OZtralia.tv Blog

One of the World’s Best Zoos

By: The OZtralia Producers

We are quite fond of Australia Zoo. It is a gem on the Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Founded by the Irwin Family, Terri Irwin now runs Australia Zoo after the tragic death of her husband Steve Irwin also known as The Crocodile Hunter. Currently the zoo sits on 72 acres. The plan is to expand the zoo to around 500 acres of fun.

Steve Irwin’s parents, Bob and Lyn Irwin started Australia Zoo back in 1970. It first had the name, “Berrwah Reptile Park.” Lyn Irwin is widely known for being one of the first Australians to care for injured and sick animals in south Queensland. Today, Australia Zoo actually has a koala ambulance to care for sick and injured koala bears.

We really think you should check out the crocodile feeding shows that happen daily. As you see in the above video, zoo keepers dangle raw meat overhead crocodiles…don’t try this in your backyard swamp kids.

There have been reports by local papers that Australia Zoo will be sold to Animal Planet, but that has yet to be confirmed by us.

The Most Lux and Expensive Australian Travel

By: Phoenix Arrien

Are you happily rolling in cash? Or perhaps you like to dream big? Really big!

The travel magazine ‘Australian Traveller’ has listed some very expensive holidays in this big country. Here are six exclusive holidays to be enjoyed in Australia and they sure are a nice bunch:

1.      Lizard Island in Queensland sits in the Great Barrier Reef and has every mod-con you can think of including a lot of privacy. Only $454,000 for five nights.

2.      Winnebago ‘Classic’ motor home has three TV’s and a cocktail bar amongst other luxuries that even my own house doesn’t have! It will set you back almost as much as the cost of the fuel to run it: $615,000.

3.      Presidential Villa, Crown Towers in Melbourne is a luxury suite with three bedrooms. Win big at the Crown Casino (I mean really big) and you can pay the $27,500 per night.

4.      Global Express chartered jet will whisk you off the pesky ground and in to the air for only $9000 per hour.

5.      Seidler Lodge, Thredbo is a great place to base yourself for some skiing at $14,475 per week and hey, a private helicopter is thrown in for just an extra $15,000.

6.      Seararis in Cairns will pop you on a 135ft superyacht with three decks for $124,850 per week.

Melbourne’s Charismatic War Memorial

By: The OZtralia Producers

A sometimes-overlooked item of Melbourne is the charismatic war memorial.

The Shrine of Remembrance is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. Constructed between 1927 and 1934, The Shrine of Remembrance was constructed to honor the men and women of Vitoria, Australia who fought in World War One. However, now it is looked at as a memorial to every one of the some 60,000 Australian men and women who died in World War One.

The Shrine of Remembrance has been a work in progress too, as other areas have been added to the grounds such as a forecourt and a memorial garden.

We say it is amazing to walk around the war memorial. You have a beautiful view of the CBD as you stroll around this peaceful park and remembrance setting.

Taking Flight over OZ’s Darwin

By: Phoenix Arrien

I love Australia from ground or air. Right now I am in the air and the plane is cruising over the Northern Territory, a patch (oh, the size of some European countries) of wilderness, cattle stations, indigenous country and the odd town.

Below me are the fabulous muted colours that are so Australia. Patchworks of browns and greens, parted by the octopus tentacles of great rivers. Plumes of smoke roll from one spot for it’s the burning season up North. The land is burnt to facilitate fresh growth and food for wildlife, as well as to stop wildfires in the hot summer season. It’s an indigenous practice that is now widely used in the tropical North.

Down to the runaway in Darwin - at least I hope there is a runaway here somewhere, all I can see is sparse scrub…oh there it is.

Darwin has an entirely different atmosphere to anywhere else. The median age is 29 so it buzzes and jumps at night due to a lively pub scene. It is also the gateway to incredibly diverse environments and tourism attractions such as Kakadu, Arnhem land, Litchfield National Park, Katherine Gorge and the Tiwi Islands. Many people use it as a jumping off point to Asia.

Love it!

A Tribute to the 20th Century

By: Phoenix Arrien

The gateway to far east Gippsland on Australia’s southern coast is a watery one. Lakes Entrance is a small town at the entrance to the sea where water flows into three large lakes, the largest inland water system in the Southern Hemisphere.

If there is something puzzling to young children, it is a lifelike statue. Along the foreshore of the busy holiday township of Lakes Entrance are a series of wooden carved statues marking Australia’s involvement in the wars of the 20^th Century.

This includes a statue of a soldier called Simpson who carried wounded off the battlefield on his donkey. Young child patted Simpson, then poked his donkey and watched for a response. None happened so, with the blessed short attention span of a young child, he turned his excited attention to the boats coming in along the wharves.

The Lakes fishing fleet is one of the largest in this part of the world and well worth a look. It became the reason we lived on fish, of the freshest kind, during the three days we spent there.

More tomorrow….

Wicked OZ

By: Phoenix Arrien

I love being wicked, but I am not allowed to be such on this blog…until now. Melbourne is has turned wicked with a show called…‘WICKED, the Untold Story of the Witches of Oz’. It is all about what happened in the Land of Oz before Dorothy dropped in.

The show is being put on at the Regent Theatre and the Melbourne hotels have put together a few packages. Among the best are Accor’s ‘A WICKED INDULGENCE’ including ‘A’ Reserve tickets to WICKED and overnight accommodation for two people, available at ten hotels across the CBD.

What actually happens in a wicked room in a hotel? Can anyone tell me? On second thoughts, keep them to yourselves…and enjoy!

