Pubs in York… take a historic pub crawl!

England is well known for its historical pubs, some dating back to the middle ages. What better place to do a historic pub crawl than York?

As one of England’s most historical cities, there are plenty of pubs in York worth a visit.

Ye Olde Starre Inn at Stonegate is one of our favourite pubs in York. You can’t go any further than here for fantastic food, a great atmosphere and the time of your life. Not only that, but being the oldest pub in the city, Ye Olde Starre Inn holds real historical significance.

The Inn dates back to around 1644 – the time of King Henry VIII’s reign – and is the subject of many ghost stories. The Battle of Marston Moor was fought near York in the English Civil War and the Inn’s cellar was used as an operating room for the wounded. It is said their screams of pain can still sometimes be heard throughout the pub. Another interesting story is that of the two cats who were apparently bricked into the pillar between the door and the bar. It is said the cats can be heard scampering through the pubs and that dogs bark and hit their heads against the pillar trying to get to the cats.

Another pub in York that is of particular interest is the Kings Arms. This is one of if not the best known of the pubs in York. As you wander inside to the warm, friendly atmosphere take a moment to look around. As you are greeted by the smiling staff and a friendly open fire (in the colder months) you will notice the pub’s inside décor of stone and wood features plaques of water heights.

The Kings Arms is best known for its capacity to flood. Being located on the banks of the River Ouse, every time the river bursts its banks the famous York pub goes under water.

The Kings arms is one of the pubs in York that serves up a fantastic meal. Sit inside or outside and enjoy the view of the River Ouse and have a pint or two and a bite to eat.

York is noted for its wealth of pubs. York and the surrounding area is said to contain one pub for every day of the year, although this now probably a little exaggerated. It is said, with poetic licence, that there is no point within the city walls where one can stand and not be able to see at least one pub and at least one church. If you like English beer, head for one of the famous pubs of York.

by Kate Wiley

Mediaeval Butchers, cobbles and Elizabethan architecture… visit The Shambles in York

The Shambles is one of the most ancient streets in Europe. Dating back more than 900 years, the mediaeval street is mentioned in the Domesday Book under its Latin name, In Macello.

Also one of the most famous streets in Europe, The Shambles, York, is the destination of thousands of tourists from all over the world each year.

The laneway, with its cobbles and quaint buildings, is a near perfect example of mediaeval tudor architecture which today is home to hundreds of shops aimed at the city’s thriving tourism market.

The name “Shambles” comes from the Saxon “Fleshammels”, which means, “the street of the butchers”, for it was here that Yorks butchers market was located. Notice the wide window sills of the houses; the meat for sale was displayed here.
In the middle ages The Shambles would have been much different to the quaint street it is today. Waste would have lined the streets, both from the butchers and domestic, and cattle would have been kept and slaughtered for sale on site.

But in modern times walking down Yorks Shambles is like taking a step back in time to the Elizabethan period.

The buildings that seem to almost fight for space in the street overhang the laneway on the upper levels, sometimes so much so that two people could reach out of windows opposite each other and touch hands.

What was once mostly butcheries and houses are now home to shops selling everything you could imagine, making The Shambles one of the best shopping areas in York. Here you will find everything from high-class designer boutiques to shops selling alternative lifestyle products. Of course, there are also plenty of souvenir shops along The Shambles York…by Kate Wiley

York – Shambles History

An older term for a slaughterhouse is a “shambles”; there are streets named “The Shambles” in some English towns (e.g. Worcester, York) which got their name from having at some time been the location of a slaughterhouse. The Shambles in York is now a very popular destination, being a beautiful old street with overhanging timber-built shops, and it’s now occupied by souvenir shops instead of butchers. If you’re visiting York The Shambles is one street you shouldn’t miss seeing.

Great Keppel Island… Fun in the Sun!

Only 30 minutes drive from Rockhampton and a short boat ride from the beautiful Capricorn Coast lies Great Keppel Island.

A majestic mass of sand and sun, Great Keppel Island is home to a wide selection of native Australian wildlife. Eat lunch surrounded by dozens of beautiful, brightly coloured parrots and explore the island as the possums come out to play by night, scurrying close to you in the hope of a feed.

A range of accommodation is available on Great Keppel Island including a Contiki 18-35’s resort, cabins, camping, a youth hostel and beach houses.

On our most recent trip to Great Keppel Island we enjoyed exploring the 17 sandy white beaches by day, stopping during our walks to relax in the cool, clear waters of the ocean. Taking to the island’s walking tracks is a must do during your stay, with each track, all varying in difficulty, offering a unique perspective of the Island.

