Travel Australia
Travel Australia
Australia - Ancient and Unique
For discerning travellers, planning to visit Australia, this travel guide is a must. It contains and an eclectic collection of articles and of places to see and interesting facts. Australia exists on a large scale (it is the world’s sixth largest country). The following information has been carefully researched and includes anecdotes and stories from various contributors, including international visitors that have toured with Meridian Tours. Because International visitors see the country from an entirely different perspective, the editor has included their observations regarding the Australian lifestyle and their travel experiences.
CONTENTS
1 What makes Australia, unique?
2 Australia’s Bio-Diversity
3 Australian Aborigines
4 Australian Icons
5 Map of Australia
6 Australia’s Mining Magnates
7 Outback Australia
8 The Birdsville Races
9 Steve Irwin, Croc Hunter & ‘Sweetheart’
10 UESCO Geopark - Victoria, Australia
11 TOP Ten Places to Visit,Australian Vacation
12 Melbourne Map
13 Route Planner, Victoria, Australia
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1. What makes Australia unique?
ISOLATION and AGE - Australia is the oldest continent on earth. 60 m year ago it separated from the super-continent Gondwana and remained silent geologically. This resulted in the preservation of many of the oldest things on earth – fossils, dinosaur footprints, grain from the super-crust 4.5 Billion years ago and the preservation of the earliest form of life on earth, Precambrian stromatolites (living fossils). Aborigines arrived in Australia 60,000 Ya, their impact on the environment was so careful, that effectively Australia remained undisturbed until the arrival of white settlers 200 yrs ago!
Unique fossils including living fossils
- ‘Living’ Stromatolites 3.5 Bya produced 20% of earth’s oxygen and the then microbial life. Algae-like organisms captured molecule carbon dioxide and energy from sun. CAN BE SEEN AT SHARK BAY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND AT KINGS PARK, PERTH AUSTRALIA
The Wollemi pine (named the region where it was found nr Sydney only in 1994) - a ‘living fossil’ from the Jurassic period, 159 million years ago! The region is the Blue Mountains, just 1.5 hrs from Sydney. - Ancient Aboriginal skeleton (45,000) in 1969 the skeleton was discovered (perfectly preserved), in a dried lake in Mungo NSW. A significant find as it help determine the approx time span of Aboriginal inhabitancy.
- Oldest Rock - Zircon particle, from Earth’s super crust 4.4Bya found in Jack Hills, Nth Western Australia. (Closed Laboratory/Museum)
Oldest Forms of life Eukaryote - 550 MYO Multi-cellar life with backbone, preserved in rock once the sea bed found Arkaroola, Flinders Ranges, South Australia 1970’s. Arkaroola is over 3 hrs from Adelaide. (Eukaryote in a Closed Laboratory/Museum), not available to public!
- Angiosperm Idiospermum australianese – Believed to have vanished 100 MYA discovered in 1972 growing in the Daintree Rainforest, Nth Queensland.
- Dinosaur - Sauropod lived 95 MYO. SEE DINOSAUER , WINTON MUSEUM, NTH QUEENSLAND
- Fossil - Murchison Meteorite In 1969, the fireball exploded over Murchison a small town of 600 people in Victoria, depositing debris some weighing 5 k. The meteorite was a carbonaceous chordate etc dating 4.5 Bya. A type that had never before been found on earth. NASA analysed its fragments and determined that they contained organic molecules which "seem to have been formed before the meteorites reached the Earth". This and the chemicals contained in the meteorite, may have contributed to the beginning of life on earth. PRIVATE TOUR MELBOURNE. MERIDIAN CITY TOUR, MELBOURNE
- Ku-rin-gai National Park Indigenous petroglyphs dating 11,000 ya carved by Australian Aborigines. PRIVATE TOUR SYDNEY. MERIDIAN TOURS, SIGHTS TOUR
2. Australia has the largest bio-diversity of flora & fauna
- 87% of its flora and fauna exists nowhere else in the world!
- 100,000 insect species and one-third unknown to science.
- Of the 25,000 species, 1/3 never named
- 12,000 indigenous plants species
- 200,000 species spiders, 80% unknown
- 600 species finfish and 100 species table fish & shellfish for domestic
- Largest genus in Au is the Wattle (legume family) 750 species.
