Australia Zoo

Let's go for a wander around Australia Zoo

No matter where you go you are never very far from Steve's influence.

We will have to start our tour with one of his favourites a Crocodile.

Before Australia Zoo came into being it was a reptile park, this is our
common Goanna, grows to a little over 4 feet long.

A Tiger Snake, one of our most venomous and can be agressive
during breeding season.

These fun and water loving Tiger cubs were about six months old.

It was hard to tell who had the most fun in the pool, the cubs or the
handlers.

Nine months later they are nearly full grown, because they are such a
savage beast they are now kept behind a glass wall, so pardon the
reflection.

If you read my recent series in holtieshouse you will want to know that
this is the very dangerous Wombat, be very careful not to put your
hand down his burrow.

Another of Steves great loves was with these Elephants.

You wouldn't want to visit the Zoo and not see any birds now
would you? There is an Eagle in this picture too.

Our laughing Kookaburra, featured at the beginning soundtrack
of every Tarzan movie ever made.

A Jabaru, Australia's only member of the stork family.

A pair of Echidna's, an egg laying marsupial also known as the
spiney ant-eater.

One half hidden Koala, (not a bear) they live on the leaves of a
select few eucalyts, (gum tree's.)

One half of our coat of arms, the other half is an Emu.

A rare albino joey, (young Kangaroo or Wallaby) about one third
of mums size but still hitches a ride in her pouch at times.



Hope you enjoyed that quick look around, I'll bet you didn't see any
rubbish lying around , or for that matter anything that was out of
place or untidy, the whole place is kept in immaculate condition.

Time for another look around Australia.

These are random picks from my pictures files.

Blue Lake, Mt. Gambier SA, so named because it is always a brilliant
blue colour, at certain times of the year much bluer than shown here.
It is located in an old volcano and is very deep and cold (and blue.)

This is Endeavour Bay taken from Cooktown, Qld. this is the last
outpost before you head off into the unknown on your trip to Cape York.
The trip to the Cape is still regarded as an adventure, and as we become
more a civilization that lives in Cities the adventure becomes more real
even though the road conditions and available services keep improving.

The Valley of the Giants is located near Walpole, WA. it is home to
some of the biggest trees in Australia, the Karri and Tingle trees
found here are in fact some of the worlds largest trees.
There is an elevated walk that takes you some 150 feet up so you
are up there in the tree-tops.

This is Jim Jim Billabong located in Kakadu National Park, NT.
Kakadu is an enormous Park and sits on a huge flood plain
East of Darwin, one boundary is the NT. escarpment which
is a sandstone escarpment up to 100 feet high which runs
for about 600 kms near the northern coastline of Australia.
In the foreground is a water buffalo wallow from the wet
season when this whole area is inundated with water.

I found this figure of eight pool along the coastin the Royal National
Park, NSW. filled with clear water that made estimating the depth
difficult I was surprised to find that it was about 10 feet deep.

The Mary River.

This is the normally peaceful Mary River which has been known to
become a tyrant at times.

This photo was taken from the "Kidd Bridge", during the 1999 flood
there would have been about 25 feet of water over my head had I
been standing at this spot.

This is Mary Street, Gympie's main shopping street looking north.

From about the same spot during 1999 flood, which was the biggest
for 100 years.

Mary Street Gympie, looking south.

Again from about the same position during the 1999 flood, at this
intersection there was about 15 feet of flood water.

Some history.

The floods that have plagued Gympie for centuries are caused by heavy
rains in the headwater area, just to the north of Gympie there is a
steep walled narrow valley which causes a bottleneck restricting the
water from escaping.

The resultant back-up of water is what floods the Gympie area, this
means that, while the flooding does cause serious damage through
inundation, it is not a roaring torrent that carries away all before it.

Rather it is a gradual rising of which we have a fairly good warning, about
18 hours usually during which time the town is a hive of activity as
people who may be in the way of the water move their possessions to
higher ground.

The worst affected area is the main shopping precinct, where
unbelievably the shops keep on re-opening and awaiting the next flood,
almost without exception the houses that get flooded are rezoned and
are not reused for housing.

If the vaunted Mary River Dam goes ahead this should ensure there are
no more floods for Gympie, however as there hasn't been even a hint of
flooding since 1999 it does make one wonder whether the rainfall
pattern has changed and if so, would the new dam ever fill.

Long term history says yes, but we used to get a serious flood every
three years on average, with two floods in the same year not unheard of
and now here we are without any threat for seven years.

Australia All Over

These photographs come fro all over Australia, no theme.

This is a man-made ford ,or crossing, to allow vehicles access
to a settlement on the opposite bank of the Daley River in the
Northern Territory.
The river on the left of the photo is tidal and quite salty, while
the right side is fresh water and a favoured site for Barramundi
to go to spawn, fishermen with spears patrol the crossing at
night during spawning season to spear the fish while they are in
the shallow water and quite vulnerable.
There is a downside to this activity, in that Barramundi are a
favoured food of the deadly saltwater crocodile, while I have not
heard of any attacks on the crossing, it was enough to keep me
from trying out a new fishing method.

