Mates, where would we be without them? It’s just black and white, right…?
Birdsville Pub, Outback Australia…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
black and white photography
Such is the life of a desert dweller…
Wow, 7-weeks in the Australian Outback, travelling this wonderful country of ours in a customised four-wheel drive may not be everyone’s cup of tea – but hey, for the adventurous, you’d love it…
And for the less adventurous amongst us, crikey, come on get on board, it is about time you got out of your comfort zone and gave it a go.
My recent adventure into the deserts of Western Australia involved a return journey of over 10,000 kilometres into some of the world’s most inhospitable country, crossing vibrant red sand dunes where no roads or tracks exist…
But don’t be put off by the remoteness and harshness of the Australian Outback as the rewards for the traveller, the adventurer, is a landscape more bio-diverse and fragile than the Amazon rainforest.
The contrasting beauty of a rugged landscape, the colours that you will see can never be replicated in a painting or photograph, but the memory of a setting sun, the golden hue it creates as it gently slips below the distant horizon will imprint a lasting memory that will have you longing to return to this place…
My journey took me across Australia’s interior on a quest to assist a group of like minded people construct a shelter and other buildings for the Birriliburu people, the Traditional Owners of the Little Sandy Desert and Gibson Desert region of Australia…
Mind you, it is also about the journey and there was plenty of opportunity for me to explore and photograph other parts of the Australian Outback as I made my way westward…
Now let me say, shovelling sand and gravel into a cement mixer, on a clay pan and under a scorching sun is hard work and won’t necessarily count as a highlight of the trip. But the opportunity to spend time with the elders of the Birriliburu mob in their country, on their lands, was well worth the discomfort – it will leave a lasting impact on my life!
Crikey, don’t get me wrong, it was a pleasure to assist, I’m just complaining about those aching muscles that were antagonised in the process…
Amongst the aboriginal people I spent time with were a number of elders who were born to nomadic parents in the desert, first generation desert people who lived, hunted and sheltered on the very lands we were on and without any contact with Australian’s of European descent.
One of the elders, Geoffrey Stewart, was born to parents Warri and Yatungka, a couple who engaged in forbidden love under tribal laws and whose story is recounted in the book “Last of the Nomads”.
Another, Georgina “Dadina” Brown, took us to the place where she and her family were discovered by Stan Gratte, an historical enthusiast, in 1976. At the time Stan was retracing the route of a 19th century explorer.
Georgina is an accomplished artist with work on display in the Australian National Gallery and her story is recounted in the book Born in the Desert – The Land and travels of a last Australian Nomad.
All were willing to share their country with us, showing where they roamed the desert with their families and explaining how they captured food and travelled from rock-hole to rock-hole to find water.
Geoffrey shared some “Dreamtime Stories” and permitted us to view some magnificent rock art located in a gorge not too far from where we were based in the desert.
I have been travelling Australia’s vast outback region for many years and have always recognised it has a “spiritual beauty” to it. But this trip has been special in a way that I never thought possible and has helped me view life through a different lens, putting a different perspective on life…
We live in a society that insists we plan our lives away, where we have an insatiable appetite for instant gratification, and need the latest gadgets, where we are able to visit a supermarket for our daily food needs with little thought as to how it arrived there…
It was refreshing to observe another perspective on life from people whose ancestors’ have inhabited our sunburnt country for over 40,000 years – a people whose philosophy of living in harmony with the environment is the pathway to ensuring a sustainable existence.
No, not necessarily an easy one, that’s for sure!
Most importantly, this trip and time spent on country with the Birriliburu mob has reinforced something that modern day living often has us overlook and that is the only moment you can live in is the one you are in.
Such is the life of a desert dweller…
Baz – The Landy
As a footnote:
The Birriliburu Lands are an Indigenous Protected Area not open to the general public. I visited at the kind invitation of the Elders of the Birriliburu People.
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Kata Tjuta – The Olgas
Kata Tjuta
Kata Tjuta
Kata Tjuta means “many heads” in the local indigenous language and the area is sacred under Tjukurpa and Anangu men’s law.
