Narrabeen is a beachside suburb of Sydney, perched midway between cosmopolitan Manly and the uber-rich hangout of Palm Beach. Known more for its famous surf breaks, immortalised in the lyrics to the Beach Boys sixties summer hit 'Surfin USA', it has a sleepy feel, which suits me just fine, as this is my favourite part of Sydney, and is where I have chosen...

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Seeing the Hoodoo Gurus at the Bristol Locarno was one of my first ever gigs. No checking of ID’s ensured I could sneak into the 18+ venue on a school night and hang off the balcony listening to an aural barrage of guitar, bass and drums. I had no idea how loud a gig could be.  ...

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Heading back to Kunanurra from Halls Creek, I stopped at Turkey Creek (also known as Warmun). Great for refueling, getting a snack or even sleeping in a cabin at the Roadhouse. It is also where you can drive in the Bungle Bungle range in the Purnulu National park. Just saying 'The Bungle Bungles' out loud is fun, natural alliteration, and throws up fond childhood...

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The road to the crater was shocking. It had been flattened by a bulldozer but the recent rains meant it was like driving over corrugated cardboard, with lots of little channels formed from the rain water. The whole car would vibrate terribly at slow speeds, which meant I had to drive at a fast 80 Km an hour, reducing the vibrations considerably. The...

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I heard about Wolfe Creek Crater on a holiday in Perth. I visited the exceptionally interesting Western Australian Museum and saw amongst the bits of crashed Skylab, gold nuggets and dinosaurs,  a display about the first expedition to Wolfe Creek crater in 1949, where a meteorite had crashed into the northern Tanami desert 300,000 years ago. It is the biggest and most recognisable...

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I needed a long walk. The beach walk from Nhulunbuy to Yirrkala is about 12 km. Some of it requires clambering up small rocky cliffs, but mostly it is on the fine white sand. I popped into the Police station first, just to tell them where I was going in case I got into difficulties and did not make it back on time....

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Groote Eylandt had always held a fascination for me. Maybe it was the exotic name ('Great Island' is the English translation from the name chosen by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644) or the fact it was so damn remote and hard to get to, a small island sitting in the middle of the Gulf Of Carpenteria. I had not paid much...

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I had never seen bauxite before, this is the red ore mined and then refined to make alumina. Bauxite is the reason that this part of East Arnhem Land is open to tourists (with the necessary permits) as the giant Rio Tinto strip mine is located there, along with a refinery, although the latter seems destined to close due to the high costs...

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One of Australia's far flung places is East Arnhem land. In the north eastern corner of the Northern Territory (NT), Aboriginal land since it was proclaimed as a reserve by the Australian Government in 1931, and off limits to tourists, except for a few places, such as Nhulunbuy (also known as Gove), on the coast. ...

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