Category Archives: adventure travel

Camping along the Indian Ocean Drive in Western Australia

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Denham Seaside Tourist Village, Lyndon Sparrow

Denham Seaside Tourist Village, Lyndon Sparrow

Do you want to watch the sun go down over the Indian Ocean every night? Get a campsite with a view without breaking the bank at these affordable caravan parks and campsites. We’ve followed the Indian Ocean Drive (Australia’s newest highway) all the way up the Western Australian coast from Perth to Exmouth, picking out our favourite places to stay along the way.

Cervantes

Pinnacles Caravan Park

Pinnacles Caravan Park is your best option if you want to camp near the famous Pinnacles Desert. There’s no camping in Nambung National Park, and this caravan park has good facilities and easy access to the national park.

Geraldton

Sunset Holiday Beach Park

In a quiet spot north of town, this popular caravan park has everything you need: good facilities, good access to the historic sites of Geraldton, and a tremendous position for watching the sun go down on the Indian Ocean.

Kalbarri

Murchison River Caravan Park

Located in the centre of town and just opposite the beach, Murchison River Caravan Park has the facilities you’d expect at a caravan park along this popular holiday route, such as toilets and showers (disabled access), laundry, dump point, camp kitchen, barbecues, pool and a playground

Denham

Denham Seaside Tourist Village

With a position near the beach fit for a king, and the views to match, Denham Seaside Tourist Village is your best option in the area. It has good facilities and the fishing opportunities are famous.

Francois Peron National Park

Francois Peron has a range of camping areas with good facilities and great views – but you do need a 4WD to access any of the campgrounds in this national park.

Carnarvon

Quobba Station

You’ll find Quobba Station north of Carnarvon. There are two options for camping at Quobba Station – the campground next to the station or the far more isolated Red Bluff, which allegedly has the best sunsets this side of Australia.

Coral Bay

Peoples Park Caravan Resort

At $50 a night for an ocean-front basic site, Peoples Park Tourist Park is on the expensive side. But it offers a great position in the extremely popular Coral Bay, with good facilities – so you might think it’s worth a bit of extra cash.

Exmouth

Ningaloo Caravan and Holiday Resort

If you’re all about the location, you can’t do much better than this centrally located caravan park, which has accommodation ranging from cabins to campsites.

Ningaloo Lighthouse Caravan Park

This caravan park has ocean views, which is a top requirement when travelling along the Indian Ocean Drive.

Cape Range National Park

Unlike its southern neighbour, Francois Peron National Park, you don’t need a 4WD to access many of the campsites in Cape Range National Park. While the campsites facing the Indian Ocean are often windblown and exposed, the views are worth it. Sites book out at popular times of the year, so make sure to get in quick.

Bush Bay camping area

The trade-off for this campsite being free is that you have to be entirely self-sufficient – there are no facilities here. But there are fantastic views of the Indian Ocean, as this campsite faces Shark Bay Marine Park.

 

     

The Explore Australia team’s travel bucket list

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Whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, Tourism Western Australia

Whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, Tourism Western Australia

Have you always wanted to swim with the whale sharks, or see the sun set over Uluru? Or are you more interested in rattling up the hills of Flinders Ranges in a 4WD or tobogganing down the sand hills of Wentworth?

We want to celebrate the top places to explore in Australia, so we’re putting together an Australian travel bucket list with our partners at Places We Go. And your favourite places could make the list! Hop over to Places We Go to enter your top place to visit in Australia, and you’ll go into the running to win a 5-day trip to the Aussie destination of your choice.

Of course, the best (and the worst) thing about Australia is that it’s so big – there are so many spots that could make the bucket list. So to spark your travel imaginations, we here at Explore Australia have come up with our staff bucket list.

Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

You might not be able to see it from space, but Ningaloo Reef has just as many things to entice visitors as the Great Barrier Reef – and one more. Ningaloo Reef is one of the places in the world you can swim with whale sharks. Don’t let the name confuse you. Whale sharks aren’t whales, but sharks. Luckily, they don’t eat people, just plankton and other varieties of small fish.

Unlike the Great Barrier Reef, the Ningaloo Reef is quite close to the coast. Tour operators will take you out to the reef, and when the sharks swim by, they’ll give you the cue to jump in. There are likely to be other fish species milling around, as well as the occasional other type of shark.

Of course, there’s more to Ningaloo Reef than swimming with whale sharks. But you’ll just have to go and find out for yourself.

