Spring Holidays Guide by Explore Australia

SPRING HOLIDAY S GU ID E

YOUR GUIDE TO HITTING THE ROAD THIS SPRING

TOP 10 BEST CAMPSITES

SPRING DRIVES

WILDFLOWER WALKS

AND MORE

SPRING INTO SPRING!

There’s no better way to celebrate spring than by travelling. So it’s time to dust off your camping gear, put some petrol in the car, stock up on snacks and hit the road en route to a campsite/national park/bushwalk. We’re so excited about spring we’ve released some books that are sure to get you travelling: Top Walks in Victoria by Melanie Ball, Driving Holidays Around Australia by Lee Atkinson and Australia’s Best Camping by Kerryn Burgess. And there are sneaky previews of each title included in this guide, as well as tips for the national park aficionado and the island hopper in you. We’ll see you on the road once you’ve finished reading! The Explore Australia team

Acknowledgements Editor Lauren Whybrow Designer Julie Hally Photography credits Cover: Jacaranda trees in full bloom, Catzatsea; contents page: Rough Bush-Pea at Grampians National Park, Houshman Rabbani; pg 5: images courtesy of Lorna Hendry; pg 6: image courtesy of Katy Holder; pg 8: Bowral, Steve Lovegrove; pg 9: Sea Cliff Bridge, Milosz_M; pg 13: Norfolk Island, The Whiteview; pg 15: all images courtesy Melanie Ball; back cover: Wilsons Promontory, Robyn Butler.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

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CONTENTS TOP 10 CAMPSITES IN AUSTRALIA DRIVING THE MEREENIE LOOP

A CAMPFIRE CASSEROLE

EAST VS WEST: BEST COASTAL DRIVES

SPRING NATIONAL PARKS

AUSTRALIA'S MOST ISOLATED ISLANDS

SPRING BOOKSHOP

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILDFLOWERS SIDE

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

TOP 10 CAMPSITES IN AUSTRALIA

Camping expert Kerryn Burgess spent five months in a tent, visited 188 national parks, took 11 flights, drove 21,000 kilometres, and camped in nine remote gorges, on seven islands and next to one Great Barrier Reef to find the best campsites in Australia. While there are over 100 campsites in Kerryn’s latest book, Australia’s Best Camping, this list reveals her pick of the absolute top camping experiences in the country.

The Whitsundays, Queensland

Karijini National Park, Western Australia

Paradise found: white-sand beaches, warm azure water, lazy snorkelling, and tiny campgrounds for just a handful of campers at a time.

Jaw-dropping gorges in the heart of the Pilbara, with thousands of square kilometres for quiet contemplation under an outback sky.

Leliyn (Edith Falls), Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory

The Basin, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales

Freshwater swimming at an outback oasis, with camping on the green.

All the coves, beaches, headlands and views that make the coast north of Sydney so special.

Freycinet National Park, Tasmania

Green Patch, Booderee National Park, Jervis Bay Territory

Walk to Wineglass Bay from this idyllic campground, where every site has beach frontage.

Cape Range National Park, Western Australia Wind-blasted campsites you’ll remember forever on the wild north-western edge of the continent.

Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria

A sparkling beach backed by bushland and birdlife, plus whales if you’re lucky.

Girraween National Park, Queensland The biggest range of bushwalks within a few hours of Brisbane, with a creek to keep cool.

A campground and wilderness playground where the mountains meet the sea.

Rocky River camping area, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia More native wildlife than any zoo, with wallabies at the campground, and seals and sea lions not far away.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

Start planning your summer camping adventures with Kerryn’s book.

DRIVING THE MEREENIE LOOP

Lorna Hendry drove on the Mereenie Loop and found herself in Albert Namatjira territory. My husband refuses to drive on the same road twice if he can avoid it. From Kings Canyon, there were two ways to get to Alice Springs. We could head back to the Stuart Highway, but that would mean retracing our drive from the highway to Uluru. We took the Mereenie Loop instead. The Mereenie Loop is a 200-kilometre unsealed road that runs north from Watarrka National Park, past Hermannsburg, and meets up with the sealed road to Alice on the edge of the West MacDonnell Ranges. It passes through Aboriginal land so you need to buy a permit. We bought ours from the Kings Canyon Lodge where the receptionist gave us a Mereenie Tour Pass booklet, a form to fill out and asked for $2.20. I must have looked surprised, because she smiled and confirmed the tiny fee. ‘I’ve had to train myself to say “Two dollars and twenty cents”,’ she said. “I used to say “Two twenty”, but people were having heart attacks because they thought I meant two hundred and twenty dollars.’ The Mereenie Loop travels through the country of Indigenous artist Albert Namatjira. When I was a kid in the 1970s, framed prints of his watercolours hung on the floral-papered walls of living rooms across the country.