Photo: Baz – The Landy
Footnote: The “T” in Tjuta is silent…pronounced Kata (T)~juta
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A Yarn Around the Camp Fire
“A Yarn Around the Camp Fire” is an opportunity for you to take a front-seat ride in “The Landy” as it heads into some of the most remote parts of Australia, for that matter – the world.
After all, Australia’s remote location on the globe is matched equally by the remoteness of its sparsely populated outback…
It will be a journey that will take us across our sunburnt land towards Uluru and beyond to the Central Deserts of Western Australia…
We’ll travel to a place where time has forgotten, where the hot scorching sun parches a landscape that is as beautiful as it is rugged. A country inhabited over the millennia by Australian Aborigines and crossed in more contemporary times by explorers’ who challenged themselves to discover what was in the Australian interior.
You will get a camp fire view of the setting sun as it slips gently below an orange tainted horizon, and if you are an early bird, watch a rising sun cast its first rays of light over the windswept land, a mug of piping hot tea in hand.
But for sure, you’ll get to experience the teeth shattering corrugations of the Great Central Road as “The Landy” makes its way westward, and at day’s end, quietly slip into a deep slumber under “The Milky Way”.
During the next few weeks “The Landy” will cover over 10,000-kilometres across a landscape that will transport me from the urban living of Australia’s largest city, Sydney, across the Australian Bush and into the vibrant and colourful Australian Outback.
The Landy
Now perhaps there will be some who are thinking, is this city slicker meets the outback?
Crikey, who knows…
Mind you, I’m as comfortable in the outback as I am crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the daily commute to the office, having travelled to many remote parts over the years flying light aircraft or driving “The Landy” – our mode of transport that has morphed as time advanced.
Okay, I do agree, the good old ‘Fender hasn’t changed much in the past 50 years, seemingly, so we’ll just say I use the term “morphed” sparingly.
And despite the opportunity to view the magnificent Sydney Harbour each day, I won’t miss that daily dodgem car run!
But I am digressing…
Along the way I will be travelling with a group of like-minded people, sharing a few laughs around the camp fire and I’m sure, fixing almost as many punctured tyres as there are flies buzzing around. Importantly, I will be spending time with the Traditional Owners and Elders of the Birriliburu Country to assist them in building some “back to country” infrastructure.
Our travel will be along remote tracks that are covered in spinifex grass and frequently travelling where no tracks exist, where a never ending blue sky caresses the ochre-red earth on a faraway horizon.
And don’t go worrying if you haven’t heard from me for a while, rest assured, I’ll be around the camp fire at day’s end, recounting, laughing, and dreaming!
Whilst we live in a modern society with plenty of gadgets to keep us all in contact, sometimes they just don’t work in the Australian Outback – well that is what I told my boss anyway, so best I continue to run with that story…
I’ll welcome your company in the front seat of “The Landy” as the journey unfolds and don’t worry about long lapses of silence, it’s okay – the sounds of the Australian Outback will more than compensate for the lack of chatter!
And if you are stuck at home in-the-armchair, be sure to drop by every so often, I’ll be updating the blog as the journey unfolds and you can check out where I am as “The Landy” rolls along the bulldust by simply clicking on the “Map – Where is The Landy” tab at the top of the page.
Anyway it is almost time to get under way, so buckle yourself in and give Mrs Landy and the Crown Prince, TomO, a wave good-bye…
Photos: Baz – The Landy
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Ruins – In the Australian Outback
Flinders Ranges, Australia
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Weather beaten and sun-drenched…
Photo: Baz – The Landy, in the Corner Country, Outback Australia…
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Abandoned – in the Australian Outback
Photos: Baz – The Landy, in the Australian Outback…
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Everything has changed – really?
Do you ever get that sense that wherever you look these days something has changed, perhaps for the better, often for the worse?
Seemingly, technology has made life easier for us, if you know how to use it!
Crikey, I have just worked my way through that whopping big manual that came with the VCR recorder and now they tell me they’re finished, kaput, and useless.
