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Travel Guides: All Countries / Oceania - Australia / Australia
|  | Travel Reviews : Australia |
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| | | | Still beauty and vast space
The Australian outback had been calling – something about space and a stark but beautiful landscape, neither of which are offered with much generosity by a life in London.
So I arrived at Alice Springs airport and stepped out of the air conditioning to be hit by 38 degrees of dry heat and some flies...
Helpfully, an airport shuttle bus was on hand to take me the 15km into town to my hotel. This A$12 (£5) journey gave me the chance to take in the view - which was as different from the UK as I had hoped.
Designed to blend in with the flat desert terrain, the Alice Springs Resort had the air of a far-flung military outpost with its low, understated buildings.
Inside, however, all was air-conditioned comfort, tastefully presented, and a welcome retreat from the dry heat of the great outdoors.
As a woman travelling alone, I was advised to avoid the dried-up Todd riverbed after dark, a traditional camping site for some of the local Aboriginal community.
Advice duly noted, I set off to explore before the sun went down – and discovered that even in the outback there is retail therapy!
Craft markets are held in Todd Mall and Aboriginal art galleries showcase the most striking dot paintings and carvings.
The adventurous can buy outdoor equipment, the less-adventurous, gifts, clothes and the requisite Australian opals. The Yeperenye Shopping Centre provides the basics – a supermarket, off-license and chemist.
My favourite purchase was a fly net. It cost about A$7 (£3) and worn over a wide-brimmed hat, it became my best friend, along with walking boots, a two-litre bottle of water and factor-30 sunscreen.
The Visitor Information Centre on Gregory Terrace was the first port of call.
Seeking immersion in that dramatic landscape, I skipped visits to the much talked about School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Centre and booked a coach trip into the Macdonnell Ranges.
This included stop-offs at Simpson's Gap, home of the black-footed wallabies, and Angkerle (Standley's Chasm), a spectacular five metre break in the range where the rock burns fiery red in the sun.
In the afternoon, the coach dropped us off at the award-winning Desert Park. My vague notion that nothing much was likely to live in the desert was proved spectacularly wrong.
I travelled on from Alice Springs by coach to Kings Canyon Resort, a remote oasis in the middle of an empty landscape and a 20-minute drive from the canyon itself.
My deluxe room included a spa next to a huge window with a view of the orange rocks outside. I also had two king-size beds.
Delicious buffets that had you going back for dessert at least four times proved to be the main evening entertainment.
On my first morning, I was up before sunrise at 5.30am for the guided Kings Canyon Rim Walk, a location featured in the film 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. After the steep Heartbreak Walk up to the top, the pace was leisurely, the view spectacular.
Discovering the verdant 'Garden of Eden' and the 'Lost City' with its strange, beehive-shaped rock formations, I felt that of all the things that could be done before 9am, this rated pretty highly.
A four-hour coach trip later and I was at Voyages Ayers Rock Resort.
The resort consists of two campsites, a backpackers' hostel and five hotels. Prices start at A$85 (£35) per person per night and rise to to A$221 (£92) at the five-star Sails in the Desert.
And there was plenty of food, ranging from five-star fine dining to a laid-back feast of Australian 'tucker' meats char-grilled over an open flame.
Prices varied from the regional delicacies at Kuniya, which started at around A$61 (£25) for a starter and main course, to A$23 (under £10) per person for a group meal deal at the Outback Pioneer BBQ Bar.
The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a hive of tourist activity and the Tour and Information Centre in the resort was permanently abuzz with the sound of decision-making. Does the Rock look better at sunrise or sunset? And is a Harley Davidson, a helicopter or a camel the best way to get there?
Desert Awakenings was a tour that stood out from the rest.
After a 5am pick-up, our group of five was taken to a remote sand dune, far away from the crowds.
Over breakfast, we watched the stars fade and the sun rise and then, comfortably full, moved on to the Cultural Centre, which offers a fascinating insight into the local aboriginal people, the Anangu.
Then it was on to Ayers Rock (also know by its Aboriginal name of Uluru), to visit the Mutitjulu waterhole and hear the story of Kuniya the python, ancient Aboriginal lore which is literally marked out on the face of the Rock itself.
Having not had an enormous meal for at least four hours, the culinary indulgence of a Sounds of Silence dinner was most welcome.
Against a backdrop of night skies and flickering candlelight, temporary best friends were made over generous amounts of wine. It was a great evening – in spite of the crickets which joined us at the table and the promised didgeridoo player who didn't.
Kata-Tjuta (the Olgas) is also worth exploring. For the Anangu, the 36 huge domes surpass Ayers Rock in spiritual significance. The oranges and reds of the many slopes and gullies are stunning in the morning sunlight.
For a truly authentic experience of the area's spiritual and cultural history, Anangu Tours, lead by an Aboriginal guide, provide a unique insight into the land that the Anangu people have belonged to for 30,000 years.
It is ultimately their beliefs and traditions that give this incomparable landscape its grandeur and mystery - and make it worth the long journey from the UK to see it.
- For accommodation details, go to Voyages at www.voyages.com.au. Book internal flights to Alice Springs and from Ayers Rock via Travelmood (08700 664 556; www.travelmood.com). Coach transfers in the Red Centre were provided by AAT Kings (www.aatkings.com).
Travel Guide: Australia
Taking to the Great Ocean Road
We were about to embark on one of the world's most spectacular coastal drives, Australia's Great Ocean Road, but an hour after boarding the bus, we still hadn't left Adelaide.
It was only after several more interminable loops around the city's grid-like streets that Kam, our young Aussie driver, realised the passenger he'd been searching for was already in his seat. It wasn't the best start but things could only improve, I thought. Until minutes later, Kam declared: "If you want to have fun, I suggest you talk among yourselves."
His humour was clearly as dry as the sun-parched outback, I thought. Any minute, I was sure Kam was going to turn into one of those insanely cheerful, wise-cracking guides who'd proved so entertaining on my two month travels Down Under.
But I was wrong. For the next six hours, Kam didn't utter a word and neither did any his 12 passengers. It was only when we entered the Grampian Mountains National Park that noise levels rose. We cooed as yellow wheat fields gave way to glistening forests where scores of wild kangaroos grazed. At one roadside bend, a stag with magnificent antlers stared impassively at us from a thicket of trees as we flashed past.
Our bus climbed higher before Kam pulled over and led us on a short walk among sweet-smelling eucalyptus trees to a craggy outlook called the Balconies. A wooded valley stretched before us, like an endless green carpet. On the horizon, bruised clouds gathered over the rugged, steadily darkening peaks of the Grampians. It was gorgeous.
By the time we resumed our drive, the twilight had been replaced by inky blackness. It didn't stop Kam from racing along the empty, winding roads and hairpin bends with all the zeal of a Formula One driver.
"Have you ever hit a kangaroo before," a voice asked grimly in the dark.
"Never," came the terse reply.
Minutes later, there was a loud bang, followed by a sickening jolt as the van's front and then back wheels rolled over a large, roo-sized lump in the road. I shuddered. But Kam shrugged off his hit-and-run accident without so much as a gear change and we sped away from the crime scene in glum silence.
After an overnight stay in a B&B, we hit the official start of the 420km long Great Ocean Road. Built between 1916 and 1932 along Victoria's south west coast, I'd heard this cliff-hugging drive was packed with more drama than the average Neighbours episode. And it more than lived up to its promise.
From the lush green Otway rainforests to the notorious Shipwreck Coast, from pounding surf to razor sharp cliffs and unspoilt beaches, it presented southern Australia at its wild best.
One of the highlights was Port Campbell National Park where wind and waves had blasted the soft limestone cliffs into impressive sculptures. Our first stop was London Bridge, named because its double arches resembled the Thames bridge - until 1990 when one of the arches collapsed. No one was more surprised than the two tourists stranded on top, who had to be rescued by helicopter.
The name has still stuck but London Bridge can now be viewed from the safety of the mainland. My favourite spot was further along the coast however at a set of towering pinnacles known as the Twelve Apostles. Today, only eight of these limestone needles remain.
We hung around until sunset when the fading light blazed yellow, orange and red hues on the giant stacks and cliffs - unforgettable. Even Kam broke into an appreciative smile. The man had a heart after all.
Travel Guide: Australia
The bumpy road to Oz
From the Daily Mail
Only in Australia could one of the world's most stunning natural phenomena be discovered by chance over a drink.
The unique terrain of Purnululu - or the Bungle Bungles - was unknown to the outside world until 1983 when a camera crew working for Kerry Packer's Nine Network flew to a remote corner of northern Western Australia called the Kimberley.
They were there to make a television documentary on a part of the country called Hidden Valley, which features 300 million year-old sandstone cliffs.
Delighted with their work, the crew piloted their plane back to the Kimberley gateway town of Kununurra and slipped into a dusty hotel bar for a few beers. 'That Hidden Valley is a ripper place,' they told a local.
'Yeah,' came the surprisingly unenthusiastic reply. 'Not as good as the other place though.'
'What other place?' the crew asked. The next morning they were taken there by a local guide. And the extraordinary world of Bungle Bungles was discovered.
When the film they made of it was first shown on Australian television the nation was amazed at the unspoilt beauty of the thousands of beehive mountains that make up the Purnululu national park.
It is the combination of remoteness and lack of tourist exploitation that convinces more and more people each year that the long journey by four-wheel drive to Purnululu is worthwhile.
Purnululu is close to nowhere. Darwin, at 700 miles away, is the nearest state capital - and that's not the capital of Western Australia but of the Northern Territories.
Perth, Western Australia's capital, is 1,628 niles to the south. Remote it certainly is - but that is its attraction.
Broome is the ideal starting point, a relaxing, modern holiday resort that has grown out of an old pearl diving town.
There are regular Qantas flights into Broome from either Perth or Darwin and plenty of experienced four-wheel drive centres, the most impressive being run by Trevor Tough at Wheels Over The Kimberleys.
The Great Northern Highway from Broome to Purnululu is the only sealed road in the area, but a four-wheel drive is still vital - as is instruction before you set off.
Travel Guide: Australia
The wild west of Oz
From the Mail on Sunday
A strange monument glistens in the winter sun in a lay-by on the road into the small town of Dampier, Western-Australia.
It's a bronze statue of the region's most infamous resident, who captured the hearts of the locals despite being an ill-mannered, stinking vagrant, known primarily for his ability to steal food.
Its inscription reads: 'The Pilbara Wanderer. Erected by the many friends he made during his travels.'
Perhaps his saving grace is that our hero is of the canine persuasion - a ragged mongrel coated in the dust from the rust-coloured rocks.
In 1998, one of the people passing by the memorial was Captain Corelli's Mandolin author, Louis de Bernieres, visiting the area for a literary festival.
He was immediately taken with this four-legged vagabond and began to ask around for stories about his life.
Though the hound went under a variety of names - to some Tally Ho, to others Bluey - to most, he was simply Red Dog. And it was this name that de Bernieres chose for his new collection of short stories*, which celebrate the adventures, and misadventures, of this curious character.
