TRAVEL • Insects need to be periodically scraped off the windscreen. • The mobile struggles to stay in range then cuts out completely. • ABC country radio, the only accessible channel, plays rural focused programs. • The comment “just up the road” can mean anything from just around the corner to several hundred kilometres away. • I play a never-ending game of Dodge the Potholes. • Oncoming drivers greet each other with a raised index finger. • There are more interstate tourist vehicles than local traffic. • Gridlocks come with wide tractors and harvesters that occupy both lanes of already narrow roads. • After a comfort stop in the bush you return with a cattle tick that you only discover when relaxing in bed that night. • You jump the farm fence for another comfort stop only to get zapped by a million volts from an innocuous looking white tape. On scrambling to your feet, you may look down and discover that a comfort stop is no longer required. • You wake up in the morning to the soothing sound of bird calls. • Every locality has a Sandy Creek, and it means what it says. • The towns’ water tastes like turpentine. • On a clear evening (once every month) you can see a setting sun in the west and a
turn of the head will reveal a rising full moon, while the next day you experience the reverse, a setting full moon and a rising morning sun. • The clear night skies display an unfamiliar starscape. The Milky Way almost resembles a dense white veil of a zillion light specks while the Southern Cross almost blinds you. • You drive through a plague of locusts. Every day is a new adventure or experience. Though you may die of thirst or dehydration driving through remote arid wastelands, food is never a problem – the carrion on the roads will provide excellent protein – quite tasty if killed in the last 24 hours. And this is but a snippet. If you venture into the desert moonscapes, well off the sissy sealed roads, you will be greeted by a museum of bleached bones and the graveyard of vehicles – cars, trucks, trailers, caravans, that have shaken themselves to pieces on the legendary corrugations. I suspect, and correct me if I’m wrong, that our pioneers and explorers traversed the country not in Toyotas and Fords, but on camels and horseback because you can’t eat a metal vehicle. Yes, travelling the land is like travelling a foreign country – everything is unrecognisable. So, to answer his question: “I know I am travelling in the country when … it doesn’t resemble the city.”
Escape to Caloundra We have over 130 properties you won’t find anywhere else, starting from just $460 per week.
We’re ready to find you a great place now! SENIOR DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE Visit caloundraholidaycentre.com.au or phone us on 1800 817 346 for a free full coloured brochure and price list. 78 Bulcock Street, Caloundra
DOWN UNDER COACH TOURS Specialising in Senior’s Coach Holiday Packages
Have a great time Down Under...! 7 Day Brigadoon Festival at Bundanoon 6 Day Nundle Go for Gold Chinese Easter Festival Departs 14th April 2022 Departs 30th March 2022 Adult: $2,678pp Single Supplement: $538 pp Adult: $2,178 pp Single Supplement: $462 pp 12 Day Corner Country, Lake Eyre & Birdsville Departs 15th June 2022 Adult: $4,722 pp Single Supplement: $617 pp
5 Day 1770 Festival Departs 19th May 2022 Adult: $2,379 pp Single Supplement: $371 pp
6 Day Fraser Coast & Carnarvon Gorge Departs 21st July 2022 Adult: $3,266 pp Single Supplement: $480 pp
66 Day Grand Aussie Adventure Departs 26th July 2022 Adult: $28,693 pp Single Supplement: $7,814 pp
15 Day Outback Qld & the Top End 8 Day Darwin, Kakadu & Katherine Departs 26th July 2022 Coach/Fly Departs 1st August 2022 Coach/Fly/Coach Adult: $7,396 pp Single Supplement: $1,776 pp Adult: $4,880 pp Single Supplement: $998 pp
10 Day Kimberley Kapers Departs 8th August 2022 Fly/Coach/Fly Adult: $6,498 pp Single Supplement: $1,194 pp
8 Day WA South West Wanderer 15 Day Broome & the Pilbara Departs 29th August 2022 Fly/Coach/Fly Departs 15th August 2022 Fly/Coach/Fly Adult: $7,565 pp Single Supplement: $1,995 pp Adult: $4,384 pp Single Supplement: $778 pp
11 Day Nullarbor Plain, Great Australian Bight & Eyre Peninsula Departs 5th September 2022 Fly/Coach/Fly Adult: $5,858 pp Single Supplement: $1,081 pp
14 Day Adelaide, Painted Desert & Uluru Field of Lights Departs 8th August 2022 Fly/Coach Adult: $6,826 pp Single Supplement: $1,437 pp
7 Day Stanthorpe & O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat Departs 31st August 2022 Adult: $2,863 pp Single Supplement: $639 pp
6 Day Lightning Ridge & Cotton Country Departs 10th September 2022 Adult: $2,388 pp Single Supplement: $389 pp
24 Day Hunter Valley, East Coast & 12 Day Canberra Floriade & the Tassie Combo Snowy Mountains Departs 10th November 2022 Departs 1st October 2022 Adult: $4,698 pp Single Supplement: $1,541 pp Adult: $9,445 pp Single Supplement: $2,441 pp
9 Day Hunter Valley & East Coast Departs 10th November 2022 Coach/Fly Adult: $3,896pp Single Supplement: $672 pp
5 Day Merry Mackay Christmas Departs 23rd December 2022 Adult: $2,333 pp Single Supplement: $491 pp
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT Book your 2022 tour on or before 31st December 2021 and receive 5% Discount off the price of your tour.
16 Day Best of Tasmania Departs 18th November 2022 Fly/Coach Adult: $7,195 pp Single Supplement: $1,762 pp Down Under Coach Tours, PO Box 149, Maryborough Q 4650 www.downundercoachtours.com.au info@downundercoachtours.com.au Brisbane
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CT TRAVEL Coolum Tours & Travel
Free Call 1800 072 535 or Ph 07 4123 1733
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