I remember thinking their pastel shades of mauve and blue always seemed too delicate to be a true representation of the Red Centre but now I know better. The drive isn’t long and the road is usually well graded, although it’s not recommended for 2WD vehicles, caravans or trailers. Along the way, signs placed by people from the nearby Aboriginal communities warned us of particularly tricky sections of the road. It took us just a few hours to reach the turn-off to Hermannsburg and Palm Valley, where we camped overnight before continuing on to Alice Springs the next day. In the middle of the Mereenie Loop, as we came over a rise in the road, the country below us sang in hues of purple, yellow and green. The sky faded to white on the horizon and the light was hazy and diffused, making the scene look blurred. The white trunks of huge ghost gums glowed as if they were lit from the inside. It looked exactly like an Albert Namatjira painting. Find more off-the-beaten track adventures in 4WD Australia: 50 Short Getaways.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

A CAMPFIRE CASSEROLE

If campfire cooking could be given Michelin stars, it would be for the recipes in Katy Holder’s Hungry Campers Cookbook. This delicious casserole is surprisingly easy, and will frankly be the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted at a campsite.

BEEF, MUSHROOM, POTATO AND RED WINE CASSEROLE

Ingredients • 60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil or vegetable oil • 2 onions, chopped • 3 garlic cloves, crushed • 2–3 carrots, peeled and sliced • 2 tablespoons plain flour • ½ teaspoon ground cumin • 800 g–1 kg cubed beef blade steak • 250 ml (1 cup) red wine • 400 g tin chopped tomatoes • 3–4 large potatoes, roughly chopped • 3–4 field mushrooms, roughly chopped

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

Method 1

Heat the oil in a large camp oven or casserole dish on a grill rack over the fire. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened. Add the carrots and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the flour and cumin in a re-sealable snack bag or clean plastic bag and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the meat and shake it well to coat the beef cubes. Add to the dish, making sure it is on the hottest part of the fire, stirring for a few minutes until the meat is light brown on all sides.

Add the wine to the dish and bring to the boil, stir using a wooden spoon to scrape any bits stuck to the base of the dish. Cook for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes and a tin of water (use the tomato tin) and move to a cooler part of the fire away from direct heat. Cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes.

Add the potatoes and mushrooms to the dish and cook for 30–35 minutes. Stir everything around and let the potatoes break down in the sauce.

Remove from the fire and set aside for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning as desired, then divide the casserole between bowls and serve.

SERVES 4–6 Tip: You can make life at the campsite a bit easier by putting the flour and cumin in a large resealable snack bag before you leave home. Then, when you come to cook dinner at the campsite, you just need to put the cubes of meat into the bag and shake it in the pre-seasoned flour.

SPRING NATIONAL PARKS

Watch spring flower to life in the best seasonal national parks, where you’ll be able to do everything from hanging out in fields of wildflowers to canoeing down ancient rivers.

Finke Gorge National Park, Northern Territory Finke Gorge is one of the most spectacular national parks in the Northern Territory – and it’s only around two hours outside of Alice. The park’s most famous attraction is Palm Valley, where you’ll find the graceful shapes of red cabbage palms (Livistona mariae), a plant species that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The main activities in the park are bushwalking and four-wheel driving. But if you feel up to a more challenging and extended trek, you can head to the neighbouring MacDonnell Ranges National Park, where you can go bush walking on the mighty Larapinta Trail.

Fitzgerald River National Park, Western Australia Fitzgerald River National Park is something of a show off, with over 1800 types of plant species on display. In fact, the park’s flora – particularly its wildflowers – is so spectacular, the park has been labelled a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Spring is the best time to visit, with a variety of activities on offer to visitors. For naturalists, you can enjoy some birdwatching, or watch whales frolicking off the coast until the end of October. There are also a variety of walking tracks, plus excellent fishing and kayaking.