Kangaroo Island, South Australia

You might think this island got its name by only being a hop away from the mainland. While Kangaroo Island is very accessible, at only a short ferry ride from the coast of South Australia, the island was named by Matthew Flinders (who named much of the coast) after its numerous kangaroos.

The island is wild by nature and also by history, as it was first colonised by escaped convicts and deserters. In a nation populated by wild characters, this island had some of the worst. Luckily, that’s no longer the case and Kangaroo Island is today a delightful holiday destination.

Uluru, Northern Territory

Yes, it is an obvious inclusion on the list, but for good reason! This monolith rises out of the plains of central Australia and has a presence that has to be felt to be believed. Around a 5-hour drive from Alice Springs, it’s worth camping overnight to see the sunrise and sunset over Uluru. If you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to a spectacular natural light show playing off the rock.

Cape Tribulation, Queensland

Cape Tribulation, so named by a frustrated Captain Cook, forms the coastal section of Daintree National Park. At 110km north of Cairns, Cape Trib is well and truly claimed by the north of Australia. Part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, the area has rivers and creeks, ancient species of animals and mountains covered with dense lowland rainforest that wouldn’t look out of place in an Indiana Jones movie.

The first Indiana Jones aspect of Cape Tribulation is that you need to cross a river to access it – although Indy might have preferred swinging across the river on a vine. Once you cross the river and wind your way through the rainforest, you’ll arrive at sandy beaches with incredible ocean views. It might not be the sort of treasure that Indy normally looks for, but it sure ain’t bad.

Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory

Don’t listen when people question whether you should Kaka-du or Kaka-don’t. You definitely should. The biggest national park in Australia, Kakadu has enough to please everyone in the family, whether you’re after towering waterfalls, ancient rock art, deadly animals, peaceful wetlands or secret swimming holes.

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland

While the Great Barrier Reef is so big you can see it from space, the delight is in the detail of the tropically coloured fish and coral. With big arguments raging over the environmental future of the reef, the time to see the reef is now.

Bungle Bungles, Western Australia

While tiger-striped rock cones might not be what you’d expect to see in what’s basically the middle of Australia, that’s part of what makes the Bungle Bungles so spectacular, and worthy of a place on everyone’s bucket lists.

Part of the World Heritage–listed Purnululu National Park, the park is on the border with the Northern Territory. Walk through the ancient rock formations to find hidden gorges, or go on a plane trip to appreciate the scale of the Bungle Bungles from above.

New Norcia, Western Australia

Western Australia has more than its fair share of strange sights, from the Bungle Bungles to Wave Rock. But potentially the strangest thing in the state is finding a Spanish town in the middle of the dry and dusty countryside. New Norcia is Australia’s only monastic town, and was built by Benedictine monks in the mid-nineteenth century.

Lake Eyre, South Australia

Most days in the life of Lake Eyre are the same: dry and salty. The lake is at Australia’s lowest point, and is an intimidating expanse of salt lakes. But on the rare occasion the lake floods, it bursts into life and birds flock to the life-giving water. While we’d prefer to see the lake in its gentler wet season, the dry expanses are just as worth a look.

Enter your bucket list suggestions here.

 

     

Taking a 4WD tour into the heart of the Otways

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Great Otway National Park has an incredible amount of 4WD tracks, where you can really get amongst the beauty of the national park, as we see in this excerpt from Linda Lee Rathbun and Steven David Miller’s 4WD Australia: 50 Short Getaways.

Some things just are not fair. As if tiny Victoria did not already have a share of Australia’s 4WD opportunities far beyond its relative size, in 2005 a number of these were consolidated into one compact area.

Otway National Park, Angahook–Lorne State Park, Melba Gully State Park, Carlisle State Park, state forest land and crown land were all combined to form the new 103,000ha Great Otway National Park. The surrounding state forests are now the 40,000ha Otway Forest Park. Logging was phased out and ceased in 2008. Managed by Parks Victoria, this combined area swallows the Otway Range, a parade of mountains draped in forest and fringed by sea. Not only is it stunning, it is also cleaved by an astonishing number of 4WD tracks.

