OZtralia.tv Blog

Where Australia Meets The Indian Ocean

By: The OZtralia Producers

As we have spent most of our time on the East Coast of Australia, one does really not pay much attention thinking about the West Coast. Australia is a very large country. So similar to how there is the “us and them” mentality, we had the “East Coast , West Coast” mentality.

On a whim, we packed the cameras and headed out to Perth. While Perth is the center of Australia’s Western Coast, we say you should head either North or South of Perth to experience all the amazing sites the Western Coast has to offer.

You can experience the Pinnacles, which we thought were pretty nifty. They are a long drive from Perth and you may be a bit fussy of being in the car by the time you get there. But as you see in the video these are interesting little creations made by Earth. As with time, memories get better, we can confirm that the Pinnacles are something you should check out.

A Weekend With Friends In Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

We just spent the weekend with friends who live by the sea. Lakes Entrance is a lovely town on the south coast of Australia that offers both lakes and seaside tranquillity.

We arrived by train from Melbourne - took just under four hours - and headed to the beach where a long line of fisher folk cast their lines into the wild surf. Apparently it was a fishing competition.

Next day thirty vintage cars moved into the main street and parked in long rows so people could peer into their leathery insides, check out the motors and admire the ‘flaming’ paintwork.

The local market was on and people were swinging their clubs on the golf course. I joined the throngs browsing the bookstores, found an interesting book and settled into a cafe overlooking the waterfront called the ‘Six Sisters and a Pigeon’ (no sign of any pigeons but the sisters serve a bonza hot chocolate).

Yup, a weekend, in a small Australian town. Travelling Australia? Settle into a small town for the weekend.

The Oceans of Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

Well, we passed 2008 Environment Day last week so I am peppering this week’s posts with a few environmental thoughts. Today may be the day to mention an organisation to which I belong. The Wilderness Society is dedicated to helping preserve Australia’s wild places and one of their most interesting moves at the moment is to “secure some of our marine environment in fully protected marine parks, reduce the pressure from over-fishing, and help our amazing marine life to survive into the future for our kids and their kids to enjoy.”

A worthy mission eh?

Beyond the sandy beaches and rocky coastlines of this vast continent is an amazing underwater world, brimming with life, kelp forests, sponge gardens, coral reefs, turtles, dolphins, crabs, sea snails, and fish.

The Wilderness Society (TWS) have already had some campaign success resulting in fully protected marine parks for Ningaloo coral reef in WA, in parts of the Great Australian Bight off SA and in the Southern Ocean. TWS is slowly growing its marine campaign team around the country with active marine campaigns in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.

More information: www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/