The Magazine for Australian Travellers

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

The shot of a lifetime. Given that that marlin was about five metres from the back of the boat, the picture tells us that it would have been in the vicinity of 550kg (more than 1100lbs!). It was a fluke but a classic example of keeping that shutter clicking when the action is on.

in Australia’s great

outdoors

Fishy photos

Take heed of a few simple

photographic tips before

you snap your next snapper

Taking fishing pictures with your digital or SLR print camera can produce much better results with just a little advice. Having taken in excess of 20,000 fishing photos and sold them with articles all around the world, I feel as though I can pass on some of that advice.

But first, the most important tip of them all is to remember that what you see through the lens when you press the trigger is exactly what you are going to get. So, if you go to a
little more trouble to set the photo up you will get better results every time.

By far the most common fishing photos are those of someone holding up a fish they have caught and the best way to take them is to first spend a little time composing your picture through the lens, setting it up so that the subject and the fish come out in a photo that will be treasured for a lifetime.

Spend a little time coaxing your subject to pose in the best possible position, be it kneeling down beside a tackle box with the fish laid out on the grass in front of them or standing up in a boat and holding the fish up by the gills. There are many different positions.

Explain to your subject that it is for their benefit and that the end result will be something they will be proud to show their friends. Believe me, they’ll co-operate.

The secret of successful man-and-fish photos is to take more than one photo in a variety of poses. Don’t be afraid to press that camera trigger. The best way to take great pictures is to keep pressing that button. Remember that the cheapest thing about photography – especially digital photography – is the film and the processing.

Remember that the subjects of your photo are the angler(s) and the fish and the more you fill the frame with them the better the photo will be. But in filling the frame with your subject, make sure that you don’t get too enthusiastic and cut the fish’s head or tail off as this will ruin the picture.