If you feel like getting your toes wet on one of Great Keppel Island’s two main beaches – Putney Beach and Fishermen’s Beach – a range of activities are available for your enjoyment including jet skiing, water skiing, tube rides, kayaking, surf skiing and snorkelling. If you want a bit more of an adrenalin rush why not try parasailing or a tandem sky dive?

Making the trip to Monkey Beach is well worth it if it’s coral viewing you’re after, or alternatively you can board the pontoon cruise which departs from Great Keppel Island most days.

By night Great Keppel Island is a place to party! If you feel like getting out there and letting loose put on your dancing shoes and head to The Waves Bar or Salt Nightclub at the Great Keppel Island Contiki 18-35’s resort. If a quiet drink in a relaxing background is more your style Keppel Haven is just a five minute walk from the resort and offers dining and a bar in a relaxed atmosphere.

Whether you want to relax, have a romantic weekend getaway or you want to party, if it’s sand and sun you’re after head to Great Keppel Island.

The birdies are big on this golf course
By Tony Walsh

A new addition to the sights and sounds on the 36 hole golf course at Rydges Capricorn Resort on the Central Queensland Coast is a pair of brolgas that has taken up residence on the fairways and greens. But the resident Golf Pro, David Roche is unfazed by the new addition to the animal kingdom.

“They are a beautiful, large bird and add another dimension to the extensive wildlife species that already call the resort courses home,” David said as he looked at the pair of brolgas walking casually across the 17th green.

The brolgas are commonly called the ‘Dancing Cranes’ because they dance and prance to each other; somewhat like a frustrated golfer after goofing a putt for a birdie.

David has also been witness to a pair of boxing kangaroos on the ninth fairway of the Old Course and often sees dingoes wandering along the edge of the fairways. There are huge sand goannas that scamper up the trunk of the nearest tree at the approach of a wayward golfer and majestic sea eagles that soar over the entire 8,903 hectare resort that has an absolute beach frontage of 20 kilometres to the South Pacific Ocean.

But while the wildlife is always interesting, it’s the actual playing on the two courses that brings both occasional and serious golfers back to multi-faceted resort..

Because the courses are built on pure sandbelt, David says the 36 hole layout allows golfers to experience two very beautiful, yet challenging courses. Planned and constructed to international standard, David says they effectively cater for a wide range of golfing play as he found out to his peril during a pro-am tournament a few years ago.

“I had come down from the course in Cairns where I was working at the time and was going quite well until the par 3 on the fifth hole of the Old Course. I hit a 3 wood which I thought would drift back on the wind. It didn’t, and the ball hit a set of stairs near the green and flew out of bounds!”

David gave a laugh and added self-effacing, “I haven’t been able to play that hole since.”

That’s hard to believe when you see David out on the fairway driving the ball further than some people in Australia go for their annual holidays.

He is always ready to take first-time guests for personal instruction on a few holes and the pro-shop has a five-page list of course tips as part of their customer service. Some of these tips include: Hole16 on the Old Course – Good chance for a birdie. A straight drive into the hollow off the tee, but be careful of a creek on the right to catch the slicers. Another wood or long iron just right of centre will open up the green. If you are left, pitch on the right half of the green or you may enter a deep bunker at the back. A difficult up and down for par from there.

For want of more appropriate names, when the second course was built at the resort in 1992, staff and guests got into the habit of calling them the Old Course and the New Course.

David explains their peculiarities. “The Old Course is a testing but fair course. It has wide forgiving fairways and there is no over abundance of water. With 44 sand bunkers, the course cuts through Australian melaleuca bushland using the natural undulation of the area to advantage.”

As David found out during the pro-am, one of the most challenging holes is the par 3 fifth, 202 metres off the blue tees.

David says the New Course, designed by Karl Litten of America, is “tight”.

“The first nine is played through Melaleuca bushland with plenty of nature walks for the wayward shots. The back nine is watery, built over, around and along all shapes and sizes of water hazards. The par 3 on the 11th and 14th need hearty nerves and exacting irons.”

“Enjoy the challenge,” David adds.

For a fantastic fishing resort experience, head to none other than Queensland, Australia. Be ready for the fishing trip of a lifetime!

Fantastic Fishing and a Morning Glory
By Tony Walsh

“It’s no use whingeing about the service around here,” Ray Atherinos muttered as he gestured towards the glass-fronted fridge filled with frosty beer. “There isn’t any! The bar is open all the time and works on an honour system. Just take what you want and write it in the book.”

What an introduction to Sweers Island, a fishing resort set in the Gulf of Carpentaria off the north-west Queensland coast in northern Australia.

As an after thought, Ray added, “Even if we had the money to pay a full-time barman, I doubt we could keep him here in the shed. He would want to go fishing all the time like the rest of us.”

