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Grab a cuppa, have a read
I share tips and thoughts on writing books, and readings good ones too. You’ll find author updates and trumpet tooting stuff here too. Past news and blogs share copywriting, communications and campaigns worth learning from, community and how we connect, my travel love and random life reflections. It’s kind of like my soap box speeches and journal scribbles are catching up for a cuppa too!
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“Oarsome” Katherine Gorge / Nitimuluk NP
The first thing you notice in Katherine Gorge / Nitimiluk NP is the silence. And then our squids arrive. Squabbling over paddles, directions and seat locations. Nitimiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park is the jewel of the region, a magnificent series of 13...
Top end touring into Katherine
OK class…here’s a little Top End geography and history lesson for the town we know as Katherine. The Jaowyn and Dagomen people were the first people of the area, passing through the area for food and water, and they’ve left behind some of their stories in...
From Roper Bar to Bitter Springs
Travelling along at 60 – 90 km per hour in a vehicle with air-conditioning, I cannot help but admire the early explorers and pioneers who opened up this route. Leichhardt, Burke and Wills, King … and others. We are merely travelling the next several hundreds of...
A lost city, a butterfly and a ripper swimming hole
It’s a new day…we’ve been serenaded by Barking Owls and watched over by a flirtatious peacock, we’ve rinsed off the red dust in a donkey system shower and we've pulled off the last of the shockers. We are on a mission to get out of here - we hold our breaths and...
The worst road ever – Lorella Springs
Right then. This post goes down in the chapter of our trip as recounting the WORST ROAD EVER. While the road from Calvert Crossing to Borroloola was rather bumpy and dusty, and littered with broken down cars it was NOTHING compared to what was coming our way as we...
This is the post where we go to Hell and back
From Adels Grove we drive through stations and mustering action, dust whipped into a frenzy by restless cows as stockhands loaded them onto road trains. Dust, and fires and dry, parched soil. Today we are going straight to lucifer's patch. Hell's Gate. I...
Bones, fossils & beaut fun at Boodjamulla NP
Using Adels Grove as our base we head into Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park its World Heritage Listed Riversleigh treasure chest of fossils. They are two jewels in Australia's outback crown. Beaut Boodjamulla National Park A trip into the national park...
The outback oasis of Adels Grove
Adels Grove - it's an oasis in the middle of the outback. It's got outback spunk. And hanging with its residents was quite inspiring. It's also got a bedrock of resilience. When you go into labour months earlier than expected, and you are thousands of miles from...
Blazing a trail to Camp 119 with Burke and Wills
It’s so hot out here even your shadows can’t be bothered standing up. Rock hard ground slams at the souls of your feet, slender trees seem to withhold their shade, and if the watchful crows had lips they’d be licking them overhead. We are standing at a rather...
Aye Karumba!
Karumba, it's all Outback by the Sea. It's also at the Norman River mouth, which makes it the centre for prawning and barramundi, and for hordes of Victorian grey nomads obsessed with fishing, and bad karaoke sessions. Karumba is also the only beach in the Gulf...
Croydon’s golden history
One of the highlights of the long, long Savannah Way is the opportunity you have to journey through history. Milestones and moments in time can creep up on you, and the chance to stop at unassuming towns to stretch your legs can suddenly open up a goldmine. Croydon...
A blast from the past – Undara Lava Tubes
It’s another fine, sunny day. Just one of the many 300 fine, sunny days a year which are enjoyed by Undara Volcanic National Park, 362 metres above sea level. We pull into the Undara Experience … the gateway to explore the nearby natural wonder, and a caravan park...
From Atherton Tablelands to the Savannah Way
Hightailing it out of Cairns we head for the hills … the highlands above Cairns known as the Atherton Tablelands, a lush, green, fertile plateau 600 – 1000 metres above sea level. Located between the Bellenden Ker Range and the good old Great Dividing range...
Taking the Squids to the Great Barrier Reef
2.2million...that’s the number of eager snorkelers and divers estimated who annually explore the largest reef system in the world (according to 2007 Tourism Research Australia). Today they can add 4 more water-based adventurers to the tally as we take on the...
From Cooktown to Cairns
Not too much to write home about today! We're hitting the road again, staying on the bitumen and take Mulligans Highway which is mercifully sealed all the way. It’s also rather uneventful, giving us all the chance to catch up on diaries and DVD watching without...
Stories that just need telling – Cape York Peninsula
Today we're up for a 'day trip' - from Cooktown to Laura – a mere 300km round trip for the day! (Amazing how one adjusts to the drive time the more remote you get!) This allowed us to creep further up towards ‘the Tip’ and earn the right to wear at least a...
Captain Cook chased a chook all the way to Cooktown
Cooktown is a hybrid of frontier living, and pilgrimage destination for travellers connecting the Australian history dots. It’s also the launching pad for many heading off yonder towards Cape York, ”Ya going to the tip?” being the constant question to travellers....
Those silly buggers on the Bloomfield Track
The sign says it all. "The Bloomfield track is for experienced 4WD drivers only”. OK then off we go. Ladies and Gentle-drivers, start your engines, and strap yourself in! We’ve spent a few days drilling Bloomfield arrivals to Cape Trib camping and waited out the...
50 shades of green at Cape Tribulation
There’s a Thesaurus brimming with platitudes to describe Cape Tribulation. I’ll pluck out a few to get us started. Lush. Tranquil. Remote. Tropical. Prehistoric. I confess, I don’t know what I’m looking at in this World Heritage Rainforest half the time –...
Soaring high on the Cairns Skyrail
It was just as the Skyrail gondolier doors were closing that I remembered I used to have a rather loose fear of heights. Nothing big, just the odd sweaty palm and hammering heart that has me imaging all the worst scenarios. As imagined catastrophes came into...
Do the locomotion with me – Kuranda Scenic Train
The last time I rode the Kuranda Scenic Railway I was 4. It’s 40 years later and I’m still just as excited to be choo-chooing my way up the hill through a World Heritage listed rainforest. I have with me an equally excited 6 and 9 year old. They can’t even...