- More lizard species live in AU than anywhere else
- Unique Platypus -with duck bill, webbed feet, hunts in food under water, but has no gills. Mammals that lays eggs and feeds its young on milk. SEE PLATYPUS, PRIVATE TOUR MELBOURNE. MERIDIAN TOUR, HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY, VICTORIA.
- Unique Koala – not a bear (a mammal) sleeps 75% of its time. PRIVATE TOUR MELBOURNE. SEE KOALAS In-the-wild GREAT OCEAN ROAD, MERIDIAN TOURS MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
- Largest Earthworm Megacolides australis - grows up to 12 feet in length and 6inches in diameter. Do not exist elsewhere in Australia. PRIVATE TOUR MELBOURNE. MERIDIAN TOURS PENGUIN TOUR
3. Australian Aborigines
population: 1788 - 300,000 1900 - 60,000.
Aborigines are a dispossessed nation. Today they live assimilated in regional cities and towns and in camps/reservations in the Northern States. Theirs is the oldest continually maintained culture in the world. Australian Aborigines’ art, stories and systems of beliefs are undoubtedly the oldest on earth with a religion and folklore inextricably linked to the land spanning possibly 65,000 years.
Aboriginal Art
5,000 -17,000 YO - older than Egyptian hieroglyphs and pyramids and older than the great wall of china Indigenous art are the stories of Creation (Dream Time) how to live life and the art is a record of traditional ceremonies. Their art connects past and present, supernatural and the earthly and ALL connects to the land. Aborigines believe no-one owns the land, the land owns them!
Traditional Art was used to communicate the stories and legends of spirit ancestors. The art is a visual representation of what the ancestor story tellers used to draw in the sand he symbols all depicted certain things. The stories are sacred and white people are not privileged to the full meanings. SEE INDIGENOUS FINE ART & ARTEFACTS, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Australia The BIG Country
- 3. 3 million square miles – big USA, 6th largest country in the world and largest island. 15 times bigger than the UK and twice the size of Europe. Some of its regions have yet to be chartered/surveyed! Aust, 19 million people (U.S. 279 million people) Of 195 countries, Aust is the 52nd largest nation in the world pop per sq mile Aus 6 per square mile (U.S. 76 per sq. mile) 6th largest continent - 3M sq miles, almost size of USA Population per sq Mile : 6.4 per sq m (2.5 k), Europe 134 people, USA 32 people. The Largest School is ‘The School of the Air’ and outreach educational system broadcasting to children living in remote regions, that covers the size of France. SEE ‘School of the Air’ ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY
- The Great Barrier Reef, the largest living thing on earth. It’s the size of Italy although marine scientists cannot exactly tell where it actually begins and ends. There are approx 1500 fish species, 400 coral species and 400 molluscs. The only living thing visible from space with the unaided eye. In 2000 the Olympic Torch travelled for 2 miles UNDERWATER. One of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. It stretches covers 345,000 k in area, the reck-neck In the Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen during his term of government promoted blasting passages through the reef to allow shipping, followed by the suggestion that the state cabinet consider oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef! GREAT BARRIER REEF, DEPARTS FROM CAIRNS, QUEENSLAND. MERIDIAN TOURS ‘AUSTRALIAN TOURS
- Largest cattle station – Anna, Belgium Covers 30,100 sq ks (12,000 sq miles) can be visited from Adelaide, South Australia (approx 14 hrs drive DEPART FROM ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. BY PRIVATE APPOINTMENT. MERIDIAN TOURS, MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
- El Questro Wilderness Park – This is a privately owned and is approx one million acres. Originally bought by an English aristocrat, Will Burrell in 1991 for $1 an acre! Mr Burrell developed it into a tourist destination. Parts of the property are so remote that humans may not have ever visited there. In the deep river gorge, there are Barramundi fish weighing 20 ks. VOYAGERS RESORTS, MERIDIAN TOURS WEBSITE (AUSTRALIAN TOURS)
- Longest Passenger Train - INDIAN PACIFIC’ –3000 ks. Darwin, Nthrn Territory to Adelaide, South Australia. A danger for train drivers is the hazard of feral camels that come onto the track at night to lick the off rail lines. Hit at high speed, they can land right inside the driver’s cabin! (Millions of feral dromedary camels originally imported from Afghanistan as draft and riding animals for early pioneers.)