Fishing is what brought Ray and his mate, Tex Battle, to the island in the first place in the early seventies and continues to keep them there. Guests would not be too far wrong if they get the feeling they are there to help pay the bills so that Ray and Tex can continue their life on the island doing what they like best ….fishing.

The surrounding waters are alive with big
pelagic fish including mackerel, trevally, queen and northern blue tuna as well as reef fish such as coral trout, red emperor and sweetlip. From May to July, anglers are rewarded with superb catches of Australia’s best eating fish, the barramundi.

Ray and Tex used to fly over the island in a plane piloted by Ray’s wife, Salme. They longed to establish a fishing retreat. This only became a reality after 12 long years of bureaucratic frustration. On finally securing a lease over part of the 8 x 2 kilometre island, they had an airstrip operational within 24 hours.

Whereas now Sweers Island appeals with promises of making the most ambitious fishing dreams come true, previous occupants were more intent on simply living.

Sweers Island is one of 23 in the Wellesley group. The traditional owners of these islands, the Kaiadilt people are gradually returning to live on nearby Bentinck Island after being forcibly removed by authorities more than 50 years ago to live at a mission station on Mornington Island 70km further north into the Cape.

The first European to visit the island was Matthew Flinders during his 1801-03 circumnavigation of Australia. He was forced ashore for six weeks while the ship’s carpenter made essential repairs to the HMS investigator.

A full scale town development was attempted on Sweers Island in 1866 when the population of Burketown 75km south on the coast suffered an outbreak of Gulf fever, probably malaria.

Nothing remains of the settlement that once housed more than 200 people except two lonely graves that bear testimony to the fate of two of the residents. Donald McLennan, who was the publican, died of a liver disease in 1876, while James Frost died on New Year’s Eve, 1861 after accidentally shooting himself as he climbed out of bed.

The Morning Glory

Perhaps James Frost had been in a hurry to witness one of nature’s most extraordinary phenomenons; a rolling cloud formation called the Morning Glory. It arrives each spring over the island just after dawn and is at its most awesome best in the months of August and September.

Like an amalgamation of millions of silver wings resting on a dark under-belly, the cloud forms at night, hundred of kilometres to the west of the Gulf waters over the arid landscape of Cape York Peninsula. Then similar to how the allied bomber squadrons in the latter of World War II took off from various airfields in England to become one over the English Channel, the Morning Glory is boxed into a mammoth formation. Sometimes measuring 200 kilometres long by a kilometre wide by another kilometre high, it seemingly appears to roll backwards at it approaches Sewers Island at between 40 and 60 kilometres an hour.

An eerie drop in temperature accompanies the Morning Glory as it passes over Sweers Island and guests shake their heads in amazement as it rolls towards the mainland and its dissipation over the savannah pastures of the Gulf country.

Thrill seekers and adventurers with their motorised gliders now come to Sweers Island to rendezvous with the Morning Glory for the adrenalin rush of their life. By catching the face of the cloud and then turning off their engine, some of the more experienced fliers have exceeded 200kph.

Getting there

International guests travel to Cairns or Mt Isa and then by charter aircraft to the island. Accommodation is restricted to 21 guests in five comfortable cabins with an amenities block nearby. Tariff per day includes all meals and use of well equipped fishing dinghies.

The boats are all tunnel-hull, aluminium craft, purpose built for the area. Each boat is powered by a 40 horse-power outboard engine and is comfortable for four passengers. Fuel, bait and handlines are included in the daily tariff.

For this writer, there is no better thrill than catching the big ones on rod and reel, so bring your own gear including a good supply and variety of lures.

The average daily maximum temperature ranges from 35 degrees C. in December/ January to 24 degrees C. in June/July.

Didgeridoo – Boondall Wetlands Adventure
By Suzy Young

Somewhere between a growl and a moan, the sound of a didgeridoo is unique. Like Scottish bagpipes, South American pan pipes and the Indian sitar, the didgeridoo is an ancient instrument which instantly evokes a specific cultural landscape; that of the Australian bush and its first people.

For John Bowden, former high scool science teacher from Brisbane, it’s a pathway to a deeper understanding between black and white Australians and between Australians and the rest of the world.

John is white but has played the didge for 27 years, as a rock musician, a teacher and the originator of a system for transcribing music from conventional instruments. He loves it because of “its earthy, mystical sound” and because it’s thoroughly Australian, as is he.

He uses it as part of his work at Boondall Wetlands, where he and Lester Miles, who is an Aborigine, lead the White Fella/Black Fella Tours, exploring the rich cultural heritage of this beautiful patch of wilderness through the bush tucker, bush medicine and cultural history of the place.

He and Lester, armed with the didge, some clapsticks and examples of Aboriginal weaponry, also give talks for school groups on Aboriginal music and culture, which they both see as an important and sadly neglected area of primary education.