Dampier is in the Pilbara, a vast area of the outback around 1,000 miles north of Perth, the state capital. With a population of just 1,500, it takes its name from one of England's more colourful explorers, William Dampier, a buccaneer and skilful mapmaker who navigated the coast in 1699.
With a history of shipwrecks, whaling, pearling and farming, it now trades on its reputation as something of a fishing mecca - a beauty spot that becomes a haven during the winter months.
This is unsurprising given that the sun at this time of year in north-western Australia is still enough to put British summers to shame.
It was in the early Seventies when Red Dog arrived in Dampier with his owners. A restless pooch, he was quick to sever familial ties, initially finding his food on unguarded plates among the many barbecues held along the beach.
Travel Guide: Australia
A crook's tour in the land of Ned
'So,' I asked the two thirty-something housewives sharing breakfast in our B&B in Beechworth, Australia, 'Why the obsession with Ned Kelly?'
Nicole stared me straight in the eye and replied: 'Well, we're related actually.' Dramatic pause. 'He's my 54th cousin, twice removed.'
Considering I had just flown across the world to follow the trail of Australia's most famous villain - or hero, some might say - it was a bit rich of me to raise an eyebrow quite so high.
After all, these two had abandoned their families to attend a commemorative dinner in Glenrowan, the town where the notorious horse thief, bank robber and police murderer made his famous last stand in 1880.
A fancy marquee had been put up for the occasion, just a few yards from the spot where a gun-toting Ned, aged 25, 6ft tall, 14 stone and famously clad in home-made armour and a bucket-shaped helmet, fell under a hail of police bullets.
But the place was positively heaving with even keener Kelly-maniacs, whose fervent preoccupation with Ned made my housewives' folk hero worship look positively amateur.
Rubbing shoulders with the eccentrics there were historians and authors, artists, musicians and poets, some of whom have spent decades studying the Kelly legend.
There were also locals claiming to be privy to the whereabouts of assorted artefacts not yet made public including, most controversially, a document by which Kelly declared his part of the state of Victoria a republic free of British rule.
While the number of Australians claiming Kelly kinship increases daily, the total rehabilitation of the charismatic bushranger has, in the eyes of many others, a little way to go - he was, after all, convicted and executed for killing policemen - and the country has yet to cash in wholeheartedly on him as a tourist attraction.
But all that could change with the release of a new film, Ned Kelly, starring Heath Ledger as Ned and filmed close to, though not actually in, his gang's home territory.
The last time the outlaw was portrayed on the big screen was by Mick Jagger in 1970.
Travel Guide: Australia
Protection is vital
We stayed in Cairns and took trips to Kuranda on the scenic railway, which was pleasant - and to the Barrier Reef, which was unforgettable.
We travelled by coach to Port Douglas, where we boarded a beautiful big catamaran. On the way out to the reef we had a talk on what we could expect to see.
The price included snorkelling equipment, a ride in a semi-submersible boat and a good buffet lunch. I paid a little more to do a 40-minute scuba dive. Sadly, conditions were a bit murky due to strong currents, but I still saw plenty of fish and corals.
Being out on the reef, whether you can dive or not, is still a mind-blowing experience and makes you realise how vital it is to protect it.
Travel Guide: Australia
Spectacular bridge climb
I was lucky enough to be in Sydney whilst the Olympics were on last year and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Unlike most English cities, Sydney does not really feel like a city as there are so many beautiful gardens to visit and being right next to the ocean, it sometimes felt like you were a million miles away.
There were lots of places of interest to visit which didn't always mean spending lots of money. The Botanical Gardens are lovely, the Opera House tour is spectacular but I must admit my favourite activity of all was the Harbour Bridge Climb. A three-hour tour takes you through the safety aspects before you begin the climb, the actual climb itself and, of course, the spectacular view once you reach the top. The guides are friendly and helpful, providing historical information. I really recommend anyone who wants a last memory of this beautiful city, to climb the famous bridge.
To fully explore Sydney, I think you need about one month as there is so much to do and see, it is just not possible in a short time.
Travel Guide: Australia
It's a bargain
It was Bill Bryson, in his book Down Under, who said that the Sydney Opera House is something not to take your eyes off for more than a minute. Anyone who's ever been to the world's most famous harbour would agree. For some reason you keep glancing at it as if you are checking it's still there. The harbour is every bit as breathtaking as it appears on TV.
Unfriendly locals? The Aussies are anything but Pommie Bashers. You'll receive a warmer welcome Sydneyside than you would in Spain. The Antipodean cost of living also means that there has never been a better time to go.
I took five friends to The Oaks, a pub-restaurant in Neutral Bay. Each had a huge plate-overhanging steak with a garden of salad. The bill came to a measly £50. OK, we had to cook the steaks ourselves but barbecuing at is half of the fun dining out Down Under.
The only drawback visiting Oz is it takes a day to get there. But, if you can spare two or three weeks, it's well worth it.
Cheap food, cheap clothes and cheap to get there, Australia is certainly the Florida of the future.
Travel Guide: Australia
How I went for gold shopping in Sydney
From the Mail on Sunday
The decision to go to Sydney was taken one cool evening last October.
We were watching the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on TV. For days, like millions around the globe, we had been entranced by glimpses of this city by the sea. And it wasn't just the athletes that were winning medals. The beaches looked golden, the sea they sailed on was a shiny silver and all sorts of interesting bits looked bronzed. But the decider for us was the sight of a bunch of raw prawns on bicycles as they swept into Stadium Australia to the roar of approval from both Ockers and foreigners.
Finding winter sun in a country that had the ability to laugh at itself. Strewth, the tickets were as good as bought. What the Australians themselves call the 'Olympic Impact' meant that we joined an extra million visitors who popped into Sydney for the New Year celebrations of 2001.
We thought we were quite knowledgeable about the place - a daughter and a niece are working there right now. Yes, we knew about the ubiquitous barbecues, the sports-loving, hard-drinking blokes, their equally tough Sheilas and everything else we had gleaned from Neighbours and Home And Away.
What we weren't prepared for is what a very darling experience visiting Oz's biggest city is - and not only because Sydney contains Darling Harbour (think Soho-sur-mer), Darling Point, Darling River and Darlinghurst.
Darling, too, describes the tiny boutiques on Oxford Street. Crammed full of interesting baubles from embroidered picture frames to made-to-measure frocks à la Grace Kelly (some of them designed to slip off the shoulders of 42-inch hairy chests). Then there's the Sunday open-air market, where the beautiful people come to track down hand-painted furniture, feather chokers and sequin-dusted fairy wings for all ages, all sizes and sexes. Sydney, we discovered, has a powerful gay and feminine side. Unlike the myth, it isn't full of mindless Bonding.
Take Mosman, a northern suburb and home to the Rodeo Drive of the southern hemisphere. The elegant kerb is lined with large, square terracotta pots overfilled with trailing white petunias. These stand guard outside boutiques selling all the usual international designer stuff but also containing shops special to Oz.
Tricologie is full of original furniture and style accessories along the cool lines of the seaside homes of the Hamptons and Nantucket. When you leave your goodies are packed in shiny white bags with lilac ribbon handles. Opposite, Mosmania sells elegantly distressed wireware for flowers and plants, all in shades of clotted cream and cloudy-day grey.
In fact, great shopping has been the big Sydney secret. In the middle of Sydney there is a vast catacomb of malls. Shop after shop selling clothes at about half of the cost of those in the UK interconnect both underground and over-ground. An escalator will take you to your nail bar, a monorail will whizz you past a department store of Harrods dimensions. And in the midst of all this perch al fresco restaurants and bars that will sell you anything from a Greek salad to a Mexican fajita.
Travel Guide: Australia
Natural wonders
Three of of us went to Melbourne for four weeks in November. It's a great place. We moved from place to place and we found there was lots to see and do.
This included train rides, the Twelve Apostles, the Great Ocean Road with lots of big bends, great sea views and a water fall, lots of national parks and different animals from wallabies to little penguins.
In Melbourne, you can get all four seasons in one day, so a good water proof jacket is needed.
Travel Guide: Australia
A harbour love affair
There's so much to see and do it's hard to know where to start, but we followed a friend's advice and took a coffee cruise on the harbour. It turned out to be a brilliant way of starting our sightseeing.
The views of the Opera House and the bridge are spectacular from the water and you realise just how big the harbour is, as the boat takes you right out to its mouth. We grew so attached to the harbour it became a daily visit - we loved hanging around The Rocks.
On our last evening we treated ourselves to exclusive fish and chips at the famous Doyle's seafood restaurant. To the right was the floodlit opera house and to our left the bridge - yet another great view of our favourite harbour.
Travel Guide: Australia
Sydney on a plate
Sydney thinks it is the finest city in the world - and if New York, Paris, Venice and London dispute that, then it can certainly settle for being the finest in the southern hemisphere.
It has so much to offer that you probably have to live there half a lifetime to take it all in.
I'd been to Sydney twice before, but this was the first time with my family - and they knew exactly what they wanted to see first: the harbour, the bridge and the Opera House.
The permanent throng of tourists around that area did not deter them from plunging straight into this world-famous cityscape.
At least Circular Quay, the hub of the harbour that runs from the bridge to the Opera House, seemed to have a drinks or ice-cream stall every few yards to help refresh us.
We stayed in the Rocks, the district of the city by the water's edge, from which the Harbour Bridge springs forth towards the smart northern suburbs.
You can walk to most places you would want to see from there, and in terms of charm, there is no better place to stay in a city that is famous for leisure, but, in most parts, given over to business.
As well as the spectacle of the bridge - you can take a guided walk over the top if you have a good head for heights - the main thoroughfare in the district, George Street, is lined with bars, restaurants, gift shops and luxury retailers.
Although the Rocks verges on being a tourist trap, it still manages to reflect the real Australia, with bars and cafes serving the delicious local Tooheys beer ice cold, and contemporary Australian cuisine.
Many are manned by bright students earning money to travel abroad and who want to hear about Europe.
Travel Guide: Australia
Can you really do Oz in a fortnight?
From the Daily Mail
Two weeks to see Australia? It's surely not possible - at least not without the unflagging, Japanese-style 'If it's Tuesday this must be Ayers Rock' kind of tourism, which would be mentally numbing, physically exhausting and - with the cost of internal flights - financially crippling.
However, what you can do in a fortnight, if that is all the time you have, is experience the sheer vastness of Australia and the stunning disparity of its landscapes and climates by spending the first week on the eastern coast and the second on the western one (or vice versa).
On the eastern coast are people, civilisation and nature tamed into greenery as far as the eye can see.
On the west, if you go north any distance from Perth, are isolated settlements struggling to survive in a wilderness that reaches arid fingers of sand and scrub right down to the sea.
Hard-bitten ranchers in the wild west will look at you askance if you start praising Sydney.
Very fine, yes, full of banks and smart suits and high-rises, but what is there for travellers to do, once they've gawped at the view across Sydney Harbour towards the white sails of the Opera House and the bridge?