TomO, the crown prince, said it belonged in a museum anyway, adding that in fact that most of the contents of our house were starting to resemble a museum collection.
Strewth, isn’t that something else that has changed, the cheek of the young people these days…
And how about fast food?
Hell, I remember when fast food was a Chiko Roll and a can of coke from the local fish and chip shop. These days we’ve got so many choices that a bloke would starve before he got around to making up his mind.
Hey, what about GPS and smart phones?
Talk about change, I never had any problem finding the corner store, but seemingly the young and not so young need one to navigate around the local mall these days. And besides what was wrong with the old paper maps that you could spread across the bonnet of the car and then spend an hour chasing across a paddock after that big gush of wind turned it into a sail?
But they call this progress, change…
On a recent road trip, dubbed “Ocean to the Outback” we visited my mother’s hometown of Bundaberg situated on the east coast to the north of Brisbane. Fay reveled in the visit and we spent time visiting the property that her Grandfather owned and ran cattle on when she was a young girl. “The Springs” as it was known due to a spring fed creek on the property is now a scout camp.
As a young adult she worked in the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Bourbong Street, the epicenter of the town. Mum insisted we stop, have a beer and a good old-fashioned counter-lunch.
I remember as a kid having a can-of-lunch there. At least that is what I thought they called it. It was a few years later when a cute barmaid in a small country pub fell into stitches of laughter when I ordered a can-of-lunch that I made the discovery; it was a counter-lunch.
But I’m digressing and Janet is peering over my shoulder asking about the cute barmaid…
There was much reminiscing as Fay walked through “The Met” and we were fortunate to spend some time with the owner who loved to hear about how the pub was in the days gone by.
As we sat down to our can-of-lunch and a few beers, Mum looked around and said that it had all changed, it wasn’t the same anymore, she said. You couldn’t see the old stairs that took you up to the accommodation rooms and the old kitchen had gone.
Sometimes things have the appearance of having changed, but maybe when you delve just below the surface you see that nothing really has changed after all – maybe it is just a matter of perspective!
As I sipped my beer I looked around and thought…
“Surely nothing has changed”
After all the main bar was full of people chatting, laughing, enjoying a meal…
And of course, drinking an ice-cold beer!
I’m betting nothing has changed at “The Met” in the last hundred years…
Do places or life generally really change or just our perspective?
Photos: Baz – The Landy
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Renovator’s Delight…
The “Old Homestead” Trilby Station, Outback Australia…
Photo: Baz, The Landy…
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Lazy days on Australia’s East Coast
Scarborough is a small village situated on the northern end of the Redcliffe Peninsular where the fishing fleet brings its daily catch to market and the days move at a slow pace; perfect!
I always have a sense of returning home as I drive along the Esplanade with its sweeping views of Moreton Bay to the east and Bribie Island to the north – wouldn’t be dead for quids, hey!
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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A Simple Life…
Nauro Village, along the Kokoda Track, deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Contemplation…
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Cordillo Downs – Outback Australia
Cordillo Downs Woolshed, Outback Australia
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Beach Culture – Downunder
Merewether Beach, Newcastle, Australia…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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You don’t know how lucky you are
Today marks a very special occasion for Janet’s family, it would have been her father’s 100th birthday.
Archie was in his 99th year, before slipping away from us last year.
He never experienced any major health problems during his lifetime, and his love of life alone would have been enough to see him through many more years, but his frail body said it was time for him to hang up his hat for the final time…
We were lucky to have been able share his charm, wit, wisdom…his warmth, for so long.
We will celebrate his wonderful life this weekend, surrounded by family and friends, and whilst perhaps there will be a tinge of sadness there will be plenty of laughs in what will be a joyous occasion for all…
And as I went for a walk through the park this morning I swear I heard him whisper his most famous line, the one that always brings an infectious smile to your face, the line that sums him up perfectly.
“You don’t know how lucky you are”…
Ps: How cool is Archie on that motor-bike!