“If you give children an awareness of what the ancient culture was all about, they have a better understanding of their Aboriginal classmates and fellow citizens,” says John. “And the Aboriginal kids have a better sense of their own heritage and better self-esteem.”

Discovering the Daintree
By Sue Fuller

It’s a little known fact that the Daintree Rainforest, an ancient World Heritage-listed wonderland in our own backyard, is older than the Amazon.

Every year, several hundred thousand people from around the world make sure the Daintree is on their travel itinerary, but this most magical of ancient rainforests is a great drive destination and is still a well-kept secret from many Queenslanders.

It’s here the velvety green mantle of the forest slopes plunge to the aqua waters

of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, where fringing reefs grow almost to the shore. No where else in the world can you experience these two natural wonders side by side – where World Heritage-listed reef and rainforest actually meet.

The Daintree Village, just an hour-and-a-half drive from Cairns or 45 minutes from Port Douglas, is the perfect base from which to explore the region.

Accommodation caters for all budgets, from the ultra-swish, multi-award-winning Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa with its private cabins perched in the rainforest, to the recently-refurbished Daintree Riverview Caravan Park with its stunning views of the Daintree River.

If you’re looking for five-star, the eco lodge here is the one of the world’s ultimate eco retreats, complete with luxurious spa treatments, personally-guided rainforest tours and a restaurant perched amongst the trees which specialises in bush tucker, exotic fruits and local seafood.

We stayed at Daintree Cloud Nine, which offers self-catering accommodation, and there are also B&Bs and homestays, and a few secluded resorts further north.

A great spot for lunch is the Big Barramundi Garden, which serves local barra, crocodile and emu lunches until late afternoon daily, just a stone’s throw from the river.

From the village, the wonder of the Daintree and Cape Tribulation is on your doorstep. There are flora species that have survived almost unchanged for 110 million years. Indeed, these rainforests actually contain several of the first flowering plants (called angiosperms), which were the origins of all plant life.

No great shakes in the botanical department, I was lucky enough to hook up with one of the region’s great characters, Dan Irby. One of the most magical ways to experience the Daintree is with Dan Irby’s Mangrove Adventures . At sunrise and sunset, Dan runs small, personalised tours of the Daintree River, focusing on the area’s natural history. Dan has years of experience in medical and zoological research. His passion for the Daintree is absolutely infectious and we were soon enthusiastically croc spotting, bird watching and learning about the unique flora and fauna.

You can make your own way into the Daintree via the Daintree Ferry. It’s the only cable ferry in tropical Australia, and drops you on the southern part of the lowland Daintree Rainforest. The ferry operates from 6:00am to midnight every day, and the cost for a standard vehicle is $20 return.

There are plenty of day trips and activities to choose from including Aboriginal-guided rainforest walks with the local Kuku Yalanji people, river wildlife cruises, guided bird spotting, Cape Tribulation safaris, river fishing, horse riding and bike riding, exploring secluded beaches and 4WD safaris.

Cooper Creek Wilderness offers guided day and night interpretive rainforest tours. Or you can tackle the tracks on your own on the Marrdja Boardwalk, a 1.1km loop which takes 30 minutes.

You don’t need a champagne budget to explore this beautiful region. It’s one of the best driving adventures around and it’s right on our doorstep.

Caves – An Underground Adventure
By Suzy Young

Caves have always had an aura of spookiness and mystery. They attract people who enjoy the thrill of being underground, surrounded by strange shapes and an element of danger, like some subterranean carnival ride. But for others, they are dark, enclosed, unpredictable places that evoke secret fears.

I am one of the latter and feel a bit like the girls in the film Picnic at Hanging Rock as we wander through the dappled shade of the oddly named ‘dry rainforest’ towards the entrance of the Capricorn Caves, just north of Rockhampton.

“Caves intrigue people,” says Ann Augusteyn, whose family owns and operates this unusual natural attraction, and she’s right, because I’m compelled to see this place despite an instinctive reluctance.

Our guide gives us the good news that the caves are actually above ground, lying within a massive ridge of limestone that rises from what was once sea bed.

“You’ll find that there is none of the damp, musty atmosphere that you get in underground caves,” he promises, reassuringly.

The entrance to the cave complex is a vast and very operatic-looking canyon of rock, draped in fig tree roots and vines, which our guide explains is actually a collapsed cave. This is less reassuring, but once inside the dreaded enclosed space, I find it is quite, well, cavernous, with plenty of light and air, and my fears recede a little.

Passages are well-lit, bridges over chasms are sturdy, and the variety of shapes, shades and surfaces in the caves are so interesting that fear soon vanishes. Guides are well-trained in both the history of the caves and their geology and biology and soon the strangeness of wandering around under a pile of rock disappears as well.

