|
|
|
The Noosa Farmers' Market, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, has grown to be one of the biggest in Australia |
|
|
Cape York is one of the most enduring 4WD destinations in Australia. Roderick Eime jumps into a showroom condition VW Touareg for the ultimate road test to the top. |
|
|
Amateur aquanaut, Roderick Eime, packs his flippers and trunks for an underwater look at Australia's fabled Great Barrier Reef.
|
|
|
Alice Springs' Desert Park breathes Life into the Australian Outback |
|
|
South Australia’s capital sheds its “City of Churches” image |
|
|
As Jessica Watson approaches the sailors Everest, Cape Horn, on her solo round the world record-breaking adventure, Fiona Harper chats with Jessica to find out what motivates this remarkable 16 year adventurer. |
|
|
Long distance cruising onboard a yacht can be a leisurely, personally satisfying lifestyle. Until one runs aground on an unseen sandbar that is.
Join Fiona Harper on a yachting adventure that sees her 15m yacht aground in far northwest Australia. |
|
|
Western Australia's oldest town becomes a city |
|
|
Alice Springs, in Central Australia, combines cultural and adventure tourism in one exhilarating package. |
|
|
Some fresh ideas for spending time out in Sydney |
|
|
Discover the story behind the oldest landscape on the planet |
|
|
Western Australia's sparkling Batavia Coast, running north from Perth to Geraldton, is now more accessible than ever |
|
|
German Heritage in the Adelaide Hills |
|
|
A former leper colony now makes a most attractive getaway from Carnarvon, on Australia's mid-west coast, discovers Fiona Harper |
|
|
With seesawing oil prices, Brisbane's new pedestrian- and cycle-friendly transport network has arrived at just the right time. |
|
|
In the Victorian gold rush city of Bendigo, Russell Jack, Chinese Australian community leader, has never let the lack of a few million stand between him and his vision. The museum that Jack built is home to the world's oldest and longest Chinese imperial dragons. |
|
|
Rub shoulders with millionaire fish farmers and other larger-than-life denizens of the Outback around the rugged coast of South Australia’s little-known Eyre Peninsula |
|
|
Within another year this dusty ribbon of gravel will become another busy touring route for weekend warriors, when the last stretch across the high plains is tar-sealed. Now is the time to experience the magic... |
|
|
Queensland's surprising capital re-invents itself |
|
|
Musicians from northern Australia's Arnhem Land are building cultural bridges in trailblazing collaborations with artists from Indonesia and East Timor |
|
|
Here are five (or more) fresh-air things to do in and around Brisbane |
|
|
Broome, in the north-west of Australia, is about as far away from Sydney and Melbourne as you can get without a passport. |
|
|
Melbourne’s Coastal Art Trail around Port Phillip Bay celebrates the generations of Australian artists who have painted our favourite coastal landscapes. |
|
|
The awesome seascapes of Western Australia's Buccaneer Archipelago |
|
|
Test-driving a gutsy Volkswagen EOS convertible along Victoria’s Ocean Road is a real challenge. |
|
|
Visitors to Byron Bay, the most easterly town on the world's most easterly continent, sometimes wonder if they are still on planet earth. |
|
|
Perfect surf breaks, world class food and a laidback lifestyle unlike anywhere else. It must be Byron. |
|
|
Caloundra, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, is powering ahead |
|
|
The sign at the town entrance tells it all: “Welcome to Cunnamulla, settled in the Dreamtime.” Aussie towns don’t get much older than that. Nor do they get much more welcoming and community-spirited.
|
|
|
Australia's capital bristles with artworks - both good and bad |
|
|
Capricorn International Resort, near Rockhampton (Australia) offers low-cost holidays to handicapped and underprivileged guests |
|
|
Having sailed along the coast of Arnhem Land, traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria and into one of the most remote towns on the Australian coast, Fiona Harper hungrily anticipates a return to civilisation, dropping anchor at Seisia on Cape York, Queensland.
