{"id":4,"date":"2011-07-12T02:20:57","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T16:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/?p=4"},"modified":"2015-08-03T17:06:05","modified_gmt":"2015-08-03T07:06:05","slug":"explore-australias-natural-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/explore-australias-natural-wonders\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore Australia&#8217;s Natural Wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- 468x60, created 10\/05\/08 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:468px;height:60px\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5161388013621688\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"9675697543\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>When it comes to natural wonders, Australia has more than its fair share. For a start there\u2019s the Great Barrier Reef, Australia\u2019s Red Centre with Uluru \u2013 or Ayers Rock \u2013 as its centrepiece.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 215px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/af\/16\/napp\/show\/Bundle_detail.htm?id=62\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Australia Adventure \" src=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/napp\/showimage\/bun_75\" alt=\"Australia Adventure holiday brochures\" width=\"205\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking for a great bundle of brochures on Australia Adventure holidays? Well, we have the Top 4 travel brochures on Australia Adventure holidays for you \u2013 absolutely free! Click to order them now. <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Elsewhere there is dramatic coastal wilderness and islands teaming with wildlife. Inland there are the snow-capped Australian Alps and Outback areas of raw natural beauty, like the craggy Flinders Ranges in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/af\/16\/napp\/show\/Bundle_detail.htm?id=72\" target=\"_blank\">South Australia<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/af\/16\/napp\/show\/Bundle_list.htm?id=40\" target=\"_blank\">The Kimberley<\/a> in Western Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Australia is blessed with huge areas of ancient rainforest and world famous wetlands like Kakadu National Park. There is even a World Heritage-listed area on Sydney\u2019s doorstep, in the shape of the Greater Blue Mountains, a vast stretch of ferns, canyons, waterfalls and forest, as well as cosy villages.<\/p>\n<p>While there are major areas of natural significance all over Australia there are smaller pockets scattered everywhere too.<\/p>\n<p>One memorable place you might come across as you drive north from  Sydney along the coast is Hundred Acre Swamp. People tend to make a lot  of claims that don\u2019t stand up but when Dennis Ryan tells you he has the  \u201cbest backyard in Australia\u201d you can easily believe him. His 110-acre  property backs onto one of the most important wetlands in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>This once remote area of tidal marshland and estuary connects up to  the Nambucca River, just west of Macksville, on the scenic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/af\/16\/napp\/show\/Bundle_detail.htm?id=73\" target=\"_blank\">New South  Wales<\/a> mid-north coast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandfather spent most of his life trying to drain it, to make  this area more European,\u201d Dennis says, as the canoe paddle dips into the  shallow, tannin-stained water. \u201cHe used a shovel and an axe to make  floodgates and miles of drains, but luckily for me and the wildlife he  failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 215px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/af\/16\/napp\/show\/Bundle_detail.htm?id=45\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Australia Groups\" src=\"http:\/\/www.travelbrochures.com.au\/napp\/showimage\/bun_45\" alt=\"Australia Group Tours\" width=\"205\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking for a great bundle of brochures on Australian holidays? Well, we have the Top 3 travel brochures on Australian holidays for you \u2013 absolutely free! Click to order them now. <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Today, the 180-acre waterway is home to some 117 species of bird,  including jabirus, egrets, flycatchers and azure kingfishers. More than  400 black swans nest here, ospreys keep watch from a giant ironbark tree  and the water teems with prawns and native fish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn Aboriginal  friend of mine talked me into doing canoe tours,\u201d Dennis says. \u201cHe  reckoned I had to show people if I wanted to save the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dennis and his wife Marilyn bought the former cattle farm from his  uncle in 1989, and renamed it Valley of the Mist. \u201cSome afternoons, when  it finishes raining, a cloud forms over the wetlands beneath the  trees,\u201d Dennis continues.<\/p>\n<p>The Ryans abandoned the cows and crop chemicals and started growing  native Australian fruits using sustainable methods. He now runs bush  tucker tasting tours, as well as canoe trips.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are just seven canoe trips a week,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t want it  to turn into simply tourism. I want it to remain special. We use the  wildlife and the wetlands as much as they use us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A typical journey sees you paddling past tiny islands of reeds and  stunted saplings. Some islands are so small that they can only support a  single bush. The wetland is so shallow that the canoe\u2019s hull cuts  through the pondweed.