Sightseeing in Australia - 6

When I arrived in Adelaide for the first time 2007, I never expected to see pink spring blossoms and a bounty of lush green grass - South Australia after all, is one of the driest places in Australia. But up in the Adelaide Hills, things are a little different - cooler for a start - and just twenty minutes from Adelaide City, you'll find plenty of vineyards, wineries, farmlands and artist studios. not to mention cute little villages with names like Birdwood, Stirling, Hahndorf and Lobethal. I took this photograph in one of the small towns we passed through. This commanding tower belongs to one of the buildings of the University of Ballarat, in the city of Ballarat, Victoria. Founded in 1870, it's the third oldest centre of higher learning in Australia. Over 25,000 students attend courses in a number of different campuses. This building is right in the heart of the city and I was so busy walking backwards so I could fit the whole tower in my camera lens, that I tripped on a doorstep behind me and just about concussed myself on the massive stone wall of another old architectural beauty - of which Ballarat has a bounty. It was while I was driving to Ballarat in 2010, that I passed through the cute little town of Creswick, 18km north of Ballarat and 129km northwest of Melbourne. I HAD to stop. There were so many divine old limestone buildings begging to be photographed - many of them a legacy of the town's early wealth. Named after the three Creswick brothers, who started a large sheep station in the area in 1842, it was at its peak during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s. It had a population of 25,000 back then.

I visit Daylesford often - every time I visit Victoria in fact, because it's not too far from Woodend (an hour north of Melbourne) where I usually stay with family. Daylesford is to Melbourne what Akaroa is to Christchurch, and Waiheke is to Auckland - the perfect weekend getaway, close enough to be convenient and far enough away to be 'of a different world.' Every weekend it's packed with incoming BMWs, Porches, Mercedes and the like and the many classy boutique accommdations and designer stores do a roaring trade. Today it's known as Victoria's Spa Town - which probably originated from the fact that nearby Hepburn Springs (a small village to the north), has long been renowned for its natural spring mineral spas. If you're visiting Melbourne, it's well worth making an overnighter to Daylesford as they also have great markets, cafes and restaurants. The photograph above is of one of their terrific old Aussie pubs.

Sightseeing in Australia - 5

You're never short of a photo opportunity when you stand anywhere near the Flinders Street Railway Station in central Melbourne. The place pulsates with people and the building itself is stunning (if you click on Flinders Railway Station below, you can see other shots of the station). I usually park myself somewhere in Federation Square, opposite the station and people-watch for a few hours. A Buzzard's Nest Cunnamulla Southeast Queensland Outback 2008. A street scene showing off some of the fine architecture of Bendigo, Victoria. November 2009

A man after my own heart - people watching with a camera.

He's lying on the lawn below the new Melbourne Age building (click on The Age Melbourne below to see the building)

just across from the Swanston Street Railway Station. Central Melbourne, 2010.

Sightseeing in Australia - 4

I'd hate to count the number of hours I've spent walking the streets of inner city Melbourne with my camera. I visit at least once a year and regardless of the weather, I find endless inspiration in the people, the buildings, the colour, the movement - it never stops. It's easy, it;s familiar - yet at the same time, different enough from New Zealand to be endlessly interesting to me. I usually stay at the small commuter town of Woodend, an hour north of Melbourne on the main train commute. From there, I either train into the city, or I leap in the car and drive for miles and miles and miles, around rural Victoria, exploring the many small towns and villages along the way. Some days, when Victoria winds up the temperature, it can be an arduous business - but nothing air conditioning or a wound-down car window can't fix These Aboriginal shields were part of a stunning display at the Museum of South Australia in Adelaide. I spent a long time here and had time permitted, I would have made a return visit.

I photographed this local couple outside the Eulo Queen, an old hotel in the tiny town of Eulo in the southwest Queensland outback. I was on my way to the opal mines at Yowah and stopped off for a short sprint around town, a natter with a few of the locals and a peek inside this historic hotel.