|
|
|
The deserts of northern South Australia produce most of the world's precious opal, gouged out of the ground by ruggedly-independent miners. |
|
|
Queensland's lush rainforest retreat |
|
|
Thanks to the actions of protesters a quarter of a century ago, we can now enjoy the pristine World Heritage forest of western Tasmania. Roderick Eime investigates this 'no dam' wonder. |
|
|
Karen Halabi sails the Whitsunday islands off Australia’s eastern coastline on a cruise ship that once sailed the Mediterranean. |
|
|
The thylacine, the Tasmanian tiger, has been declared extinct: but many prefer to believe a few survive, and where else but deep in the forests of the Tarkine wilderness? |
|
|
Cycling Tasmania's rugged west coast is a real challenge - in contrast to the gently rolling hills of the island's east coast |
|
|
Never a dull moment on the long, dusty road which follows Australia’s largest river, even when the drought-stricken Darling is little more than a string of stagnant pools. |
|
|
Since East Timor gained its independence, everyone from UN peacekeepers to local entrepreneurs wants a piece of the action in this brand-new nation. Darwin is the boomtown gateway to East Timor |
|
|
Darwin - Frontline Australia, as the license plate slogans put it? Australia's most unusual city, Darwin has always been first landfall for visitors from the north: Macassan trepang-hunters; the Imperial Japanese Air Force and the boat people. Today the only hostile invaders are the box jellyfish and the saltwater crocodile. |
|
|
Cunning dingoes roam Fraser Island, in southern Queensland, often getting just a little too close to visitors who long for a gentle wildlife encounter. Visitors are advised to keep a close watch on their belongings, particurlarly their passports. |
|
|
Fiona Harper questions the wisdom of the old proverb 'it is better to travel than to arrive' after a coastal passage that ends in Melbourne's Docklands district. |
|
|
You need a holiday - well, maybe Spot (or Fido or Tiddles) does too. Sheriden Rhodes takes a tour of some pet friendly places that have all earned a paw star rating! |
|
|
Tourists come from as far away as Korea Japan and China to see blue nosed dolphins at Port Stephens on the coast, just north of Sydney. |
|
|
This is Uluru, not any old rock in the centre of Australia. The world's largest pebble (that's official) was, until 17 years ago, universally known as Ayers Rock, named for the boss of the white discoverer, Gosse. It’s the world's largest cleanskin monolith |
|
|
Yachting and golfing go hand in hand with the opening of the Whitsunday Islands' first resort golf course and sophisticated yacht club. Perfect for superyacht owners with a penchant for sweeping fairways amid hilltop greens, stylish elegance arrives in the Whitsundays.
Fiona Harper takes on 18 holes at Hamilton Island Golf Club, followed by sundowners overlooking Dent Passage at Hamilton Island Yacht Club |
|
|
At Echuca, where the Campaspe and the Goulburn run into the mighty Murray, floods –and drought – were always been a way of life for Australia's largest inland river port. |
|
|
Shrug off the winter woollies and soak up the warm embrace of Noosa. |
|
|
Eumundi: Spirit of the Rainbow Serpent: Ngumundi, the black snake credited with creating the landscape around the Queensland Sunshine Coast town of Eumundi, seems to have done a great job. |
|
|
At dawn on December 3, 1854, thirty or more men died when British redcoats and colonial police attacked a makeshift stockade manned by rebel miners on the gold fields west of Melbourne.
