Category: Point of Interest

Point of Interest, WA4 Comments

Sun Picture Gardens

Itching for Hitching

We are in Broome, WA and when we notice that the Sun Picture Gardens has a screening tonight we race back into town to catch the 6:15 session. And what a show it is. It is like being a part of living history. The building is a three sided iron shed some of the canvas deck chair seating is under cover and some spills out into the open air. Palms and gardens line the fences and the screen is at the bottom of the garden. The toilets are located one on each side of the screen, so everyone knows when … Continue reading Sun Picture Gardens

Point of Interest, WA2 Comments

Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

Itching for Hitching

Up in the Kimberley we take an early morning flight over Lake Argyle and out to the Bungle Bungles. With their unusual beehive domes they stand apart from the other ranges. On our return we circle the Argyle diamond mine. Originally an open cut mine they are now tunneling underneath the hillside and have now removed the whole volcano. The pilot tells us that the roads are paved with diamond dust, oh let me out here. Continue reading Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

Point of Interest, Qld5 Comments

The Bombing of Mossman

Itching for Hitching

Until you take to the road you really don’t understand the amount of bombing that the top half of Australia received during World War 2. Bombing on the Western Australian coast stretched almost as far south as Geraldton. In 1942 Mossman, Qld was bombed by the Japanese. The only casualty was a small child who was hit by shrapnel. Fifty years on she unveiled the monument at the site of her childhood home. She was Australia’s only east coast civilian casualty of the war. In an irony of war that this bombing of quiet farmlands occurred little more than fifty … Continue reading The Bombing of Mossman

NSW, Places, Point of Interest1 Comment

How Times Have Changed

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Eden is a commercial fishing hub on the New South Wales south coast. It sits high on a hill overlooking the deep water harbour of Twofold Bay. I tour the Whaling Museum and learn that land based whaling stopped here in 1930 when ‘Old Tom’ the Killer whale died. He used to herd the Right whales in close to shore so that the men could come out and harpoon them. The men would then put marker buoys on the carcasses and leave them for the Killer whales to have their fill (usually the tongues and lips, hmm tasty). The following … Continue reading How Times Have Changed

NT, Point of Interest, When Things Just Go Wrong15 Comments

Lindsey Falls

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We pack our bathers and drive 60kms north of Katherine to Edith Falls and what a pretty spot. We walk the kilometre up to the top where the climb gets a little bit difficult and we have a swim in the pool. It’s a real bucket list thing swimming in a waterfall fed pool in the Northern Territory. The walk down is much cooler in our wet togs. I am giving Woody a hard time about wearing sandals on a bush walk and as the track evens out I stop concentrating on my footing and WHACK I find myself on … Continue reading Lindsey Falls

Point of Interest, Qld5 Comments

A Tale of Two Tours

Itching for Hitching

We were based in Hervey Bay, Qld experiencing our first northern winter as grey nomads. There were two bucket list items that had to be ticked before we headed south again to freeze our extremities off. Whale Watching It is another perfectly clear day. We are picked up by the bus at 9:00am and board the Freedom 111 at the marina. Keith, Bill and Stacey are cheerful, professional and welcoming, telling us that we have the run of the boat whilst we are on board. The bay is, as it has been since we arrived here, perfectly flat. These are … Continue reading A Tale of Two Tours

Places, Point of Interest, WA2 Comments

Port Hedland Seaman’s Mission Tour

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This is Australia’s busiest Seaman’s Mission with 70,000 seamen visiting the port annually. The chaplain conducts the tour and after learning about their work and what our tour cost gets used for we board their harbour boat and pick up and deliver crew all over the harbour. This is not a conventional port with piers and walkways so the Mission boat acts like a water taxi. In typical Pilbara fashion the statistics were mind boggling. It is Australia’s 2nd largest port. The world’s largest iron ore port and there are usually about 35 ships waiting out at sea to enter. … Continue reading Port Hedland Seaman’s Mission Tour

Places, Point of Interest, WA11 Comments

Salmon Holes, Torndirrup National Park, Albany

Itching for Hitching

We are intrigued by a place on the map called Salmon Holes. We discover that the steep, wet and slippery granite rocks are covered in fishermen and they are hauling in large salmon. The salmon apparently take refuge in the calm waters of this spot. They maybe calm waters for the salmon but they threaten the fishermen with every wave and over the course of the next few months of our travels through WA three fishermen are drowned at this place. Continue reading Salmon Holes, Torndirrup National Park, Albany