Also, check out Wicked on another NetworkGlobal Channel, www.Broadway.tv. Visit this link to watch a show preview and review of the American production: http://www.broadway.tv/broadway-shows/Wicked

To book show and/or hotel visit in Australia visit, www.showbiz.com.au/wicked or phone 1300 WICKED (1300 942 533).

Photo by Joan Marcus

Flying High

By: Phoenix Arrien

I am flung into the air like a pebble from a slingshot. My head slams back into the seat as we shoot into the sky. Eyeballs rotating, teeth vibrating, I almost throw my breakfast down onto the town passing below us, until a calm and slightly amused voice next to my ear tells me to relax. Aaaah that’s better.

As the little tin can soars into the great expanse of sky above Mt Beauty, then levels out and glides, I look around and realise why Mt Beauty is called such a name. Beneath me, a long valley stretches out, bordered by rearing mountains (One of these mountains is the state of Victoria’s highest, Mount Bogong) that plunge enormous green feet into the valley’s soft meadows and pastures - a stark contrast between a promise of comfort on the flatlands and wild adventure on the rugged slopes and ridges.

When the SEC (former power company) created the township of Mt Beauty in the 1940’s to cater to the workers building the Kiewa Hydro-electricity Scheme, I wonder if they realised what a beautiful place this area was.

Of course they must have. They named it Mt Beauty after all!

Range upon range of startling blue mountains, slashed with brilliant white snow, herringbones the horizons. My volunteer gliding pilot, one of several who take visitors flying, flys our plane above it all, catching thermals and floating in that big blue expanse.

It’s a mind-blowing experience; with no engine noise or vibrations and a mere patch of Perspex between you and the wind, its like riding a huge eagle. I realise why people who fly without engines are addicted…and they are. After touch down I tried not to hop from one foot to another with excited impatience, ready for my next go at gliding.

Tomorrow…more freedom in the mountains.

Sailing in Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

In the 16th century, when maps of any land beyond Europe were vague and the ability to measure Longitude had not yet been found, the Leeuwin, a Dutch ship on a routine northern hemisphere trip became just a tad lost and found herself visiting a great southern land.

When the ship finally made it back to Holland, the cape they had rounded on that great continent was named Leeuwin. But as punishment for that little detour, the Captain was never acknowledged fer it, bless his scuppers. That continent became Australia and Cape Leeuwin is now counted as one of the five great capes in the world, others include Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope.

Three hundred years later a quack called Malcolm Hay, lying sick in bed with Hepatitis in Fremantle, kept thinking about the Rites of Passage in almost every primitive tribe (as ye do when ye ‘ave the tiddles) and realized that our modern culture lacked this. A seed was sown, resulting in the Leeuwin, a 55-metre steel and wooden Barquentine, launched in 1986.

Based in Fremantle, the Leeuwin is a working ship, and on her voyages you learn to Sail. At the same time you learn to work as a team, to live like sardines with 50 others on a state-of-the-art slab of balsa wood and steer through rain, hail or shine. Oh and the scenery around the Cape there is enough to gloss yer timbers fer life.

The Leeuwin offers many different voyages: eco-discovery expeditions where you help scientists catch little furry critters; trips down south to swim with fur seals; snorkelling in them warm waters off the Kimberley coast or weekend whale watching, not catchin’ as me grandpa would ‘ave done.

But instead of kicking back with the whales, I was on a training voyage for passionate diehards wishing to become part of the volunteer crew in the Leeuwin organisation.The ship is a sleek structure of ropes, wood, brass and polished mahogany. Right down in the hull are the engines, anchor chains, tanks, machinery and other dark, greasy shippy things.

And right now I am 25 metres up in the air clinging to a sail I am trying to unfurl and I can tell you…I am so scared, I am unsure if my dacks (pants) are still dry…will I get down? More next Friday.

By: Phoenix Arrien

My kids love The Wiggles and apparently so do the Brits. The four colourful men, who dance, prance and sing their way into kid’s hearts and minds have descended on the UK to encourage parents not to be afraid of long haul travel to Australia.

Anthony Field, known as the blue Wiggle, said good planning was the key.

“We spend a lot of time travelling to and from Australia with the kids. Before we fly, we give ourselves plenty of time to pack and really think about what the children will need on board,” he said.

“After disembarking from a long flight, a gentle stroll around somewhere incredibly scenic like Sydney Harbour is the perfect way to begin a holiday in Australia.”

There you go! Straight from the Blue Mouth.

Tassy’s Exciting Franklyn River

By: Phoenix Arrien

Today people are gathering in Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania to celebrate the saving of the Franklin River.

I paddled this extraordinary river and found that the river and its wilderness are breathtaking.

Rearing gorges, mighty in their remote isolation, funnels clear water through rugged forest offering a seemingly crazy explosion of life and death in twisting and twirling wildness.

Trees, vines, plants, mosses, wildlife and moisture overwhelm and inspires. Bouncing around on wild rapids and camping on riverside ledges fosters a profound appreciation of the irreplaceable nature of ancient wilderness.

We camped on rock ledges to save disturbing the river banks and as I lay there snug in my (very warm) sleeping bag I wondered at the pungent smells, the sight of moss and vine entangled trees and the sounds of birds and wildlife hidden in the thick forest.

The last few days we hit placid waters, far quieter than the foaming white water we had plunged through and when the seaplane touched down to pick us up, I knew I would never forget this experience.

I never have and neither have the people who saved this special place.

Senator Brown: “In an age of much greater environmental alarm, the Franklin campaign
continues to send out shock waves of optimism around the world. Against huge odds, the wild river was saved because it galvanized national public opinion. Latest polls show the environment is easily the biggest issue for the future on people’s minds.”

Want to raft the Franklin River? Of course you do. Most river expeditions are ten days, though longer and shorter trips also run with any number of rafting companies.