|
|
|
This article details the amazing Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland and includes information on accommodation provided, and cuisine, things to do and see. |
|
|
They say the best holidays are those with an element of romance. They also say that sometimes the best romances are those that end with the holiday, leaving nothing but happy memories. That's the kind of romance you get when you fall for sea lions, discovers Fiona Harper. |
|
|
You know that there's something special about a place when you've hardly arrived there, and already you are planning how you'll return. Soon. Flinders Island is like that. |
|
|
The Aboriginal heritage of the world's largest sand island |
|
|
Beechworth's colourful Celtic and Chinese heritage |
|
|
Many of the rough-hewn shelter huts scattered across the Australian Alps represent the legacy of earlier, more innocent visitors, including the now-banished mountain cattlemen. |
|
|
This article details the history and background of Lindeman Island as well as what is available on the island and includes information on accommodation provided, the food,and activities for all ages. |
|
|
The little Tasmanian village of Bothwell is home to one of the world's top golfing museums |
|
|
Offering more than 20 places to play the great game, Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula has become the 'golf coast' of Australia. |
|
|
The twin courses of Port Douglas, a lush resort north of Cairns, provide stimulation to those who want more than just listening to the waves wash across creamy sands. |
|
|
Victoria's touring route for all seasons |
|
|
Experience one of Australia's most dramatic landscapes: a cliff-hanging scenic drive around Victoria's southwestern coastline on the Great Ocean Road. |
|
|
The high-rise Reef Hotel, on Queensland's Hamilton Island, is the only thing that blots this otherwise pristine environment. |
|
|
Pull on your leathers to explore the Mornington Peninsula, ‘Melbourne’s backyard’, suggests Philip Game |
|
|
Victoria’s heart of gold is a land of faded glories, of dreams which won’t quite die. |
|
|
The Hunter Valley is Australia's first and still one of its best wine-growing regions. |
|
|
This article details the food and wine of the Hunter Valley and also includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, and the wealth of things to do and see. |
|
|
Hundreds of rudimentary huts dotted throughout Victoria's majestic alpine areas have provided shelter and succour for generations of cattlemen and casual visitors alike. |
|
|
Australia's legendary "Black Outlaw" |
|
|
Some getaways simply inspire romance. |
|
|
On the camel's back in Central Australia |
|
|
Stepping into the workshop at the Wooden Boat Centre, waterside on the Huon River at Franklin in southern Tasmania, Fiona Harper inhales the sweet aroma of Huon Pine permeating the air. |
|
|
Aircruising gives you a whole new perspective on Australia. |
|
|
Rummage through the rocks and pebbles around Rubyvale and you might just turn up a small fortune. Here in outback Queensland, the streets are paved, not with gold, but with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Share a yarn with the drifters and fossickers who came for a weekend and stayed for life. |
|
|
The efforts of one extraordinary teacher are bringing hope to one of Australia's most disadvantaged communities |
|
|
Melbourne's street art sometimes has visitors wondering whether it's their eyes or Melbourne itself that is playing tricks on them. |
|
|
Look to the sophisticated state capital of Victoria for some of the best shopping Down Under. |
|
|
The lush dairy country inland from the Great ocean Road is milking its rich natural assets for the benefit of the hungry visitor. The official name is Corangamite Shire - Sheriden Rhodes simply says its delicious. |
|
|
While the rest of Australia bakes in a dry heat, Darwin welcomes the summer months with bracing showers which reveal the Territory's staggering natural beauty. |
|
|
Often overlooked by their media tart cousins, the Whitsunday Islands, Fiona Harper explores some of the lesser known islands of north Queensland. |
|
|
Tee off amid koalas and kangaroos on a classy course outside Noosa, the chic capital of Queensland's Sunshine Coast. |
|
|
Queensland’s striking Sunshine Coast lazily arcs north from the tongue twisting towns of Caloundra and Mooloolaba, past Maroochydore and Mudjimba to end at Noosa.
|
|
|
Surprises in store in Australia's most ethnically diverse town |
|
|
Hush... the first notes of the flute waft through the balmy air. Two hundred pairs of hands wave gracefully - keeping time with the flies, rampant after recent rains. |
|
|
Expedition cruiser, Roderick Eime, climbs aboard Western Australia's premier adventure yacht, True North, for a unique and intimate sampling of our west's own special character. |
|
|
The Outback is a state of mind, not simply a line on the map, and western Queensland proves the point. |
|
|
An innovative Melbourne-based company offers tours of the Outback by air, condensing what might normally take four weeks into just four days – without losing the essence of an authentic Outback experience. |
|
|
Visitors to SW Queensland in the Australian outback are invariably stunned by the richness and abundance of nature-treasures. |
|
|
Rural South Australia is somehow… different. |
|
|
Australia’s tropical Whitsunday Islands reveal their treasures |
|
|
Qualia, a truly Australian resort on the Great Barrier Reef, joins Australia' s luxury resort scene. |
|
|
Fiona Harper jumps onboard a yacht at Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week, Queensland. |
