A touch of frost

By Stephanie Jackson

 

For many residents of the NSW town of Adaminaby, life is congested with highly emotive memories. Those memories, for the old folk who lived in the region during the late 1950s, are tinged with sadness, for those were the years when their town was sentenced to oblivion. That sentence was carried out at a painfully slow pace as the waters of Lake Eucumbene, which was created as part of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme, engulfed the remnants of the village.

 

More than 100 buildings were relocated to higher ground some eight kilometres away, but for those who called the newly established town home, memories of the past became inextricably linked to memories of a lifestyle sacrificed to progress.

 

Other residents of Adaminaby have happy, though often exaggerated memories of the fish caught in nearby lakes and rivers, for Adaminaby lays claim to the title of Trout Territory, for it is here, if locals are to be believed, that the nation's biggest trout can be caught.

 

 

 

 

Falling in Tasmania

By Ian Smith

 

Tasmania has lots of waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls attract many tourists; Russell comfortably holds number one position in that regard. Still, most tourists turn up there and don’t realise that there is a $22 fee for your carload just to go up a five-minute bitumen path and view them. You only have to spend 10 minutes at the well-equipped visitor centre to know that people generally haven't done their research.

 

Well, actually, your fee covers all Mount Field National Park and the pity is that few people actually venture on beyond Russell Falls to see some of the other wonders they have already paid for - such as Pandani Grove, Lyrebird Walk, Horseshoe Falls, Alpine Mosaic and Tall Trees Walk. That's just a sample of what quality is in the park.

 

All these walks are well graded and easy, and all take less than an hour to complete. Some of them are really informative, as well; for instance, I found out what a clinometer is.

 

 

 

 

At home in the Outback

By Graham Simmons

 

Pelicans, galahs, corellas, black ducks, Major Mitchell cockatoos, topknot pigeons and a dozen other species of birds circle around the grass-lined waterhole.  Brolgas step lightly through the tree-rich scrub. On an ornamental pond, native waterlilies bloom in wild profusion.

 

Sounds like a sub-tropical wildlife reserve?  If you think this, you’d be wrong. In fact, the location is Aldville Station, between Quilpie and Cunnamulla in southwest Queensland.  Here, where the outback is at its most exuberant, Alan and Louise Travers welcome guests at their farm home-stay, in lush grounds surrounded by date palms and frangipani trees.