The shopping's good in Perth, and the beaches are better. What's the fuss about?
But as tens of thousands of visitors who went to the 2000 Olympics can testify, Sydney is quite simply the most beautiful major city in the world.
It refreshes the spirit to sit out anywhere along the blue-beaded necklace of bays and coves linked by the Harbour Bridge and, drink in hand, watch the sun go down over the yachts and ferries.
There is so much waterfront that they are only now converting long-disused 1920s warehouses in a prime position almost underneath the bridge.
Travel Guide: Australia
After the inferno
Through late December and early January this year, I had followed news reports about the bush fires in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney.
The television footage of helicopters dropping tons of water on the fires was echoed in newspaper coverage of arsonists setting new fires around the city.
I was due in the Blue Mountains at the end of February.
I promised to return with an assessment of whether travellers should look elsewhere this summer.
That is how I came to meet Lyndsay Holme, a ranger in charge of fire management at the Blue Mountains National Park, in Leura, a picturesque village above the Jamison Valley.
I was puzzled. My wife and I had driven from Sydney - a two-hour journey - without encountering the devastation I'd been led to expect.
It was only a few weeks since the bush fires had been finally brought under control, but up here it was as if they had never happened.
'That's because the main vistas were unaffected,' said Lyndsay, a man with an absorbing knowledge of the ecology of the Blue Mountains.
Only one small area was still closed - Glenbrook in the east, popular with Sydneysiders - and that is due to reopen any day.
As for the way the blue gums and mountain ash have so quickly regenerated themselves, Lyndsay pointed out that eucalyptus and all Australian bush plants need periodic fires to maintain their diversity.
So do animals. Despite gloomy media prophecies that some species might not survive the bush fires, Holme is confident that all plant and animal species will recover.
These include koala bears, opossums, the platypus and the long-nosed potaroo.
Travel Guide: Australia
The one stop holiday bonanza
Sydney is the mother of all holidays - a sun worshipper's Mecca, a culture vulture's dream, a clubber's paradise and a nature lover's haven, all in one.
It has all the vigour of a first-class city yet possesses an easy-going charm you would be hard pushed to find in London, Paris or New York.
From the sparkling harbour to the golden beaches on the Pacific Ocean, Sydney has got it by the bucket-load.
If it is sand, sea and surf you want then Sydney is for you - you are never more than half an hour away from a beach wherever you are in the city.
The famous Bondi beach on the Eastern shores is a surfer's paradise and a perfect place to spot the local talent if you are out there looking for love.
For a quieter time try the Northern Beaches, which stretch to Palm Beach, where Aussie soap Home And Away is shot.
For city slickers looking to take in a bit of culture, Sydney is one of the world's most vibrant hot spots for the visual and performing arts.
The most obvious being the spectacular Opera House, where a ballet will cost you less than £30 per ticket.
Experimental theatre is also alive and well in this amazing city. Check out the Belvoir Street Theatre in Surrey Hills at http://www.belvoir.com.au.
Pack your Sealegs because the best way to see Sydney is by boat. There are many harbour cruises to choose from that leave from Circular Quay. However, regular ferry trips are just as good and a lot cheaper. Hop on one to Manly, home to Syndey's longest ocean beach.
Travel Guide: Australia
On the kangaroo trail
When you fly over Australia, and appreciate from 37,000ft the sheer vastness of that often inhospitable continent, it may cross your mind that one way to take some of it in would be to drive around it. The country has superb roads, even in parts of the Outback.
But some of the longer drives can be a little boring - after the second day even the reddest of deserts begins to pall - and such excursions are not a good idea for those with children. They can even be dangerous.
Around the coast, though, there are some ideal routes for families who want to see a lot of Australia, take in its varied landscapes and amuse the children.
One such - perhaps the most obvious - is the drive from Melbourne, on the south coast, to Sydney on the south-eastern seaboard.
There are two main routes between the capitals of Victoria and New South Wales. The direct one, the Hume Highway, is a nine-hour drive through rather boring bushland.
The less direct, but far more scenic route, is via the coast.
At just over 700 miles, we spread it over three days with two overnight stops. The road is good, fast, and even in the high season of December and January, amazingly empty.
Not only does the drive begin and end in two of the country's finest cities: it also takes in bush, rainforest, lakes, mountains and beach resorts.
However, when you leave Melbourne, for the Prince's Highway out past Dandenong, you may wonder when this stunning panorama will appear.
Melbourne has a massive suburban sprawl to the east and it is more than an hour before you see the bush. But, from then on, what you see is the Australia you've always imagined.
Travel Guide: Australia
Wild and welcoming
We rented an apartment in Adelaide opposite an attractive park, a 10-minute walk from the city centre. We arranged it through our travel agent and it couldn't have been easier.
Adelaide is a really welcoming city and we soon found our way about. The art gallery was impressive and had a good little cafe. There were lots of other fine places to eat, many where you could eat outside and lots that do BYO (bring your own wine).
We rented a car, drove up to the hills and visited the Cleland wildlife park, which wasn't that busy when we were there so it was very relaxing - we picnicked in the woods and fed kangaroos.
Another day we drove out to the wineries in McClaren Vale. We sampled quite a few wines and there was no pressure to buy - everyone was really laid-back and friendly. The countryside out here was lovely.
Travel Guide: Australia
The wine wizards of Oz
From the Mail on Sunday
So you're off on your gourmet tour of South Australia,' remarked the former Foreign Secretary, adding sardonically, 'That'll make a very short article!' But the head of an Oxford college at the same lunch party swiftly disagreed. 'Australian food is now first class.'
In the past decade I've enjoyed some fabulous meals in Sydney. Could South Australia now compare? It is, after all, the leading wine state. And where good wine flows, good food grows. I went to see.
Adelaide boded well. It's the smallest, quietest and cheapest of the five largest state capitals - sparkling Sydney, busy Brisbane, municipal Melbourne and pretty Perth. These others tend to look down affectionately on the graceful, British-planned city of broad boulevards. 'You can cross the whole place in 20 minutes,' say the locals.
It was laid out by the Surveyor General in 1834. Fortunately, many of the original stone churches, museums and university buildings still stand. And it's called the Festival City. Median house price in Adelaide is £51,000 and the average weekly rent is £68. Migrating Poms have yet to discover it in force.
A splendid NWC wine centre for all Australia is whizzing up in a corner of the beautiful Botanic Gardens - and the other three wine-producing states were peeved not to be hosting it. After all, the first well-known Australian wines in Britain came from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.
The centre will have a tasting gallery, with tuition on how to sniff out and observe the delicate differences of good wines. South Australia, with its now famous Barossa, Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley and Coonawarra wine fields, is steaming ahead.
We drink their good wines in Britain. But their very best - now equalling the best in France and costing nearly as much - are seldom seen here. They are marvellous. These areas, plus McLaren Vale (more than 50 wineries on Adelaide's fringe) and Padthaway, neighbouring Coonawarra, are the names to seek out.
Australia fostered the art of the winemaker - the dextrous blending of wines. France tenaciously held to its terroir, its grapes, its tricky weather and the changing vintages. Aussies mix everything like magicians. They aren't in awe of vintages. In general, they drink wines terribly young.
Adelaide's vast Covered Market next to its Chinatown embraces 250 shops, nearly all selling foodstuffs, many exotic and some doubtless aphrodisiac. Even the coffee shop featured more than 50 coffees from around the world.
Travel Guide: Australia
Glorious Aussie tucker
From the Daily Mail
There have always been many reasons to visit Australia. The beaches, the jolly inhabitants, the sunshine, scenery and emptiness. But until relatively recently, the cooking was not one of them.
In fact, 'Australian cuisine' was traditionally considered something of an oxymoron, conjuring up images of stodgy meat pies washed down by lashings of lager.
But, of course, that has all changed. Like its wine (which used to be derided in Europe as sickly rubbish fit only for skid row) Australian cooking is now famously top notch.
Indeed, from the evidence of my recent first visit, I believe it may well be that you can eat better in Australia than anywhere else on Earth.
Australia, to my mind, is like a sort of supercharged California. Brisbane is like Los Angeles without the gridlock, the crime and the smog.
Queensland, our destination, has the weather that California thinks it has (but hasn't), the beaches (ditto) and most definitely the food.
How can this be so? How can a country with its roots so firmly in Britain produce cooking (and service) so sublime and so cheap?
There are many reasons. Firstly, the Australian dollar is currently a basketcase, referred to by locals almost fondly as the 'Pacific Peso' and with good reason.
At nearly three dollars to the pound, the exchange rate feels like you are getting a 50 per cent advantage. Prices range from the reasonable to the laughable.
Secondly, Australia is blessed with an abundance of natural produce of unerringly high quality.
Travel Guide: Australia
You won't want to come home
Perth and the surrounding area is the most wonderful holiday destination.
The best of beach and city is within easy reach. Perth city, although not large, is blessed with much to entertain and impress the visitor - looking for sophistication and simple pleasures.
Freemantle, the coast and Rottnest Island must not be missed. Go and you won't want to come home!
Travel Guide: Australia
A really enjoyable holiday
What a brilliant place to go. Cheaper than going to the Channel Islands.
The food was out of this world. The many attractions were great, and everywhere was so clean. Got a decent pint in all of the pubs, although that was a bit pricey, but at least it had taste and was not like the flat muck that you get in UK pubs.
The service everywhere was of the highest order, only one place let us down on that.
The weather was better than anything that you could find in the Med. A hire car is a must otherwise you don't get to see a lot of the country. They are quite cheap even from the big multinational companies. Petrol is about half the cost of the UK.
My advice to anyone is to forget the UK and Med and just go to Australia and have a really enjoyable holiday experience.
Travel Guide: Australia
Full of western promise
From the Daily Mail
It's 6am. I'm in Perth, Western Australia, and I'm furious. I've been woken in my respectable family hotel by wild laughter outside. Not, in fact, a dawn reveller but a laughing kookaburra shrieking in King's Park above the hotel, a vast tract of bush in the city. Perth is an isolated city, fronted by the Indian Ocean, its backyard is thousands of miles of empty outback and desert. Closer to some Asian cities than it is to Sydney, you wouldn't just drop in without a very good reason. But we had reason enough.
We're talking about a city rich in colonial architecture that in the Eighties sprouted a glittering skyline of steel and glass towers, founded on fortunes from mining gold, silver, diamonds and opals. Half an hour away you can bush walk around sacred Aboriginal sites, or go tasting in the vineyards of the Swan Valley. It's the sunniest city in Oz, the friendliest and most laid back. Northbridge, Leederville and Fremantle vibrate with clubs and funky restaurants.
It was 100°F when we went in March, but you don't feel it because a cooling sea breeze called The Fremantle Doctor blows in around noon. Forget helmets, the police here wear wide brimmed sun hats. Sipping cappucino at a pavement cafe in the shopping mecca of Hay Street Mall with my friend Sam Julius, a Polish musician who has lived there for 30 years, the street was bursting with action. Clowns, buskers and mime artists surrounded us.