|
|
With its astonishing landscapes and fascinating history, South Australia’s Flinders Ranges is just begging to be explored. |
|
|
The history of the Grampians, the oldest National Park in Victoria (Australia), has just undergone drastic revision. |
|
|
Central Australia's new Afghan Mosque commemorates the Afghan cameleers who opened up the heartland of Australia's outback |
|
|
Ride ‘The Ghan’ through the desert to Alice Springs… and on to Darwin. Named for the Afghan cameleers who worked the route, the first steam train in 1929 took two days to reach Alice Springs. |
|
|
Victoria’s Ballarat is best known as a gold rush town, but one of Australia’s largest inland cities is also undergoing a gourmet metamorphosis, as Sheriden Rhodes discovers. |
|
|
Is the Finke the world’s oldest (and driest) watercourse? |
|
|
Set smack on the imaginary Tropic of Capricorn everything else is real in Rockhampton. |
|
|
This article details the fresh produce, wildlife and other things to see and do on this unique island close to Adelaide in South Australia. It includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine. |
|
|
With 40 of Australia's top jazz musicians supported by highly acclaimed up and coming stars, the Great Tropical Jazz Party is a melting pot of jazz in tropical north Queensland. Following closely on from Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week, Fiona Harper takes in some cool jazz beneath the palms. |
|
|
Like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of our long-suffering feet. Eschewing the need for a 4WD to explore Fraser Island, Fiona Harper decides to explore by foot instead, walking the sand trails that crisscross the worlds largest sand island. |
|
|
Whatever your inclination, there's a beach to suit your fancy. Sheriden Rhodes presents six of the best and what makes them sparkle. |
|
|
City-dwellers recharge their batteries – and graze on nature’s finest – within an hour or two of metropolitan Brisbane |
|
|
The seaside towns of South Australia’s South-East cling to a sun-scorched coast, a shadeless landscape of low limestone crags, dunes and lagoons. |
|
|
There's a handful of beaches in north Queensland that are everything you'd expect from this part of the world - except there are no crowds. |
|
|
Cruising the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Bruny Island reveals a few of her secrets to those who linger long enough to look beyond the wildlife and the laidback lifestyle.
Fiona Harper takes time out in southern Tasmania. |
|
|
The art of Australian Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira |
|
|
Head south of Sydney for great games on two lovely golf courses outside Shellharbour. |
|
|
Fiona Harper shares her solutions to a busy lifestyle with a yacht charter through the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland. |
|
|
The twin towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, in Victoria, are united by the outstanding healing qualities of their natural mineral springs |
|
|
The Outback sets its own priorities. If you get it wrong out here, you may not see home again. Is the easy availability of camper vans and guidebooks creating a false sense of security? |
|
|
Ghosts and opium dens are just a part of the colourful history of Maryborough, Queensland |
|
|
his article details the various crops and produce of this fertile island and includes contact information for vineyards, cheese-makers, restaurants, bakers, and oyster growers among other things. |
|
|
This article details food producers and wineries in the north and north-west of this island-state and includes information on accommodation, dining and things to do and see. |
|
|
The tranquil wine region of the Hunter Valley, 160 km north of Sydney, has a trio of gourmet golf courses including a signature playground blueprinted by Greg Norman. |
|
|
The noise was deafening. The roar of blood pumping through my head as we charged forward, hell bent on hitting the start line milliseconds after the gun went, was drowned out by the commands of our tactitian.
Fiona Harper jumps onboard a chartered pocket maxi yacht at Hamilton Island Race Week. |
|
|
Got a couple of days to spare? Wind down unearthing the ACT's rural riches.
|
|
|
Australia is home to some of the world's best country markets. From the grand dame of craft markets, to bustling farmers markets, Sheriden Rhodes takes a look. |
|
|
This article details the luxury accommodation and dining at Wrotham Park Station Station on Cape York Peninsula and its history and also includes information on the activities available. |
|
|
Woodwark Bay, in Queensland's Whitsunday Passage, is an undiscovered gem |
|
|
Walking in Central Australia is rewarding when you rise with the sun! |
|
|
This article details hot-air ballooning in Australia, the facts and figures and safety issues, and includes a breakout box on the history of ballooning. |
|
|
Tableland retreat of an Australian artist still bears his unmistakeable imprint |
|
|
In Kyneton’s Piper Street the vision, the drive and the creativity of a handful of people has created a dining and shopping strip as alluring as any in metropolitan Melbourne. |
|
|
Australia is a wildlife paradise full of some of nature’s oddest creations says Karen Halabi. |
|
|
Most southerners shun Australia's Top End during the hot, expectant time of year around October. Yet there is no better time to to visit, for now the Yellow Waters wetland becomes an Ark of browsing waterfowl, crocodiles half submerged like floating logs and the odd bird of prey, all jostling for space in a habitat which shrinks daily.
|
|
|