Sightseeing in Australia - 3

This, people, is the famous Hanging Rock of the book and movie fame, "Picnic at Hanging Rock." It's located close to the Victorian town of Woodend, about an hour north of Melbourne, that I visit every year to see family. While the story in 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' is fictional, there is definitely something about this place - or maybe it's because I found it hard to separate the fiction from the fact. Either way, the first time I visited, I kept walking around and up the mysterious rocky outcrop half expecting to see the ghosts of schoolgirls. The school that features in the story by the way, is based on a real school not too far from the rock. Today there's a large domain here - and a racecourse - and it's a popular family picnic spot, complete with numerous quite tame kangaroos that hang about. Back in 2008, I took part in a camel wagon trek in the Southeast Queensland Outback area, in and around the tiny outback town of Cunnamulla. It was the beginning of one of my best trips to Australia. I've written about the trek several times already on this blog (put Cunnamulla, outback or camels into the search box for more) so I won't prattle on about it again - other than to say, if you ever get the chance to get into the Outback don't miss it. It's where you get to meet the 'real' Australians, the ones who have taken that vast, ruthless land and tried to tame it for their own - and their country's ends. It's an endless battle of wits, stamina and hard labour that breeds a special kind of crazy, raw, hilarious bunch of people that I loved.

When I visited Brisbane last - also 2008 - I was stunned to see how the city had grown since my previous visit. Construction was in full swing and there were cranes at work all over the city. There was a very positive vibe about the place that I found quite energising - and fresh out of the Outback, I was a little dazed and awestruck by both the vast numbers of people and dwellings. I can't imagine how the city must look now, after the recent devastating Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi's aftermath, but hopefully, the resilience of those Queenslanders will have the place looking bright and sparkly again soon. It's not as though they're strangers to the tyranny of weather after all.

Adelaide 2007 - another terrific trip. I'd heard so much about Adelaide for so many years, I never knew what to expect. But I adored the place. It's such an easy city to get around. It's small and very very cosmopolitan. Factor in its proximity to vast wine regions, the Adelaide Hills and the stunning Fleurieu Peninsula and there's every reason to put it near the top of your Australian Must-Visit list.

Sightseeing in Australia - 2

Interior: The Eulo Queen, Eulo, Outback, Southwest Queensland, 2008.

One of my best Aussie adventures yet, took me to the Outback region of Southwest Queensland - ten days of unbridled madness and fun. Outback life is raw, rugged and rough - a fantastic place where people pitch together in their battle against the trying forces of nature. Snake-handler. Kyneton, Victoria, 2008. For New Zealanders, there is a wonderful familiarity about a lot of Australia, yet that's always offset by significant differences - like snakes for instance! I took this shot at the annual Kyneton Country Fair, the equivalent of our A&P Shows I expect.

Bendigo, Victoria, 2009 I drove up to Bendigo one day when I was staying just north of Melbourne. It was - or is normally - a two-hour trip but I stopped at every little town and village I passed along the way. And the closer I got to Bendigo, the hotter it got, so that when I finally arrived around midday, it was 39-degrees and I was sweltering. But I adored Bendigo. It was one of Australia's richest cities during the gold rush and that early wealth is reflected in much of the astonishing architecture.

Adelaide Hills, Adelaide, South Australia, 2007.

I flew over to Adelaide with a photographer in 2007, on a writing mission for Air New Zealand's magazine, Kia Ora. It was a brilliant 5-6 days spent exploring the city, nearby Adelaide Hills and the magnificent Fleurieu Peninsula. I'd heard a great deal about Adelaide in the year's prior, mostly that the city was designed by the same urban planner who designed the layout for Christchurch; and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Sightseeing in Australia

Brisbane, Queensland. 2008

I Love Australia!

Every part of it.

Everything about it.

Castlemaine, Victoria , 2009.

Tired of long haul flights to Europe and North Asia, I have, these past four or five years, devoted at least one trip a year to some part of Australia. I've visited many times prior to that of course, but I see it differently now - not just as a quick jaunt across the Tasman to something familiar but as a vast country that most New Zealanders (and many Australians) never see anything but a minute portion of. So I have been making it my business to move beyond the obvious east coast cities and venture out into the wider country. Suffice to say, that in the last five years, I have already amassed thousands of photographs taken in various parts of Australia - there are even more thousands on slide film that I have yet to digitise.

Cunnamulla, Outback, Southwest Queensland, 2008. Melbourne, Victoria. 2009. So, rather than leaving them tucked away in my computer files, I've decided to give some of them an airing in a new blog series "Sightseeing in Australia." It's going to be a mixed bag. People, places, the weird and the wonderful. Consider it a mini sightseeing trip. And it begins here. And if anything interests you, click on the location in the index line below the blog, because I guarantee you'll find more.