<\/p>\n<p>Birds call from all directions and dozens of ducks take off in a  noisy flurry of beating wings. At one point you might see eighty black  swans glide by and later hundreds of flycatchers darting across the  surface, picking insects out of the air.<\/p>\n<p>Back on dry land Dennis shows visitors around the wetland\u2019s swampy  edge, pointing out various trees and shrubs and stopping occasionally to  crush a leaf or inspect a seed head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mum spoke the local Aboriginal dialect,\u201d says Denis. \u201cShe learnt  it as a kid. Years ago, in autumn, the Aboriginal women would come when  the paperbark trees were in flower. It was the time of the mullet run.  My grandmother traded with them for bush medicine. We\u2019ve been using it  ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He still boils up tea tree leaves for coughs and colds, and uses native leaves on abrasions and ulcers.<\/p>\n<p>A cork wood tree grabs his attention. \u201cThe Aborigines used to grind  up the bark and put it in the water,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cIt made the fish  unconscious. It was used in eye surgery as well, to collapse the muscles  in the face. I made pocket money collecting it as a kid. The leaves  were sent to France for the chemist to extract the chemicals, until it  was synthesised in the 60\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He moves on to a clump of sedge. The local Aboriginal women used to  collect the tiny brown seeds and grind them up to make bread. Then there  is the lilly pilly tree. Aborigines would crush the leaves and boil  them along with the seeds and bark \u201cto prevent diabetes\u201d Dennis says.<\/p>\n<p>Of the many pockets of natural significance along the south coast of  New South Wales is Montague Island, near the pleasant town of Narooma.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands  of Humpback and Southern Right whales pass Montague Island each year on  their migration route between Antarctica and the warmer northern  Australian waters. Sometimes you can spot killer whales, minke whales,  fin whales, sei whales and pilot whales around here too. Whale-watching  boat trips are popular around here, as they are up and down both the  New South Wales and Western Australian coastlines.\u00a0 You can even stay in  the island\u2019s lighthouse.<\/p>\n<p>More than 1,000 Australian fur seals live around its rocky shore  along with a small colony of New Zealand fur seals. Thousands of pairs  of little penguins make their home in burrows on the island. Other  species of sea birds and song birds nest here too.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent \u2013 in Western Australia \u2013  a trip from Perth in spring means you have the chance to see one of the  most amazing wild flower spectacles on the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Western Australia\u2019s wildflowers are legendary. In some years, after a  good season of rain, vast swathes of everlasting daisies colour the  arid lands. But for more predictable wildflower displays, you don\u2019t have  to travel far out of the city.<\/p>\n<p>On the first day of your coastal journey north from Perth you can dip  into three national parks. Off the main road the country is clouded  with feathery-white smoke bush. Emus dart past with flurries of chicks,  cockatoos squawk overhead, kangaroos graze sleepily, and giant  wedge-tailed eagles sit on passing fence posts.<\/p>\n<p>The sand plains are choked with wildflowers, an intricate palate of  reds, blues, yellows and whites.\u00a0 Western Australia\u2019s wildflowers are  usually at their best from late July to early November and include  miniscule everlasting daisies, carnivorous sundews that feed on ants and  trigger plants \u2013 tiny things that flick a package of pollen onto the  back of a fleeing insect.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s the big things or the small things, this remarkable continent will amaze you at every turn.<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Marc Llewellyn on behalf of Tourism Australia. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.australia.com\" target=\"_blank\"><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Tourism Australia\" src=\"http:\/\/www.media.australia.com\/images\/TAlogo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"42\" \/><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to natural wonders, Australia has more than its fair share. For a start there\u2019s the Great Barrier Reef, Australia\u2019s Red Centre with Uluru \u2013 or Ayers Rock \u2013 as its centrepiece. Elsewhere there is dramatic coastal wilderness and islands teaming with wildlife. Inland there are the snow-capped Australian Alps and Outback areas &hellip; <a class=\"read-excerpt\" href=\"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/explore-australias-natural-wonders\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,12,11],"tags":[5,4,6,7],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-new-south-wales","category-northern-territory","category-south-australia","tag-indigenous","tag-nature","tag-outback","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldadventurer.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}