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Jungle Juice (In the Australian Bush)
Dr Jurd’s Jungle Juice, Wollombi, Australia
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Windmills – In the Outback
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The Billabong
Situated on the Darling River not too far from the small township of Louth, Trilby Station is a working sheep station and home to Gary and Liz Murray.
The Billabong is a prominent feature of the property.
Situated a short stroll from the family homestead the billabong requires a flood event on the Darling River to fill with water.
In recent times this has occurred in 2000, 2011, and 2012, and when it does the homestead is isolated and at times has required the family to be airlifted to the safety of higher ground.
Mind you it has not always flooded so regularly.
Gary’s father, Dermie Murray, who was born in 1929 at Dunlop Station on the Darling River, was 21 years of age before he saw the mighty Darling break its banks in flood.
Dermie and his lifelong partner now live further downstream and nearer to the township of Tilpa.
We have been fortunate to visit at times when it has been full, but as is often the case in Australia’s semi-arid regions the billabong is now dry once again.
Gary and Liz are wonderful hosts and you can camp down by the river, or by the billabong, and if camping is not to your liking you can stay in one of the stockman’s cottages, or the shearer’s quarters.
If you are ever visiting the region, be sure to take the time to visit Trilby Station, where you can just sit back and relax as the Darling River gently flows by…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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The Nindigully Pub (In the Aussie Bush)
Don’t ever have one beer here, have at least half a dozen 😉
Photo: Baz – The Landy
ps: I do promote responsible drinking, mostly…
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The Local (Outback Australia)
A cold one, thanks mate…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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A Writer’s Retreat
Kylie’s Hut, Crowdy Bay, Coastal Australia.
It is here that Australian fiction writer Kylie Tennant penned the novel Man on the Headland, a wonderful story in which she portrays Crowdy Bay and the man who built her the hut, Ernie Metcalfe.
Many of Kylie’s novels bordered on documentaries and she wrote in a way that sought to bring attention to her readers about poverty and disadvantage.
She died in 1988.
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Deserted…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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War in the Australian Outback
Broken Hill is one Australian destination that needs very little introduction. Growing from a small mining township in the 1880s it has developed into a large mining and tourism centre.
The town has been described as a living, breathing time-capsule with its many Art-Deco shop fronts from an era long-gone and many monuments that pay tribute to the men and women who forged an existence in the red-parched landscape making it what it is today.
Typical of many outback towns if you scratch a little beneath the surface it often reveals an underbelly that is interesting, unique, and important to the mosaic that makes up modern Australian history…
Many battles were fought at “The Hill” between miners and the management of the mining companies, but there was another battle that took place that laid a tragic mark on Australian history.
Many visitors to “The Hill” will be familiar with the caravan park on the town’s western boundary, and I have stayed at it on a number of occasions as we head to and from central Australia. However, many are unaware that within about half-a-kilometre of the park a significant event occurred on New Year’s Day 1915.
On this day the Great War visited Broken Hill when two camel drivers loyal to the Ottoman Empire opened fire with their rifles on a picnic train that was heading to Silverton, killing five men, women, and children.
The assailants were killed in a gun battle that went for a number of hours and this event is reported as being the only act of war to be committed on Australia soil.
A rail carriage similar to the one that was involved on this fateful day is positioned were the attack took place, little more than about a 15-minute walk from the caravan park.
So next time you visit Broken Hill be sure to scratch the surface a little, you’ll be sure to find something as precious as the metals they have mined there for well over a century.
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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The Homestead (In the Australian Outback)
Yeo Lake Homestead, Outback Australia…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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The Bomb (In Outback Australia)
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Going off the rails (And loving it)
Off the rails, in the Australian Outback…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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A Thorny Devil (In the Australian Outback)
This little bloke, a Thorny Devil, who would fit in the palm of your hand, has made our Western Deserts trip so worthwhile…
How cute are they!
I have captured some magnificent scenery as we traverse the Western Deserts and I can’t wait to share it with you, if we ever decide to go home!
