Newsletter - Issue 11 - August 2001
Newsletter - Issue 11 - August 2001
What happened on Aussie World during these last few months?
Well, work is on going to refresh the site. Some sections have already been
reviewed and updated.
The Bookstore
section has been completly modified to only present Australia related traveling
books, city guides and maps. The
Travel Partner section has also been slightly modified to offer a better
view of the available offers.
One of the most important addition to the site is the Free Stuff section. This sections gives access to free dowload of Aussie World screensavers, backgrounds, and the new Skin Centre.
On the revised sections, a new menu has also been added to faciltate the navigation between the different section of the site.
Regarding the articles included in this newsletter, I would like to thank the AHRC (Australia Holiday Resources Centre) members for their contribution, time and effort they spent to provide me with the information.
To all the readers, I would like to remind that your are welcome to send me a resume of your own Aussie adventure if you want to share it.
Kind regards,
Alain
| Passport to Pemberton | |
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If you are planning to visit this part of Australia, the Pemberton Karri Forest Adventure and Pemberton Tourist Centre can most certainly help you to discover its best sites and share with you their knowledge and experience of the region. In the meantime you can already discover the region by visiting the following web sites: |
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Pemberton Karri Forest Adventure (http://www.pembertonwa.com) |
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Pemberton Discovery Tours (http://www.wn.com.au/pdt) |
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Pemberton Tourist Centre (http://www.pembertontourist.com.au/) |
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Home Holiday Accommodation - Take care ... Local tourist
accommodation operators on the south coast have come under increasing
pressure from what they regards as unfair competition and a subsequent
loss of reputation by the region. The downside is three-fold:
As a result, guests of Home Holiday Accommodation often leave dissatisfied and are very unlikely to return to the region. Local governments receive an ever increasing number of complaints but are unable to intervene as they have no powers to instruct anyone how to manage their business. While absentee owners receive their main income from their profession or the business they conduct in Perth, they are not seriously effected; they only experience a downturn in their "side-income". Local accommodation businesses however are effected to such an extend that in the Denmark Region alone, all the 10 largest accommodation businesses are listed for sale; some operators with multi-million dollar investments in the tourism industry are even forced to work outside their businesses to maintain a cashflow. As a consequence, businesses have to reduce their marketing expenditure, contribution further to a the decline in visitor numbers. To add insult to injury, State Parliament will consider changes to legislation to enable Tourist Bureaux to act as Real Estate Agents in the future. Solution: Unless the Real Estate Industry acts against unlicensed operators regardless of their name (Tourist Bureau) and accommodation business reign in their local Tourist Bureaux, the tourism industry will continue to suffer and decline to a point beyond salvage. Most importantly, intending visitor needs to ask the booking agent (Tourist Bureau) if the accommodation is a home holiday house or a managed business; otherwise they may well end up spending their precious holiday in a residential suburb they tried to escape from. Werner Wilmes |
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News from The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary has just announced that they will soon exhibit the only breeding group of Tree Kangaroos in North Queensland!
The rare, charismatic Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) resides in high elevation rainforest of the Wet Tropics region and is classified as Rare. Tree Kangaroos can be recognised by their bear-like face, small rounded ears and powerful arms. An extremely long straight furred tail distinguishes the marsupial, as does its ability to clamber through the tree-tops and hop like a kangaroo at ground level! Rainforest Habitat General Manager Doug Ryan said that a special breeding facility is being developed at the Habitat to house these unique rainforest creatures who are set to arrive later in the year. "This special exhibit will allow guests to experience up close the world of the Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo," Mr Ryan said. "The Habitat has been campaigning to display tree kangaroos for 11 years, so to be finally given the opportunity to display these marsupials and educate visitors about them is the most exciting news in the Rainforest Habitats’ development!"
Contact:
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Hospitality experienced retired educator George Hill who manages with wife Catherine a very successful B&B "Rosehill Lodge" in the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria has produced and published a short description of typical basic questions clients should ask prior to making a booking a B&B. George and Catherine have placed the criteria on selecting a B&B on a page on their site (http://www.rosehill-lodge.com.au/qualities.htm). With the growing small accommodation industry and a large number of new B&B opening up this page attempts to identify standards in selecting a B&B. The paper is intended to also encourage new owners and operators to think about their operation. It is intended to further expand upon the basic concepts without making the document long. George and Catherine would appreciate feedback from anyone interested in suggesting items that should be added. Contact:
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Chillingham - The gateway to the Springbrook National Park Not far from the Queensland border, but still in New South Wales the Chillingham village is the gateway to the Springbrook National Park and the truly amazing Natural Bridge.