Grampians National Park, Victoria One of Victoria’s best-loved national parks, the Grampians bursts into a riot of colour over spring. This is celebrated by the Grampians Wildflower Show, held in Halls Gap in October. It’s hard to get bored in the Grampians. In between enjoying the flora and fauna (the Grampians are home to over a third of Victoria’s animal species), you can go

fishing, bikeriding, horseriding, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, walking or swimming. Quite simply, the Grampians rock.

Mount Remarkable National Park, South Australia Take a walk through Mount Remarkable National Park on South Australia’s epic Heysen Trail. On the track, you’ll discover just what makes this park so remarkable. Hint: it’s got something to do with the stunning array of wildlife and native plants. You’ll be kept so busy spotting everything, from kangaroos to possums and lace monitors that you might forget to watch where you’re walking. The national park is also home to plant species including a variety of wattles, blue gums, river red gums and orchids.

Wollemi National Park, New South Wales Wollemi National Park is a magical wilderness that was almost lost in time. The Wollemi Pine, a species previously thought to be extinct, was discovered here in 1994. And although the section of the park where the pines are found remains a closely guarded secret, this discovery, and the looming rocks and dense rainforest, makes the park feel like a prehistoric playground just waiting to be explored. Situated in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, the park is only a couple of hours from Sydney, and has plenty of activities to enjoy, from canoeing on the Colo River to birdwatching some of the 235 bird species in the park.

Discover more of Australia’s incredible national parks in Explore Australia’s National Parks.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

EAST VS WEST:

TWO OF THE BEST COASTAL DRIVES ON THE EAST AND WEST COASTS

Start your engines and take advantage of spring by going on a road trip. Lee Atkinson, author of Driving Holidays around Australia, reveals the two best road trips from the east and west coasts, so you can choose your preferred coastline.

Southern Highlands and Grand Pacific Drive, New South Wales Combine mountain and coastal scenery on this drive through the Southern Highlands south of Sydney and along Grand Pacific Drive, a cliff-hugging, breathtakingly scenic coastal route. Most people do the cliff section of the drive heading south, but in the spirit of saving the best to last, and because the views are better heading north, we’ve approached the bridge from the opposite direction. DISTANCES Total distance return from Sydney to Berry, via Moss Vale: 276km • Sydney to Moss Vale: 65km • Moss Vale to Berry: 55km • Berry to Wollongong: 60km • Wollongong to Sydney: 96km HOW LONG? An easy day drive from Sydney, or you can make a weekend of it driving through forgotten hinterland valleys and exploring the back roads of the Southern Highlands. For a shorter trip, drive straight to Wollongong via the Sea Cliff Bridge. WHEN TO GO Any time of year is a good time to do this drive, although the Southern Highlands can be cold in winter: during spring and autumn the Southern Highlands’ parks and gardens are beautiful. NEED TO KNOW Several sections of this drive are narrow and winding, particularly the drive down Barrengarry Mountain into Kangaroo Valley. If you suffer from travel sickness, take some medication before you set off.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

Train station at Berry

SYDNEY TO BERRY, VIA THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS From Sydney, head south along the Hume Motorway (M31), turn off at Mittagong and wind your way through the highland towns of Bowral and Moss Vale, stopping to browse the galleries, bookshops and antique stores. From Moss Vale take the Nowra Road up through the mountains to Fitzroy Falls in Morton National Park. Here you can stretch your legs on the short walk to the lookout above the dramatic waterfall that tumbles 82m to the floor of the ravine below. Continuing south, follow the sign to Manning Lookout to enjoy spectacular views over Kangaroo Valley, one of the state’s prettiest valleys. The road then descends through wild bushland, following a series of twists and turns down Barrengarry Mountain to reach the valley floor, before crossing historic Hampden Bridge. Stop for a swim at Flat Rock, at the end of Upper Kangaroo River Road, or have a picnic on the riverbank near the old hall in the village centre.

The Sea Cliff Bridge near Wollongong

It’s not far from here to Berry, home to countless B&Bs, guesthouses, boutiques, antique shops and cafes.

