounding plain – and the view stretches for miles and miles and[…]
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We needed warmth NOW. We’d left the cold south a few weeks ago, but hadn’t yet hit the tropics. You KNOW you’re not warm enough when even the thermal pools feel cold … The solution? Head further north – and QUICKLY! Our map (no, I DON’T mean ‘GPS’) showed a road heading north from Blackall, up through historic Barcaldine to Torrens[…]
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We only made three mistakes when we visited Porcupine Gorge National Park in Northern Queensland’s Outback. The wild, natural beauty of this spectacular gorge is a short drive (by outback standards) north of nearby Hughenden – with various points of interest along the way outlined in a self-drive tour guide available from the ‘Flinders Discovery Centre’. The town of Hughenden[…]
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