What's in the July 2009 issue....
Places to go...Almost the capital One hundred years ago, the small town of Dalgety in New South Wales just missed out becoming the capital of Australia.
Millstream magic The Millstream wetlands are an oasis in the dusty Pilbara region of Western Australia, and this special area has a special lure for keen campers. The wild side of the flinders Arkaroola, located in the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia, is a remarkable destination that has a distinctive beauty. Things to do...Camping at the Town of 1770 Travellers have a wonderful decision to make when visiting the Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters in Queensland - camp in the bush, on the beach or by the bay. More than caves at Buchan Buchan’s collection of underground caves is what this Victorian town is best known for.
Up the creek at The Baffle Not far from Bundaberg is Baffle Creek, the place to go when you really want to catch some fish! Solar power In the first of a two-part series, we help campers to make the most of their solar power systems.
Fishing on the blue moon When a blue moon rises, there’s not much chance of catching fish. .
Yearly index to On The RoadOur August 2008 to July 2009 index is now available for pdf download |
Caravans, MotorHomes & more...1950s caravan Built using Holden packing cases, this old caravan has an ingenious fold-down design.
Volvo XC 60 The five-seater XC60 is a good city vehicle that can also traverse some rough terrain. Campsites...Palm
Grove Holiday Resort, Cable Beach Broome, WA Nature...Wildlife Connections The Tasmanian devil is Australia’s largest living marsupial carnivore and, while the devils are under threat, there is hope that their populations can be saved. Just for readers...My Favourite Place Home made ice cream, real coffee and bush tucker were just some of the highlights of a trip to the Northern Rivers District of New South Wales. Cooking...Campfire cooking Slow cooked meals are perfect to share with friends while relaxing around a campfire. Recipes this month include lamb shank minestrone, and Aussie beef 'n’ beer. |
Millstream magic
By Catherine Lawson
Surrounded by rolling spinifex plains, rocky escarpments and miles and miles of red dirt, the Millstream wetlands are a surprising tropical oasis in WA’s hot and dusty Pilbara region. Located between Tom Price and Karratha, these deep, spring-fed pools along the Fortescue River lure campers who spend the hottest part of each day floating in clear freshwater pools shaded by paperbarks and Millstream palms.
Protected as Millstream-Chichester National Park, this popular spot provides good facilities, a network of walking trails and a fascinating visitor information centre. Since 1982, the park’s boundaries have united two distinctly different landscapes: the Millstream wetlands and an arid stretch of sandstone and basalt at the western end of the Chichester Range.
Both previously separate national parks are worth visiting, but the Millstream section provides the best facilities for campers and contains the park’s headquarters and Millstream’s historic homestead, built in 1920 by the Gordon family. Converted to a tavern in the mid-1970s, the homestead now serves as the park’s information centre and its displays chronicle a fascinating European and indigenous history.
Spoilt for choice
By Stephanie Jackson
The Queensland coastal town of 1770 is a place where you can swim, laze about on the beach or do a spot of fishing, and all you’ll have to consider is the weather and the tide. But if you have other activities in mind, then you’re sure to face some tough decisions.
If you want to explore the region by boat, you’ll need to decide
whether to take a day trip on board the Larc - an amphibious vessel
that will take you to otherwise inaccessible coastal areas; to enjoy a
cruise on a more traditional craft that will ferry you to out to either
Fitzroy Reef or to Lady Musgrave Island where, among other things, you can
snorkel in the turquoise waters of a coral lagoon; or to hire a kayak to
paddle around the region’s coast and waterways at a leisurely pace.
Up the creek!
By John Denman
It’s odd sometimes, one minute you’re flicking a lure out over a promising bit of water but not consciously expecting a bite. T he next thing you know the rod’s buckled down over the gunwale of the boat and something is pulling hard against the drag. But that’s fishing and it’s typical of Baffle Creek. It’s known locally as simply 'The Baffle', a massive tidal estuary fed by a number of tributaries that ultimately flow into the Pacific Ocean. It’s only a relatively short drive north of Bundaberg, but you could be forgiven for thinking you were a lot farther north - the Top End even. Why it was called a creek is a mystery, it well and truly deserves to be called a river. The important thing is that the fish here pull like trains.
The fish that had my rod bent so well was a good sized javelin fish, but the usual 'bread and butter' stuff is there in plenty; lots of bream, whiting and flathead.