Look at a map of all those tracks in the combined parks, and try not to drool. This getaway begins in Anglesea, with quick access to the north-eastern end of the Otway Range and to the national park. The route follows a road that in many cases divides the forest park from the national park as it convulses and spins to the south-west. Time after time, 4WD-only tracks split from the tour route, providing additional and more demanding opportunities for fully equipped, experienced drivers with a real-deal 4WD. From No. 2 Road there is Denhams Track. From Seaview Road there is Gentle Annie Track with the chance to return on Moggs Creek Track. From Mount Sabine Road there is Garvey Track with the chance to return on Sharps Track. And all along the way, there are tracks that will take you to almost anywhere along the Great Ocean Road: Moggs Creek, Lorne, Wye River, Kennett River and Apollo Bay, to name just a few. North of the tour route are just as many tracks penetrating those sections of both the national park and forest park.

Though there is much, much more to explore, this route ends at Cape Otway. A tour of the lightstation will reveal the hypnotic tale of the many ships that crashed and burned (not to mention sank) along the coastline of Bass Strait. There is camping, koala-watching and walking on sections of the Great Ocean Walk. Stretching east and west, the Great Ocean Road promises delights galore.

Victoria’s Otways prove beyond doubt that good things do indeed come in small packages.

Tour information

Distances

• The start of the getaway at Anglesea is 111km from Melbourne.

• The getaway is 112km from Anglesea to Cape Otway, not including optional 4WD side tracks.

Duration

• You should allow 3 days for this getaway, not including time to get to Anglesea.

• A day to drive some of or the entire route from Anglesea to Cape Otway; more days can be added to complete additional 4WD tracks and to camp along the way.

• A 2nd day to spend at Cape Otway to do the fascinating lightstation tour, or for some walking and koala viewing in the park.

• A 3rd day to return home.

When to go

• When it is dry, and when the tracks are open. Late spring, summer and early autumn are the ideal times. In summer, be bushfire aware (Ph: 1800 240 667).

Road rating

• The main tourist roads are sealed.

• The mountain roads from Anglesea to the Great Ocean Rd N of Cape Otway are unsealed. There are ascents and descents, narrow sections where passing is dangerous, washouts, potholes (possibly with water), fords and/or causeways through creeks and an endless number of extreme hairpin turns.

• Numerous 4WD-only tracks branch off from this tour. Conditions can vary, but always be prepared for muddy, boggy tracks, steep ascents and descents, creek crossings and sharp hairpin turns.

Vehicle requirements

• Any 4WD, SUV or AWD will be fine on the unsealed mountain roads. For the 4WD-only tracks, a 4WD with high clearance and low range is needed.

• You should have at least 1 spare tyre in good condition and full recovery gear.

• A means of communication in case you need help; it is best to travel in a convoy of at least 2 vehicles.

• Caravans should not be towed on most of these mountain roads; camper-trailers will fare a bit better, but be prepared for a truly wild ride. The 4WD-only tracks are not suitable for towing anything.

Road conditions

• It is best not to drive on these unsealed mountain roads when they are wet; in fact, most of the 4WD tracks are closed through the winter.

• For general road conditions visit VicRoads (http://traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au).

• For road and track closures in the park, check the Change of Conditions section of the Great Otway

National Park page at Parks Victoria (www.parkweb.vic.gov.au). Seasonal road and track closures are in force from the Queen’s Birthday long weekend (mid-June) to the Melbourne Cup Day weekend (1st weekend in Nov). This includes most of the 4WD tracks branching off the tour route.

Where to stay

• There is accommodation all along the Great Ocean Rd. From the main tour route a number of sealed roads, unsealed roads and 4WD tracks give access to the towns to the S and E. Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Cumberland River, Separation Creek, Wye River, Apollo Bay and Cape Otway all have caravan parks. There is also accommodation and a caravan park in Forrest to the N of Lake Elizabeth. Wildlife lovers should not miss Bimbi Park – Camping Under Koalas (Ph: (03) 5237 9246 www.bimbipark.com.au) at Cape Otway, where koalas reside in the manna gum trees.

• Parks Victoria operates numerous camping areas throughout Great Otway National Park. Facilities vary and may include picnic tables, BYO-wood fireplaces and toilets. Camping fees may be required at some camping areas and are payable at self-registration stations. Along this tour route and on side tracks, camping areas include Hammonds, Big Hill, Sharps Track, Lake Elizabeth, Beauchamp Falls, Blanket Bay and Aire River West and East.

Caravanners

• It would be best to set up camp at a caravan park in Anglesea and do the tour route from there. Otherwise, leave your caravan or camper-trailer at any of the other Great Ocean Road caravan parks, and then access sections of the tour route via the many sealed and unsealed roads or 4WD tracks.