It was only when a punk with five spikes of magenta hair glued to his shaven head sat at the next table to us that I batted an eyelid. His friend was covered in spider tattoos. Italian and Greek voices sang out through the warm air, reminding me that Perth's 1.2 million people come from a myriad of places. 'I call Perth the free and easy city,' said Sam. 'The buses are free and the living is easy. The only time people go indoors is to fetch a beer. "Formal dress" means putting on your shirt.'
Travel Guide: Australia
Make the most on a touring holiday
My first ever flight was to Sydney at the age of 58. What a fantastic city, with so much to see and do.
You can do the Harbour Bridge climb, take the ferry to Manly, walk around the Rocks, walk or take the monorail ride to Darling Harbour, a train to Olympic city, have a day out in the Blue Mountains, do the coastal walk from Bondi beach to Coggee beach and then a trip to the Hunter Valley for some wine.
See Alice Springs old telegraph station, the MacDonnell Range and the flying doctor base and travel to the Red Centre by coach, stop off at Camel Farm and ride a camel. Then there is the Red Centre where you watch the sun set over Ayers Rock, before doing a winding walk around the Olgas and eating a meal out in the desert at sunset and seeing all the stars in the southern hemisphere.
Cairns is a great place to use as a base for travelling up north to see the Great Barrier Reef and Cape Tribulation. We hired a motor caravan for our trip. Camp sites are cheap and very good.
Then on my next trip I went to Perth. I travelled down south to various places, Bunbury, Mandurah and Rockingham. All were really nice places and had great beaches. Freemantle is an interesting place with lots of nice cafes and coffee shops. There were great beaches also at Cottesloe, City and Scarborough beaches in Perth.
Take a trip up the Swan River to the wine regions and see all the large houses built on the water's edge. Go on trips to the Pinnacles, Wave Rock, Rottnest Island and spend a day in Kings park. The walks are lovely especially during the summer, but remember to wear a hat to protect you from the sun.
Melbourne is a place you don't want to miss. Travel out of the city and go to Ramsey Street, see the wine regions and the Yarra valley and the Dandenongs. Travel up country to the Murray River on the border of New South Wales and Victoria and take a paddle steamer ride.
Then take the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, taking in the sights of Torquay, lorne, Apollo Bay, Warrnambool, Port Fairyand the Grampians.
All in all, it's a great place to spend quite a bit of time and I can't wait to get back there. I hope this helps anyone who might be thinking of going out to see the country.
Travel Guide: Australia
Sports-mad city
Melbourne has great parks and gardens - the Royal Botanic gardens were beautiful and we had cream tea by the lake, sheltering from the blistering heat under a shady tree.
In Fitzroy Gardens we were a bit confused to see Captain Cook's cottage - brought over brick-by-brick from Yorkshire, strange but true.
My sports-mad man couldn't rest until he'd been to the national gallery of sport and the Olympics, but even I had to admit it was quite interesting. We also trolled round Melbourne cricket club, where you can browse yourself or take a guided tour.
I loved the art deco buildings downtown - they are beautifully preserved and kept up.
I had to get some huge blisters on my feet pierced by a doctor who had an office in one of these architectural gems and it helped take the edge off my discomfort.
Travel Guide: Australia
Small and truly beautiful
Heron Island is a diver's dream and a positive paradise for romantics.
It must be the closest you can get to Australia's Great Barrier Reef by land - a mere 20ft from the balcony of the suite where I stayed.
This idyllic spot - as popular with honeymooners as it is with diving enthusiasts - lies at the southern tip of the 1,250-mile reef, the largest in the world.
The best way to arrive is by helicopter. It takes 30 minutes from the mainland.
As we descended, a thousand starfish twinkled in the gleaming blue waters surrounding the island with its pristine, soft, white sandy beaches.
From the air you can see it's only a dot in the ocean, one of the rather unimaginatively named Capricorn group of islands - they're on the Tropic of Capricorn - lying 45 miles off Gladstone in central Queensland.
Here, small is not only beautiful but personal - you are met by the local general manager of the firm which owns the place, P&O Australian Resorts.
He's Tony Stapleton, and with immense enthusiasm, he starts to tell us about the delights of Heron. He clearly loves his work and this passion extends to all his staff.
The island only measures 42 acres and, with a circumference of just over a mile, it takes less than 30 minutes to walk around the entire place.
I did it several times but was never bored because each time you see more. My four days there were not enough.
Heron Island is home to thousands of turtles, birds and an extraordinary range of marine life, including humpback whales, which can be seen offshore between June and October.
Travel Guide: Australia
Dive into a world of new discoveries
From the Daily Mail
A scene more perfect than Catseye Beach on Australia's Hamilton Island would be hard to imagine. And that, said my friend Anna, was the problem. How do you take swaying palm trees, the white sand, the azure sea seriously? Even the immaculate shopfronts and gleaming streets looked as if they had been put together for a film set.
We wondered if there was anything behind those impeccable facades. Having discovered the place was inhabited by cockatoos, all beautifully behaved and spotlessly white, we felt we had arrived on another planet.
In a sense, we had. The Whitsunday Islands, discovered by Captain Cook in 1770, are almost as far from Britain as it is possible to get, and there is a powerful sensation of otherworldliness. Most holiday paradises have a shabby side, but here there is a feeling of being transported to someone's crafted vision of perfection.
'There is one rule on this ship,' said Les, skipper of the sailing yacht Banjo Paterson. 'Never throw anything overboard.' Les is a skipper straight from central casting. He has one leg, a wicked smile and needs only one of those cockatoos on his shoulder to become Long John Silver.
Yet Les's rule echoes the ethos of this place: it is a pristine corner of the natural world and the people want it to stay that way. Large motor vehicles are banned and holidaymakers, mostly Australian and Japanese, whizz along Hamilton's narrow, undulating roads in golf buggies.
The Japanese come here in droves to get married in the island's tiny All Saints Chapel. Anna soon got caught up in the romance of it all and sent her boyfriend a postcard of the chapel. On the back she wrote: 'Wish you were here.' We waited for a couple of days, passing our time very happily on Catseye Beach but when it became clear that no marriage proposal would be forthcoming, we visited the Great Barrier Reef instead.
It is the world's largest ecosystem. There are 6,900 reefs divided into three types: ribbon reefs dotted for miles, fringing reefs which surround the 600 mostly uninhabited islands, and patching reefs which stick up from the ocean floor miles from anywhere. The chain runs south from the northeastern tip of Queensland for almost 1,000 miles. Some are only a few miles from the mainland, others are up to 100 miles out to sea.
A catamaran left the island every day for Hardy Reef, two hours away. On its edge was a pontoon called Reefworld, where you can dive, snorkel and take trips along the reef in a semi submersible boat. We boarded the catamaran and I determined, with some trepidation, to go diving. Anna settled for snorkelling. On the way to the reef, we were given a talk on the dos and don'ts of diving. Remember to breathe, they said, which seemed obvious.
Travel Guide: Australia
A thief at the reef
From the Mail on Sunday
Last year a job took my boyfriend to Birmingham for some months. He rented a high-rise flat which offered decent accommodation but the balcony was unusable as it was plagued by an army of pigeons. Every effort to persuade the feathery ones to move on failed and he was forced to concede defeat. His loathing of these birds waned when the resident Mrs Pigeon gave birth - and he even entertained thoughts about transplanting mother and baby back to London.
My thoughts turned to those Birmingham days when I was shown to our suite in the Reef View Hotel on Hamilton Island as there, perched along both balconies, was a gang of cockatoos, as confident in their claim to their territory as the Brummie pigeons had been.
But unlike the pigeons, the cockatoos are dramatically beautiful. They roam freely on the island and, though not tame, are friendly and amusing entertainers. They also ensure that no alarm clock is required as they can be relied upon to announce in full voice when it is time for breakfast.
In the heart of the Whitsunday Islands, Hamilton Island is the largest of the 12 which are inhabited and it is the only one with an airport catering for direct commercial and charter flights. There are approximately 50 flights a week, principally from Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney.
The Whitsundays comprise 74 islands in the Coral Sea between the Queensland coast and the Great Barrier Reef. The islands acquired their unusual name because Captain Cook discovered the Whitsundays Passage on that religious feast day.
Hamilton has a year- round tropical climate with an average temperature of 27.4C and stretches just over three miles from north to south and two from east to west. Cars are not permitted, but if you don't feel like walking you have the entertaining option of travelling by motorised beach buggy. It takes a little while to realise that no amount of pressure on the gas pedal is going to make it go any faster, but the buggies are great fun and a perfect antidote to hazardous traffic and fumes.
As crime is almost non-existent, the police have little else to do but seek out disobedient drivers who break the buggy curfew. The locals in turn have fun devising ruses to distract the police to enable their friends to make a late post-party drive home. This is how tough life gets on the island.
Travel Guide: Australia
Fast track to the best of Oz
From the Daily Mail
Jetlag paid a bonus. Unable to sleep any more, I leant on the railing of the train's observation car and saw the bright southern stars snuffed out one by one. In the curtain up moments of dawn, sunlight shooed the mist from the sugar cane and I fancied I had Australia to myself.
Suddenly, the smell of coffee mingled with the gum tree perfume of the land.
'It's a beautiful morning,' said a quiet voice.
The train's attendants were discreet and impeccable and blessed with Australian panache, as if the magnificent Jeeves had emigrated and sired a whole tribe of sunny butlers. But then they were the staff of no ordinary train. The Great South Pacific Express is Australia's newest and most glamorous railway service.
Designed to the standards of its European sister, the Orient Express, this pride of Oz belongs firmly to the gracious, spacious and romantic style of long-distance travel. The Great South Pacific was Great Relaxation. I had a siesta, sat out in the open air observation car at the rear, read a couple of chapters of a book, watched Queensland unfolding and had tea.
The end of the afternoon was a good time for kangaroo spotting. I was glad I had remembered binoculars. I realised that for the first time in years I had been on a train for hours and no one had squeaked into a mobile phone: 'Hello, I'm on the train.' I chose champagne to accompany the sunset. The maroon and cream carriages are works of art. Australian joiners, metal workers and painters have painstakingly recreated Victorian opulence and solidity.
No plastic, no veneer, no short cuts. Everything is gleaming timber and glowing brass. When you shut a door there's the satisfying heavy click that says 'craftsmanship'.
I joined the train after lunch at the Heritage Hotel in Brisbane and was shown into the elegant twin bedded compartment, complete with shower room, that was to be my home for two days and two nights.
The train threaded its way northwards for more than a thousand miles between the ocean and the dark blue coastal hills. Dinner at eight was an occasion: the women dressed up and the men wore jackets and ties. The meal was Australian and delicious, strips of kangaroo for starters, followed by fish and a pudding of berries.Oz wines, of course. In the lounge car afterwards, it wasn't the singer's fault that my eyelids grew heavy, but I felt I was being sung to sleep.
