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

Jane at work wet sieving and looking for garnets.

in Australia’s great

outdoors

An unplanned visit

The glitter of garnets make

Gemtree the highlight of a

Central Australian trip

During the past 10 years, and for four to 12 weeks at a time, my partner Jane Ede and I have taken our 16-foot caravan to many interesting parts of Australia to enjoy the tourism-promoted areas.

A few years back we chose Central Australia. Eleven weeks was adequate time for travelling from Brisbane through port Pirie, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Mt Isa, Boulia and return.

Coober Pedy was dry, dusty and different – but similar to another opal mining centre, Lightning Ridge. From the golf course to the underground International Hotel, we were enthralled by the totally different lifestyle enjoyed by the local population. Motels, opal trading businesses, restaurants, churches and more was underground to escape the climatic conditions and to cater for the volume of tourists keen to learn the story of opal mining.

Uluru and the Olgas were even more magnificent than we had imagined, and made more spectacular when seen at sunset and sunrise. The 10-kilometre walk around the base of the rock confirmed how large and awesome it truly is.

Kings Canyon and all the gorges, walks and climbs of the east and west MacDonnell Ranges lived up to our expectations. We tackled the walk around and through Ormiston Pound and down the gorge but this only gave a hint of the vastness of the area.

But an unplanned visit to Gemtree Caravan Park has probably remained our most remembered and talked-about stay.