• There are dump points at the Torquay Foreshore Caravan Park, the Anglesea Beachfront Family Caravan Park, the Lorne Foreshore Caravan Park and the Pisces Holiday Park in Apollo Bay.

What to take

• Plan to be self-sufficient with food and drinking water from Anglesea on.

• Be sure your 4WD (and your spare tyre) is in good order; you do not want to break down along these mountain roads and tracks as help is hard to come by.

• Bring a first-aid kit, prescription medication, personal items and clothing, a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. If it is summer, bring swimwear. If you enjoy bushwalking, bring your hiking boots.

• Fuel should not be a problem as long as you fill up in Anglesea. Fuel is not available along the tour route; you would have to exit the route for fuel.

• Bring a gas stove and all your usual camping gear to be self-sufficient. Most of the camping areas have fireplaces where you may build a campfire unless it is fire-ban season. You must BYO wood (not to be collected in the national park).

Permits and fees

• Entry fees to the national park are not required.

• Camping fees are charged and must be paid at self-registration points at each camping area. All camping area are first-come, first-served, except for the Blanket Bay campsites which are allocated by ballot during summer and Easter holidays.

• Bookings can be made at the Bimbi Caravan Park (Ph: (03) 5237 9246 www.bimbipark.com.au) in Cape Otway (fees apply, of course).

Highlights

• The highlight of this getaway is simply the drive. To twist, turn, climb and plunge through the saturated, emerald forests of the Otway Range is perfection itself. As if that was not enough, the return drive along the Great Ocean Rd is considered one of the most scenic in Australia.

• For the more serious 4WD enthusiast, there are endless 4WD tracks splintering throughout the park. Try a few and as you become familiar with the terrain, try more!

• If time allows, explore more of the Otways from Lavers Hill, Gellibrand and Forrest.

• While your wheels will get you to many splendours, your feet will get you even further. Do not miss the walking tracks at Erskine Falls, Kalimna Falls, the Grey River picnic area, Lake Elizabeth, Beauchamp Falls, Maits Rest and at least a bit of the Great Ocean Walk along the coastline of Cape Otway.

• Sections of the 91km trek from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles, called the Great Ocean Walk (www.greatoceanwalk.com.au) that can be done from Cape Otway include a wander along Station Beach and along the coast to Blanket Bay. standing at the northern point of the ‘Eye of the Needle’, a passage between Cape Otway and King Island where ships under sail, screaming across Bass Strait, had to navigate through to land in Victoria, safely or not: that is, without motors, radios, electronic depth sounders, weather forecasts or satellite navigation systems.

• Cape Otway presents numerous opportunities to see koalas in the wild along Lighthouse Rd. Find a safe pullout and look up, or look for people who are looking up and pull over safely to join them. The Bimbi Caravan Park has resident koalas in the manna gum trees.

• Play a round of golf with the kangaroos at the Anglesea Golf Club (Ph: (03) 5263 1582 www.angleseagolfclub.com.au).

Cautions

• You will be sharing mountain roads and tracks with hikers, bikers and horseback riders. Never travel so fast that you cannot come to a sudden stop when one of these appears before you. Always drive taking account of the conditions and with other road users in mind.

• Check the weather forecast before leaving home and do not go if the area is wet.

• A number of tracks and roads bisecting the Otways are not open to vehicles; they either are closed for revegetation or are only used by rangers as service tracks. In addition, tracks can be closed at any time for any reason; this is usually after extended wet weather. If a gate bars access, it means you should not go there!

• Rubbish bins are not provided in the camping areas; you must take your rubbish with you.

• Generators are not permitted in the national park camping areas.

• If you have no other means of communication and become stuck, you can try using your mobile phone even if you are out of range. Dial 112 then press the YES button; this is the same as 000 so it should be used only in an emergency.

 

     

14 places to explore in 2014

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Cathedral Gorge, in Purnululu National Park, courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

Cathedral Gorge, in Purnululu National Park, courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

Feeling inspired to explore Australia in 2014? Here are 14 places you should add to your must-visit list in 2014.

Red Hands Cave and Wollemi National Park, Blue Mountains, New South Wales

You only have to stand at Echo Point and look at the Three Sisters to work out that the Blue Mountains have been around for a long, long, long time – those rock formations would have taken a cool couple of million years to form. And you can still see this ancient history all over the mountains, from the remarkable red handprints marking the walls at the Red Hands Cave to the ancient Wollemi pines in Wollemi National Park (although you’ll just have to content yourself with knowing that the pines are there, because they are in a protected area of the park).