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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Rooms, Functions, Beer
The Barmedman Hotel, quenching your thirst in the Australian Bush…
And strewth, how good is that verandah on the pub? You could blame your “wobbly boot” on its crooked shape! 😉
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Outback Australia (Paroo River)
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Remote (In Outback Australia)
The Bethesda Lutheran Mission Ruins, Lake Killalpaninna, Outback Australia
Photo: The Landy
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Time takes its toll (Outback Australia)
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Milang Well (Outback Australia)
Windmills, pumping life giving water into Outback Australia…
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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Abandoned (In Outback Australia)
Cadelga Outstation Ruins, Outback Australia
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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The Birdsville Pub (Outback Australia)
Pud waits patiently for his master…
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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Old Railway Buildings (You’ve got to love them!)
Mannahill, South Australia…
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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An Atomic Bomb Site (Strewth You’re Kidding – Right?)
Planning has been finalised for our next trip into Australia’s Outback which will commence in about seven weeks.
And if we are glowing after this trip it may not be just from all that sunshine we have in Australia, but may be from visiting “ground zero” at Maralinga.
Maralinga is famous, or perhaps it should be said infamous, for the British Atomic Bomb test program of the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1952 and 1963 the British Government, with the agreement of the Australian Government, carried out nuclear tests at three sites in Australia, including the Emu Field and Maralinga.
Maralinga was developed as the permanent proving ground site and was the location of all trials conducted in Australia and yes, we will stand on the actual site where the Atom Bombs were detonated!
The area also holds significance for Janet as her aunt worked for the Australian Weapons Research Establishment and spent time at Woomera in her role as a scientist.
The expedition will take us across some of Australia’s remotest country, covering arid desert lands to gorges flowing with life giving water.
The primary aim of our expedition is to visit the “bomb tracks” that were made by the legendary Australian Surveyor, Len Beadell and his team during the 1950s and 1960s in preparation for the nuclear testing program.
The Anne Beadell Highway, the first of Len’s tracks that we will travel covers a distance of 1,350 kilometres and traverses the Great Victoria Desert, from Coober Pedy in South Australia to Laverton in Western Australia.
And it is anything but a highway.
At best, it is little more than two-wheel tracks passing through arid desert and scrub country and punctuated by many sand dunes.
On reaching Laverton we will travel along the Great Central Road to the aboriginal community of Warakurna before heading along the Sandy Blight Junction Track. This will be a highlight of our western deserts trip and is another track built by Len. Completed in 1960 the track takes its name from the eye disease that affects many of Australia’s indigenous population and now referred to as Trachoma.
Len contracted the ailment and is most likely the reason the track took this name.
After a brief stop in the West MacDonnell Ranges, we will travel to Alice Springs and bid farewell to Janet and TomO before heading eastwards across the Plenty Highway and eventually down through the channel country to the well-known outback town of Birdsville.
Our departure from Birdsville will mark our arrival into the Corner Country which is situated in the north-east corner of South Australia and extending to the north-west of New South Wales.
And after four weeks of travel on corrugated roads perhaps the bitumen will be a welcome relief as we pass through the central west of New South Wales making our way home to Sydney!
So who said it is all work and no play?
And don’t worry, I’ll let you know before we go, and you’ll be able to track our progress across this remote and arid wilderness…
Strewth, Australia, you just got to love the place, hey?
Photos: Baz, The Landy
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Lake Harry Ruins (Outback Australia)
At the turn of the twentieth century this site was part of a vastly different scene; an oasis of date palms, abundant bore water, camels and Afghan Cameleers.
The ruins are a reminder of that era and highlight a recurring theme in Outback Australia – the optimism and enterprise of the early colonists’.
Click here to see where Baz, The Landy is today.
Photos: Baz, The Landy
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Toorale Homestead (In the Australian Outback)
A once magnificent homestead, that one day will hopefully be restored to its former glory…
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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Windmill in the distance (Outback Australia)
Outback Australia, sometimes a real place, other times just a state of mind, but just as real…
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Quenching your thirst (In the Australian Outback)
Welcome!