There are many ways to explore the caves, from the sedate one-hour Cathedral Tour to a two-hour adventure in wild caving and there are any number of educational programs on offer for school groups to special interest groups, covering areas such as the ecology of the caves and the dry rainforest, geology, heritage, fine arts and ecotourism.

It seems that no cave system would be complete without a large room called ‘The Cathedral’, but this Cathedral, while beautiful, is more like a graceful old country church with its vaulted ceilings, pale creamy walls, rows of pews and simple iron candleabra. Soft hidden lights play over natural features like dripstones resembling organ pipes and, from the ceiling, there falls a long fig tree root that looks rather like a bell rope. It’s taken 20 years to grow down here from a tree 50m above us.

I try not to think of the 50m of rock over my head as the guide plays a recording of Amazing Grace to demonstrate the wonderful acoustics in the room, while slowly extinguishing the soft, reassuring lights. The effect is powerful, but not so pleasant for a claustrophobe like myself when the last light goes out and one is actually plunged into utter blackness, despite the inspiring choice of music.

The room is used for weddings, complete with red carpet, candles and flowers, and a special Christmas Carol service is held here very year which benefits Access Recreation, an organisation which seeks to improve disabled access to tourist attractions. The Augusteyns have made sure that the main caves are open for wheelchairs and actually have two chairs on hand for people who aren’t up to the walk.

For those who are not disabled (either physically or by sheer crawling fear) there is a special treat – adventure caving. Cave helmets are provided, but bring a torch and very old clothes, if you have a yen to crawl into parts of the caves with names like, Fat Man’s Misery, The S-bend, Thin Man’s Misery, The Guillotine, The Laundry Chute, and the one which makes me take a very deep breath, The Rebirthing Tunnel. You can also climb inside The Devil’s Coach House which is a rock climb on a steep rock face above a bed of pointy piercing rocks that you don’t want to fall on.

I am unwilling to do more than watch people disappearing into these unspeakable places, but, Ann was right; caves do intrigue people and despite my bad moment in The Cathedral, I feel intrigued enough to face the challenge of The Deep Vault. While the entrance is just a crack in the rock that doesn’t look big enough for a wallaby, it turns out to be big enough for a full size human like myself, so I take the plunge and venture in. First just my head, and then the rest of me when I see that inside is a large space, like an anteroom. From here you can climb onto a platform that looks down over a large cave with some wonderful decorations and interesting corridors leading off into the darkness.

The decorations are bits of accumulated limestone which have literally flowed through the rock and formed interesting shapes as they dry. There are many names for these and a much more scientific explanation, but for the casual visitor, it’s fun to describe what they look like.

Amazingly, my interest has overcome the fear. I am actually finding these horror holes interesting. Our guide explains that since the cave is warm and airy, not cold and damp, it’s a great acclimatisation cave. This is where the male bats hang out while the females are busy giving birth and rearing the young.

“Shouldn’t they call it The Pub?” I ask. Now I’m making jokes instead of making for the exit. These caves are great, I conclude, for facing all sorts of fears, low ceilings, enclosed places, the dark, small spaces, bats, heights, the lot. Luckily, I am not afraid of bats and these Little Bent-Wings and Ghost Bats are so tiny, rare and endangered that it’s a treat to see them, flitting occasionally through the tops of caves as we pass, especially in the belfry of The Cathedral.

These caves are also a great way to learn about a highly specialised and fragile ecosystem. Once they were a chance to experience an offbeat thrill and visitors were actually encouraged to break off bits of interesting dripstone to take home as souvenirs. Now guides are strict about not allowing anyone to even touch the cave walls, lights are only turned on when tours come through, and many parts of the caves are off limits in order to protect the bats who live there.

And happily, the Augusteyns have avoided the once-popular fashion for filling caves with plywood cut-outs of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and obscuring their natural beauty with lots of hideous coloured lights. We are not here to be entertained by cheap tricks; we are here to be educated about the place of caves in the bush ecosystem.

The Augusteyns take very seriously their responsibility for the well-being of this patch of bush with its spectacular centrepiece. The big holes in the ground have come of age and are no longer the sideshow alley of nature, but natural phenomena, interesting for both their beauty and their part in the ecosystem. The Capricorn Caves have been given EcoCertification.

Everything under the Capricorn Sun
By Tony Walsh

Centred around Rockhampton in Queensland, the Capricorn Region offers an unusual mix of attractions and retreats for visitors with a wanderlust.

For a part of Australia that is generally recognised as being the Tourist State of Australia it takes a fair degree of self-assured expression to claim the title of being Queensland’s oldest privately-owned tourist attraction.

