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The Magazine for Australian Travellers
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October 2005

GREAT PLACES TO GO
Cutta Cutta Caves
The Northern Territory town of Katherine has a secret treasure deep underground.
Great walking on Fraser Island
Melanie Ball heads away from Fraser’s coast to focus on the middle of the world’s largest sand island.
Campsite reports
Our campsite reporters find the best places to camp, this month in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.

CARAVANS & MOTORHOMES
Waltzing with Matilda
New owner, new factory and new model motorhomes.

GOOD GEAR & GADGETS
Walkabout
Go on the greatest bushwalk, live the Snowy River legend and travel with a greener outlook – find out how in Walkabout this month.
How to photograph Australia
A new book by Steve Parish can help us to make our holiday pictures much better.

CAMPERS’ TALES
Cruising Australia
Aussies are planning for a life of leisure in their retirement – and, apparently, we’re very good at it.
The good life at McLaren Vale
This area in South Australia is truly gorgeous.
Hit the Spot
A seafood feast awaits at Airlie Beach.
The hazards of helping out
Adrian Ryan has some tales of woe to tell – he’s helping out a friend.
Dismal Swamp
This place in Tasmania is anything but dismal.
Outback wings and
stockmen’s things
Jim Foster takes us for a tour around two Australian icons.
Campfire cooking
Derek “The Camp Oven Cook” Bullock doesn’t need a campfire to make a camp oven feast.

JUST FOR READERS
My Favorite Place
The tantilising glitter of garnets has won for a reader a pair of great daypacks from Snowgum.

GETAWAY VEHICLE
Facelifted Forester
Subaru’s popular soft-roader Forester has increased its appeal.

CATCH A FEED
Snapping happy
This month, Paul B. Kidd offers some tips on getting better fishy photos.

REGULAR FEATURES
Readers’ Letters
Advice on locating a doctor wherever you travel is discussed this issue.
Aussie Cross Quiz
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The whole cave has an excellent boardwalk and good lighting.
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The caves of
Cutta Cutta

One’s of Katherine’s most
impressive treasures can be found
deep under the ground
The Cutta Cutta Caves, 27 kilometres south of Katherine in the Northern Territory, are one of area’s most popular attractions. Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park encompasses 1500 hectares of tropical limestone (karst) landscape that also supports a rich eco-system of flora and fauna, including some endangered bird species. The caves are thought to have evolved over 500 million years – and they continue to do so. A stockman was the first European to sight the caves when he stumbled upon the main cave entrance around 1900.
Today, visitors can explore this series of tropical limestone caverns via a network of winding passages. All tours are guided and a running commentary imparts some fascinating facts.
Around the cave entrance are clusters of tropical rainforest and vine thicket – remains of rainforest that once covered the northern parts of Australia. The most striking feature of this habitat is the native fig and there’s a beautiful specimen right at the cave opening. Here, the fig’s long roots disappear through the earth and can be followed down into the cave where they plug into a water table below.