Meet The Locals
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 6, 2001
Australia has never looked so good. Bruce Elder nominates 10 great holidays at home.
All right, so there's been a sudden change of plan. You have holidays coming up and you were dreaming of a few weeks in New York, London, Paris, Munich. Then along came September 11. If fear of flying (aviophobia if you want to get technical) has caused you to rethink that holiday - or the exotic one in the Hindu Kush - now's the time to explore the best this continent has to offer.
Forget about sitting in a 747 for 20 hours. Think, instead, of the Great Barrier Reef, the rugged coastline and idyllic fields and meadows of Tasmania, our hugely undervalued national capital, the harsh yet subtle beauties of South Australia's Flinders Ranges, the complete desert experience offered by Uluru, Kings Canyon and the MacDonnell Ranges, the wonder of communing with dolphins at Monkey Mia, the dramatic coastline of south-west Victoria, and the caves and hot springs on the edge of the Snowy Mountains.
If you haven't experienced these local marvels, and you've been promising yourself "I must see Australia" each time you clamber aboard a plane bound for two weeks in some Tuscan villa, then now is the time. Local is good when the macho boys are all itching to play war games.
1. Cruising from Cairns
There are a thousand ways to experience the Great Barrier Reef, from day trips to Green Island (half an hour from Cairns) to a languid, albeit very expensive, week on Lizard Island.
For value-for-money, variety and meeting interesting people (the cruise is always well populated with overseas visitors), there's nothing quite like the Captain Cook Cruise on the MV Reef Endeavour (capacity 150 passengers). It leaves Cairns every Monday and sails up the coast to Cooktown and Lizard Island before returning to Cairns on Friday, then heading south to Hinchinbrook Channel and Dunk Island. It arrives back in Cairns the next Monday, then repeats the circuit. Ticket prices start from $1,095 a person (twin-share) for the three-night jaunt from Cairns on Friday down to Hinchinbrook and back on Monday, and rise to a luxurious $3,150 a person for the seven-day tour.
There is no other Great Barrier Reef adventure that so successfully mixes snorkelling, walking across islands and along beaches, eating well, swimming both off and on the boat, and partying at night. This is a classy way to experience the continent's premier tourist attraction.
Contact: Captain Cook Cruises, phone 9206 1122, or visit www.captcookcrus.com.au
2. Freycinet Peninsula
If you're in the mood for an eco-tourism experience, it's hard to improve on Freycinet Lodge in Freycinet National Park on the east coast of Tasmania. This is an area of dramatic granite outcrops, of superb bushwalks, extensive habitats for possums, wallabies and rich varieties of birdlife, and - most impressive - the isolated and remarkable Wineglass Bay where, years ago, the royal yacht Britannia anchored to allow the Queen ashore for a beach barbecue.
If this sounds a strange thing to do, you'll understand when you walk down onto this perfectly peaceful and secluded beach of impossibly white sand. This is the kind of destination that sets standards for eco-tourism. It is peaceful, unspoilt and extraordinarily beautiful.
Freycinet Lodge is a masterpiece of eco-integrated accommodation with wood cabins, all style and class, nestling into the bushland above Richardsons Beach on Coles Bay. Prices start from $185 for two people a night in the Freycinet Cabin and rise to $248 a couple for the Wineglass Deluxe Cabin. There are a number of packages available.
Contact: Freycinet Lodge, phone (03) 6257 0101, or www.freycinetlodge.com.au
3. Fly to Alice
Direct flights to Uluru have caused havoc to the tourist industry in Alice Springs. Too often visitors to "the centre" fly into Uluru, gawp at the rock - and, if insensitive to Aboriginal concerns, climb it - then fly out. They miss Kings Canyon, the beauties of the MacDonnell Ranges, Standley Chasm, the Henbury Meteorite Park, Glen Helen, the bizarre sight of the dry Todd River and the opportunity to drive through some of this country's most spectacular desert landscapes.
Their haste is their loss. Our gain is that we can take a week out from Alice Springs and truly explore the countryside, walking through the rugged outcrops that are Kata Tjuta, scrambling to the top of Kings Canyon, swim in the 1,000-kilometre Finke River (often nothing more than a few waterholes) and marvel at the MacDonnell Ranges, which millions of years ago were higher than the Himalayas.