Cave adventures

Step forward Capricorn Caves near Rockhampton. While some may argue with their claim, no one can deny that they have a very special natural attraction which has been a magnet for visitors since it was discovered in 1882 by Norwegian pioneer John Olsen.

Unlike most of the cave systems in Australia which are set underground, these caverns are located above ground level in a high limestone ridge and provide a very pleasant atmosphere even for the most claustrophobic person. The caves are wheelchair accessible, with ramps to the major gallery, Cathedral Cave.

Ken and Ann Augusteyn took over ownership of the caverns from the descendants of John Olsen.

All tours are conducted personally by a well informed guide. The most popular is the one hour exploration to Cathedral Cave. This tour meanders through large caverns with stalactite and stalagmite decorations set against the beautiful natural colours of the creamy limestone, rusty iron oxides and greens of the mosses and algae. But it is when visitors enter the 20m-high Cathedral Cave that the loudest ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ can be heard.

Restored church pews offer a place to sit and take in the magnificence of this environmental wonder. The Augusteyns have installed a sophisticated stereo sound system; its music enhanced by the natural acoustics of the cave. Small wonder that the Cathedral Cave is now in demand as a special wedding venue. In December each year, it is also used for the local Carols by Candlelight celebrations.

A very unusual natural phenomenon occurs in one of the caverns during the Summer Solstice on December 22 each year. Ann Augusteyn explains,” Because the caves are located close to the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sun shines directly overhead at around 11am during the Solstice. Fortunately, there is a natural vertical shaft in the roof of the cave and the rays of the overhead Sun pour through with brilliant effect into the darkened cavern.”

The caves are also home to thousands of little insectivorous bats. Though their presence is seasonal, those visitors fortunate to be at the caverns at the right time are rewarded at sunset when the bats leave to feed for the night.

Capricorn Caves are located 23km north of Rockhampton off the Bruce Highway and are open every day of the year except Christmas Day.

For more information:
Capricorn Caves
Tel +61 7 4934 2883

Crocodile Encounters

For a close encounter with another of the the region’s natural inhabitants, but with a bigger appetite than the Augusteyns’s bats, head for the Capricorn Coast and John and Lillian Levers’ Koorana Crocodile Farm.

John has more than 25 years experience dealing with crocodiles both in Australia and New Guinea and opened Queensland’s first commercial crocodile farm on the island in Coorooman Creek in 1981.

In his daily guided tour of the farm, John stresses that the common perception of crocodiles as nasty big animals with the sole purpose in life to rip your legs off is far from the truth.

“In reality, they are highly-sensitive, caring animals to each other. In fact, that’s what makes them dangerous to humans. The vast majority of attacks that occur in Australia are not hunger attacks but territorial attacks where the male is caring for the female and the female is caring for her young,” John Lever explained.

Mr Lever said that research had shown that attacks had occurred between November and March which coincided with the breeding season. “We have to try and understand the behaviour of crocodiles because there are so many falsehoods around. Every pub in Australia has a resident crocodile expert sitting around the bar.”

Some common crocodile myths:

If you are being chased by a crocodile, run in a zigzag fashion. Because of its huge tail, a crocodile cannot change direction quickly without losing speed.

“That’s a load of nonsense,” says John. “Crocodiles have been clocked at 42.5km so you just take big steps!”
Crocodiles love eating rotten meat.

“That’s not true either,” says John. “Crocodiles prefer their meat fresh. Crocodile Dundee said in one of his movies, and he was wrong, that when a crocodile grabs hold of you, he stuffs you under a log and saves you for another day.”
Koorana Crocodile Farm was the first private enterprise crocodile farm to be established in Queensland and was originally stocked with rogue crocodiles caught by John at the request of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Some of the more interesting and dangerous of the 2,000 reptiles at the farm are housed in a separate enclosure with their own pond.

The farm was also the first to serve crocodile meat, so a visit to Koorana is not complete without trying one of Lillian Lever’s crocodile pies.

The park is open everyday of the year except Christmas day, 10am-3pm.

For more information:
John & Lillian Lever
Koorana Crocodile Farm
Tel +61 7 4934 4749

Diverse Attractions

While the range of attractions in the Capricorn Region in Queensland is so diverse, some visitors simply head for the big integrated resorts like Rydges Capricorn Resort or Great Keppel Island, unpack and spend all their time enjoying the myriad of activities available on the one property.

At Rydges Capricorn Resort, these include two 18 hole golf courses, horse riding and landsailing on the 20km ocean beach. While on Great Keppel Island, the relaxed lifestyle of island living ensures a pampered carefree holiday.

The region also boasts the Dreamtime Aboriginal Cultural Centre, the historic mining town of Mt Morgan and the opportunity to fossick for gemstones at the aptly named centres of Sapphire and Rubyvale.

