THE BEACH FILES - CARLTON

One thing Tasmania has in abundance is gorgeous beaches. It's true that the water temperature is less than ideal for most of the year if you're a cold water coward such as I, but for meandering, dog walking and salt air sniffing there's definitely a generous selection to choose from.

42 DEGREES SOUTH

Earlier in October, I took a short trip to the bracing south, on my first ever trip to Tasmania. Despite the inclement weather that always takes some getting used to after too long in Darwin, it was a wonderful relief to get away from the soupy hot buildup of the north. With five days up my sleeve I tackled the usual tourist haunts of Salamanca, MONA, the botanic gardens, Mt. Wellington, Richmond and Runnymede, as well as a few lesser known locales such as the Sandy Bay Twilight Markets. However the main purpose of my holiday was seeing if Hobart was a good fit as a new home town.

ROAD TRIPPING THE BARKLY

In a rare turn of events I was let out of the office last week for a work related trip down to the wide open spaces of the Territory's Barkly Tablelands region. It's been an embarrassing number of years since I've been down this way.

LOCAL TOURISM

It's a pretty common experience for many of us - but playing tourist closer to home is something a lot of people don't always get around to doing. For people who like travelling, the allure of the unfamiliar is often far more tempting than poking around the corners of our own back yard.

SOUTHERN SHORES

Happy 2015!

I saw in this new year in proper holiday mode. As expected, by the time Christmas rolled around I'd had about as much of the endless buildup heat as I could take, so I gave myself a little break and headed down to Melbourne to tick another experience off my personal bucket-list - driving the Great Ocean Road.

BEACH STILLS

Another image series from some recent beach walks. Gorgeous as it is, I've started some different circuits recently as a break from routine is always welcome, so my next walkabout image series should be a little different.

DOWN THE TRACK

I don't come down here nearly often enough.

Litchfield National Park is about 100km south of the city, just past the small township of Batchelor. I've been coming here for about as long as I've had a car (and once even came close to a nasty accident during the freewheeling days of my youth when I decided my tiny tinny car and lack of driving experience could totally handle a bit of off-road adventuring). It's a prime spot for a little weekend getaway or daytrip.

BITTER SWEET

A couple of weekends ago I finally got around to heading down the track for a Territory-style minibreak. Though some may wonder why people living in the tropics would crave the experience of immersing ourselves in thermal pools, rather than say, waterfalls, the numerous thermal pools in the region are quite popular with both locals and tourists alike.

AUTUMN IN MELBOURNE CITY

I recently went for a jaunt down to much-loved Melbourne city. Only my second visit in as many years, it's a city I'd always planned to visit back when I last lived here, but never quite made it to. Acclaimed for its coffee, vintage thrift, trams, food, art and hipsters, it's touted as one of the most liveable cities in the world. It's certainly a great city for photos (the meagre selection I came back with was down to a combination of non photo-walk friendly footwear (rookie mistake) and a relatively short visit).

MAGNETISM

While termite mounds are a pretty common sight across the Territory, there are only a few spots where you can see the more unusual magnetic termite mounds. These occur only in open treeless plains and are aligned on a north-south axis to minimise their exposure to the harsh Australian sun. I've seen a few on private properties around Fogg Dam but the best place to get a viewing of these architectural marvels is in the very popular Litchfield National Park (about 100km south of Darwin, a popular recreational spot for locals and tourists alike).

SPOTLIGHT ON SPECIES - THE APOSTLEBIRD

One of the great things about camping in the Australian bush is the general tendency for local wildlife to crash join your party. Well, I think that's what often happens...maybe it's just me. While this 'hi, what you doing?' habit is less welcome if it's say, something that can kill you (and as every enlightened tourist knows, Everything in Australia Can Kill You), sometimes your nature bonding companions are nothing more than a charming mob of very precocious birds wearing prepare-to-die expressions.

TURKISH DELIGHT

One of nature's main signposts that heralds the onset of cool clear dry season days is the abundant and vivid florescence of Calytrix shrubs, colloquially referred to as Turkey Bush (after the bird, versus the country - despite the somewhat misleading title of this post). There are several Calytrix species across the Top End, with the larger, pink-hued flowers of Calytrix extipulata (pictured above) being the most visible. Common along roadsides in the less horticulturally manicured areas in and around Darwin, their scraggly overall appearance belies an exquisitely delicate spray of feathery blooms.

MINDIL BEACH MARKETS

Historically, markets have always been something that Darwin does pretty well. Of the 4 main markets held every week during the dry season (Mindil Beach, Parap, Rapid Creek and Nightcliff) the Mindil Beach markets are far and away the most popular with visitors. Although they rate highly on every Darwin tourism publication out there, and despite the fact that as a local I tend to only visit them about 2 or 3 times a season, they definitely still bear mentioning as a must-do for any visitor to the city.

FNQ

During my latest trip to Australia, I went on a quick 5 day dash over to far North Queensland. I haven't been here since I was a kid, and on the itinerary was a tour of the Atherton region, the Daintree and a bit of Barrier Reef action. Although the weather was mostly cold and overcast (well, except for in those first couple of pictures...) it was a pretty fun excursion...aside from the gut heaving excursion out to the reef which left half a boatload of passengers being violently ill, myself included (check out my sexy sea legs).

KINGS OF THE ROAD

Road trains are the most common forms of goods transport in Australia. Huge trucks cover large distances every week, and travel the length and breadth of the country.

UBIRR

It's been years since I've been out to Kakadu. Even when I was living in Darwin I'd gotten out of the habit of taking trips down the track, apart from the odd visit to Litchfield. To be honest I'd completely forgotten how amazing Kakadu can be.

CHILLED IN KATHERINE

Normally the north Australian dry season has warm sunny days you can set your watch by, years in advance. However this year was an exception to this rule and my jaunt to Mataranka and Katherine was mostly overshadowed by...well...a blanket of grey clouds. And not only clouds but ridiculously cold weather to boot (cue me and a few hundred other chilled souls ransacking the Target dept store in Katherine for some cold weather wardrobe accessories). I tried my hardest to avoid jersey fabric, but ultimately the inevitable happened.

KAKADU BIRDS

Striated pardalote - open eucalypt woodland, Litchfield National Park

I lived in Northern Australia for about 12 years in total, and spent a lot of that time out in the bush, surrounded by amazing colours, diverse nature and raw beauty. I was always interested in photography, and have had a camera kicking around for as long as I can remember but like a lot of people the cost of film could be a bit offputting when you were still working it all out.
I had so much fun cramming in 13 lost years into a one month holiday, but at the same time I quite regretted that I hadn't go into photography earlier. It was amazing to see how much easier it is to photograph wild birds in Australia as compared with Europe. All of these shots used nothing more powerful than a 200mm lens and a bit of cropping.

BURNING SEASON

Every year from around May until July is when most of the annual burning is done in the Top End. Once a landscape that was managed according to a long and unbroken tradition by the indigenous peoples of this nation, these days it's more of a ramshackle affair that tries to tie in modern science, traditional knowledge, diverse land practices and the problem of increased fuel loads from invasive grasses.