Then, of course, there is Uluru, "the greatest stone on Earth", rising from the desert and changing colours throughout the day.
Contact: Central Australian Tourism, phone 1800 645 199, www.alicesprings.nt .gov.au and www.walkabout.com.au/fairfax /locations/NTAliceSprings.shtml
4. Shark Bay/Monkey Mia
The superficial attraction of Monkey Mia is the fact that a number of dolphins come into the shore and fraternise (or, at least, appear to fraternise) with the crowds which gather to commune with their aquatic relatives. But this is only a fraction of the
attraction of the area.
At this time of the year, and up to Christmas, the whole of the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions of the west coast of Western Australia are covered in spectacular displays of wildflowers.
No less impressive is Shell Beach, a few kilometres south of Monkey Mia, where billions of crushed shells make up the beach. And further along the coast is Hamelin Pool, where hypersalination - twice the saltiness of normal seawater - has seen the formation of strange, domed stromatolites. They are known as "living fossils" because these cyanobacteria formations are probably as old as any form of life on earth. And Denham, the main town in the region, has a number of restaurants which, in season, offer the cheapest lobster you'll find anywhere in Australia.
A trip across to Dirk Hartog Island, where the famous platter was nailed to a post, is well worthwhile. The fishing from the island's rugged coast is deemed, at least by Rex Hunt, to be the best in the country.
Contact: Australia Tourism, phone 9283 4599, or www.monkeymia.com.au
5. Exploring Canberra
There really is a national scepticism about Canberra. A scepticism that probably started when Percy Deane, secretary to the Prime Minister's Department under Billy Hughes, declared that the best view of the city was "from the back of a departing train". But such opinions are totally unjustified. The city has more than its fair share of excellent restaurants (18 are listed in the latest Good Food Guide) and there is always something worthwhile to do and see.
Until October 14 there is Floriade, the city's spectacular floral display. If you are a "moocher" there are excellent walks around Lake Burley Griffin (including hire boats for the supra-lazy). The Portrait Gallery in Old Parliament House and the National Gallery are necessities for anyone who cares about Australian art, and if you are travelling with children Questacon (the National Science and Technology Centre) is a place where you can easily consume half a day playing with interactive exhibits.
Canberra is really a kind of intellectual Gold Coast, for people who want something more than the cheap thrills of Wet 'n' Wild and Dreamworld. It also has great diversity in accommodation options, ranging from five-star hotels to B&Bs and caravan parks.
Contact: Canberra Tourism, phone (02) 6205 0044, or www.canberratourism.com.au
6. Heron Island
On the Great Barrier Reef there are only three coral cays with decent
accommodation - Green Island (a daytripper destination), Lady Elliott Island (a budget option) and Heron Island, where accommodation ranges from shared cabins (the Turtle Cabins) to excellent beachside houses.
Heron is large enough to ensure that people seeking privacy can slip away from the crowds that usually gather on the main beach or around the main bar. The usual array of activities is available and holidaymakers prepared to spend extra money can enjoy deep-sea fishing and scuba diving on the reef.
While Lizard Island is the best destination on the reef (its top accommodation is a modest $950 a person a night twin-share), Heron is the perfect compromise. It would be hard to find a place in the Caribbean or Mediterranean to match the beauty and comfort of this tropical paradise.
Accommodation ranges from $180 a person (twin-share) in the Turtle Cabins to $400 a person for a Beach House. All prices include three meals a day and a variety of interesting activities.
Contact: Heron Island Resort, (07) 4972 9055, or www.heronisland.com
7. Great Ocean Road
Nothing can quite prepare you for your first sight of the Twelve Apostles. There you are, perched on the edge of the cliff (it really is quite safe) at a viewing platform that will one day be part of the 13th or 14th Apostle, with the Great Southern Ocean pounding away below you and these huge pieces of fragile-looking sandstone being buffeted by sea and wind.