BERRY TO WOLLONGONG Continue east to hit the coast at Kiama and check out the blowhole in the rocky point below the lighthouse. Wollongong, the third largest city in New South Wales and a major coal, iron and steel producer is, despite all that heavy industry, a very attractive place to spend a night. Explore the horseshoe-shaped cove of Wollongong Harbour, with its lighthouse, fishing fleet, fish markets and wonderful city beaches. Linger over coffee in one of the many cafes along the foreshore or stockpile some inner harmony at the eight-storey Nan Tien Buddhist Temple – the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere (180 Berkeley Rd, Berkeley; (02) 4272 0600; open Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; www.nantien.org.au).

WOLLONGONG TO SYDNEY, VIA GRAND PACIFIC DRIVE The Illawarra Escarpment tumbles into the sea just north of Wollongong and marks the beginning of the signposted section of Grand Pacific Drive, as the road follows the coastline north through a succession of seaside suburbs and villages. Grand Pacific Drive crosses the famous Sea Cliff Bridge between Clifton and Coalcliff.

Beyond the bridge, the road climbs through ferny forest above the beach to Stanwell Tops, high on the edge of the escarpment. Paragliders and hang-gliders soar on the thermals rising from the ocean below. On a clear day, you can see as far south as Wollongong and enjoy a great view of the route, over the Sea Cliff Bridge and the beaches beyond. Soon after Stanwell Tops, Lawrence Hargrave Drive turns west to join the Princes Motorway, which leads north to Sydney, but you should veer off to the right along Lady Wakehurst Drive. This winding, narrow road will take you through the heart of Royal National Park, the world’s second oldest national park, founded in 1879 (Yellowstone in the United States is seven years older). En route to Sydney’s southern suburb of Waterfall, the road winds through eucalypt forests, over windswept heathland and across low-level river weirs. Sidetracks spear off to beaches and lookouts and there are dozens of great picnic and swimming spots along the way. Being so close to Sydney, the park is a popular place on sunny weekends, when traffic snarls can be frustrating, but if you can time your drive for a weekday, you’ll pretty much have it to yourself.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

PERTH TO GERALDTON

Nature’s Window at Kalbarri National Park

Coral Coast, Western Australia Outback red-desert dunes meet astonishingly turquoise sea on this long stretch of coastline between Perth and Exmouth, an ancient landscape of coral reefs, gorges, cliffs and startling rock formations. Ningaloo Reef is every bit as magnificent as Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef and has the added advantage that it is one of the few places in the world where you can actually walk straight from the beach to the coral, as well as being home (April to early July) to amazing whale sharks. DISTANCES Total distance from Perth to Exmouth: 1696km • Perth to Cervantes: 200km • Cervantes to Geraldton: 223km • Geraldton to Kalbarri: 155km • Kalbarri to Monkey Mia: 399km • Monkey Mia to Carnarvon: 354km • Carnarvon to Exmouth: 365km

There aren’t many places in Australia where you can see the sea from the middle of the desert, but the Pinnacles, near Cervantes, is one. Thousands of huge limestone pillars rise out of a stark landscape of yellow sand in Nambung National Park, around 245km (three hours’ drive) north of Perth via the Indian Ocean Drive (State Route 60). The Pinnacles are 17km south of Cervantes, just one of several postcard-perfect seaside towns on the Indian Ocean Drive. With the new road linking Lancelin and Cervantes, you don’t have to leave the coast until you get to Geraldton (223km north of Cervantes) and it’s one of the best coastal road trips in the country. Don’t miss the National Trust–protected village of Greenough, 24km south of Geraldton, a collection of 11 restored buildings including a gaol, courthouse, police station, churches, and a school in what was once a vibrant country town but is now a ghost town – albeit a very solidly built one.

GERALDTON TO KALBARRI

HOW LONG? Allow at least a week, one way. If you don’t have time to do the whole trip, just do the Indian Ocean Drive from Perth to Geraldton for beautiful coastal scenery.

From Geraldton, it’ll take around two hours to get to Kalbarri. Spear off Highway 1 at Northampton and follow the coastal route via Port Gregory and Hutt Lagoon, a pink salt lake. If you’re arriving in Kalbarri at sunset you’re in for a treat. Along the coast, wind and wave erosion have exposed layers of coastal cliffs that rise more than 100m above the ocean. From Red Bluff, on the southern outskirts of town, the extensive views encompass colourful coastal limestone and sandstone ledges, which are at their best in the late afternoon as they glow in the setting sun.