Walking into the Chillingham Store is a bit like walking back into the 19th century. The difference is that this general store and post office also has a charming tropical beer garden offering tea and scones and old country style cooking. The rock archway of Natural Bridge spans the mountain-fed waters of Cave Creek. Behind the bridge, the creek forms a waterfall which plunges into a gaping hole, disappearing into the depths of a cavern. From the pool below the bridge emerges a sparkling stream, which flows into the Nerang River and down the Numinbah valley. Surrounding the creek is dense sub-tropical rainforest. To the east, towering cliff faces form the edge of Springbrook Plateau. Visitors come to see the rock formation, stroll along the rainforest paths, picnic in the surrounds or swim in the chilling waters of the cavern's recesses. The forest canopy is a mosaic of many tree species. Fruit from some including figs, lillipillies and blackbeans were used by the Aborigines for food. The large, poisonous seeds of the blackbean were specially treated before being roasted and eaten. Below the canopy, the rainforest shelters a diversity of ferns, vines and epiphytes such as orchids and staghorns. At early morning and dusk the rainforest is busy with wildlife. Small wallabies called pademelons are often seen feeding at the rainforest edge. Birds such as eastern yellow robins and eastern whipbirds can be seen darting through the lower levels of the rainforest. Often heard, but not easily seen, are green cat-birds, common koels and wompoo fruit doves which feed in the lofty heights of the dark green canopy. During the day brush turkeys and goannas are commonly seen near the picnic areas. The brush turkey, a large black bird with a bright red head and yellow collar, builds a mound of rotting vegetation to incubate its eggs. The park comes alive with a variety of fruit-eating birds during spring and summer. Flocks of scaly breasted and rainbow lorikeets noisily descend upon the brightly flowering blackbean trees. As night closes in, mountain brushtail possums, sugar gliders and bandicoots begin to quietly feed and forage. The solitary call of the boobook owl echoes through the forest. Natural Bridge is well known for the colony of thousands of glow worms found in the cavern's roof - the largest glow worm colony in Australia. These glow worms, larvae of the fungus fly, produce a light to attract insects into their sticky spun webs.
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It's difficult
to believe that an Island continent like Australia can be described as
the worst in living history when it comes to natural conservation! Especially
when you consider that all the species on the verge of extinction exists
nowhere else on the planet! Ecotourism
[we call it EGOtourism] here a joke! Of course nothing will be done until it's all too late. Simply because everyone [including the politicians] owns a dog! Will we not learn from other countries? At Carrowong Sanctuary we have an ongoing eradication program of feral pests, most of our dedication is consumed with protecting our natural wild endangered creatures from the neighbours "best friends". What we must do has often been construed as illegal but once pointed out that the victim of our program was in fact on our private property, not on a lead, and without human companionship it is deemed FERAL, we walk away. In the meantime our intrepid dog loving politicians have just passed a law which protects a native endangered species [the crocodile] against an introduced feral menace.....the domestic dog. See what we're up against? Rob.
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Les has a passion for fishing and is deeply involved in several fishing related associations in Queensland. His passion pushed him to start his 'Fishing Cairns' web site ( http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/ ). Fishing Cairns is very informative, well designed and offers the only comprehensive information-based site covering all aspects of fishing this magnificent Tropical North Queensland and Cairns region. A section of the web site is dedicated to fishing reports. With Les authorization, and for the 'fishing amateurs' I have included here below one of these reports. Great site Les, please keep going ... Alain
May 19, 2001 It was with boyish enthusiasm that the eight intrepid anglers boarded our light aircraft on Sunday morning for the one and a half-hour flight up the coast to Lakefield National Park. As with all light aircraft travel, this excitement was tinged with a little apprehension as I don’t know anybody that is truly relaxed sitting in such a small flying machine. |
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The next part of the journey seems to pass in a blur, the 1 ½ hour 4WD trip to the Annie River, a tributary of the much larger Kennedy was full of agonizing groans as we bounced over / through wash outs, sand flows and small water courses. Every little soak was greeted with excited cries of "Les, can we put our lure in there". Boys will be boys, and we hadn’t even had a beer!
