Category: Travels for Fun
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BOLIVIA 1989
When my folks told me that an exchange student from Bolivia would be living with them at the family home in northern Wisconsin I knew right away that a time would come when I would make it truly an ‘exchange’. In July of 1989, I gripped my seat on a plane landing at La Paz’s airport. I thought the plane would never stop … with the thin air at 3640 metres of elevation it takes a while for a jet to come to a stop. I caught a connecting flight to…
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A TOURIST-FREE EGYPT, 1990
In December of 1990, there was a global fear of a regional war in the Middle East. Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait and was ignoring demands for withdrawal. There were fears the war would escalate well beyond the borders of Kuwait. And that made it a perfect time to travel to Egypt. Tourism in the region had dropped to diddly squat the day Saddam rolled his tanks into Kuwait. My mate, Doug, and I took started our end-of-year holidays from our job in Aleppo, Syria and flew into Cairo on Christmas…
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FITZGERALD RIVER NATIONAL PARK
Fitzgerald River National Park is one of Western Australia’s largest parks but only comprises 0.13% of the State’s total area. Yet 20% of the State’s flora can be found in the park. It’s a ridiculously diverse region of the State where you can find 1800 species of flowering plants. About 60 of those species are found nowhere else in the world. I’m still trying to learn why Western Australia has so much biodiversity but I think I understand the basic formula. You’ve got an ancient land which has been isolated for…
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A JOURNEY TO THE SOUTHWEST
DAYS 1-3: SOUTHERN FORESTS AND VALLEYS Padma and I started getting itchy feet again and wanted to get some camping in before the heat and bugs of summer made it less fun. We plotted an itinerary to the Great Southern Region of Western Australia but soon discovered many of the national park campgrounds do not allow campfires. Padma and I just couldn’t see the point of camping if we didn’t have the ‘Bush Telly’ to watch at night and keep us warm. So we re-routed via the Southern Forests and Valleys…
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THE LARGEST TEMPERATE FOREST ON EARTH
On the last hour of the last day of our double crossing of the Nullarbor Plain, Padma and I drove real slowly. We had no hurry to reach the dumpy motel room in Norseman that awaited us. The sun was getting low in the sky when we encountered a significant change in landscape. The scrubby, treeless Nullarbor Plain was transitioning into the Great Western Woodlands. In a country of superlatives, the Great Western Woodlands stands out as it is the largest intact temperate (that is, Mediterranean climate) woodland remaining on Earth.…
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FROM STREAKY TO BORDER VILLAGE
Padma and I slowed down our pace once we reached the Far West Coast of South Australia. We drove a mere 590 kms from Streaky Bay to Border Village on the SA/WA border as we didn’t want to miss the sights. From sheep grazing in sparse paddocks, to wide-open rangeland with no start or end, to the longest uninterrupted line of sea cliffs in the world and finally to a roadhouse with a giant kangaroo holding a jar of Vegemite. We detoured off the Eyre Highway to the Head of Bight…
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THE STREAKS OF STREAKY BAY
In 1802 Captain Matthew Flinders sailed into a bay on the current day South Australian coastline and noticed how the light reflecting off the seaweed created streaks in the water. He named the place Streaky Bay. After driving all day from Adelaide, Padma and I arrived at Streaky Bay as the sun was setting. We were welcomed with abundant streaks of colour on an evening when there wasn’t even a whisper of a breeze. We stretched our legs and walked out to the end of the jetty and watched the final…
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NORTH OF GOYDER’S LINE
Back in 1865 a surveyor known as George Goyder got on his horse and traversed 3200 kms across South Australia. When he got home he drew a line across the state. He figured to the south of his line farmers could get enough rainfall to allow them to grow crops. To the north, he felt it was just too prone to drought and you’d best stick to grazing animals. Just after Goyder drew his line, South Australia had ample rains and farmers said ‘bugger that line’ and started planting to the…
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THE NULLARBOR CROSSING
While living in Europe, Padma and I missed one aspect of Australia: the emptiness. There is no emptiness in Western Europe, certainly not on the highways. So with the arrival of the cooler Autumn weather, Padma and I decided to experience some good old Aussie emptiness. And there’s no better place for that than the Nullarbor Plain of Western Australia and South Australia. So we packed our bags and loaded our Toyota Hybrid and started driving East … destination Melbourne (3500 kms) to visit our sons, Joseph and Xander. The Nullarbor…
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