• Back to Fraser

    Back to Fraser

    After a year in Australia, people invariably ask me which place I liked best and whilst it’s not easy to settle on a definite favourite, Fraser Island is at the very least a strong contender for “Personal Happy Place 2013.” After our first visit to Fraser Island, I was sad to leave, but when the…

  • Townsville + Magnetic Island

    Townsville + Magnetic Island

    Townsville is a hate-it-or-think-it’s-not-THAT-bad kind of place. I had heard horrible things, but totally came around to thinking it wasn’t all that bad (I have yet to meet anyone who thought Townsville was fantastic). With the lowest of expectations, I intended spending my time recuperating after a really long train journey (30-odd hours with just…

  • Noosa and the Sunshine Coast

    Noosa and the Sunshine Coast

    In between visits to Fraser Island, I spent a fair bit of time in Noosa. I didn’t DO a whole lot – Noosa isn’t really a doing stuff place – but I the things I did do, I wrote about already here: Things to do in Noosa and Free things to do in Noosa. It’s…

  • Up Eli Creek Without a Paddle

    Up Eli Creek Without a Paddle

    Spend three weeks (give or take) on Fraser Island, and you start wondering… what’s does the other side of Lake McKenzie look like? How different is the scenery at the northern tip, beyond Indian Head? And how far up Eli Creek can you go? Everyone who visits Fraser Island strolls up the board walk and…

  • Parkes, NSW

    Parkes, NSW

    As my train pass was about to expire and I had all but exhausted the destinations accessible by rail, I decided to go off the beaten track and visit small-town outback New South Wales. I pretty randomly chose Parkes, NSW, as it was one of the few places I knew anything about. Pre-visit, these were:…

  • Canberra

    Canberra

    Why is Canberra the capital of Australia? If you only visit one sight while in Canberra, make it the Old Parliament. More specifically take the tour explaining the history of the building and the city. It raises a lot more questions than it answers, like Why did anyone think this was a good idea? or…

  • Attempting to remember Australia

    Attempting to remember Australia

    When I set out on my big trip to Australia, I vastly underestimated how difficult it would be to find time to keep up with my work while travelling and writing about my travels at the same time. Now here I am, almost 6 months in, with most of the travelling done, and I can…

  • Adelaide and Surrounds

    Adelaide and Surrounds

    I returned to Adelaide more than once, less out of a desire to re-visit the city than out of necessity. Great Southern Rail is based there and all their trains depart from the Parklands Terminal, so I found myself in Adelaide a grand total of 3 times. The first time, we arrived by car from…

  • Uluru

    Uluru

    After leisurely making our way up the entire East Coast over the course of a month, the last few weeks were a sudden blur of flights, trains, with a rushed visit to Uluru squeezed in between. When planning a trip around Australia, that big red rock seems to sit there like the proverbial elephant. You…