INSPIRATION

A bad day out for somebody at 80 Mile Beach, not far south of Broome. The 4WD even had barnacles on it, so must have been there for a while!

Windmill under the big sky of the Kimberly. An iconic symbol of rural Australia that draws water from bores or wells, and originated in Persia about 1500 years ago.

Also known as a Lotus Flower, Nelumbo nucifera can be found in the Northern Territory and Queensland but originally comes from Asia. The seeds can be eaten, and also stored for a long, long time - with Flowers in China being grown from 1300 year old seeds!

Some of the rocks that create the landscape here are 3 billion years old. Only 1.5 billion years younger than Earth itself. There aren’t many places on the planet where rocks of this age actually protrude out of the ground. Kakadu really has an embarrassment of riches on the natural wonders front.

Vines in the largest sub-tropical rainforest in the world. Close to a million acres stretching almost 800km from Newcastle to Brisbane, it’s home to a huge number of endangered species. A walk through the forest takes you back over 180 million years, before Australia separated from the supercontinent of Gondwana.

Unfortunately I never did get a really good shot of the beautiful blue Monarchs you get in Far North Queensland, but I was pretty pleased with colours in this one nonetheless.

This is the road that takes you along the bottom of the Cape York Peninsula. A whole lot of nothingness, but starkly beautiful nonetheless.

A highland cow by the name of Braveheart who lives just north of Byron Bay at The Farm, a lovely place to visit with the kids. We had a lot of fun picking Macadamia nuts and chasing chickens around.

Eden is a beautiful place, in fact the entire Sapphire Coast was so much more than I expected it to be, and only a few hours from me now. Well worth a visit, and find out about the Killer Whales while you’re there…

One of the many glorious, virtually deserted beaches we got to experience on our trip. The beach at Yepoon had an unbelievable number of shells all over it, which made their way into a bucket, and then our car, of course.

Probably the most distinctive National Park we visited on the whole trip. Stunning red cliffs contrasting with the beautifully blue ocean, tantalisingly close to the most Westerly point of Australia and surrounded by incredible marine life.

As outlandish as the famous Bungle Bungles are, they aren’t nearly as impressive as Cathedral Gorge. Created by a swirling maelstrom of sediment and rock, it’s a space to stand, and be humbled by the power of nature.

Saw this little fella poke his head out as we walked to Emma Gorge at El Questro in the Kimberly. A spectacular three hour round trip, with a swimming pool when you return to the lodge – a rare luxury indeed.

Giant Scorpions scuttled out of the water here about 440 million years ago, leaving their horrible little claw marks in the sand. Now fossilised, you can see their monstrous trails leading off to god knows where. These were some of the first animals to emerge from the oceans, and thank goodness they’re not around anymore!

Also made in Scotland, and now much like myself, slightly bedraggled on a beach on Fraser Island. The Maheno was on its way to be sold for scrap when a cyclone hit, and it washed up here on Fraser Island’s eastern shore.

This is the jumping off point for the Gibb River Road. We spent a bit of time getting the car ready, kayaking in the lake, and watching the sparkling eyes of freshwater crocodiles right next to our camp at night.

On 27th May 1770, Captain Cook and Joseph Banks landed at this exact spot, grabbed a few plant samples, shot and ate a bird they declared the tastiest they’d had since leaving England, and then buggered off. 248 years later, we went fishing there for Mother’s Day and I took this shot, who knows, maybe this gul is a relation...

The Australian continent begins to lift out of the ocean right here, and for the next couple of hundred kilometres we would periodically turn off the highway, reach the edge of the country and gaze in awe at thundering waves far below.

A brisk walk on a magnificent beach, once of countless we visited on the trip. Yeppoon is also close to the Capricorn Caves, which are well worth a visit if you get the chance..

Beautiful watering hole for a swim in the Kimberly, and the best thing was it was only a 500 meter walk this time. We were getting a little exhausted with all the long hike sin 40 degree heat!

It was Thursday when we arrived and the famous Mindil Beach Night Markets were on, so we ordered a taxi, and off we went. The sunset was beautiful, the crowd was chilled out and very diverse. There was wonderful food, great music and wide array of craft and artwork. I loved it.

Sofala is the oldest surviving gold mining town in Australia, no too far from where payable gold was first discovered. While we were there Eve grabbed this little book and held it up at this exact page. It was the very beginning of our trip, and seemed just perfect.

It’s the geology of this place that makes it so distinctive, and also makes it one of the best places in the world to mine iron. The red bands that can be seen clearly in the gorges are layers of sediment, that accumulated thousands of millions of years ago at the bottom of a sea bed. Full of iron and silica, these layers slowly compacted, and turned into rock.

We almost ran out of water on this unexpectedly long hike to Manning Gorge in the Kimberly. What remained was for the kids, who spent a reasonable amount of time on our shoulders. This tree looks almost as exhausted as we did when we got back to camp! Even still, it was one of the best walks of the whole trip.

Fishing and sunsets were the highlight here. And an odd fello called Billy who’d been been living in a shipping container for the last 50 years, and looked like a prune. No, I don't have a picture unfortunately, but you can read about him here

Mictyris longicarpus. Thousands of these little guys patrol the mud flats on the West Coast of Fraser Island. Here they are all pilling into a pool of water like lemmings.

Taking a rest at the end of an amazing hike and a fantastic off-road track. Named after the Aboriginal name for the Pandanus trees that line the watercourse you hike along to get there – Andjimdjim - you’ll also pass through a Anbinik forest, made up of some of the oldest species of vegetation on the planet, dating back over 400 million years.