Travel Guide: Australia
Apostles and golf-mad roos
From the Daily Mail
How many visitors to Australia ever get to see the Great Ocean Road? One in ten? One in 20? Probably not even that. Not only is it one of the glories of Australia but, relatively speaking, one of the undiscovered glories of Australia.
Go to Ayers Rock and you will be trampled underfoot by backpackers from California. Go to Sydney Opera House and you'll find that the woman rustling her programme in the next seat comes from Milton Keynes.
On the Great Ocean Road, south-west of Melbourne, you will be among genuine, honest to God Australians. You will not just be able to savour a delightful part of the world. You will have the luxury of being a tourist without feeling like one.
We certainly did not feel like tourists at our first stop Anglesea golf club. The course was deserted. It looked a picture, with the sun dappling the greens and the eucalyptuses swaying in the breeze. But there was no doubt about the star attraction. Kangaroos, hundreds of them, lining every fairway. They were everywhere. Some standing, some lying down, some hopping through the trees, some fast asleep in bunkers.
Dainty faced females with joeys in their pouches. Enormous bucks, taller than me. It is rare anywhere in Australia to see such a large colony of kangaroos. To see them coexisting so peacefully with human beings is almost unheard of. As we hacked our way around the course, strafing the kangaroos with golf balls, they were courtesy personified.
They hopped away to a respectful distance when our drives landed in their vicinity. They stayed still while we lined up our putts. At one point, to our astonishment, they even showed signs of enjoying the game. When we holed out on the sixth, there must have been 50 of them ringing the green. The moment our putts dropped, the whole lot, as if by force of habit, hopped across to the seventh tee and formed a gallery there.
Were they just fascinated by our eccentric swings? Or did they, deep in their bones, have some understanding of the protocols of golf? Either way, it was an unforgettable moment.
If the golf mad kangaroos were the highlight of our five day trip along the Great Ocean Road, there was much else to treasure. This really is an extraordinary stretch of coastline.
The 185 mile road was built as a work creation scheme for veterans returning from World War I. It follows the contours of the land and meanders from town to town via a series of rugged headlands. Scenically, there may be more spectacular coastal drives, though not many. But in terms of variety, it would be hard to match.
The most eye catching geographic feature is the Twelve Apostles, a series of limestone stacks which rise imperiously out of the Southern Ocean. Some of them are more than 200ft high and, as dusk falls, they look like craggy sentinels guarding the cliffs against the pounding waves. Not for nothing is this known as the shipwreck coast. As you look out to sea, the horizon is not flat, but crenellated, so enormous are the waves with which the ships have to contend.
Travel Guide: Australia
A must-see destination
Guaranteed hot weather in January and February. It's best to go after January 25 to mainland Australia or after February 25 to Tasmania because the school holidays have finished and all places to stay cut their prices to the low season rate.
Great for adults and children but a stopover en route would be best when travelling with children so they can be raring to go on arrival in Oz.
Lovely beaches, blue sea but very choppy in Surfers' Paradise so watch the children. Loads of great theme parks and places to see.
A must-see destination.
Travel Guide: Australia
Hop off to the forest in Cairns
From the Daily Mail
Why, inquired the youngest member of the family, could we not go and see some kangaroos? Not in a zoo, but where kangaroos live, wherever that was. The news that such an adventure would involve flying halfway around the world did not deter him. 'Will there be a movie on the plane?' he asked.
So the three of us went to Sydney, where seven-year- old Adam saw kangaroos in Taronga Zoo. He was not fooled. 'No, where they live!' he demanded.
So we went to the Blue Mountains, where kangaroos hopped around so vigorously one could almost hear the 'boings'. He was unconvinced. 'Kangaroos live in the forest,' he said. Kangaroos live all over the place in Australia, but there was no reasoning with him.
So we flew 1,200 miles to Cairns, rented a car and drove for an hour-and-a-half up the Gillies Highway to the Atherton Tablelands and a dot on the map called Tarzali. There, skipping in and out of the trees in the rainforest, were kangaroos. Lots of them - tree kangaroos, admittedly, but kangaroos nonetheless.
'That's what I meant,' said Adam, before turning his attention to his GameBoy. It had been a long haul, but thanks to the young one we had reached an ecological wonderland where rare and endangered species are on your doorstep - literally.
We had suspected the 100-acre eco-lodge Fur 'n' Feathers might provide the answer to our little boy's dream - and ours - when we discovered its website, http://www.rainforesttreehouses.com.au. But the experience of living deep in the rainforest, looking down on the Ithaca river as it snaked through the trees and breakfasting on our verandah with scarlet and green parrots, went far beyond even our most optimistic expectations.
Travel Guide: Australia
The Outback of beyond
The Nullarbor Plain. Vast, arid, empty, a bald patch on the map of Australia. It is a common misconception that Nullarbor is an Aboriginal word. It's not. It's actually derived from the Latin for no tree, which makes it one of the most appropriately-named places on earth.
Tell an Australian that you're intending to take the train from Perth to Sydney and the chances are that he'll look at you a little strangely and then ask... why? After all, it's cheaper to fly and it only takes five hours, not three days.
But for the tourist whose visit to Australia is measured in weeks, there can be no better way to gauge the enormity of this country.
And of all the reasons to take the train, the chance to cross the Nullarbor has to be the most compelling.
Great Southern Railways operates four Indian Pacific services a week; two from Perth to Sydney, two the other way.
To board one of these trains is to leave behind the image of itself that Australia has so carefully cultivated over the last decade or so. The accommodation is comfortable but cramped, the service is friendly but blunt.
The Indian Pacific lacks the polish that has become synonymous with the modern Australian tourist experience but is all the more rewarding for it. This journey needs no slick promotion. Slowly, over 70 hours, it speaks for itself.
Leaving Perth at 10.55 on a Friday morning, we crossed the Western Australia wheat belt before pulling into Kalgoorlie, the first stop where we were permitted to disembark, late that evening. Kalgoorlie is a mining town and, on a Friday night, it's as raucous as you like.
The main drag is lined with pubs, all filled to capacity. Bad bands play at full volume, drowning the sound of breaking glass, while skimpies persuade punters to blow as much of their weekly wages as possible.
Skimpies are the girls who serve the drinks. They're hired according to the size of their breasts and their willingness to cover them as flimsily as possible. As a marketing strategy, they clearly sell beer better than a raging thirst; I didn't see a single place that wasn't packed.
Travel Guide: Australia
Bowled over Down Under
When I last visited Australia in November 2003, I saw England produce arguably the most momentous victory of all time against their old enemy, when Jonny Wilkinson's famous drop goal at the Olympic Stadium won the Rugby World Cup and instantly became part of sporting folklore.
This November the sporting battle lines are drawn again - as the English cricket team travel Down Under for the 2006/07 Ashes Tour.
For the best part of the last 20 years, the contests had become embarrassingly one-sided. England's victory in 2005 changed all that, and with the prospect of another fierce battle to come, the excitement in Australia is already tangible.
I had the privilege of travelling with the Ashes urn for only its second visit to Oz - as part of the Ashes Exhibition tour of Australia. Safely packed away in a metal box, it was given VIP treatment, with its own airline seat in first class, and attracted much interest from passengers - some cricket lovers and some plain bemused.
MCC curator Adam Chadwick had primary responsibility for the safe transportation of the urn, and speaking to him and his team reminded me of the extraordinary sporting heritage and history that lies behind this priceless artefact.
Three and a half inches in height, the small terracotta urn was presented to then England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of women in Melbourne during the 1882-83 tour. The gift was made with reference to Australia's first win on English soil in 1882, which prompted a mock-obituary of English cricket in the Sporting Times, claiming it had died, with the body to be cremated and ashes taken to Australia.
The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, more than likely a bail according to popular legend, but this has never been proved. It was donated by Bligh's widow to Lord's in 1927, and has left the home of English cricket just twice since then, including a brief visit to Australia in the bicentennial year of 1988. It has been conserved over recent years to prepare it for this historic trip.
The exhibition opened at the Museum of Sydney where Australia's legendary former captain and commentator Richie Benaud was on hand to offer his take on the history of the Ashes contest and the upcoming series.
As well as the urn, a number of fascinating artefacts, photographs and archive newspaper articles are on display. They depict the story of the Ashes, including hand-written team lists and scorecard from the 1882 Test, and accounts of the many clashes, including the Bodyline series of the 1930s right through to England's dramatic victory in 2005.
The Ashes exhibition will move onto all other major Australian cities and concludes in Tasmania in January.
For cricket lovers, and indeed general sports fans, a tour of the Sydney Cricket Ground is a must. Steeped in cricketing history, the ground still has a wonderfully old-fashioned feel and like all great sporting arenas has an aura of its own, even when no action is taking place. The architecture and design of the old pavilions is delightful, while the highlight for me was seeing the Australian dressing room. Sitting in the locker traditionally used by the Australian captain was easily the closest I had come to any sense of sporting stardom.
We even got a chance to tread on the hallowed turf, although when we tried to get nearer to the middle our amiable guide - probably veering towards the paranoid - told us not to go any further as "we don't want to give any secrets away about the pitch".
The recently opened museum contains a number of wonderful historical photographs charting the course of Australian cricket, as well as other sporting memorabilia. Australian Rules football is also played at the SCG, with rugby league matches staged at the impressive Aussie Stadium next door.
Tickets for the series are already extremely hard to come by, with some of the days complete sell-outs.
The first Test begins in Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, with its easy access to the Gold Coast, on November 23. A few days later the action moves onto Adelaide for the second match, with the city's Adelaide Oval ground widely recognised as one of the most beautiful in the world.
Perth, the capital of western Australia and a hugely popular place for Britons to visit and live, stages the third game just before Christmas, before the action moves to Melbourne. Fans are likely to get hold of tickets here, apart from Boxing Day, where the magnificent Melbourne Cricket Ground can cater for 100,000 fans.
Regularly voted the world's most habitable city, Melbourne is quite simply one of the finest places you could ever wish to visit. Locals proudly call the city the sports capital of the world, such is the wealth of big events staged throughout the year, and supporters travelling for the Ashes might want to catch the Australian Open tennis in January.
When the action moves onto Sydney in the New Year, excitement will have reached fever pitch if the outcome of the series is still in doubt, and many thousands of Britons will no doubt be in the city for the awesome New Year fireworks display.
The elegant and magnificent harbour will always provide the backdrop to any Sydney visit, with the sight of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House never failing to warm the heart.
The city offers superb shopping opportunities and varied nightlife, and for excursions I recommend a ferry ride to the beach resort of Manly, which is full of life and character, or a day trip to the magnificent Blue Mountains.
Everywhere you travel in Sydney, somebody has an opinion about the series. Rest assured that no matter how many jibes you hear towards the 'Poms', the underlying feeling is one of affection rather than resentment.
It says much for the Australian character, which I like very much, that even in these times of heightened security you can still enjoy some degree of banter with security guards at the airport.
When I last departed the country, I joked that the World Cup was in my hand luggage. This time I merely pointed out that we were teasing the Australians into a false sense of security after a heavy one-day international defeat in India. The guard may have laughed, but he couldn't fool me - the Australians are desperate to win those Ashes back. It's going to be a hell of a summer Down Under.