For a few days of a real country experience, visit some of the vast cattle properties that are now welcoming guests. Such cattle station experiences include Namoi Hills, Cooper Downs, Henderson park, Myella and Kroombit Tops.

Brisbane – Viva Bris Vegas
By Jane Hodges

Brisbane, or Bris Vegas as the locals affectionately call it, is a vibrant place blessed with good weather, friendly people and an optimism bigger cities often manage to quash. Here’s the ultimate guide to Brisbane’s gay and lesbian scene.

Since the early 90’s Brisbane’s scene has flourished with a variety of lesbian and gay (and L & G friendly) clubs, cafes, and bars. Like any city, ‘where the girls and boys are’, may not jump out at you as soon as you hit town, but scratch the surface and you’ll find places to go and people to meet.

A copy of local street press Queensland Pride or Q News will set you in the right direction, but there’s nothing like advice from a local. So here’s a few hints on where it’s at.

Where to Play
Generally West End, Woolloongabba, Spring Hill, Fortitude Valley and New Farm are Brisbane’s most popular gay and lesbian haunts.

The best place to start is by pulling up a stool at the bar of West End’s ultra chic Lychee Lounge, the cities newest bar and café run by Jacqueline Bega and Jessica Firouz-Abadi. Chill out with a long, cool lychee cocktail, a plate of tapas and live music or dj grooves on Friday and Saturday nights. At midnight the Lychee turns into a pumpkin so head to Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley.
Women only venues are The Birdcage upstairs at Options every Friday night, and Grrrl Bar Sunday nights at the Departure Lounge upstairs at the Wickham Hotel.

Spring Hill’s mixed venues are Options which has a café, bar and mixed club downstairs, the stylish Alliance Hotel bar, or the Sportsman Hotel for drag shows and serious pool comps. In the Valley check out the Wickham Hotel and The Cockatoo Club, upstairs at The Beat, where you’ll find wall to wall lipsticks, gay boys and groovy types.

Gay and lesbian friendly venues include the Empire Hotel with indie club Super Deluxe upstairs; and Ric’s Bar in Brunswick Street Mall – a layed back live music / dj venue. There are pool tables downstairs and dance floor upstairs at the Pandanus Lounge.
Held at various locations at irregular intervals is Abigails – a moveable feast of cabaret , comedy and djs spinning everything from 70’s oddball to dance. It attracts an alternative crowd of groovy straights, drag queens, and cool queer boys and girls.

An alternative café /live music warehouse style venue is The Zoo in the Valley. It draws a layed back gay, lesbian and straight crowd and offers free pool on week nights.

Where to Eat:

You will eat well in the Vegas. There is much choice and it’s of a high standard. Restaurants and cafes are plentiful around Boundary Street and Hargrave Road at West End, and Brunswick Street running from the Valley to New Farm. Here’s just a few suggestions.

Getting over the night before is best done with a strong long black at Espressohead in Boundary Street – also run by dynamic duo Jacqueline and Jessica. It’s a hang-out for girls like us and undoubtedly the best service and coffee in town. They also do mean fresh juices, an all day breakfast menu and a lunch range including filled panini, pastas and salads and a great vegetarian selection.
Side by side in West End are bohemian style cafes, The Jazzy Cat and the Three Monkeys – both offering great atmosphere, coffee, cakes and light meals. Across the street it’s hard to get a table at West End’s newest hip café The Gun Shop.
Recommended for casual dining are the New Farm Deli, Gerties (especially for people watching) and Moray Café corner moray St & Merthyr Rd New Farm. In the Valley Mall try Fat Boys for great value alfresco breakfast and The Cosmopolitan for its coffee and pizzas. For speedy, fresh sushi head to the Sushi Train in Brunswick Street. The Grape is an award winning up-market wine bar and restaurant on Merthyr Road. A must is the 1998 Gourmet Traveller restaurant of the year, Ecco Bistro in Boundary Street the City, and also worth a nosh is Arc in Brunswick Street set up by a former Ecco chef.

Where to Shop:
Interesting shopping is to be had in the Valley – Brunswick Street and Ann Street. Check out Honor Lulu, Ultra Suite, Blonde Venus, Tarmac 1 and Tred for clothes and Trash Video for cult movies. Don’t go past Absolutely Fabulous for retro furnishings and collectables.

The Saturday Brunswick Mall Markets are the cities best- no raffia hats here just a mix of colourful people (many with hang overs!) lounging around the cafes, listening to live music and milling around stalls of original ceramics, lead lighting, second hand books, clothes and bric-a-brac. You can have your tarot read or give in to massage aficionados.