WHEN TO GO Exmouth is dry and warm virtually all year – perfect beach weather. Almost all the region’s scarce rain falls during the winter months. Whaleshark season is between April and early July. Wildflower season is July to November.

Kalbarri, a fishing settlement at the mouth of the Murchison River, is an ideal place to spend a few days in the winter sun, splashing in the shallows on the town’s river beach, but it’s the gorges and cliffs of the national park that surrounds the town that are the main attraction.

NEED TO KNOW Between early July and late November the coastal plains burst into bloom with more than 800 species of Western Australian native wildflowers. Get the latest wildflower news from the locals at www.australiascoralcoast.com, which has a regularly updated wildflower hot spot page.

The most photographed of all the sights in Kalbarri National Park is Nature’s Window, around 26km northeast of the town. Nature’s Window is a natural rock arch that perfectly frames the upstream view, and has become a must-have photo for travellers to the area. About 11km down the road, another star attraction is the Z-Bend, a Z-shaped gorge cut deep into the rock by the river.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

KALBARRI TO MONKEY MIA Heading north from Kalbarri, it will take around three hours to get to Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, one of only two places in the world where you will find marine stromatolites – ancient ‘living fossils’. The stromatolites rise up to 1.5m high and because they grow very slowly a 1-metre-high stromatolite could be about 2000 years old. A few kilometres down the road is remarkable Shell Beach, which is made up of millions of tiny coquina shells and is one of only two such beaches in the world. It stretches for approximately 110km and is up to 10m deep. When the first European settlers arrived in the area building materials were scarce, but they soon found that compacted coquina shells could be made into blocks. Several buildings still standing in Denham are built from these blocks. The most westerly town in Australia, Denham began life as a pearling port (locals tell stories of streets kerbed with pearl shell, though that could be an urban myth), but it is now better known for its prawn and crayfish industry. Denham is opposite Dirk Hartog Island, the first place that Europeans visited on the mainland. Captain Dirk Hartog arrived on the Eendracht on 25 October 1616, announcing his arrival by nailing an inscribed pewter plate to a wooden post at the site now known as Cape Inscription. You can learn all about the early exploration of the area, and the World Heritage status of the bay, at the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery Centre. It’s a fascinating museum, with interactive displays and a replica of Hartog’s Plate. (53 Knight Tce, Denham; (08) 9948 1590; open Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat–Sun 10am–4pm.) Around 400 bottlenose dolphins live in the waters of Shark Bay near Monkey Mia, and most mornings several of them drift into the shallows to be hand-fed by scores of eager tourists, as they have been since 1964, when a woman from one of the nearby fishing camps befriended the dolphins and began feeding them. This is one of the few places in Australia where dolphins visit daily, not seasonally, and, unlike most dolphin encounters, this one costs nothing. But the dolphins are not the only attraction of this World Heritage–listed marine park. Turtles are frequently seen in the bay and it is also home to around 10,000 dugongs (around 10 per cent of the

world’s dugong population), which feed on Shark Bay’s massive meadows of seagrass.

MONKEY MIA TO EXMOUTH It’s a long haul from Monkey Mia to Exmouth, around 700km, so break the journey at Carnarvon. The Carnarvon Heritage Precinct is a group of historic buildings near One Mile Jetty (no prizes for guessing how long it is). Built in 1897, the jetty is a tourist attraction and popular fishing spot; if you don’t feel like walking its length, you can take the cute ‘Coffee Pot’ train. In Coral Bay, 238km further north, you can walk straight from the beach out to Ningaloo Reef, which is great for novice snorkellers (but be aware of boats in the water). Ningaloo Reef is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks gather in large numbers close to the coast, coming here each year between April and early July to feed on abundant plankton. Despite their name, these massive but harmless fish are truly the gentle giants of the deep – they can measure up to 12m in length, with an adult whale shark weighing in at more than 15 tonnes and having a mouth more than 1m wide. Tours operate from both Coral Bay and Exmouth, and all employ spotter planes to help locate the huge fish. Because whale sharks swim near the surface, you don’t have to scuba dive to see them, just snorkel. But you do have to be pretty fit. Despite their massive bulk, whale sharks are fast swimmers and a tour involves lots of clambering in and out of the boat and sprint-like swims to keep up with mighty fish. It’s worth it, though: as you swim above or beside them, all else disappears and, even though there are a dozen or so other swimmers in the water with you, it feels like it’s just you and the whale shark. Forget all those other ‘100 things to do before you die’ lists. This is a special, awe-inspiring experience that everybody really should try to do at least once in their lives.