- NULLABOR PLAIN Australia’s longest, straight stretch of Highway 148 k (295 M) – on the Eyre Highway that crosses the Nullarbor Plains, Western Australia has the longest stretch of straight stretch of road in Australia near Caiguna.
- World’s Longest Fence - Rabbit-proof fence built in 1901, runs 1,833 miles from Jingalong, Western Australian to Jerdacultup nr the southern coast Esperance, Western Australia. The fence is a pest-exclusion barrier. In 1850’s rabbits were introduced in the eastern state of Victoria by white settlers ‘for the pleasure of hunting’. They quickly thrived and multiplied, devastating grasslands and burrowing that caused erosion.
2 million acres of Victorian land were picked clean.
1890-1900 10 year drought – top soil dried up – blew away – thinnest top soil in world
The Rabbit proof fence, (actually three in number), stopped the rabbits who then starved. The fence is a unique, but inadequate, response to an overwhelming environmental problem. - Longest Trucks in the world, called ‘Road Trains’ travel in the Northern Territory carrying cattle to markets. Australia has the largest and heaviest registered vehicles in the world. The road trains and can carry 150 -180 cattle. Types of configurations include, double (two trailor), not to be confused with a B-double) and Triple (three trailor) The majority of road trains are 80 and 120 tones (180,000 and 260,000 lb). ROAD TRAINS CAN BE SEEN IN DARWIN AND ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY
4. Australia’s Icons
Uluru, Ayres Rock. Largest monolith - ‘Uluru’ - as high as the Empire State Building with a base larger than Manhattan. SEE NEAR ALICE SPRINGS , NORTHERN TERRITORY- Beaches. Australia has over 11,000 beaches. 3 of these are 2000 miles long. Most beaches 1.5 ks. 28% are accessible; 25% 4WD only access while 75% are totally inaccessible and PRISTINE. Most famous is Bondi can been visited on your trip to Sydney. Over 20 beaches and inlets can be seen on the Great Ocean Road Tour, nr Melbourne Victoria
Sydney Opera House. The ‘sails’ or ‘shell’ roof design that has made the Sydney Opera House a world icon was designed by Swedish architect, Jorn Utson. Beneath its famous ceramic tiled exterior, is a complex of theatres and halls. Its roof is a complex mosaic of white ceramic tiles that gives Sydney Opera House its perfect finish and sheen. Millions of tiles (maintenance-free) set in a chevron pattern, are protected from rust and water stain by a layers of epoxy and titanium resin that also give it its lustrous sheen. The construct of the roof was very avant garde. Its tiled‘Lids’ were pre-fabricated to the fit the spheres of the famous sails. Securing these on the spherical twisted surfaces of was only made possible by the use of accurate and advanced surveying techniques. SEE OPERA HOUSE SYDNEY CITY SIGHTS TOUR
Australian Kelpie Working Dog - The Kelpie is regarded as an Australian icon - much admired and loved by everyone. They are short coated, prick eared dogs, originally from Scotland, and brought to Australia by early settlers. There are various lines of breeds and some with Dingo (the wild dog that migrated with Aborigines, from Indonesia 60,000 year ago. There are two types: The Bench kelpie – medium size, solid colour, red; and The Farm Kelpie – slightly larger, black and tan colours, some white.
Kelpies have an innate instinct to herd. A well trained Kelpie is highly prized by farmers to manage their cattle and sheep and cope with very hot and cold weather conditions. They are loyal and willing workers and will run all day to the point of exhaustion. Farmers therefore will take a number of dogs for a days mustering so as to rest and work the dogs.
They are usually trained to bring a herd towards the farmer and respond to eight commands (combinations of whistle, hand signs and words.)- ‘Aussie Rules’ Football Australian rules football, informally known as football, Aussie rules or (colloquially) as footy. A game where players can run with the ball, hand-pass it or kick it. Originated in Melbourne with teams from working class suburbs and spectators comprised women, women and children. Aussies are passionate about the game.
SEE MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Billed as The race that stops a nation, it is a race for three-year-olds and over, over a distance of 3,200 metres. It is the richest and most prestigious "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races in the world. The event is held at around 3 pm on the first Tuesday in November by the Victoria Racing Club, on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia
- Australian Kangaroo (‘Roo’) is a marsupial and are seen everywhere in Australia. The kangaroo is a national symbol of Australia. Its emblem is used on the Australian coat of arms, on some of its currency, and by Qantas airlines!