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Sheep Skin Hut (In the Australian Bush)
I captured this photo while Out and About exploring the Hunter Range, just to the north of Sydney last weekend…
Crikey, old huts, you’ve got to love them!
Photo: Baz – The Landy
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Contemplation (Aussie Beach Culture)
Merewether Beach, Newcastle, Australia…
Photo: Baz, The Landy
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In search of Gold and Ghouls (In the Australian Bush)
We spent the past weekend touring through the Hill End region nearby to Sydney in our new Outback Touring vehicle, a Toyota 79 Series Dual Cab.
Dare I call it “The Landy”.
And it proved to be popular with the locals who mobbed it as we neared the historic gold mining town.
This was a Gold and Ghouls weekend, for it was in the early 1850s that the discovery of gold at Ophir, not too far from Hill End in the State’s Central West, that created Australia’s first gold rush.
It was almost over as quickly as it began and very few found the fortune that they came in search of, and of course those that prospered most were the people who ran the stores, supplying equipment and provisions to the miners, and the many hotels that quenched the thirst of those who were looking for the “big strike”.
Hill End is a historic town administered by the New South Wales National Parks. There is a pub, a store, and plenty of old buildings that give a glimpse into how life might have been in those heady gold fever days. For the more energetic, there is a walk to Bald Hill where there was a lot of mining activity.
And the Royal Hotel is a great place to have a beer, or two, and a meal in the bistro.
Leaving Sydney we travelled the Great Western Highway via Bathurst and the small township of Sofala.
We camped at Glendora campground, which is located about 1.5 kilometres from the pub and is well equipped to take caravans and camper trailers, with powered and unpowered sites available and self-registration. In fact this is a good spot for larger groups with full facilities including electric barbecues and hot showers.
There is also a campground in the centre of town, which was about half full…
Leaving Hill End on Sunday we travelled back to Bathurst via Dixon’s Long Point Road, a four-wheel drive track that winds its way down to a rocky creek crossing on the Macquarie River.
“The Landy” had its first workout and performed admirably, although it was hardly taxing for the big V8-engine housed under a bonnet as big as a football field.
The views are spectacular and you can camp by the river and wile away the day under a deep blue sky…
The drive down to the river takes about one hour, depending on whether you stop along the way to visit the Cornish Roasting Pits, which we didn’t do on this particular occasion.
Travelling on you eventually come to Ophir Reserve which is located in a gorge where the Summer Hill and Lewis Creeks converge, and it was from here that the gold in the gold medals presented at 2000 Sydney Olympics was mined.
A great spot for a picnic, and it didn’t take long before TomO found a rope swing.
Leaving Ophir it is less than an hour drive to Bathurst and another couple of hours back to Sydney.
And what about the Ghouls I hear you ask?
The National Park Rangers do a Ghost Tour that takes in a number of properties in Hill End and can be organised with about a week’s notice. It was uncertain whether “The Landy” would be finished in time for this trip so we thought we’d keep the ghost tour up our sleeve, giving us a reason to return again soon…
For anyone visiting the central west of New South Wales, Hill End and a tour of the region is well worth the experience. And there is some good four-wheel driving to be done, if you are inclined. Otherwise the Dixon Long Point Road is easily traversable and will reward you with some stunning vistas of the Australian Bush…
Photos: Baz, The Landy, and Janet Planet…
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Stone House, Coward Springs (Outback Australia)
Along the dusty Oodnadatta Track, Coward Springs, an oasis in a harsh, barren land…
photo: Baz – The Landy
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Cool? (You be the judge)
How cool is this photograph?
It is a picture of Janet’s father, Archie, on one of the many motorcycles he owned and was taken in Calcutta, India, where he lived during his youthful years.
No leathers, goggles, or helmets as we know them today.
Back then it was your suit and tie and a pith helmet.
And crikey, what a dashing figure he cut on that fantastic motorcycle.
Cool?
You be the judge….
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Bronte Beach, Sydney, Australia (Surf’s Up!)
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