During the late 1800, early 1900 era there was an overland
telegraph line built across Australia from South to North, this
project required the building of not only a transmission line but
also "telegraph stations" to pass on messages along the line.
The most Southerly of these stations was at Eucla, a tiny remote
settlement on the SA/WA border, due to the encroaching sand
dunes this is all that remains of the Eucla Telegraph Station,
In a relatively short time this will also be swallowed up by
those unstoppable sands.

This is Jim Jim Lagoon ( or Billabong) in the Kakadu National Park,
in the Northern Territory, The depression in the foreground is a
Buffalo wallow, formed during the wet season when this area would
be under water for 3/4 months.
Water buffalo were introduced to Australia from Asia as a beast of
burden, when released into the wild they bred into large herds it
was unfortunate that they contracted and spread TB into the NTs
large cattle industry, the buffalo (and the cattle) were all shot to
stop the spread of disease to the rest of Australia during the
1950s.

This is the Mt. Tom Price iron ore deposit in the Pilbra in north
West of WA.
There are millions of tons of this almost pure iron ore in this
area, so pure is the ore that it needs to be mixed with some dirt
from the overburden to be on specification for export to Japan.
The development of this resource has led to the building of huge
deep water ports, several sizable towns and a huge rail network
between the mines and the ports.

This is Mt Connor, located only 30 miles from Ayers Rock (Uluru)
it is often mistaken as the first sighting of the Rock by tourists
travelling to the Rock. This tabletop mesa is however not a
monolith, so is not similar to the Rock in anything but location
and similarity of size.

Vic. NSW High Country

These photos are all taken in the high country around the
Victoria, New South Wales border.

The snow gums indicate the snow line in winter, our minimum
temperatures don't get very far below freezing so we have no
permenant snow fields.

During winter, while it is hard for us to imagine, these ranges
would be all snow covered, it has been estimated that Australia
has more snow in winter than Switzerland as these mountains
go on seemingly forever.

This shows, from a great distance, via zoom, the chair lift to
the top of Mt Buller which is the premier ski resort in Victoria

A typical track, come fire trail, that can be found throughout
this area, bushfires are a constant threat during summer.
This is because our native gum trees are full of eucaliptus oil
and explode into flames in the tree tops with a hot fire.

The roads to the resorts are all bitumen, and access is usually
available with snow chains fitted for the final few miles.

West Australia.

West Australia, Large and Beautiful.

This amazing rock formation is at Hidden Valley, just out from
Kunanura in the far north of WA

The Gibb River Road is a gravel road running between
Whyndham and Derby, a popular 4WD destination in the "dry"
season, impassable in the "wet" season.
Beautiful arid country, great barramundi fishing.

Cable Beach Club Resort, just outside Broome in the far north
west of WA.
Opened in 1988 this was the long term dream of an Englishman,
Lord McAlpine, a man with vision and money, a wonderful
combination, not enjoyed by many of us.

The Resort has been designed to offer the ultimate in luxury and
comfort while at the same time providing a setting for some of
Lord McAlpines vast furniture and art collection.
Oh to have been blessed in this manner.

We are now in the very south west corner of WA at Cape Leauwin
where the Indian and Southern oceans combine, the magnificent
old lighthouse is open daily for inspection tours.

From Here and There.

Photo's from here and there on my travels around Australia.

Looking over the many vinyards in the Barossa Valley SA.

Julie sitting on a ledge at "The Grampians" in Victoria.

She nearly had a fit when she saw this photo though.

The coast line of "The Great Australian Bight" in SA.

Stalagmites and Stalactites in Jenolan Caves NSW.

(if you are having trouble remembering which is which,

just think tights come down.)

Some Australian Scenes.

More pics from Australian travels over the years.

This is Marble Bar in WA. it is a bit of a misnomer as the
bar is Jasper not Marble.

This is the hottest town in Australia with a record of 161
consecutive days over 100 degrees F, and a hottest day
of 127 degrees F.

This is the dry bed of the Gasgoyne River, the river only
flows after heavy rain, but still manages to sustain a very
good agricultural area, this comes about because there is
a huge underground river flowing some 20/30 feet below
the river bed

The Devils Arch was a natural bridge to Port Arthur penal
settlement back in our "Convict Days" being so narrow it
was easily guarded to stop the convicts from escaping.

The Blue Lake at Mt. Gambier in SA. is in the centre of an
old Volcano, at certain times of the year the water turns a
brilliant blue, while it always has a blue colour when these
flushes of colour come it is quite impressive.

This bar across the Daley River in the NT. is a natural
feature but has been enhanced with concrete to allow easy
vehicle access, there is normally only about 12/15 inches
of water over it in the dry season.

A favoured "Barramundi" fishing spot at night, it is not
unusual to see up to a dozen fishermen lined up on the
ford with spotlights and spears, as the fish swim upstream
and over the ford they become fairly easy prey to those
who can thrust their spears accurately in the water.

There is a further downside to this, the Daley River is
home to saltwater crocodiles, there has been no recorded
deaths or attacks at this spot, but it does cause a certain
feeling of danger when you are in the water.