Beware Swooping Magpies

Heed this warning!!! Taken in Barossa valley South Australia.

Australia's Massive Distances - Birdsville

Some of the signs here always amuse me with how far away they sign places.
This one shows just how remote Birdsville in the outback desert really is.

Although when you here about inexperienced travellers wanting to see the whole lot in 3 weeks perhaps you can understand.
This isn't the biggest I have seen here - on the Warrego Hwy out of Brisbane there is a sign for Darwin - 3437 kms! Can anyone beat that? I am interested.

Famous old Hotel - Birdsville

This hotel is an outback icon, Birdsville is famous for it's races held in September. This hotel for that one day must be the busiest in Australia. For a town with a pop of 120 that is pretty good going!

Bum Burners in Hahndorf - German Village

When we saw this we just laughed out loud. Hahndorf is not far from Adelaide and is a German style town. Sausages are a popular delicacy.

Explosive Road Train - Nullarbor

This slightly scary truck was parked up just as we were about to embark on the long trek across the Nullarbor. We snapped this out of the car window.

Underground Hotel - White Cliffs

White Cliffs is a strange town, it only exists because Opals are found there. People there live underground to avoid the summer heat - it stays a constant 21 degrees. We just had to stay in the hotel - very quiet compared to all the camping!

Crocodile Warning Sign - Kakadu National Park

This was our first real warning of the large Saltwater Crocodile. Pretty scary to think that you can't walk down the road as you may be eaten!
Needless to say we drove!

The Tip, Cape York

I know, I know....

Daily photo and I missed a day! Apologies to you all. I am posting 2 today to make up for it *Grovel Grovel*

The most northern point of the Australian Mainland is in Cape York Queensland and is a pretty spectacular place.

Here we have a picture of the sign and the view from the cliff.

The sign unfortunately has been vandalised and stolen. I am not sure if a new one has replaced it yet?

Time zone change road sign

Here's something you don't see every day. This is an international time zone change but with a slight difference... The town for which this sign is for falls within a state that observes a different time zone. To explain Broken Hill is in New South Wales which is GMT +10 but it observes South Australia time which is GMT +9.5

We passed this sign a couple of times and had to keep changing our watch!
The shot was taken on the move... This explains the blur in the image.

Outback Freight Train - Tom Price

Good morning readers, today's image is from a plcae called Tom Price in northern Western Australia. It is not a big town and owes it's existence to mining as do many of the inland outback towns. I am not a train spotter.. but I like this shot of the train emerging from the hills, it evokes thoughts of where this train is going and what the driver will see on his way across the outback.

Spirit of Tasmania Ferry

This is the ferry from the Prot of Melbourne, Victoria over to Devonport in Tasmania. We took the 4x4 over with us and I thought the fare was reasonable. The journey takes 9 hours and we did an overnight run without the benefit of a cabin. Instead we had to sleep in what I can only descride as airplane chairs! Needless to say we were up early the next day watching the sun rise! I have a picture for a later date, stay tuned ;)

Wine Barrels - Barossa Valley, South Australia

The Barossa is a famous Red Wine growing region north of Adelaide in South Australia. I found some great Shiraz here and one in particular has become a firm favourite. Wine tasting in the Barossa is on my list of must do things in Australia. Penfolds was a particular highlight.

Wildlife Warning, Crossing the Nullarbor

This interesting collection of wildlife can be driven into/run over on the Eyre Highway crossing the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia.
The Animals are Camel, Kangaroo (Obviously) and Wombat. Why the decision to put the exact distance of 92kms and not just a round 100kms is a question I would like the answer to!

Warning Sign - Great Ocean Road

I don't want the amusing signs to become a theme day (partly because I don't have that many!), but I do want to try and make Friday's image funny or interesting in some way. Here is one that made us smile on the Great Ocean Road, it speaks for itself really and makes you realise how many tourists visit this area. To need a sign means people must be on the wrong side of the road pretty often!

Parliament of Victoria - Melbourne

This Grand old building sits in Spring Street on the outskirts of Melbourne's city centre. The building was started in 1855 and was completed in stages in 1929. We liked Melbourne a lot and I think the thing that stood out the most was the history and old buildings that are still prominent there.

Funny Warning Sign

As it is Friday I thought I would post an amusing picture. Here is a sign we saw on the Great Ocean Road near a camp spot. We thought "This guy is having a bad day!"

Dead Horse Gap - What's in a name?

This is a bit of a depressing name...
Dead Horse Gap is in the Snowy Mountains and is so called because wild horses can become trapped up here in a snow storm and perish :-(
This is one of the highest places in Australia that has a road to it. We drove up for a look around and the views were awesome. I really like the deep blue sky in this shot.

White Cliffs Budget Accommodation....!

In Whitecliffs, New South Wales we were looking for somewhere to stay and drove passed this nice looking place. What do you think?

Botany Bay - A New World...

This sign is located in Botany Bay near Sydney and speaks for itself really!

Captain James Cook mapped the whole east coast of Austraila in 1770 and claimed the area for the British Empire. He also helped  to give names to many places up the coast, including Cooktown, Botany Bay and the interesting Seventeen Seventy (1770).

If you are interested in the full history lesson it can be found here - Captain Cook - Wikipedia

For me it was a reminder of how young this country is...

Super Size - Australian Road Train

In a supersized country you need move a lot of things at once to keep the number of long trips down.
One way of doing this is the famous Australian Road Train. Here I caught a Shell one at an outback fuel station. Not sure what his superiors at Shell would say about him filling up at Mobil :-)

This image is now available for purchase at my store Image Australia