Autumn 2015 We eat our sambo’s under The Big Prawn. The Exmouth, WA one. Did you know that 700,000kgs of prawns are harvested in Exmouth annually? Anyway this Big Prawn gets put into storage for safekeeping during the cyclone season. Continue reading The Big Prawn
White Rocks Reserve in Broken Hill, NSW is the site of the only bloodshed on Australian soil in World War One. This happened when two ‘Turks’ (actually Pakistanis, but Turkish sympathisers), one an ice cream vendor the other a butcher, attacked the Silverton train as it passed, the train was full of miners heading to Silverton for a picnic. Four locals and the ‘Turks’ were killed in the resulting skirmish. A replica ice cream cart is on display at White Rocks Reserve. Continue reading World War One Skirmish at Home
March 2015 It is a warm morning in Pildappa, South Australia and I’m sitting in a National Park long drop trying hard not to breathe until the day’s work is completed, when an ant bites me! Ouch!! Translation note: Thunderbox = unsewered outdoor toilet, hence ‘long drop’. Campers sometimes remark on how well the rangers have dug the hole as they often listen for the deposit to reach the bottom. Continue reading Thunderboxes
Winter 2015 Beasley River WA, a lone bird sings us awake. The inside of the van is a sea of dead bodies, a film of tiny black dots and bits of wings. It must have been a bugger of a … Continue reading Bugs
Charlie Honey was a Gulflander train driver of yesteryear. The Gulflander runs between Normanton and Croydon in the Gulf country of outback Queensland. It leaves Normanton every Wednesday at 8:30am. It then makes the return journey leaving Croydon at 8:30am on Thursday. Weather permitting the train has been running since 1891. The journey takes five hours because the track is meant to be travelled slowly but Charlie liked to work hard on improving his times. One morning he left Croydon at 8:30am and at Normanton at 11:30am he answered the telephone to be greeted by his superior. Charlie was sternly … Continue reading The Gulflander
A few days ago, thejuicenut from pearsnotparsnipsdotcom commented that she often thought of Melbourne’s street sculpture after having seen a documentary. I was still pondering her comment when Woody received a text to meet a friend at ‘McClelland Gallery’ nearby. … Continue reading McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery
Historic winemaker Baileys of Glenrowan in North East Victoria was established in 1870. Set in landscaped gardens amid ageing peppercorn trees the original cellar of mud brick and kerosene tin walls still stands. Continue reading Baileys of Glenrowan
As the summer sun burns through the morning mist families play on the beach. Up on a makeshift, truck tray stage a small child from another place gives thanks to a country that has taught her it’s language and now nurtures her on the path to adulthood. The crowd claps and cheers their faces chiselled through the generations from the genes of a hundred races. Sun hats plopped on heads, ice creams, cold drinks and kids lost in a sea of fun. The Sea Scouts raise the flag and on this gentle bayside beach everyone stops what they’re doing to … Continue reading Australia Day at Dromana
A friend (Yes G, that’s you) recently asked if I would put together a list of our favourite free camps. Here are the ones that we’ve stayed at and that always spring to mind when we think of introducing people to free camping. Before someone says “But what about Nug Nug” Each of these is totally free although there are other temptations to be had at Brown Brothers. Skipworth Reserve, Jamieson I’ve posted several stories about the beauty of this place. Well maintained level sites, good drop toilets, fire pits, friendly birdlife, a gurgling mountain stream and only 4kms from … Continue reading Our Top Ten Free Camps in Victoria
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