During the summer "wet" season huge volumes of water drain from the Lakefield National Park, via major rivers, tributaries and creeks pour into this natural bay some 45 miles across to Bathurst Heads, and still the same distance and some to Cape Melville and the Great Barrier Reef. Although the weather was almost perfect upon our arrival, it was not intended to stay that way and the weather bureau’s prediction of strong winds approaching by about Wednesday was the deciding factor in our fishing strategy. This region is vast, angling opportunities are boundless. |
From the magnificent tidal rivers and estuaries where barra, jacks, fingermark, salmon and queenfish abound – to the rocky headland where under right post wet season conditions monster barra to 40 lb harass hordes of bait schools – to the beautiful Flinders Island group where fishing options include fringing coral reefs, deep channels and beach fishing – to the northern extremities of the Great Barrier Reef some 30 miles further off shore. You guessed it, our group decided that they wanted "reds" (the generic name given to the many prime coral dwellers) including the delicious coral trout, red emperor & nannygai to name a few. Unfortunately the tides were low and we had to wait a few hours at the mouth of the Kennedy before we could steam the five hours across the bay and out to the Reef. First stop late that afternoon saw a mixture of bottom rigs and a few floating pillies hanging in the current. The bright orange balloon was a source of much comment and gentle ribbing, but when the reel growled and the balloon popped – all eyes were on Andrew as he struggled to bring the bolting fish under control. After a prolonged and dogged fight the gaff went into one of the best spanish mackerel I have ever witnessed. |
We never did weigh it but it remained the prized catch of the charter and you could not shut the lucky angler up – hell I hate gloating. But he did have every reason to do so, it was a magnificent fish and being one of the best eating fish it was duly dispatched to the kill pen, spiked and bled. Have you ever been reef fishing and had trouble getting the hooked fish past the sharks, well this was not the problem however, we just couldn’t catch anything but bloody reef sharks. Dozens of them, one after the other came over the side, tangling the lines and making it all too difficult for some of us. We had to escape into the cabin and have a cold beer or two. We did manage to land a few smaller Mac’s but larger specimens were torn to bits by large bronze whalers. In a swirl of carnage, three monster sharks dissected the hooked fish in an instant, don’t fall over out here I mused. |
We did have one memorable session fishing from the rocks at Bathurst Heads. These chunks of granite situated at the mouth of the bay are literally covered in the biggest black lipped oysters you have ever seen. Razor sharp however and not a place for walking without adequate and strong footwear. The tide had almost bottomed out and the bait schools, mullet, sardines, garfish and hardyheads were nervously scurrying along the deep gutter at the base of these rocks. Guess what, barras, jacks, cod and trevally were also patrolling this gutter in search of easy pickings and although the session did not really fire up, ten barra, five jacks and a dozen small cod were landed. The sight and sound of two 40 lb barra boof bait within five feet or our casting spot was something I can tell you. Once you got over the shock and realized they you had not been eaten by a monster, it was a thrill to see nature and hungry fish at work. This session proved a huge learning curve for the "reef fisherman - non lure casting" members of our party and the realization that four pound barra can break 15 lb mono in a flash if you don’t pay attention to knots, leaders and doubles was not lost upon them. They did learn! |
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Back in
the Bizant River, it was great to have calm water under the keel again
and we anchored up for the night. We opted to stay here for at least two
days and it was a pleasure to be inside a tidal river, protected from
the 25 knot south eat winds blowing outside and to partake in my favourite
fishing style, casting minnow lures to snags. After a hearty lunch, I must say that I believed the meals on this charter were just superb and not wanting at all, David Hannay and I headed out for some serious lure tossing. Of course a few did land in the mangrove trees but we managed to land a lot just right in the slot. David was rapped when he sized up a spot, put the lure in there and had a crashing strike from a good-sized mangrove jack. Working out where the fish might lie is half the fun of lure fishing. On the falling tide more structure is exposed, and there is also less water for the fish to swim in. Hey presto – we had a ball landing barra, jacks, cod, bream and fingermark. I think we landed five small barra, but I lost another ten legal size fish, all due to lack of preparation. In my haste to prepare for the trip I did not check the drag on my baitcaster – it was jerky – and a dysfunctional drag on big agro fish that leap and change direction quickly is a recipe for disaster. Having been a guide for over ten years myself you would have thought I would have known better – a hard lesson but one I shall never forget. |
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This oversight was to cost me dearly over the next few days. I estimate to have lost at least 20 prime specimens due to this fault alone. This problem is not evident when playing small fish but on the prized monsters (some over the 20lb mark) it was a telling, sad story.
