OZtralia.tv Blog

The Soul of Australia

By: The OZtralia Producers

Picture red earth as far as the eye can see. On the horizon, you see something. You really cannot make out just what it is, but it is big. As you drive on, the large object gets bigger and bigger. Soon you think to yourself, “how did this big rock get in the middle of the Outback?”

The local Pitjantjatjara people had the same wonder when they were the only inhabitants of this land and had many ideas and stories on how Uluru came to be and is sacred territory. There are exciting legends and Aboriginal traditions of spirits creating Uluru.

Also commonly called Ayers Rock, Uluru is a giant sandstone creation in Australia’s Northern Territory. Being one of Australia’s most recognizable icons, Uluru is visited by hundreds of thousands each year. Standing 348 meters (or 1,142 feet) above the Outback, it should be noted that Uluru is actually larger underground. That is very surprising as above ground Uluru measures 9.4 km (or 5.8 mi) in circumference.

As you see in the above video, Uluru is stark red. The feeling of the rock is slick and hard. It was very amazing to see and touch the soul of Australia.

It is explicitly asked by the local people that you do not climb Uluru as it is sacred ground. However, many people still do. We did, and found it to be a great experience. It is important to be safe though as the climb is very dangerous and people have died from the climb.

To see more of Uluru, click here.

Red Ground As Far As The Eye Can See

By: The OZtralia Producers

There is something very unique about the Australian Outback. When you fly to the Australian Outback, you will be amazed as you notice the ground below you slowly turning a light blood red.

The Red Center is rich with Australian Aboriginal history. There are many exciting Aboriginal tales of how Uluru came to be and why the soil is red here.

A visit to Australia’s Red Center is a must as you experience the soul of this great country.

The Setting Sun on Australia’s Soul

By: The OZtralia Producers

The OZtralia.tv producers are helpless romantics. Seeing Uluru itself with a loved one is great… but seeing the Australian sunset over Uluru after a day in the Outback, now that is an amazing experience.

People flock to Uluru to watch the sunset. Looking around, you can see families watch in awe and couple hold each other close as the bright red of Uluru changes ever so darker into the night. Soon you will be greeted by a flood of stars overhead.

That is the great thing about the Australian Outback. There are no real large cities for hundreds of miles. That provides you with one of the best looks at the night sky in the world.

To watch more Uluru videos, click here.

Charlie and Livingstone

By: Phoenix Arrien

It’s lovely stumbling upon Outback gems. The people and places type of gems - not the rock type though they are fun too.

In the top end of Australia a few hours southeast of Darwin is a station called Annaburro. I visited it and sat down with ‘Rex’ the owner:

“One of the reasons I brought Annaburroo,” he explains, “was to preserve a part of the old Outback. No development here! All the old buildings of the former station have been preserved.”

Nearby, ‘Yellow Charlie’s shed’ still stands, testimony to a local character who acted in the well known Australian outback film ‘Jedda’. Charlie may have been rough and involved in more than one fight, but Rex thinks he was a loving man. “Why he kept his wife’s bones in a suitcase rather than have her out there in a cold grave,” he explains with a twinkle in his eye.

Whilst maintaining the character of the place, Rex cleaned it up and gently transformed Annaburroo into an oasis, where visitors can kick back, swim and take time out. It has one of the only crocodile-free swimming holes in the area so it is well worth the stop.

However it’s not only the fascinating people you meet but also animals. Livingstone the Brahman Steer thinks he is a horse and is a fixture in a small horsey band that wanders around the campsite. A Water Monitor ambles around the trees, looking like a mini-dinosaur. Eagles spread their great wings surfing the wind currents above. Black kites dip and wheel in a day long aerial dance, cockatoos screech and finches dart among the bushes.

Aaah, yes another pleasant day in the Outback.

Giving You The Best Australian Travel Experience

By: OZtralia.tv Staff

We are proud to continue to give you the best travel experience for Australia online.

From our video map, you can see all of Australia. But now, from our direct pages, we also give you a wealth of written information on every location we cover in Australia.

Below are links so you can check it all out yourself.

Watch videos and find information about
all the amazing Australia’s travel destinations:

» Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest
» Sunshine Coast - Noosa
» Brisbane
» Canberra
» Melbourne
» Byron Bay and the Rainbow Valley
» Sydney
» Whitsunday-Overview
» Rainbow Valley
» Hobart and Southern Tasmania
» Northern Tasmania
» Perth and the Sunset Coast
» Cairns and Port Douglas
» Surfer’s Paradise and the Gold Coast
» Uluru
» The Great Ocean Road

Respecting Australia’s Oldest Communities

By: Phoenix Arrien

Travelling to Australia is a lot like many Western countries and you can pretty much get around without too many gaffs and goofs.

However there are also other cultures within Australia. We have a multi-cultural society and you will find different restaurants, places of worship, festivals and places where you need to be aware of different customs.

The indigenous Australian culture requires some thought before you go visit an aboriginal community, festival or accommodation.