Kangaroos are not farmed to any extent, but wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, sport, and to protect grazing land for sheep and cattle. Although there is some controversy, harvesting kangaroos is important to keep their numbers controlled and to prevent their starvation.
Driving at night in country regions, kangaroos are a danger. Attracted to the headlights, they bound out into the path of passing vehicles.
Road rescue of injured kangaroos, often by local farmer, results in the animal, once it has recovered, to adopt the farm and its farmer as its home.
Loyal one-eyed Kangaroo- Saves Man (reported, ‘The Melbourne Age’, 200.)
An emu farmer was found with sever head injuries after a branch from a gum tree hit him on the head and knocked him unconscious. A Roo, blind in one eye that had lived on the property for years, bounded to the farm house and knocked against the glass sliding door, not once, but twice. The man’s wife thought this was strange, but then the Roo came back a third time, it threw its whole weight against the door. This time the man’s wife followed the kangaroo to the top of a crest from where she saw it keeping watch over her husband.
ICONIC AUSTRALIAN ROAD SIGNS
5. Maps of Australia
6. Australia’s Mining Magnates
One of the earliest (and luckiest) pioneers of the minerals industry was Lang Hancock who in 952, when flying over his property in the Hamersley Ranges, (1500 k from north of Perth), flew slightly off-course and then hit a storm forcing him to land. Stepping out of his plane, Hancock noticed the soil was a rich, ‘rusty’ red in colour. He realized he was standing on an iron ore deposit and that HE OWNED a 100 KILOMETER BLOCK! By the end of 1960s Hancock controlled most of the iron ore output that was bigger than the USA and Canada. In 2010 West Australian mining entrepreneur Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, Fortescue Metals Group, became the richest man in Australia, boosted by rising commodity prices and China's strong demand for minerals.
Australia's richest woman - Gina Rinehart, daughter of Lang Hancock (above) The resources boom, 2005 doubled her fortune to $900 million. Reinhardt, so she is well on her way to become the nation's first female billionaire. In 2005 she was number 20 on the list of rich Aussies.
Minerals exports are a significant primary industry and contributor to the Australian economy. Australia is rich in gold, iron-ore, diamonds, zinc, coal, gas deposits.
7. Outback Australia
3 m sq miles of emptiness (8m sq k)
107 deg F (48 deg C) The major highway from north the south is two lane with straight stretches can sedate drivers through the sheer monotony. Where ‘road trains’ (150’ long), hauling freight and cattle between stations, drive down the centre of the road, forcing cars to hit rough road shoulders. At night kangaroos bound out towards headlights into the path of on-coming. Driving in the outback can be fraught for the inexperienced! The outback is remote, with rough dirt tracks criss-crossing the plains and ridges. It’s easy to loose your way, run out of fuel or crash. The golden rule is to always carry 2 spare tyres, drinking water, a ‘sat phone’ and ‘gaffa’ tape (for simple repairs to the vehicle chassis). A common sights is sparse undergrowth is of small bushes and spinifex.
Spinifex is tough, spiky tussock grass that dominates and is mostly inedible. Cattle will only eat if there’s nothing else. Silica tips break off and embed in the skin, where they fester into tiny sores.
Number Outback Pubs All have similar characteristics; red, dusty dirt right up to the door and the interior surfaces covered with mementos left by visitors such as business cards, club badges and paper money from all nations-.
There is usually a long bar with an assortment of table and chairs, a battered pool table.
The Birdsville pub is now part of Australian outback folklore and travellers make their pilgrimage to this treasured icons. Here the locals at the bar include hear a few yarns from drovers (‘ringers)
YOUR GUIDE to the LANGUAGE OF THE ‘OUTBACK PUB’
* Here you will meet fair dinkum, aussie blokes and shelias (authentic Australian men and women).
* The barman will say g’day mate, waddle you have?’
* Know when to shout (if you talk with someone, as a courtesy you offer to buy them a drink!)
* To shout for a group, you simply ask the barman for ‘‘jug-a fourex thanks mate!’ (A jug of the beer brand ‘XXXX’)
* If someone replies to any of the above no worries1 This simply means ‘certainly sir/madam’!