* Fares to Sydney start from £658.00 plus £131 tax for travel between 06/11 - 30/11 (must be booked by 15 November). Prices vary depending on date of departure. For reservations please call Virgin Atlantic Airways on 08705 747747.
Travel Guide: Australia
Slow down and don't do too much
Australia is enormous - don't try to pack in too much. It's a temptation when you've gone all that way, but you'll end up not enjoying anything because you'll be too tired.
Don't expect to "do" cities like Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and certainly not Sydney in anything less than three days.
It's also great to get a perspective on things by not flying everywhere, but slowing down and taking a train journey.
We took a 32-hour trip from Brisbane to Cairns and it was brilliant to just chill out and enjoy the scenery - sleeping on the train was very relaxing - and I liked being woken up by the chirpy steward with my morning cuppa.
Travel Guide: Australia
Out of this world
Adelaide and the surrounding areas are absolutely out of this world.
I have been there for the past three years and really enjoyed my stay. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. I like it so much that we are now trying to get a visa for immigration.
Travel Guide: Australia
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Trevor hammers home the messages: plenty of fuel, plenty of water, no swimming in roadside water holes (crocodiles, yes crocodiles) and believe every road sign. 'If it says no fuel for 200km, it means no fuel for 200km. It's not a sales pitch. Remember it's not a place to break down,' said Trevor. 'This is not a busy road.'
He was right. During the 250 miles to the overnight stop at Fitzroy Crossing Inn in the old pioneer town, situated on the awesome Fitzroy River, the road was all but deserted. When we got to Mabel Downs, close to the entrance to Purnululu, it was still just as empty.
It was then that we paid for ignoring Trevor's final piece of advice. As you turn into Mabel Downs, the signpost warns that it's 53km to the entrance to Purnululu and a further 18km to the East Kimberley Tours campsite. Total 45 miles. Trevor had said: 'It will take three hours.'
'Oh really,' I thought. Three twisting, bouncing, bumping hours later through creeks and streams, past wild cattle and leaping wallabies, we arrived at the simple campsite.
Never had I been so relieved to see a bed - albeit a campbed. East Kimberley Tours also offered two luxuries - hot showers, and wonderful cooking by the German chef Zilka, assisted by our engineer/drinks-waiter/tour guide and bus driver called, yes, Bruce.
Bruce, apart from his many jobs around the campsite, was also a part-time newsreader with the Australian Broadcasting Company and a lion tamer - with scars to prove it - during the closed season. The area has only two seasons - the big wet and the big dry. Nothing else. April is the start of the big dry and was the perfect time to visit.
The greenery hasn't been scorched by the sun and provides a stunning contrast to the mountains at dawn. The scenery is breathtaking. Huge beehive-shaped, honey-coloured mountains rising dramatically from the plains against a backdrop of blue sky make interesting breakfast viewing.
But they become even more impressive when they are approached on foot. The luxuriously named Echidna, Cathedral and Piccaninny Gorges provide challenging hikes across rugged country. The reward of Zilka's packed lunch by a palm-lined and crocodile-free hot springs is worth the walk.
Morning is the best time, not only to set out on foot - afternoon temperatures-reach the mid to high 30s - but also to take to the sky to view the park. For hidden away in a corner of the park is the Bellburn airstrip.
From here, Slingair helicopters buzz over the mountains revealing the size and beauty of a range that is still almost entirely unexplored. It is a real trip of discovery and one that is often spent in splendid solitude.
This explains why Purnululu has become the thinking travellers' alternative to Uluru (Ayers Rock).
Here, the spectacle is just as stunning, and it doesn't come with the soundtrack of a thousand camera shutters.
No tourist shops, no burger bars, no resort hotels - just nature at its most beautiful.
TRAVEL FACTS:
Visit http://www.australia.com or telephone 09063 863 3235 for a free copy of the Australia Travellers Guide. Qantas flies from London to Perth via Singapore or Bangkok, and then on to Broome. Wheels Over The Kimberleys, 00 61 8 9193 5452 or hertz.brm@ bigpond.com. Flights over Purnululu with Slingair cost around £55 per person, 00 61 8 9169 1300 or slingair@bigpond.com. East Kimberley Tours, 00 61 8 9168 2215; ektours @agn.net.au.
To indulge his nomadic tendencies
'He was immediately a real character,' remembers local Jan Parks. 'He'd steal sausages and burgers from people's plates. But people would love him.
'The only trouble was that once you'd fed him, he was quite difficult to shift as a house guest. And it could get a bit unbearable.'
It appears Red Dog's legendary appetite had malodorous side effects. 'He was,' confirms Jan, 'a complete stinker.'
Luckily for the locals, Red wanted nothing more than to broaden his horizons, living the life of a canine hobo and roaming as far afield as he could.
Most of the transport in the area serves the massive Dampier Salt and Hamersley Iron operations and it was among the single men who worked at these plants that he found most of his friends.
They would feed him when he passed through and deigned to grace them with his company for a few days and club together to take him to the vet's when he returned from his latest foray a little worse for wear.
He would regularly ride the huge, half-mile-long trains that crawl along the vast, open expanses laden with iron ore. Or he would wait at the side of the road and hitch a ride with the company buses, on which he became a welcome passenger as long as he kept his anti-social digestive habits under control.
The roads around the Pilbara are long, dusty and straight, punctuated by the unsightly remains of unlucky kangaroos. Perhaps it's something about the light but the backdrop of the rocky, red landscape makes you feel as though you're driving along Martian terrain but with roadsigns.
Red Dog would always find his way back to Dampier, though, and he certainly had a breathtaking coastline around which to indulge his nomadic tendencies.
The area is home to a number of scenic hideouts, from the secluded natural bay of Hearson's Cove, through the administrative centre of Karratha (the Aboriginal for 'Good Country') to the lookouts of Cossack and Point Samson, good spots for whale watching.
The Ned Kelly story
If you haven't already heard the Ned Kelly story, allow me.
It's 1877 and, when a police constable is shot and wounded during an attempt to arrest Kelly's brother Dan, the two ride off to hide out in the woods, meeting up with friends Steve Hart and opium addict Joe Byrne. The Kelly Gang is born.
Things turn nasty in October 1878, when the gang come upon a group of policemen camped at Stringybark Creek.
Three of them end up being shot dead and one escapes to brand Ned a murderer. The police manhunt is stepped up, a reward of £2,000 per head is offered, yet still no one gives up the outlaws.
The foursome turn Antipodean Robin Hood and Co and rob two banks, giving the money to friends and family persecuted by the police for their association with the Kellys.
Eventually, on June 28, 1880, the manhunt ends in Glenrowan, where the gang, clad in their makeshift armour made from bits of ploughs, herd 60 local hostages into Glenrowan Inn.
The police arrive, there's a 12½-hour siege, a shoot-out and a fire, at the end of which Joe, Dan and Steve - and some of the hostages - are dead.
In the meantime, Ned, stumbling around in his heavy 90lb-plus armour, shouting taunts at the police and rapping his metal helmet with his revolver, thinks himself invincible.
Thirty minutes on, with 28 bullet wounds despite the armour, he is brought to his knees and carried off to the gallows and his place in history.
So, was Ned Kelly a hero or villain, a horse thief with a chip on his shoulder or a revolutionary, victim since birth of a prejudiced and venomous ruling British establishment determined to make utterly miserable the lives of poor Irish families who had emigrated to Australia (hence the republic theory)?
It was a question I posed regularly as I travelled through the green and very pleasant state of Victoria, visiting the postcard-pretty towns, old homesteads, wild woods and sweeping ranges where the legend was born.
Eggs benedict on the beach
If you can tear yourself away from credit card alley, the beaches are very darling, too - large half moons untouched by sun loungers or deckchairs. Most have free showers and changing rooms. Australia, a land of immigrants, lays great emphasis on public accessibility and visitors will find much is free.
The beaches - many with barbecuing facilities - are clean and uncrowded. Often there are solid wooden tables and benches under the trees and if you love surfing or tumbling in big waves this is paradise. In the main, the much-talked-about sharks can be identified by their posing pouches.
At magnificent Palm Beach, an hour's drive to the north, you can watch the boats bobbing off Broken Bay or lie facing up the hill and decide which million Aussie dollar home you want most. The planners obviously keep their worries to themselves.
You'll find tinted window-wrapped Hollywood villas rubbing shoulders with Home Counties posh. There is even a fair showing of Elizabethan-style beams. After all, the British were here in a big way, and Queen Victoria's statue still stands guard over one of Sydney's main intersections.
At Balmoral, only ten minutes from the Harbour Bridge, another sandy bay with quieter waves has a large lawn sweeping down to the beach. Here the Thirties-style Bathers' Pavilion has not been left to decay like some public buildings littering our British seafronts. Instead, the town council has restored it to its former splendour and brilliant food is available. On one side there is an inexpensive bistro-style menu. On the other, a four-star restaurant. There is even a cook book, more Pacific Ocean than River Cafe.
On the little seafront near the bandstand we had breakfast at a glass-fronted cafe with a central polished concrete bar, and watched the chef serve up homemade muesli and yoghurt and first-class eggs Benedict.
As the day wears on you find that this is the capital of the coolbag. There were picnics going on all over, from Observatory Point to Bronte Beach, where the Chippa (what would Charlotte and Emily think of the spelling) will do you a barbecue chicken sandwich and chips or dressed crab or lobster.
One welcome innovation from Oz is fusion food - East meets West, a sort of suck it and soy taste that originated in many of Sydney's smart eateries. And it's very healthy too. Eleven per cent of Australia's population is now Asian and enough refugees from the Mediterranean live here to ensure that extra virgin olive oil rather than butter is often proffered. Near the harbour, the Rockpool - one of Sydney's finest nosheries and well worth a visit - has a special plate that magically reveals its star centre when oil is poured into it.
The British place names, the warmth of the locals and the value-for-money prices (about 2.75 Aussie dollars to the pound) means that this is a very friendly holiday. You could get a shock, though, when lying supine by the pool on the roof of the Park Hyatt Hotel you are suddenly assailed by a chorus of 'G'days' from high above, from the thrill-seekers who have paid a hundred dollars for the privilege of climbing to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge. It certainly makes you cover up your wobbly bits!
Our only regret was visiting the site of our original inspiration - the Olympic stadia out in the less-attractive western suburbs. Enthusiastic young Australians are still serving kangaroo kebabs (I couldn't face one, but the family munched away) and proudly conducting guided tours. There are plans to fill the vast arenas with pop concerts and sporting events. But for now they are just hollow shells. Ah well, back to the beach and the real raw prawns on the barbie!
Plenty of surfers
The jolliest thing we found to do in the Rocks was to explore the huge, open-air market at the top of George Street, which operates on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Dozens of stalls sell local artefacts and crafts, with everything from lavishly-carved boomerangs, to handmade lace and linen.