1 million acres of wilderness, for 1 million dollars. That’s what Will Burrell paid for a run-down cattle station in the East Kimberley in 1991, before turning it into the most amazing wilderness park. We stayed in an unpowered camping site by the Station for $40, rather than the $3,000 a night Homestead. Same breathtaking scenery though.

The Gibb is one of those journeys that’s on most 4WD bucket lists. At only 660km it’s a lot shorter than Cape York, but it has a reputation of being pretty dreadful. People tend to do it only once, for example. Or twice, with 20 years in between so they’ve forgotten the bad bits.

This little fella was remarkably patient as the kids got closer for a good look, and then I closed in with my camera! Right next to our camp site at Punsand Bay, at the tip of Cape York.

Is it the ubiquitous red dust that’s camouflaged this little guy? I don’t know, he scarpered away when I got too close. This was right next to another watering hole in Karijini.

The end of the Cockburn ranges towers in the background, and despite the moans from the kids, I just have to jump out for a few shots. Without a doubt the longest river crossing we’ve faced, and an iconic moment for ardent 4WD enthusiasts. Woohoo!

A striking series of volcanic plugs, named by Captain Cook in 1770 as he sailed on up the coast, as he thought they looked like the glass kilns he grew up next to in North Yorkshire. Lucky to get the Kangaroo bounding by at just the right time! The best bit about the Glasshouse Mountains, however, was a cantankerous old fella called Steve, and you can find out why he's the King of the Glasshouse Mountains here

Kakadu is about half the size of Switzerland, and has a reputation of being a true wilderness, full of danger, beauty, and some of the finest examples of Aboriginal rock art in the world. I had to stop the car at the side of the road to take this, as it looked as if something mystical was emerging from the top of the escarpment. Eminently believable in a place like this.

It may look like a Jurassic Park landscape for sure, but in fact it’s a Devonian landscape, and it’s the remains of an ancient coral reef. Oh, and there are freshwater Crocodiles everywhere…

It was a short, and pretty dramatic walk along the side of a crocodile strewn river, ending in a large expanse of beach. The Aborigine freedom fighter, Jandamarra, used to hide out here, and I could see why. It was an amazing place to be for a wee while.

It was like this every, single, night. And it didn’t get old. One night we even heard someone playing the bagpipes far off in the distance! The only way the bagpipes should be heard.

This was where we first came across some saltwater Crocs in the wild, or ‘salties’ as they’re affectionately known by the locals. I’d be a bit wary of skimming around like this guy was… maybe the dog was actually bait! A different way of life, for sure.

It was 40 degrees when we poured out of the car, and walked most of the way with the kids on our backs. It was worth it though, there’s nowhere else on the planet that’s anything like this.

Myrmecia. There are 93 different species of Bull Ants, they’re all aggressive, there’s even a jumping variety (!) and they can only be found in Australia. With fossils dating back over 50 million years they reckon some of these guys would have even bitten dinosaurs.

This fella climbed down the tree beside our hammock, giving us quite a shock! We stayed here for about a week, exploring local villages and even climbing a few mountains. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Goanna’s can live up to 40 years, and the largest in Australia is the Perentie which grows up to 2.5 metres, although the Megalania that lived here 50,000 years ago – was over twice that size!

Moloch horridus. This little guy was on my list to see in the wild during our trip, and driving along the road to Kalbarri National Park in WA, there he was crossing the road. We pulled in, jumped out and went for a look at this amazing little animal. A ranger arrived two minutes later, picked him up and let the kids hold him, then released him into the bush.

This is a beautiful place to spend a few hours wandering around. You’re totally absorbed in the rainforest, and when you pop out, the view across the breadth of the Glasshouse Mountains is second to none. Don’t wander too far of the path though!

A couple of unlikely friends in Mogo Zoo! The kids loved our trip round here, a fantastic little zoo only a couple of hours south of Sydney that I’d never heard of before. Been back a few time now though..

Not exactly a native to these lands, but this pensive fello seemed very comfortable in his lovely enclosure at Mogo Zoo. 96% of the same genes as us!

Mictyris longicarpus. Sitting on the pier at Fraser Island I noticed the ground shimmering a little. At first I thought it was the sun reflecting off the wet sand, but as I got closer, it looked as if large tracts of the ground were actually moving. There must be thousands of these little crabs out there!

When the wind hits the coast off Western Australia it’s been uninterrupted across the entire Indian Ocean. No surprise it’s a pretty windy place, as this tree clearly shows :D

The cuddliest little fello’s you could ever meet. If these guys become extinct in Australia it will be to our eternal shame.

Seventeen Seventy is the second place where Captain Cook landed in Australia. We spent a good few days there fishing, hanging out and relaxing. We’re also pretty sure we saw Santa Claus!

Peaceful Kingfisher contemplating life as we cruised buy on the Yellow Water Billabong. An amazing place to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and a real ‘African Safari’ feel to it. 

The King of the Jungle having a snooze at Mogo Zoo. A couple of years later, this guy was evacuated to one of the Zookeepers houses to keep him safe from the bushfires. Can you imagine!

Dancing like nobody’s watching, on 80 Mile Beach. Every night it was like this, and the few people who were there would gather to take in the glorious beauty of it all.

These guys are all over the country, no matter where you go, and although they can be a bit of a pain when you’re trying to have a picnic, they’re very graceful when in flight.