You can make the most of the contact with local Australian communities by:

- Learning about Australian history and customs before you go

- Be sensitive to local Australian, eating, drinking and even toileting practices

- Ask permission to take pictures

- Try to learn some of the indigenous Australian language, even if only hello and goodbye

- Treat everyone as equals, but don’t assume that you can talk to everyone

The rewards that you get in return are priceless.

A Look At Life In Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

The two artists-in-residence at the Mulgara Gallery near Uluru in Central Australia continue to talk about their passion for Australian desert art.

Liz and Helga have made extended forays into the desert, leaving the comforts of the resort behind. “We learn about bush tucker and use the coloured ochre for painting. Some places we are not allowed to sketch or take photos, other times we are sketching in 41 Celsius degree heat - only mad dogs and Englishwomen,” laughs Liz.

Liz is no stranger to extreme environments. She accompanied a 1993 Oxford Mabeta-Moliwe expedition to Cameroon in central Africa, where she spent most of the time in the rainforest. “Travelling to the third wettest country in the world - in the wet season - was a muddy and difficult challenge. I camped in the rainforest with five Oxford university students who collected the plants, which I then painted. This expedition finally ensured that this unique area became a reserve and ended the planting of rubber and cocoa plantations. From this I held a solo exhibition at The Royal Geographical Society in London.”

It was not her first expedition. Two years earlier Liz had travelled through Guyana in South America, painting the forests and winning a medal at the Royal Horticultural Society in London.

Helga’s strong bold colours emerged early in her career through contact with modern European art. Influenced by archaeology and prehistory, she incorporates the use of decoration from many different cultures. She also still uses traditional Batik techniques occasionally and sometimes switches mediums to cotton or linen.

In 1987, Helga spent a life-changing three months with Aboriginal women in Utopia near Alice Springs sharing her batik knowledge under the shade of Mulga bush or by open fires in the desert sands. “I feel I learned more than I taught.  I didn’t have to teach the women anything, they are so talented, so I really just taught them techniques.”

“Their whole outlook on life taught me that nothing, not even time, matters very much, only the rhythm of nature. The desert is so visually beautiful that at times I would sit for hours by a fire and feel like a tiny pin in the universe.”

These two not-so-tiny pins in the universe of art are bringing the brilliant warm colours and unique animals and plants of our central desert onto canvas and cloth.

Returning From The Australian Outback

By: Phoenix Arrien

I am back in Alice and checking out other attractions including the Alice Springs Desert Park for close-ups with ghost bats, ostriches and big-eared bilbies; the spectacular cracks, holes, cliffs and desert plants of Kings Canyon, Stanley Chasm and Finke Gorge National Park.

Alice is not without its festivals. If you are here in June, don a beanie for the ‘Beanie Festival’ celebrating everything for the head that is woollen and beyond. Get into some high octane, low brain, insane on the desert plain (also in June) for the Tattersall’s Finke Desert Race where bikes, cars and buggies hurtle from the town of Finke to Alice. Then there is the Alice Springs Show in July or cheer Miss Camel on her Cup during the Voyages Lions Camel Cup also in July.

On normal days though, at the end of each fun-filled, sun-baked, dust-ridden attendance at attractions, I seem to end up, like everyone else, at Todd Mall located in the centre of town. It is a place to browse for goodies like books and camping equipment while being stalked by mangy camp dogs. Yup ya gotta be an animal lover out here.

Visit the Red Centre and get a new appreciation of a unique part of Australia.

The Australian Outback’s Crown Jewel

By: Phoenix Arrien

A four hour bus trip takes me from Alice Springs to the largest stone monolith on earth. Riding high on anticipation I keep my eyes on the horizon as the bus trundles on, kicking up red dust.

Then out of the flat plains rise a shadow - there it is!

Oh.

It is just a large rock.

I feel disappointed…it just doesn’t…well…impress.

Then the driver informs us it is actually ‘some hill or other’. The entire bus contingent chuckles self-consciously as if to pretend that we all knew that all along, of course.

Uluru was named ‘Ayres Rock’ by explorer William Grosse in 1875. It is an important place for Aboriginal peoples of the Central Desert, contains many sacred sites and doubles as a well-known Australian tourist symbol. When in 1985 Uluru was returned to Indigenous owners, it became an important symbol in the often turbulent relations between governments and Aboriginal people.

Then I see it and what a strange and incredible sight it is. A great squat monolith rises from the desert like a gigantic red cocoon or a very still creature from a Dreamtime creation story. Looking like the top is going to crack open and a fantastical butterfly from some Dreamtime legend is going to heave out and shadow the entire desert with its wings, the experience of  being at the Rock is disconcerting and entirely mesmerising.

It is a hauntingly beautiful red iceberg in a hot sea of sand and scrub and it plays with my imagination and senses. The rock is smooth, except for strange dark abrasions and holes. Ledges and caves pock the surface. People are crawling up the side of the Rock to test their body’s heart attack capacity, however this is discouraged by the indigenous owners who feel responsible for them.

I am spending the night here to watch the sunset and sunrise colour the rock brilliant reds and blues. It changes colour and the enormous dome of sky changes behind it. This is awesome.