Other members of our party had decided to bait fish some deep holes near the mouth of the river. They too were not disappointed and upon returning to the Boomerang were all whoops and jeers followed by the not too subtle ribbing of their less successful friends. King & Blue salmon, queenfish, grunter, jacks, cod and trevally had all been landed on sporting 6 kg spinning outfits and the fillet total was mounting. But, the desire to tangle with more "reef reds" was too strong for some members of our group and a decision was made to head back outside and try our luck. Once out from the protection of the river and the surrounding heads the prevailing winds buffeted our path. The Boomerang however handled it with ease and we were more than comfortable in the two metre seas – I think only one of our party had to say hello to Bill! |
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Drift fishing proved fruitless, anchoring up was a disaster – sharks and more sharks sprinkled with a few quality fish was all we could manage under the conditions and a quick decision was made to steam towards the relative protection of the Flinders Island Group. It was here, on the Thursday morning that we rendezvoused with the supply barge run by Sea Swift out of Cairns and it was all hands on deck to help load supplies for the next charter. They must have been heavy drinkers as at least 30 cartons of VB cans donned our decks! The Flinders Island group offers one of the most protected waters on the entire east coast of Australia, it is a designated cyclone anchorage and it was a beautiful, unspoiled paradise. I could not wait to try my luck from the beach and after a late breakfast the deck hand dropped David and I on one of the most pristine beaches I have ever had the pleasure to fish from.
The senses were primed, the scenery superb, the bait was nervous and the predators on the job. Due to the shallow, shelving nature of the foreshore a deep diving lure was a no no. I opted for a small chrome slice – just as a tester really – but on the third cast it was crunched by a good G.T. The hooks pulled out however (that drag again) but I knew plenty more opportunities would come, this setting was just too fishy. I walked along the shore, fished from the sand, the rocks and in between mangrove roots. All of a sudden a major crash immediately to my left and within ten feet actually startled me. Peering into the clear water I spied a school of trevally patrolling the shore no more than three feet from my perch. These fish were all about 6 lb, great sport on the light tackle I was using but how do I get them to eat my lure – they were too close – or were they. I did an underhanded flick and landed the chrome slice about five feet away, just in front of the school and within a half a turn of the handle I was on. Bloody amazing stuff – sight casting to good fish at your feet is not the norm but hell I enjoyed it. I landed that beauty, carefully removed the trebles and sent her on its way. I was busted off on a much bigger fish under nearly identical circumstances, landed 16 fish of five varieties, saw some amazing natural feeding patterns in one of the most beautiful places I have even had the pleasure to wet a line in. I was stoked and when the deckie returned to pick me up at 12.30 pm to return to the Boomerang, I had a grin from ear to ear and I can truly say that I was completely satisfied and at ease with the world. Other members of our party had also done very nicely. Fishing from the bigger 4m dinghy they anchored in a deep channel near the tip of the island. Shelving rock, rubble bottom and fringing reef are all prime angling location and when they all come together in the one compact location – well, you should catch fish shouldn’t you!
It was with mixed feelings that we headed back for the early morning run into the Annie River, we were forced to anchor in the bay late that night due to the low tides and an early assault up stream was required. The party had seven boxes of mixed fillets, we had experienced some memorable fishing, viewed some spectacular scenery, cruised rivers, bays and ocean – wined and dined in good company.