Discover more great driving holidays in Driving Holidays around Australia by Lee Atkinson.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

AUSTRALIA’S MOST ISOLATED ISLANDS

Do you want to get away from it all – and we mean, really get away from it all? When a regular beach holiday just won’t cut it, why not jet away to one of Australia’s most isolated islands and discover what their appeal is, apart from the distance.

Christmas Island

Cocos Keeling Islands

You don’t hear much about Christmas Island, apart from the detention centre located on the island. But over half of this small Australian territory around 2600km from Perth (it’s much closer to Indonesia than Australia) is national park, which protects what might, in other circumstances, be called an island paradise.

Joining Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, the Cocos Keeling Islands are like Australia’s version of the Maldives, a collection of small islands forming an atoll. And unlike Christmas Island, with its more controversial ties to immigration and mining, there’s nothing to mar your enjoyment here. You can participate in all of the activities you’d expect at a tropical paradise – swimming, snorkelling, diving, windsurfing, bird watching and island hopping – as well as some that are a bit more unexpected, like walking across the entire atoll at low tide on certain days.

Rising out of the ocean – Christmas Island is the top of an underwater mountain – much of the island is covered with tropical rainforest. The most famous residents of the island’s rainforest are the huge crabs. These crabs aren’t like the ones you see in tanks in Chinatown. Robber crabs, one of the prominent species on the island, can grow to be as big as rubbish bins. You don’t want to find yourself in the way when these crabs start their annual migration to the beaches for the mating season! If crabs aren’t really your bowl of seafood chowder, then Christmas Island offers great snorkelling, diving and fishing. The seas around the island are treacherous, and most areas of the island greet the sea with 20m-high cliffs, but there’s a selection of beaches with natural coves where you can safely swim. Oh, and the best thing about swimming here? The island is fringed by a coral reef, so the snorkelling is just offshore.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

Of the 27 islands that form that Cocos Keeling, only two are inhabited. Most people stay on West Island. From West Island, you can catch a ferry across to Home Island, home to the Cocos Malay people, where you try can some spicy Malay food or check out the museum.

King Island The island where dairy is king! King Island is famous for its cheeses, but there’s more to this island in the Bass Strait than its exports. Situated almost halfway between Tasmania and Victoria, King Island constantly braces itself against the Roaring Forties and has the shipwreck history

Ruins of a penal colony on Norfolk Island

to prove it. Luckily, the days of maritime disasters seem to be over, and you can take a self-guided shipwreck tour of the island. And if that doesn’t scare you off, there’s some world-class surfing spots you can try. What else is there to do on the island? Well, apart from take in the incredible natural environment, buy some cheese and eat some beef, you should relax and embrace island life.

Macquarie Island Just when you thought an Australian island couldn’t be more remote than the Cocos Keeling Islands, along comes Macquarie Island to burst that bubble. This Tasmanian State Reserve is halfway between the Australian mainland and Antarctica, around 1400km from Tasmania. So here’s the good news: Macquarie Island is a truly unique natural environment (so unique it’s on the World Heritage List), with dramatic cliffs and mountains crafted from volcanic rock, and is home to king and emperor penguins, seals and a magnificent seabird population.

The bad news is that the only humans who get to visit Macquarie Island do so as part of Australia’s Antarctic program. But if we were you, we’d think about signing up.

Norfolk Island From Australia itself, to Tasmania, to Cockatoo Island in Sydney – the early British inhabitants of Australia really liked using islands as prisons. And even though Norfolk Island was a difficult 1000km from the east coast of Australia, that didn’t stop the British from following their usual patterns and establishing Norfolk as a prison island, although the last prisoner was moved to Tasmania in 1855. The remains of the prison on the island are now heritage listed, and the island has shaken off the rest of its penal past. It’s now a delightful holiday retreat, complete with a friendly community and a tropical island feel.

SPRING HOLIDAYS GUIDE

TAKE A WALK ON THE WILDFLOWERS SIDE

It’s wildflower season in the Grampians, and there’s no better time to talk a walk on the wildflower side! Melanie Ball, author of the new walking book, Top Walks in Victoria, reveals her favourite short walk in the famous Grampians National Park.