Lightning Ridge, New South Wales

This opal-mining town still feels like a frontier outpost, and is in a relatively isolated corner of New South Wales. Although the town attracts around 80,000 visitors each year, you can still hear stories coming out of Lightning Ridge about people being bribed with opals, which, true or not, gives the town an air of the Wild West. Combine that with the blistering summer heat, and you’ve got a place that will capture your imagination. You can fossick for your own opals in town (although we don’t recommend using them for bribes) or take a tour around some other digs.

Castlemaine, Victoria

Wesleyhill Market Castlemaine, courtesy of Tourism Victoria

Wesleyhill Market Castlemaine, courtesy of Tourism Victoria

If Lightning Ridge feels like an Old West frontier town, then Castlemaine feels like a frontier town of a different sort – the creative kind. With a community of painters, potters, instrument makers and crafters, Castlemaine is at the creative front of Victoria. The charm of the town convinces quite a few visitors to move here for good, and after visiting, you might be one of them.

Before it had a rich creative community, Castlemaine was quite simply rich. It was the centre of the greatest alluvial gold rush in the world, and the grand old buildings in town stand as monuments to this history. While in town, you should visit some of these buildings, including Buda Historic Home and Gallery and the Historic Market Building.

Hanging Rock, Victoria

Hanging Rock National Park, courtesy of Tourism Victoria

Hanging Rock National Park, courtesy of Tourism Victoria

Hanging Rock has a reputation as the Bermuda Triangle of Australia, somewhere that people disappear into and never come back. This is due to the famous book and film, Picnic at Hanging Rock, in which some schoolgirls and their mistress vanish around Hanging Rock and are never seen again. Hanging Rock might be famous for all of the wrong reasons – or the right ones, depending on who you are talking to – but it’s time that this rock threw off its bad reputation.

One thing the book did get right. Hanging Rock is a great place for a picnic. There are coin-operated barbecue facilities dotted around the reserve near the rock. Sit back with a sanga or two and enjoy the view of this geological formation. You can also climb the rock, and generally spot a koala or two. The rock was created by the erosion of solidified lava, and is surrounded by dense bushland.

Granite Island, South Australia

Rattling on a horse-drawn tram across the 630-metre-long causeway between Victor Harbor and Granite Island, you could almost pretend that you were in a bygone era. The island was discovered by both the British and French at around the same time in the early nineteenth century (although it has a much longer presence in the Ramindjeri people’s Dreamtime). But rather than being impressed by the large boulders covered with lichen or the beautiful views of the harbour, the British were enticed to Granite Island by the populous communities of seals and southern right whales, which prompted whaling stations to be set up on the island.

Today the island is much more animal-friendly, with many people visiting the island to catch a glimpse of the penguins that call the island home. Take the Kaiki Trail around the island to see signposts and remains of the island’s history, as well as the incredible natural beauty of this region.

Investigator Strait Maritime Heritage Trail, South Australia

The European history of the South Australian coast hasn’t just been treacherous for seals and whales – over 26 ships were wrecked on the stretch of coastline between West Cape in Innes National Park and Edithburgh. You can pick up a map that marks all of the wrecks along this coast, and take a drive along the route. It’s more famous for its diving opportunities, but you can still enjoy the trail on dry land.

New Norcia, Western Australia

St. Gertrude's College, part of the Benedictine Community of New Norcia, courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

St. Gertrude’s College, part of the Benedictine Community of New Norcia, courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

When staring at the unmistakably Spanish vistas of New Norcia, it can be tough to remember that it was the British who settled in Australia. The town was established by Spanish Benedictine monks in the 1830s, which accounts for the classically imposing Spanish buildings. The town still runs as a monastery. It’s the only monastic town in Australia, which alone makes New Norcia worth a visit. You can join the monks in prayer, or explore the town on a guided tour. There’s a guesthouse, so you can enjoy the peace and quiet for a few days while snacking on some local produce, available from the Museum Gift Shop.

Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park, Western Australia

Australia has many awe-inspiring sights. Unfortunately for visitors, many of them are spread out across the country’s vast interior. And one of the most inaccessible sights is the majestic, World Heritage̶–listed Bungle Bungles at Purnululu National Park. Located on the border between Western Australia and Northern Territory, most visitors get to the national park through Kununurra, a large town on the banks of Lake Argyle.