My children chose a shark's tooth pendant each, preparing to return home and regale their friends with unlikely tales of how they had wrestled the shark themselves.
On my previous trips to Sydney, I'd enjoyed taking the ferries that ply the harbour from Circular Quay. If you want to ride with Australians, rather than with gangs of tourists, take one of the green-and-yellow municipal boats.
For me, the best ride of all is the half-hour trip on the ferry to Manly, a little seaside town on the Pacific at the end of the harbour. As we sailed in, we saw the sheltered inland beach.
However, by walking for five minutes through the town, we came to the great beach on the Pacific, a perfect crescent of golden sand, probably the nicest in the Sydney area - Bondi may be the most famous, but it is crowded and noisy.
There were plenty of surfers showing off their skills, but when the wind got up, and the beach was closed to swimmers, some show-offs carried on.
I only hoped there were enough girls watching to make it worth the danger.
Manly is also full of excellent restaurants. The spectacular seafood platter at the Fishmarket Cafe did, as predicted, defeat us, not least because of the charming local habit of serving piles of battered cod and chips with tons of shellfish.
Australia is very child-friendly: all the restaurants we visited either offered a children's menu or rustled up something small and simple if they did not.
And Sydney itself has plenty of attractions aimed at children.
Sun, sand and six-packs
We stayed in one of these, the Sebel Pier One, with windows giving right out on to the water and the old cast-iron beams and joists cleverly integrated into the walls and ceiling.
We spent a couple of days in the Blue Mountains, but there is enough to keep you in Sydney for a week without looking further afield.
To orient yourself, catch a return ferry to Manly and cycle down the beach promenades to the bushland, stopping off to swim in the Pacific.
In less than a day, you will have an indelible image of how Australia enjoys itself: the beach shorts and palm trees; the sun, sand and six-packs; the fitness fanatics, environmental faddists, surfers and shoppers all hanging out and having a good time.
If you still haven't had enough of the spectacular cityscape, take another half-day and climb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
You'll be breath-tested before you start; you'll sign a medical form and be given a briefing before getting into your special suit for the three-hour climb - everybody is harnessed.
For somewhere peaceful to recover, try Sydney's Botanic Gardens on Mrs Macquarie's Road.
They are an unsung, under-rated delight: 30 waterfront acres of flowers, fig trees and tropical ferns, and giant fruit bats hanging upside down in the Palm Grove near the excellent restaurant.
Also in the gardens is the home of the first Governor of New South Wales.
The energy with which Australia cherishes its past seems comical, at first, to visitors from Britain, considering that not one stone built upon another exists from before 1804.
Sheer sandstone cliffs
From our hotel in Katoomba I looked out on one of the most astonishing cliff-top views to be found anywhere in the world.
Narrow forested plateaus stretched into the blue distance, their sheer sandstone cliffs rising hundreds of feet out of a sea of eucalyptus, which changes into rainforest on the canyon floors.
From beneath my balcony, you can walk for three days in a straight line without meeting another soul.
We contented ourselves with a four-hour walk on paths neither dauntingly rugged nor as domesticated as many U.S. nature trails.
We passed breathtaking lookout points, walked beside sparkling waterfalls tumbling off the cliff face, and strolled in a grove of turpentine trees the height of redwoods.
Our walk ended at the bottom of the Scenic Railway, an old funicular railway, said to be the steepest in the world, which was used by miners until 1945.
At the top we took a gondola, Australia's first cable skyway, across the top of the Katoomba Falls.
The Blue Mountains really is one of the most glorious wilderness playgrounds to be found anywhere - rightly a World Heritage Area.
It stretches to more than six million acres of wooded mountains, rivers and gorges, and includes the almost impassable valley in the far north which contains the recently-discovered prehistoric Wollemi Pine - the botanical equivalent of finding a live species of dinosaur.
We took a helicopter trip down this canyon, and then through tortuous cave systems, courtesy of the Imax cinema outside the neighbouring township of Leura.
Could you cope with eating Skippy?
Sydney is a food lover's paradise awash with restaurants, selling amazing food at reasonable prices.
Here you can treat your taste buds to the best seafood without breaking the bank. Or the more adventurous can chow down on Roo Burgers, which are not for the faint-hearted. Roo means Kangaroo - could you cope with eating Skippy?
Restaurant Row overlooking Harbour Bridge at The Rocks is a must.
The Rocks, which lie under the awesome shadow of Sydney's Harbour Bridge, are the birthplace of modern-day Australia, where the first European settlement was declared in 1788.
They are a maze of narrow alleys hewn out of original rock, hence the name - and they have a lot to offer tourists.
There are shops and eateries galore and The Rocks market at George Street is a "must see" on the weekends.
Once you have sunbathed on the golden beaches, eaten fine food at affordable prices and taken in the sights, there is only one thing left to do in Sydney and that's party!
Cruise is just one of the hip bars that defines the city's cool club scene and is full of Sydney's trendier types.
Open until 3am and located at Circular Quay it is a great place to start your night before crawling to other haunts.
Kings Cross is one of Sydney's less salubrious areas, so you need your wits about you - but it is also home to some of the coolest nightclubs. If you want to really party then this the place.
The Cross is also peppered with more than 200 bars and restaurants and it just buzzes with life. Nearby Darlinghurst comes alive during the annual gay and lesbian Mardis Gras parade. It's for 24 hour party people.
Coastal delights
We chose to try to complete half the journey on the first day, with two smaller drives on days two and three to make things seem less boring for our sons, Fred, nine and Johnnie, six.
Our destination on day one was the resort of Eden, just over the state border into New South Wales, and about 360 miles out from Melbourne.
It is a tribute to the excellence of the mostly single-carriageway roads that we made it there in just under six hours.
The 130-mile drive between Lakes Entrance and Eden takes you through several national parks, with towering forests of eucalyptus trees and mountain ranges.
It is here that you get the first taste of just how remote the bush can be.
Eden has several excellent motels, perhaps the nicest being the Twofold Bay Motor Inn, recently opened and with comfortable and spacious two-room family units equipped with every facility - notably satellite television, vital to amuse children at the end of such a confining day.
The little town also has excellent beaches on that stretch of water where the Tasman Sea turns into the South Pacific, over which you can see the sun rise.
And, once you have worked up an appetite on those, you can deal with it at Eden's Fisherman's Club restaurant, which boasts the finest seafood dinners for miles around.
If you come to Eden in the spring - October and November - you can go on whale watching cruises, which are advertised locally.
Those who prefer their pleasures on dry land can go on forest walks, though the local tourist authority warns that some of these are suitable only for experienced walkers.
Eden, like many of the resorts on this coast, is very popular, and it is essential to book your motels in advance.
Adelaide's garden suburbs
In neighbouring Gouger Street, with Jolly Graeme Andrews as our guide, I counted 40 restaurants, some from countries offering cuisine I'd pay to avoid. Vineyards lap Adelaide's garden suburbs.
Here, now called Magill Estate where the hills begin, is the fount of the now-mighty Penfolds, established by Dr Penfold in 1844. It's part of huge Southcorp, which offers well-known brands in British supermarkets.
But its top-of-the-range Grange rivals anything from France. It was surreptitiously evolved by its winemaker Max Schubert (60 years with the company) who, without telling the management, allowed barrels of Grange to mature slowly, French style. 'French oak is less savage than American oak.'
Mrs Penfold, the doctor's stern Victorian wife, devised a concoction of her home-grown fortified red wine, plus beef extract plus malt, which was given to patients as a tonic. They and the doctor's profits flourished. The Penfolds planted more vines.
There are now 6,500 vineyards in Australia producing about 1.3 million tonnes of grapes last year, up 77,000 tonnes on 1999. The Adelaide Hills, swiftly reached by a new road and tunnel, sprouts with new vines. Last year Australia hit a record 146,000 hectares - an amazing rise of 19 per cent.
Trouble is everybody thinks he or she can make good wine in Oz. A lake of Chardonnay slurps about and sceptics warn about the huge planting of olive trees. 'In five years there'll be an olive oil sea, too.'
Wineries with 'cellar-door sales' (these make pleasing breaks) abound in Hahndorf, a pretty mid-19th-Century village settled by Germans. Orchards, vineyards and market gardens encircle it. In January, you can buy a kilo of fresh strawberries for £2.
Sadly, we chose a duff spot for lunch. One should always avoid places with a car park stuffed with coaches. Inside it was like a factory canteen, tottering with wheezing pensioners. It was our only bad meal in three weeks in Oz.
At Hillstone Wines, halfway down the village, a bright girl was handling the tastings. This, begun by another doctor in 1980, has now added 11 new hectares rolling between woodlands in the Adelaide Hills, growing, yes, Chardonnay, but also the less usual Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot.
A riot of minced prawns and crabbiness
The vast cattle herds of Queensland produce some of the tastiest, most succulent beef on the planet.
The seas teem with familiar beasties like tuna and whiting as well as more exotic animals like shark, barramundi (a sort of gaily-coloured tropical codfish) and the unappetising-sounding Moreton Bay bugs - giant prawns that yield a substantial glob of tender flesh, described on menus as 'bugmeat'.
The shrubbery is delicious; all the familiar stuff is here - broccoli, carrots and the like - plus plenty of weird stuff like plantain and mango the further north you go.
Weird stuff often crops up on down-under menus. In my three weeks in this cornucopia, I dined not only on bugs, but on kangaroo, crocodile and emu.
Australians, unlike Brits, are accustomed to eating out and demand good quality.
National airline Qantas brags not about its comfy seats or low fares, but about the fact that it has hired Oz celebrity chef Neil Perry to cook up the in-flight menus.
My first gastronomic stop was Il Centro, reportedly one of the finest restaurants in the Southern hemisphere.
On the Brisbane waterfront, you can sit almost dipping your toes in the river, watching the watertaxis swoosh past and cyclists pounding the towpath.
Il Centro is an Italian restaurant, but no check tablecloths and basketbound Chianti bottles here.
The menu brings together Australian ingredients and Italian techniques - plenty of fresh seafood, innovative pasta dishes and simple roast meats.
The house speciality is seafood lasagna, which I had as a (huge) starter-sized portion.
It defies description really - a sort of super-fishy pudding, a riot of minced prawns and crabbiness.
All the fun of Fremantle
Perth's setting is a large part of its charm. The very blue Swan River swells to lagoon size in the city centre and yachting regattas are frequently held in the shadow of gleaming office towers. Locals boast the water is clean enough to drink and to catch fit-to-eat prawns in, though when we went to Jo Jos, a fancy fish restaurant at the end of a jetty over the Swan River, I thought the cauliflower-sized jellyfish in the water below were very scary indeed. The 'boat fresh' chargrilled red emperor fish was meltingly delicious, however.
To see the water better, and unstung, we took a Captain Cook boat tour to Fremantle, 12 miles down the Swan, where the river meets the Indian Ocean. 'Freo', as it is known to the locals, has been a backdrop to sailing history since convicts arrived to swell the labour force in 1850.