Hollow Mountain Walk, Grampians National Park WALK: 3.1km return TIME REQUIRED: 2 hours BEST TIME: Any time but there is little protection up top in wild weather GRADE: Moderate ENVIRONMENT: Sandstone outcrop BEST MAP: This one TOILETS: Pit toilets at Hollow Mountain carpark FOOD: None – bring your own TIPS: Wear loose clothing or you might rip your pants asunder

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One of several walks in the northern Grampians, far from the crowd-pulling Wonderland area and Halls Gap, the short Hollow Mountain climb is just that: a climb, with pitches ranging from gentle to hand-over-hand up and little flat ground. Which is why children love it, often getting up and down at mountain-goat speed and with a sure-footedness that embarrasses (and sometimes terrifies) more cautious mature walkers. Lots of adults, however, can and do get to the top, but this walk is not recommended for anyone with vertigo or dodgy knees or who is uncomfortable clambering up rocks. The fun begins in Hollow Mountain carpark (where there are pit toilets), off unsealed Mt Zero Rd, about 36km north of Halls Gap via unsealed Mt Zero Halls Gap Rd. From the carpark the walking track heads south towards lumpy red-and-grey natural stonework. The Disney-esque brown-and-yellow orchids sometimes seen just near the carpark are leopard orchids, one of more than 900 indigenous flowers identified in the Grampians, 20 found nowhere else. The tiny cup-shaped white flowering shrub among the desert banksias along the first section of the walk, which in flower give the impression of a dusting of snow, are Grampians thryptomene.

View over the Grampians

Boulderers in the cavern

After a brief warm-up through thryptomene, grass trees, desert banksias and eucalypts, on a sandy track with occasional steps, the real climbing starts, initially up a rocky spine to the foot of a sandstone cliff, stained with iron and cracked and undercut by time. From here you clamber up, over and between great lumps of stone tucked against the leaning cliff. Navigating these giant stepping stones is when your clothes are most at risk, from ripping when stretching a leg or from rubbing on coarse stone if you’re more comfortable working up (and down) rocky slopes on your backside. Above here the going is easier but still far from flat. Stepping up the mountain’s rocky face brings you ever closer to a monumental wall of layered ochre rock, which is eventually right in front of you. To the left of the wall is a separate, massive cracked rock – or two rocks – at the base of which is a dark opening. This is the ‘hollow’ that gives the mountain its non-Aboriginal name (Hollow Mountain’s Indigenous name is Wudjub-Guyan or ‘spear in the middle’, so perhaps the cave is a gaping wound). From inside the cavern you get a fabulous view, framed by the cave mouth, of Mt Zero, another hill you can climb, and the Wimmera Plains, their rows of olive trees and fields of canola stretching to the horizon. Out of the cavern and around this rock to the left, you enter an often-windy stone-walled corridor leading to a sudden drop-off. From the edge you can see along the cliff and down to a rocky demise. Turning back, walk along the rock wall, passing the hollow rock and the track down to the carpark and following a trail of arrows painted on the rough stone. As you descend to the wall’s end, look left and you’ll see sky through a window in the wall. You might also see

silhouetted figures, often hanging upside down from the ceiling. These are not bats! They’re boulderers, mostly young men and women who rock climb without ropes, seeming to defy gravity as they crab across walls and low ceilings of caves. Walkers in the Grampians often see groups of people to-ing and fro-ing from bouldering sites with climbing mats folded in half on their backs. Arrows lead around the end of the wall and up a rock slope with a crazy-paving pattern, past the entrance to the cave you looked through below (stopping to watch the boulderers gives you a good rest/drink stop). You might also see other groups of climbers working on stone overhangs further up. At the top of the rock slide the track loops left and up more rocky tiers. Up top, 300m above the carpark and well clear of any protective trees, the rock has been – and continues to be – worked by wind and water into extraordinary shapes, often with sharp edges, and hollowed to depressions that collect rainwater that reflects the sky. The Mt Difficult Range (which has more great walks) reaches to the south of you; to the west and north are plains. From here you retrace your steps, around the wall, down the natural shelving and over the boulders, for a cruise back through a sea of thryptomene.

Discover more feet-first adventures in Top Walks in Victoria.

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