It’s hard to explain the scale of these striped, cone-shaped rock formations, which form a rock city in the most unexpected place. Weave in and out of the rock formations, through laneways that put Melbourne to shame, to discover magical gorges and rock pools. It’s a sight worth travelling for.

Lost City, Cape Crawford, Northern Territory

A city on a much smaller scale, the Lost City at Cape Crawford is one of three areas in Australia claiming the name ‘lost city’, but it is our favourite. This city is a gathering of sandstone pillars, some reaching 25m high, which are the remains of an ancient sea bed. At 1.4 billion years old, the pillars are some of the oldest rocks in Australia. One of the reasons these pillars have survived so long is that you can only reach them by helicopter, as they are found in an inaccessible part of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Helicopter rides depart from Cape Crawford.

Mereenie Loop Road, Northern Territory

The Mereenie Loop Road is the most scenic outback road in Australia. It connects Alice Springs to Kings Canyon, and is an alternative to the sealed roads between Alice Springs and Uluru/Kings Canyon. You can choose one of two roads that make up the loop. The first, Namatjira Drive, takes you through the MacDonnell Ranges, a spectacular mountain range coated in fifty shades of brown. The other road, Larapinta Drive, passes by Finke Gorge National Park and Palm Valley.

The loop is an unsealed road, so a 4WD is recommended, and you’ll need to get a permit before undertaking the trip. The traffic is much lighter on the Mereenie Loop Road than on the main sealed road, although there’s enough outback scenery to go around. This is Namatjira country, and the soft colours may surprise those expecting the harsh colours and landscapes that usually depict Australia’s outback. But if there’s one thing that will always be true about the outback, it’s that what you find out there will surprise you.

St Helena Island, Queensland

For many years St Helena Island was a place you wouldn’t have wanted to visit. Although just as beautiful as Queensland’s more famous islands, St Helena’s was co-opted to a more unsavoury part of life than holiday-making back in the 1860s. It was Queensland’s main prison from 1867 to the 1920s, and had a reputation that rivalled Port Arthur’s as a hellhole. Abandoned in the 1930s, the buildings on the island have deteriorated, but they stand testament to a less-than-appealing (although fascinating) part of Queensland’s history. St Helena’s is around 8km from the mouth of the Brisbane River, and can only be accessed as part of a guided tour – either a day tour or a ghost tour at night.

Maleny-Blackall Range Tourist Drive, Queensland

Away from the beaches and sun-seekers of the Sunshine Coast, up in the mountains that stand sentinel over the coast, you’ll discover one of the prettiest drives in Queensland. Running 28km along the Blackall Ranges, this trip passes through towns such as Maleny. Maleny is a famous dairy town, which is now establishing a reputation as a creative hub. Locals are probably inspired by their fantastic views of the Glass House Mountains and the coast. The route finishes in Nambour, which is perhaps best known as the town with the Big Pineapple.

Governor Island Marine Reserve, Tasmania

This stretch of coast is known for the beauty of its water. There’s the Bay of Fires and Wineglass Bay, just to mention a couple. Yet the ocean around Governor Island has a reputation for being the most beautiful in the area. Most of this beauty is hiding under the water, and Governor Island has a deserved reputation as a fantastic dive spot.

Dive here and you’ll see unparalleled sea gardens and the variety of sea creatures that make their homes amongst the tulips and sponges and caverns of this area.

Maria Island, Tasmania

If Maria Island was off the coast of mainland Australia, it would be swamped with visitors. But as it sits of the east coast of Tasmania, Maria Island is sparsely populated with visitors. If you can, make yourself one of these visitors. The island is most famous for its Fossil Cliffs, where you’ll find 300-million-year-old fossils packed into the cliffs of Cape Boullanger. The best way to see the island is by bushwalking or bikeriding.

 

     

Lightweight camping

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The cycle-tourist I met at Coalmine Beach Holiday Park in Walpole, Western Australia, had ridden more than 500km from Perth with her camping gear.

The cycle-tourist I met at Coalmine Beach Holiday Park in Walpole, Western Australia, had ridden more than 500km from Perth with her camping gear

I’m obsessed with my weight.

No, not in the way you think. I’m talking about the weight of my camping gear, and the magic number on the scales is 23kg. That’s the luggage limit on Qantas and Virgin flights. It has ruled my life – culled my wardrobe, limited my diet and defined my very existence – for the past two months.