As the ten seater left the airstrip at Musgrave, my mind flashed back over the week’s activities. The highlights for me were the sessions spent luring the Bizant, that monster spaniard on the first morning, fishing such a pristine beach on the last day our and Oh Yeah – trying to eat the biggest most succulent fresh mud crabs you have ever seen. We caught over thirty of them in one day; all were big bucks and not one undersize. Makes you wonder about more populated regions doesn’t it. And the biggest disappointment – not taking a photo of those crabs as they came from the chiller and not preparing my gear properly prior to packing. You’d think and experienced guide would know better – I know, I’m a goose! Regards, Les Contact:
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___ 15,000 hits.. Guaranteed ! ...... - Danger ! _______________________ 15,000 hits.. Guaranteed ! ................................................................ !!! Put your rubber gloves on if you receive an email with this in the subject line. (or similar number of hits) !!! As previous manager of a dedicated travel/tourism search engine I received this message several times from companies dangling a carrot. The email will come from someone who has you in their address book. It is obviously a scripted letter they have attached their name to, inviting you to have a look at a particular url. So you click on it and your hit gets credited to their site. You then add your URL (if you have one) to the site as you have just seen how easy it is to do and get the idea of how it works. You are then urged to click inside a box which automatically sends the same message you received to everyone in your address book. When they get it your code is in the email (you get an ID when you add your URL) and when they click on it they see YOUR site. One more hit to you. Sounds pretty good. Here's the crunch... What they
don't tell you is the owner's of the site you listed yours in, also gets
a copy of your entire email address book. It works the same way as networking
... you know the score ... send it to 6 people and they do the same etc
... Sure ... once you have added your URL, it will appear on their site and more than likely you will get the hits they promise. However, by this time their goal has been acheived. Search engine
staff rarely fall for it, but the vulnerable ones are the small fry who
want to boost their unique hits. Richard
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Current promotions
proposed by the AHRC (Australia Holiday Resources Centre)
members are available via the notice
board. |
© Copyright: 2000-2001 A.
Saintpo , All Rights Reserved
Site Design and Maintenance A. Saintpo
The
Pemberton region in the heart of The Tall Timber Country (South
Western Australia) has a lot to offer to the visitors. It is of course
the home of the Karri forest with the highest fire lookout tree in the
world: the Gloucester tree. One hundred and fifty three rungs spiral dizzily
to the viewing platform 60 m above. The view from the top is magnificent
but the climb is far to be easy.
For
those who are planning a visit in South Western Australia, particularly
in the Pemberton region, Toni has produced a 'Passport to Pemberton'.
It can be redeemed at the Pemberton Tourist Centre for $5. In it is over
40 local businesses who offer discounts and bonuses to the passport holder.
The list of participant businesses and associated discounts are listed
in the 
In
cooperation with the Queensland Government, The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife
Sanctuary in Port Douglas has snared a ‘world first’ as the only
wildlife sanctuary in Tropical North QLD to house a family of Lumholtz
Tree Kangaroos.
Don't
miss the opportunity of a swim under the waterfall which plunges through
the roof of a cave into a beautiful sun-dappled rainforest grotto, or
visit at night to see the largest glow-worm colony in Australia.
Princess
Charlotte Bay, North Queensland
My
good friend David had a ball, landed his first ever barra which was duly
photographed for his son Andrew, as well as jacks, cod and some of the
biggest bream I have ever seen caught on lures. These fish were on snags
meant to hold barra. 
The
water was crystal clear, the seas flat calm and the shore of the little
bay had it all. There were rocky outcrops, white sandy beaches, a small
creek mouth and even stands of majestic mangroves. Millions of small baitfish,
sardines and hardyheads, were bunched hard up against the rocks and shoreline.
Wherever you looked these fish were nervously hugging the shore and the
intermittent crash of marauding predators was all that broke the silence.
They
had had a ball on coral trout, nannygai, sweetlip, cod, trevally and queenfish
– they too received their fix and the fillet count was mounting. 
The
vessel however experienced some unusual, if not rare set, of breakdowns
that did hamper the enjoyment of our trip and necessitating the call of
a refrigeration mechanic from Cooktown. The owners of the Boomerang, Allan
& Barbara Southwood have had over thirty years of boating experience
and although under extreme pressure due to the circumstance handled the
situation well. The vessel is quite comfortable, very seaworthy, normal
facilities more than adequate and offers great value for money.