* If someone replies to any of the above no worries, you’ll be allright This simply means ‘Certainly sir/madam and we will ensure that your visit here will be most enjoyable’!
More about Aussie outback pubs ..Another famous hotel (somewhere in Queensland) is the ‘Royal Exchange Hotel’ where someone added an ‘S’ to read ‘The Royal SExchange Hotel’.
8. The Birdsville Races
In the first week of September the population swells from 100 to over 5000 for this horse-racing event. 100’s of planes arrive and people camp in tents or sleep in sleeping bags under the wings. Others arrive by car, travelling thousands of kilometres for 4 days of fun and festival. People drive down from Queensland and up from Adelaide, South Australia. The races is a highly successful fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Suitably the prize money for the main event, is sponsored by the Queensland beer company.
(pronounced fourex). Millions of cans of its beer are consumed over the four days. Beer cans discarded around the pub are left to pile-up, ankle-deep and everyone delights in clink-clanking their way through the pile as they come and go. It’s all part of the fun!
9. Steve Irwin, Croc Hunter & ‘Sweetheart’ the Croc
‘Sweetheart’, the Croc lived nr Darwin, Northern Territory. Despite its girlie name, Sweetheart was a hunky male - 17 ft long (5 m) and weighed 1,700 pounds (800 k) and was responsible for attacking 15 aluminium dinghies. These attacks occurred frequently and although ‘Sweetheart’ never actually harmed a human he nearly frightened to death hundreds of fisherman. After silently stalking, he would charge the boat striking it with the impact of a freight train. Sweetheart was constantly cut by propellers and to protect him, wildlife officers thought it best to relocate him to another waterway. Unfortunately, the capture was mishandled when a cable snagged and he drowned. CAN BEE SEEN DARWIN MUSEUM, NORTHERN TERRITORY
Crocodile Hunters
Steve Irwin (now deceased) was Australia’s real life celebrity crocodile hunter Irwin was the founder of the Australia Zoo in Queensland. He was a ‘wildlife warrior’ who did great things for the preservation of the environment. His young daughter Bindi Irwin continues to educate people about Australian animals through her TV show. Paul Hogan, famous for his role as ‘Crocodile Dundee was not a croc hunter in real life. However, both Irwin and Hogan in real life, had similar personalities and both made their contact with crocs look easy. Hogan’s role of course was created for the movie. Irwin was a hunter in real life and very skilled at his work catching and relocating crocodiles to protect them. A pity Steve, hadn’t been on patrol they day Sweetheart was caught STEVE IRWIN ‘S AUSTRALIA ZOO, NEAR BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND
10. UESCO Geopark
Kanawinka Geopark, Victoria Australia
UNESCO Geoparks chosen for listing must be of geological significance, of historical and cultural value to national and international visitors. UNESCO Goals are: to foster geotourism, local community tourism, education, conservation. The following links has info re world geopark sites. Kanawinka is Australia’s first geopark, listed in 2009. The UNESCO Geopark extends from Colac to Mt Gambier and to Grampians to the north. This region is also known as ‘The Great Western Plain.’ The Kanawinka Geopark is predominantly known for its volcanic eruptions (over 100) with stony rise lava flows, scoria cones, maar craters and lava shields. Of immense interest in the Geopark are the remnants of stone houses at Lake Condah - dating back 8000 yrs ago when the Gunditjmara Aboriginal tribe settled and farmed eels. There are 75 k of hand-made channels linking ponds, creeks and rivers that flow to the southern ocean (thousands of eels used to migrate to this river mouth from the northern hemisphere. SEE MELBOURNE TOURS, GREAT OCEAN ROAD
11. Top Ten Things to Do - Australian Vacation
7 Tasmania
12. Melbourne Map and Things To Do in Melbourne
Your guide to Melbourne Attractions
Melbourne is a fabulous city and a Melbourne tour is way to see Melbourne attractions. Melbourne travel in the city is easy as there are trams criss-crossing the entire city. No-one knows Melbourne better than Meridian Tours – a company that keeps abreast of what’s happening across greater Melbourne and Victoria every day of the year.
Some tourists like to participate in local activities. These activities are usually advertised in local newspapers.
13. Route Planner - Victoria, Australia
Use this handy route planner: www.visitvictoria.com
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