For two months I’ve been flying around Australia researching remote parts of the country for Australia’s Best Campsites, a travel guide which will be published in October 2014 by Explore Australia.

My routine is this: fly to capital city, rent car at airport, dash to supermarket to buy food and stove fuel, drive as far I can before nightfall, set up camp, rinse and repeat. So far I’ve taken 10 flights, rented six cars, and eaten 47 heat-in-the-bag instant Indian dinners (hey, they’re delicious).

Camping without an esky or a fridge means a lot of lentils and beans.

Camping without an esky or a fridge means a lot of lentils and beans

So how easy is it to fit all the gear you need to be totally self-sufficient into one bag weighing no more than 23kg? Tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, stove, pots, eating utensils, clothes, toiletries, waterproof gear, torch, spare batteries, first-aid kit, maps … these things add up.

It’s do-able, if you plan carefully.

My top tip for camping by plane: make some friends. Travel with one or two other people. A group of three is the most efficient number in terms of weight. Three people can share a lot of the same gear that otherwise one person would use alone – tent, stove, pots and first-aid kit, for example. A lightweight three-person tent divided by three is still lighter than a one-person tent divided by one.

Mind you, I’m not following my own advice. I’m camping solo. So that person you saw at Darwin airport last week wearing a Goretex jacket and hiking boots in 36-degree heat? That was me with all my pockets bulging full of socks, undies and everything else that wouldn’t fit in my backpack.

Which brings me to my second tip: practise lightweight camping by going hiking (or bike-touring) for a couple of days. There’s nothing like carrying everything on your back for 25km to change your idea of what’s essential and what can stay at home. That’s how I learnt that no, I can’t enjoy a camping trip without real coffee, even if it means lugging a plunger over the top of the Andes.

For this hiking trip in Chile, my ratio of pack-weight to body-weight was about 1:3. My shoulders would have been much happier with a ratio of 1:5.

For this hiking trip in Chile, my ratio of pack-weight to body-weight was about 1:3. My shoulders would have been much happier with a ratio of 1:5.

My third tip: you don’t need as many clothes as you think you do. On my latest trip I knew I wouldn’t see a laundry more than once a week and I packed accordingly. That meant 14 socks. Don’t tell anyone, but it turns out I’m usually wearing the same socks three days in a row. (You were wondering why I’m camping solo? Now you know.) So I’m travelling with a whole lot of excess socks, which explains the Michelin Man look at Darwin airport. Don’t even get me started on the undies situation.

For me, gear is a means to enjoying a camping trip. For some, gear is virtually an end in its own right. And if you’re a gear freak with cash to spare, lightweight camping is easy – just keep spending money on smaller and lighter stuff until you’ve got almost nothing to show for it. I’ve known hikers who love heading into the mountains for three nights with less than 10kg of ‘food’ and equipment. ‘Food’ means protein bars, soaked cold noodles and peanut butter. No cooking, no stove weight, no worries.

I’m mocking them, yet really we share the same philosophy – that reducing the amount of ‘stuff’ we have frees us up to enjoy the natural environment. Which is the whole reason I love camping in the first place.

I haven’t seen many other lightweight campers during my trip, although I’ve seen plenty of travellers who look equipped to launch the next expedition into space.

T-9 minutes and counting: set for launch from Wilpena Pound campground, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The ute travels on the trailer behind the bus under the boat.

T-9 minutes and counting: set for launch from Wilpena Pound campground, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The ute travels on the trailer behind the bus under the boat

Less stuff means less time earning money to buy the stuff, less time setting up camp, less time packing up, less stuff cluttering up the view of the bush, and more time sitting around the campsite drinking tea. Or fishing. Or building sandcastles. More time birdwatching, or bushwalking.

Less gear, more time: Lake Catani, Mt Buffalo National Park, Victoria.

Less gear, more time: Lake Catani, Mt Buffalo National Park, Victoria

That said, my philosophy (and the airline luggage limit) means I’m camping without a chair, and right now I’d give anything for a chair. I guess everyone has to figure out their own camping comfort zone. I’m still figuring out mine.

Chairs: the keys to camping comfort

Kerryn Burgess is the author of Cool Camping Australia: East Coast, and is currently on the road researching campsites for her new book, Australia’s Best Camping, which will be published in October 2014 by Explore Australia.