In Emu Park, Qld there is an ANZAC commemorative walk along the cliff top. There are gardens of rosemary and etched sandstone, silhouettes of the troops in France and the most delicate image of the Gallipoli landing on clear glass … Continue reading Remembrance at Emu Park
Emu Park, is a pretty beach side town on Queensland’s Capricorn Coast. We chat to a woman who is exercising her horse on the beach. She reckons he loves the water so much that he’d swim to Great Keppel island if she let him have his way. That’d give the fishermen a surprise wouldn’t it? Continue reading A Keen Swimmer
I’ve recently learned, thanks to you dear readers that Rockhampton in Queensland is the Home of Beef Cattle. How this knowledge had escaped me is anyone’s guess as the town has six life-sized statues of bulls and my favourite, this mural. Now that is a lot of bull. Continue reading Rockhampton and all that bull
A few kilometres out of Toowoomba, Qld in the pleasant suburb of Highfields a narrow road drops down the escarpment in a sharp 21% descent into the Lockyer Valley. Tucked into the hillside directly below Highfields is the Spring Bluff … Continue reading Spring Bluff
I was writing a piece on the high incidence of gold discovery in Australian towns when friends invited us to visit the Tarnagulla Strictly Vintage Fair. I was keen to take part in the celebrations as this is such an interesting and lesser known town in the Victorian Goldfields. Our mate ‘R’ who was born and bred in Tarnagulla organised dinner at the only pub, The Golden Age, for a few mates who are Old Tarnagullans and who now all live in Melbourne, though some like ‘R’ have smallholdings in the goldfields. …The front bar is crowded and a guitarist … Continue reading A Dinner Worth its Weight in Gold
Fifteen thousand United States Army Airforce personnel were based in Charters Towers during the war. We are taken on a guided tour of World War Two heritage sites. We learn how a compass was reset on a Liberator bomber after … Continue reading Charters Towers, wartime
The Venus gold battery is a few minutes out of Charters Towers. It commenced crushing gold in 1872 and only stopped operating in 1971. It is the best preserved battery of its kind left. Although it rains throughout our tour … Continue reading Charters Towers, Venus Battery
It’s breeding season for the Cape Barren Geese on Phillip Island and every paddock and park seems to have families of these beautiful grey birds.Native to Cape Barren Island in Bass Strait, Phillip Island is but a mere flap away … Continue reading Cape Barren Geese
In Australia we have a strange passion for building large objects beside highways that we tend to refer to as ‘Big Things’. The Big Banana at Coffs Harbour, that seems to get smaller as I get older. The Big Prawn in Exmouth. The Big Lobster in Kingston and so on. I think you get my drift now. This fellow is the Big Galah at Kimba in South Australia. He’s been guarding the highway for a long time and that pink paint is fading but we still can’t help but say “Ooh, there’s The Big Galah!” Continue reading The Big Galah
