Avalook at Australia News

Issue Number 14, 21 June 2000

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ISSN 1443-0797

Editors: Eric Lindsay and Jean Weber
info@avalook.com.au

In this issue...

Queensland gemfields
Queensland road conditions
Bushwalking, hiking, trekking clubs
What's the weather in various parts of Australia?
Catch the ferry to Tasmania
More tours to Lake Eyre
Ocean and river fishing in North Queensland
Global positioning system (GPS) waypoints
Subscription information

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Queensland gemfields

One of the first trips we're planning is to the gemfields of central Queensland. The towns have names like Emerald, Sapphire, and Rubyvale. If you'd like to find out about the gemfields, try these sites:

http://www.queensland-holidays.com.au/central_queensland/index.cfm

http://www.action-graphics.com.au/bruce/town_pages/gemfields/gemfieldsintro.html

http://www.holidaynq.com.au/Gemfields/GemFields/sapphire-rubyvale.html

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Queensland road conditions

Our travel destinations will depend a lot on the state of the roads. The extended wet season has kept many roads closed even to 4WD vehicles, and we're not yet confident enough to tackle any tricky conditions.

In issue 11, we listed websites for road condition reports in several states. For road conditions in Queensland, check:

http://www.racq.com.au/framesets/0_journey_roadreport.htm

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Bushwalking, hiking, trekking clubs

Whatever you may call this activity, here are some sites that might be of interest: A long list of bushwalking clubs, plus lots of other related information, are on the Bushwalking in Australia site:

http://www.bushwalking.org.au/

The Tablelands Walking Club, the Atherton Tableland (North Queensland) based club's newly updated website, with upcoming walks and trips detailed, is here:

http://www.cyberwizards.com.au/~killers

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What's the weather in various parts of Australia?

The Bureau of Meteorology site has all the information you need:

http://www.bom.gov.au/

For temperature and rainfall averages, go directly to:

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/

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Catch the ferry to Tasmania

From mainland Australia, you can fly or take a ferry to the state of Tasmania. If you want to take a car with you, you'll definitely want to take the ferry. It has sleeping compartments as well as cheaper seats (though staying in your car or camper is, I believe, not allowed). Spirit of Tasmania ferry details are given at:

http://www.tt-line.com.au/spirit.htm

Choose from the links in the top frame: Sailing Schedule, Fares, and so on.

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More tours to Lake Eyre

Last issue I mentioned one company running air tours to Lake Eyre. A reader wrote to suggest the following company, which does not appear to have a website: Dick Lang's Desert-Air Safaris, located in the Adelaide suburb of Highbury, phone 08 8264 7200

Another company advertising flights is based in Charleville, Queensland. This group says it does "personalised" tours to Lake Eyre and outback Queensland, including Birdsville, Longreach, Carnarvon Gorge, and other areas.

http://www.outbackairtours.com

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Ocean and river fishing in North Queensland

We're not all that interested in fishing (though we love eating the catch), but many of our friends enjoy the sport, and people do come from all over the world to catch some of Australia's great fish. If you're at all interested, this site looks good:

http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/

They have charter and guided fishing packages to numerous places in the Cairns and Cape York areas, including Weipa (for barramundi), Seisia, Hinchinbrook Island, and the Tully River, as well as open water fishing for marlin, sailfish, yellowfin, reef fish and others. If you're keen on fishing, you'll probably find this associated site of interest too:

http://www.fishingthetropics.com.au/

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Global positioning system (GPS) waypoints

We're collecting GPS waypoints for the areas we're travelling to, but it looks like we're going to have to establish many of them ourselves. At least the GPS is one gadget that isn't "out of range" in the outback -- one time we picked up 12 satellites!

For Australian waypoints away from major cities, try the Australian Geographic Place Names (Gazetteer):

http://www.auslig.gov.au/mapping/names/natgaz.htm

For other waypoint information, visit the SwopNet Waypoint DataBank, which has moved to:

http://www.swopnet.com/waypoints

Its compiler says, "I'm always looking for more waypoints. If you have a file of waypoints, please either email it to me for posting or let me know where it is posted so I can put a pointer to it." -- Miles Abernathy, miles@mail.utexas.edu

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