In the City wander down Elizabeth Street to check out The Piercing Shop, Indigo Cactus original jewellery and Skinny’s Music and for hip threads try Chi Chi Deluxe and Oxygen.
For literature and novelties you wouldn’t want your mother to see wander around The Den in Fortitude Valley.

In West End check out Avid Reader and Bent Books in Boundary Street and down the road in Gladstone Road, Highgate Hill is the camp row of The Women’s Bookshop, Dorothy’s Place, Blue Tongue Kiss Café and Chop Haircutters.

Where to Stay
While Brisbane has no exclusively lesbian accommodation, the Allender Apartments in central New Farm are gay and lesbian friendly. Air conditioned units with full kitchen facilities, close to venues and the city are priced from $60 per double. 3 Moreton Street New Farm. ph (07) 3358 5832

Central Brunswick Apartment Hotel in the Valley offers gay and lesbian friendly accommodation in self contained, air conditioned apartments from $95 a double. The hotel has a gym, spa and sauna and easy access to restaurants, venues and the Brunswick St Mall. 455 Brunswick Street ph (07) 3852 1411

Thornbury House at Spring Hill is a stylish, well appointed gay & lesbian friendly bed and breakfast in a beautifully restored Queenslander colonial house. It’s close to venues and a minute’s walk from the city heart. Singles are $55 and doubles $90 including continental breakfast. 1 Thornbury Street Spring Hill ph (07) 3832 5985

Helpful contacts:

Brisbane Pride Festival – highlights Pride Rally, March and Fair Day June 22, 2002 Musgrave Park www.pridebrisbane.org.au – full events program online mid-April for June Festival hotline 0418 152 801

Lesbian Line - counselling and information, 7 -10pm nightly (07) 3891 7388 or freecall 1800 249 377

Gay & Lesbian Welfare Association – web http//glwa@queer.org.au

Gay & Lesbian Health Service 38 Gladstone Rd Highgate Hill (07) 3844 9599

Qld Aids Council – ph 32 Peel Street South Bris (07) 3844 1990

Queensland Pride Newspaper – monthly. Ph 07 3392 2922 Email:
qldpride@ribbon.net.au

Brother Sister Newspaper – fortnightly 210 Constance St Fortitude Valley (07) 3852 2155.

Dykewise – magazine on local events / issues. Ph 0413 071 648

Radio 4zzz 102.2FM – Dykes on Mikes – every Wednesday 7-9pm

Team Brisbane – organise and promote lesbian & gay sporting events in Brisbane ph Heather (07) 3207 1746

Rainbow Bootscooters – social bootscooting every Sunday 6-8.30pm East Brisbane Bowls club ph 07 3357 3205

The Rainbow Centre, upstairs at 719a Stanley Street Woolloongabba – home of Queensland Pride (the state’s first gay & lesbian paper ) and a community centre offering a library of information on the state’s gay and lesbian friendly tourism operators, a pool table, coffee and tea facilities and a drop in centre a couple of days a week.

Clubs & Bars
The Lychee Lounge, open 7 days 10.30am – midnight. Shop 2 , 94 Boundary St West End. Email: lychee@zip.com.au ph (07) 3846 0544
The Birdcage women only Friday nights upstairs at Options, 18 Little Edward St, Spring Hill ph (07) 3831 4214

Xena’s -Broadway Hotel 93 Logan Rd Woolloongabba
Alliance Hotel, 300 Boundary St Spring Hill – ph (07) 3832 7355
Sportsman Hotel 130 Leichhardt St, Spring Hill ph (07) 3831 2892
The Cockatoo Club – upstairs at The Beat, 667 Ann St Fortitude Valley ph (07) 3852 2661
Wickham Hotel 308 Wickham St ph (07) 3852 1301
The Empire Hotel Cnr Brunswick & Ann Sts Fortitude Valley
Ric’s Bar Brunswick Street Mall, Fortitude Valley ph (07) 3854 1772
The Zoo, Ann St Fortitude Valley (07) 3854 1381
Getting There

Ex Sydney / Melbourne

By Air
The best deals are generally available on a 21 day advance purchase fare (Melbourne to Brisbane & , Sydney – Brisbane) To book contact the Queensland Travel Centre on ph 13 88 33.

By Rail / Bus
A daily Melbourne to Brisbane service takes 26 hours by train and bus .
A daily direct train service from Sydney to Brisbane takes 14 hours . Advance purchase discounts available – contact Queensland Rail ph 132 332

By Bus
Greyhound buses operate two direct 15 hour services daily from Melbourne to Brisbane.
Greyhound operates five standard services from Sydney to Brisbane daily taking 15-16 hours and a 12-hour express Sydney to Brisbane service.
Contact: Greyhound ph 13 20 30