When it hosted the Americas' Cup in 1987, it was treated to a fabulous facelift. Now it's the best-preserved 19th-century seaport in the world, with over 150 listed buildings (including a prison that makes Alcatraz look homely and which you can book for a party).
It's still a working port. In January and February you can stand in Cliff Street when the great cruise ships sail through the inner harbour on their round-the-world voyages, and watch as their funnels move slowly above the rooftops. If you're a boat person, pick over the bones of history at the Maritime Museum, where the gruesome tale of the wreck of the Batavia and its murderous mutineers is graphically illustrated. Or drop in at the Historic Boats Museum at the B Shed on the Harbour.
Freo on a Saturday is where you go for fun, by ferry from Barrack Street Jetty, returning by train. Follow the crowd as it drifts down South Terrace, 'The Cappucino Strip', to the hundred-year-old markets overflowing with colourful bric-a-brac, fashion and New Age paraphernalia.
We loved the deep-verandahed old micro-brewery pubs like the Sail and Anchor, where you hear orders for beers like Redback, Dogbolter and Brass Monkey Stout. Chili, chocolate and banana beer are now all the rage. We lunched off Thai delicacies at a food court across from the market. It cost just AUS $6 for two of us.
Creature comforts
As for creature comforts, there is a resort boutique, first aid centre, games room, conference facilities, restaurant, bar and pool.
At night the conference room becomes a cinema showing the latest films. The facilities also include an excellent dive shop and a National Park Information and Education Centre.
Decades ago, the Australians implemented conservation measures such as limiting the number of tourists and removing or recycling instead of incinerating refuse.
The island has a fascinating history. Its first inhabitant was the Australian Turtle Company, which ran a turtle soup factory.
Unfortunately (not for the turtles, of course), the business failed and Heron became a commercial fishing base and then a holiday resort.
Its first guests were accommodated in tents. Fortunately, the resort, helped by a £200million P&O revamp, today provides a substantially more luxurious form of accommodation.
As befits one of the best diving locations in the world, there is a complete range of modern equipment available to hire on the island and there are more than 25 dive sites for certified divers - most within 15 minutes of the jetty - and internationally recognised six-day diving courses for novices.
There is plenty for non-divers, too, including guided reef walks and snorkelling either by boat or off the beaches around the island.
We did both and thought we were lucky to see a turtle and shark (not the dangerous kind) but, apparently, it's an everyday occurrence.
Other activities include star-gazing, wildlife presentations, semi-submersible coral viewing cruises, fishing trips, bird watching and wine and cheese cruises.
Don't forget to breathe
Having arrived at the shallow, shimmering, turquoise waters of Reefworld, I met my diving instructor, Julian, and was given a wetsuit and diving gear. Fellow diver Helen and I plunged into the cool water and sat down on a platform just below the surface. Stay calm, Julian told us, hold your nose and swallow to regulate your ear pressure at various stages of descent.
We weren't going to go very deep, about eight metres, so we did not need really in depth instruction. It all sounded pretty straightforward, but I couldn't help feeling a little nervous. I grabbed hold of the rope which guided us downwards and pushed myself under the water. The 'keep breathing' tip was useful: I didn't trust my scuba equipment and had an urge to hold my breath.
As I edged down the rope, I began to relax. When we reached the end of the line, Julian beckoned us to link arms with him. A new psychedelic world opened up: blue and gold striped fish glided over swaying gardens of violet and golden coral; they mingled with little pink and green fish which scurried along.
Then there were the huge, grey, fat fish which swam right up to you and stared. On the coral sat huge clams, 100 years old and weighing 400lb. We spent half an hour exploring this thrilling new world.
The next day we took to the seas again on the 60ft Banjo Paterson to reach White-haven Beach, a glorious 5.4km stretch of white sand. Then the crew got cracking on the barbecue, sorry, barbie. Later, we spent the afternoon snorkelling. Just another day in paradise.
Family fun
Surrounded by seductive azure water, the island's principal leisure activities are obviously watersports and every conceivable permutation of these are on offer. (There are, of course, also plenty of land-based options available.) It is only a short hop on a catamaran to Whitehaven Beach, a five-mile stretch of unspoilt white silica sand designed to make you feel as if you have stepped into a Martini advert.
Or you can take a trip out to the Reef to dive or snorkel among the beautiful coral. And there is sailing and fishing, plus waterskiing and parasailing for the more ambitious.
Having awarded ourselves some Brownie points for serious physical exertion earlier in the day, we found that one of the most attractive ways to wind down was to go for a twilight cruise in Banjo Paterson, a luxurious 60ft yacht which allows you to feel as if you are doing some serious sailing while in reality all you are doing is lounging around demolishing champagne and enjoying the sunset. A cliche perhaps, but a compelling one.
We stayed in a suite in the Reef View, an extremely comfortable four-star establishment with stunning views of the Coral Sea (or the tropical gardens if you are at the back of the building) and excellent facilities. Indeed, the suite was about the same size as my flat in London - but in an ever-so-slightly more attractive location.
Work has recently been completed on a luxurious new hotel, the lovely Beach Club Resort and there are also more affordable apartments and bungalows. Restaurants are diverse and plentiful and there are lively bars and clubs for those in search of some jolly nightlife.
A few private individuals own plots on the island (George Harrison being easily the most famous, with all the locals keen to share 'my mate George' anecdotes) but for the most part the island is controlled by a management group who took over the lease in the early Nineties. It has invested heavily, made every effort to set high standards and succeeded in turning it into an attractive destination.
The island is probably at its most successful in accommodating young families, as there are superb free day care facilities for children with their own age-related activities such as pool games, fish feeding and beach olympics.
Many of these activities have a strong marine biology focus with emphasis on the Great Barrier Reef. (It certainly felt like a far cry from my own childhood, fishing for crabs along the South Coast of England.)
Only one note of caution. The beautiful cockatoos, while masquerading as lovely tropical birds, are actually highly-trained thieves. Leave your balcony door open at your peril as they can whip in and out of a room in seconds. When my back was turned they opted for mini-bar crisps and nuts for starters and were clearly eyeing up my jewellery as a potential main course.
My view of myself as a latterday St Francis of Assisi, hanging out with my friends, the birds, began to dwindle at this point. Cockatoo pie anyone?
Out on the reef
Simone, the chirpy cabin attendant, brought a Continental breakfast as the train headed into Proserpine. Soon we passengers were lifting off in helicopters, heading over the glorious Whitsunday Islands, first charted and named by Captain Cook in 1770, to the marvels of the 1,400-mile-long Great Barrier Reef.
We flew over an immense seascape of clear sapphire water, of turquoise and cobalt blues. Thirty minutes out, we descended to the reef, alighting insect like upon a small moored raft. A boat ferried us to a large pontoon with an awning, our base for the afternoon. A semi submersible, a superior glass bottomed boat, took us along the edge of a coral reef.
Many of us donned snorkels and fins for a closer look. A guide snorkelled with us so we could identify the brilliant shoals, as bright as club ties, the clams, starfish and corals. Back on the pontoon, there was lunch. Seafood, naturally. Mussels and oysters and freshly grilled prawns. After a rest in the shade, I was ready for more snorkelling, with the precaution of a T shirt against sunburn.
At last, the helicopters lifted us off the reef, and before we knew it, we were back on the train and getting ready for dinner, some of the best lamb I've ever tasted.
Next morning the Great South Pacific Express rumbled into tropical Cairns and turned towards the mountains to climb to Kuranda. The laying of the 25-mile track into the Great Dividing Range, across gorges and through forests, was a blood and sweat epic of the 1880s. The result is one of the great rail rides of the world.
Kuranda was the end of the line for the train, but the beginning of a wonderful ride on Skyrail, the world's longest cable railway. My green gondola floated for 4.7 miles above the rainforest. I heard only the breeze and the music of the birds. Slowly, the gondola swung down the mountain to the coast.
There was just time for a beer in the long bar of the Freshwater Hotel before I was driven to Silky Oaks, a hotel in the Daintree rainforest. It is a sort of treetops hotel, its chalets painted pale green and almost hidden by flowers and trees. The heart of the place is the restaurant deck, 30ft above the Mossman River.
I explored the rainforest trails with the aid of a booklet describing the trees, plants and forest creatures. I soon identified the jungle feature famous for being ambitious, grasping and ruthless: the lawyer vine.
On my last morning I walked in the forest. Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy. Among the tall columns of trees, I felt I was entering the nave of a great and mysterious cathedral. Along the Mossman, I swam in a pool bounded by boulders. Back in the heart of the forest, I sat on a log and listened to the curious fugue of birds and the rustling of lizards. Then there was a stillness, a sense of the primeval, and I felt once again that I had Australia to myself.
Exotic wildlife
If the rugged scenery commands attention, British visitors are likely to be just as enchanted by the wildlife. The balcony of the apartment where we stayed was a riot of colour, as pink and grey rosellas and red and green parrots vied for scraps. It was a far cry from the motheaten starlings you see in the Home Counties. One moment we were swerving to avoid a wallaby, the next we were jamming on the brakes to admire an echidna which had just waddled out of the bracken.
The best was kept until last. My companion, though Australian herself, had never seen a koala in the wild. Other Australians will tell you the same. Koalas are retiring creatures and spend most of their time asleep in the upper branches of trees. To spot four in half an hour, as we did, one of them a dead ringer for Ken Livingstone, was unimaginable riches.
The human wildlife was tame in comparison, if you exclude the bikini clad surfer who nearly caused me to crash into a telegraph post at Bells Beach. I can see her now, cresting the waves without a care in the world.
But even here the Great Ocean Road has much to offer. Every town is different from the last and, as you make your way along the road, you can see a rich cross-section of Australian society.
Torquay, with its neat rows of retirement cottages, is almost as staid as its English counterpart, but Lorne is a different matter. This is one of the places where the smart set from Melbourne come for the weekend. There is the whiff of serious money, with bright young things strutting their stuff along the promenade.
By the time you get to Apollo Bay (Paradise by the Sea), you are in a different world again. Nobody struts their stuff here. They are content just to be themselves, strolling along the beach, doing a spot of fishing, having a tinnie at the pub before pottering home to light the barbie. It would be hard to imagine a better base for a relaxing family holiday.
If the world and his wife knew about the Great Ocean Road, it would probably be as bad as Bondi beach, overcrowded and commercialised. But the world and his wife are still in blissful ignorance.
Splashing out on eco-luxury
Australia is the most ecologically minded country in the world - and proud of it.
Now this is good news for the environment and absolutely tremendous for tourists. There are eco-lodges such as Fur 'n' Feathers springing up all over Northern Queensland, but Sandra and Harry Walker, two local schoolteachers, had the foresight to start building their resort in the trees before the eco-boom began.
They already have advanced accreditation from the Eco-Tourism Association for their five tree houses - there are a couple of cottages, too - and no wonder: they are masterpieces of what you might call the eco-plush school of design.
Built on poles with accommodation on two levels, each has polished wooden floors. There is a sitting room-kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms, with king-size beds large enou |
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