If you've come from the east the Twelve Apostles are the foretaste for 30-40 kilometres of dramatic coastline. The driver is constantly invited to turn left to see another spectacular cliff or outcrop and, too often, the information provided will tell a sad and dramatic tale of the 19th century.
Particularly impressive are the cliffs and gorge that saw the wreck of the Loch Ard, the coastal walks around Port Campbell and the remains of the natural structure once known as London Bridge, until the might of the ocean caused it to collapse in 1990. These days visitors can barely imagine that the two stacks were once joined by a bridge-like formation.
Contact: Victorian Tourism, phone
13 28 42, or www.visitvictoria.com
8. Flinders Ranges
Spring in the Flinders Ranges, particularly when the rains have slaked the brown, parched earth, are a reminder of just how spectacular the Australian desert can be. Red-brown mountain ranges turn green. The countryside becomes a pointillist wonderland as multi-coloured wildflowers bloom.
The gloriously clear, fresh days are ideal for walking over the ridge and across the floor of Wilpena Pound, exploring Aboriginal artefacts with the excellent Flinders Ranges Adnamatna Yarta Cultural Tours (contact Joe McKenzie on 08 8648 4122), staying at the isolated Bruce Railway Station (contact 08 8648 6344) or eating the most delicious bush tucker imaginable at the elegant old/new Prairie Hotel at Parachilna (contact 08 8648 4895).
For those who enjoy pain, the remarkable Arkaroola Tourist Resort (which is not painful at all) offers a rare opportunity to experience the Flinders Ranges in all their hardships with a six-hour 4WD drive over a rough miners' road. The end of the journey - a dramatic view across Lake Frome - is definitely worth the hardship. For geology, Aboriginal history, raw desert beauty and excellent bushwalking there are few places to compare with the Flinders Ranges.
Contact: South Australian Tourism
Commission, phone 1300 655 276, or www.flinders.outback.on.net
9. Devil Cat/drive Tasmania
So you were planning to go to England, Ireland or Scotland, try Tasmania instead. The trip across Bass Strait on the Devil Cat during daylight (the Spirit of Tasmania always travels at night) is a joy. It takes only six hours.
Then there are the delightful 19th-century villages that run down the centre of the island (Perth, Longford, Evandale, Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands, New Norfolk, Richmond), the attractions of Hobart with the beautiful harbour area, the perfectly preserved Battery Point and the city's excellent Botanic Gardens, and the wildness of the country between Hobart and the bizarre moonscapes of Queenstown.
Trips to both Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula and Macquarie Harbour on the bleak west coast provide tangible reminders of hardships endured by the island's early convicts. No less impressive, although difficult to visit on a clear day, is the spectacular and barren Cradle Mountain National Park.
TT-Line offers a range of packages that can combine the Spirit of Tasmania one way and the Devil Cat the other across Bass Strait, as well as many accommodation options. Prices start from $542 a person (twin-share) for seven nights.
Contact: TT-Line Reservations, phone 13 20 10, or www.tt-line.com.au
10. Tumut, Yarrangobilly and the Snowy Mountains
Now this is the real way to see Australia. Take a pretty country town. Book into a local motel, hotel or guesthouse for a week. Go to the local visitors' centre or research it on the Web. Spend a week making trips around the region.
If, for example, you were to decide on the beautiful township of Tumut, you would be enjoying local trout, lamb and steak at the respected restaurant Brooklyn on Fitzroy. You'd be walking along the willow- and poplar-lined Tumut River and enjoying the tranquillity. You'd be driving to Yarrangobilly Caves to explore the caves and swim in the superb thermal pool, which remains a constant 27C all year (you can even swim there when it's snowing). Or you could drive to Adelong and Kiandra to explore the district's goldmining past, and even make a sidetrip across to Cootamundra, the birthplace of Don Bradman and now a centre of cricketing memorabilia.
But more than anything else you'd be perfectly located to enjoy the experience of the Australian bush. The freshness of the air and the quiet beauty are far removed from the experience of most city dwellers.
Contact: Tumut Visitors' Centre, phone (02) 6947 7025, or www.tumut.nsw.gov.au
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald
