I recently visited Crocosaurus Cove during a 48 hour trip to Darwin as a guest of Tourism NT.

While it’s main purpose is obviously to showcase crocodiles big and small what impressed me equally about Crocosaurus Cove was the wide range of Australian reptiles on display and If I’d had more time instead of doing underwater camera tests for a magazine article I would also have investigated the freshwater aquarium which has Barramundi, Sawfish and more.

Entry is not cheap but if you visit all all the croc enclosures, see big crocs being fed, feed small crocs yourself, swim in the tank next to the crocs, explore the Reptile house and Freshwater Aquarium then it should take up a few hours of your time and be worth it.

Holding a baby crocodile is including in the ticket price (if you want to do it). Their skin feels smooth.

You can view crocs from above at various viewing areas or from below in the swim tank separated from one of the croc tanks by a glass wall.

The Reptile House was well lit in different colours so you could actually see the snakes, lizards, frogs etc

Check the schedule so you can see some of their huge Saltwater Crocs being fed

Earlier this week I visited NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) located at Tidbinbilla, 40min drive from Canberra in the Australian Capitol Territory (ACT). CDSCC’s radio telescopes provide continuous radio contact with spacecraft exploring the Solar System and beyond such as Cassini (Saturn), twin Exploration Rovers (Mars), Messenger spacecraft (Mercury), New Horizons spacecraft (Pluto) and Voyager 1 and 2, which have been in space for over 30 years.

The radio telescopes at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex are part of 3 stations in NASA’s Deep Space Network, the other two are located in Madrid (Spain) and Goldstone (USA). Tidbinbilla is operated by the CSIRO on behalf of NASA.

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The CDSCC Visitors centre has informative displays that will enthrall space fans young and old. The attached Moon Rock Café has a great view of one of the telescopes and serves good quality well priced food and drinks. I couldn’t resist buying a navy blue NASA baseball cap from the Gift Shop – a bargain at $15.50.

To drive to the CDSCC from the centre of Canberra follow the signs for Tourist Drive 5 (TD5). GPS Users: Enter into your nav.system: Discovery Drive, Paddys River District or coordinates: -35.39972,148.97086.

Glen Nagle (Education and Public Outreach Manager for CDSCC pictured above) gave my friend Nick Hodge and I a tour of the facility so I had background information for an article about the CDSCC for GEARE magazine. That article will only have space for some of the photos I took so here is a selection of the most interesting photos. You can view all of my Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex photos at Flickr.

I’m a fan of thoughtful street art that isn’t just mindless tagging of a name over and over again like the mural in Chippendale, Sydney “knowledge breaks down walls”. So when I heard that the biggest street art exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere was being shown on Cockatoo Island I arranged to go there after work on a Friday with a group of like minded friends.

What Is Street Art?

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in an ephemeral and viral form of art that is marking urban settings around the world, and has developed a flourishing sub-culture all its own. Now though, street art is going mainstream. Auctioneers, collectors and museum directors are scrabbling to learn urban art vocabulary and develop positions on the big street art issues.

There is as yet no simple definition of street art. It is an amorphous beast encompassing art which is found in or inspired by the urban environment. With anti-capitalist and rebellious undertones, it is a democratic form of popular public art probably best understood by seeing it in situ. It is not limited to the gallery nor easily collected or possessed by those who may turn art into a trophy.

Considered by some a nuisance, for others street art is a tool for communicating views of dissent, asking difficult questions and expressing political concerns. Its definition and uses are changing: originally a tool to mark territorial boundaries of urban youth today it is even seen in some cases like the famous street artist Banksy as a means of urban beautification and regeneration.
- excerpt from Art Radar Journal

What Is the Outpost Project?

Entry to the Outpost Project is free with your ferry ticket. Cockatoo Island is a short ferry ride from Circular Quay and other harbour wharves. My friends and I caught the 5pm ferry to Cockatoo Island and left on the 810pm ferry.

More than 150 of the world’s best street artists are transforming the gritty, industrial canvas of Cockatoo Island into the biggest, freshest street art festival in the Southern hemisphere from 4 November to 11 December 2011. Over five big weeks, there will be exhibitions, installations, DJ’s, live entertainment and workshops for all ages, culminating with the Skateboarding Australia 2011 Pro/Am Tour Grand Final on 10 December.

Check the Outpost Project website for opening times for the Street Art Exhibitions and the Bar plus Pizza Shop area.

Example Street Art from Outpost Project Exhibition

These are a some examples of the the street art I liked when I visited the Outpost Project. Ideally you should visit for at least 3 hours.

I recently visited Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory during the Buildup season in late October as a guest of Tourism NT, along with several other journalists. I’ve visited Darwin before on holiday so was able to plan ahead and decided that I wanted to focus my photography on the outdoor markets and wildlife. As with all trips I go on, I have total control over deciding what and how much I write about and photograph of the places I visit.

By coincidence I was just reading ABC News online and saw a story that announced “The travellers’ guidebook Lonely Planet has named Darwin as one of the top 10 places in the world to visit in 2012.”

Well known ABC cricket commentator Kerry O’Keefe sometimes mentions that in his view the easiest job in the world is the Darwin weather forecaster. You don’t have to get out of bed its 32°, 32°, and 32°!. The only difference is whether it’s dry or wet.

In reality while it’s true that during the day a temperature of 30C +-5 is common in Darwin there are actually 6 seasons: Monsoon, Knock em Down, Cooler but humid, Cold, Hot dry and Pre-monsoon (Buildup). Temperatures and weather patterns in the Northern Territory have become more unpredictable than usual, possibly due to the effects of global warming/climate change.

Keeping cool and hydrated is serious business in the Top End. If you walked a few kilometres without a hat or water you would quickly get dehydrated and dizzy.

Mindil Beach Markets

Mindil Beach markets are open for the more calm 3 seasons of the year – from the last Thursday in April until the last Thursday in October each year. They open Thurs 5-10pm and Sat 4pm-9pm and stalls offer a wide range of food, arts and crafts. Since they’re located next to the beach you can buy a cool drink or dinner and sit on the sand watching the blood red Sun set over the Timor Sea.

Crocodiles

The only newspaper in the Northern Territory is the NT News and it is famous for regularly featuring Crocodiles on the front cover. I say why not? They certainly make for attention grabbing front pages.

I’ve taken several photos of crocodiles in the Northern Territory during previous holidays, you can see examples of these photos below:

(Featured as Photo of the Week on Qantas Travel Insider)

During this trip I got to visit the relatively new Crocosaurus Cove where we got to see a variety of crocodiles and reptiles. I tested some underwater cameras for an article in GEARE magazine by swimming in a tank in a croc tank with a glass wall separating me from them.

Darwin Birdlife

The Northern Territory as a whole is in my opinion the best place to visit if you want to see many raptor (predator) birds. Hawks, falcons and eagles can be seen quite often, especially hovering over main highways waiting to eat roadkill.

This 48 hour trip was far too short to do any serious bird watching but my local NT photojournalist friend Bob Gosford drove me around for 2 hours and we managed to spot 2 Whistling Kites fighting for food scraps and some Terns. Later on I found a dead Rainbow Lorikeet which was sad but enabled me to take macro (closeup) photos of its feathers which show an interesting green pattern.

Parap Village Markets

Parap Village Markets run all year round every Saturday of the year between 8am and 2pm. I visited at breakfast time and found it had a very Asian smell and feel to it, with lots of stalls selling all kinds of food and drink as well as beautiful flowers.

Darwin Swimming Options

You shouldn’t swim in the sea around Darwin during October to May as box jellyfish “stingers” are common. Saltwater crocodiles are also very common in all waterways surrounding Darwin and are even occasionally found swimming in Darwin Harbour and on local beaches.

Tourism NT suggests that tourists take advantage of the Wave Lagoon (fee for use) and/or the Recreation Lagoon (free) which should be stinging jellyfish free and much safer to swim in than the open sea because it has mesh screens and nets to keep “stinger” jellyfish out.

Both Lagoons are handily located alongside the Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront where Tourism NT had booked our group in to stay. They are literally less than a minutes walk from the hotel’s breakfast cafe area.

Buildup – Lightning Storm Season

Darwin has more lightning strikes than any other city in the world, especially during October/November/November during the Buildup to the Monsoon. This attracts storm chasers and photographers from around Australia and the world to visit and marvel at the power of nature.

I was lucky enough to watch a massive storm on the horizon from the Deckchair Cinema area with so many simultaneous lightning strikes that the photo looks like it was taken during the day, rather than late in the evening as it actually was.

The Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront hotel I stayed at is located on the shore and offers “Stormchaser” packages in the wet season for photographers. As you can see in the photo below taken by one of the hotel staff you can’t get much closer to the storm action!

48 hours in Darwin Photo Highlights

Some of my highlights photos have been displayed in this article but you can view all of them here or in a slideshow below:

DISCLAIMER: Almost all expenses for this trip were covered by Tourism NT (Tourism Northern Territory), and accomodation by Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront. I have full editorial control over the topics I want to write about on this trip and what I say.

I’m flying to Darwin tomorrow as a guest of Tourism Northern Territory (Tourism NT) with a group of other journalists and that reminded me of my backpacking trip through the Red Centre of Australia in the Northern Territory a few years ago.

Checking back through this Road Less Traveled website I realised that I hadn’t published photo highlights of the “Red Centre” Northern Territory of Australia section of the roadtrip so here are a selection of the photos below.

The Red Centre of Australia is a beautiful place to drive around. Don’t listen to people who say there’s nothing to see via Alice Springs except Uluru (Ayers Rock), Watarrka (Kings Canyon) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Some of the highlights off the beaten track include Ewaninga Australian Aboriginal Rock Carvings, Chambers Pillar and Rainbow Valley.

Ewaninga Aboriginal Rock Carvings

The rock carvings (petroglyphs) of Ewaninga represent one of central Australia’s earliet and richest art sites. This reserve is an important sacred site for the Arrente Aboriginal people.

Chambers Pillar

In the Aboriginal Dreamtime it is said the Gecko ancestor Itirkawara left the Finke River and journeyed north east. As he travelled he grew into a huge and powerfully built man of super human strength and with an extremely violent temper. On the way home to his birthplace he challenged and killed, with his stone knife, a number of ancestors.

Flushed with the ease of his success, he then disregarded the strict marriage code and took a wife from the wrong skin group. His enraged relatives banished him and the girl.

The two retreated into the desert, Itirkawara raging in fury, the girl shrinking from him in deep shame. Among the dunes they rested and turned into prominent rocky formations – Itirkawara into the Pillar, and the girl, still turning her face away from him in shame, into Castle Rock, around 500 metres away.
- Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve fact sheet

Rainbow Valley

The main features of the Rainbow Valley area are the scenic sandstone bluffs and cliffs. These free standing cliffs form part of the James Range, and are particularly attractive in the early morning and late afternoon when the rainbow-like rock bands are highlighted.
- Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve factsheet

Slideshow of all Red Centre Northern Territory, Australian Outback Photo Highlights

Australia is a land of parrots. They live across the country in a variety of climates and over 2 dozen of them by my count are shown in this excellent Australia Land of Parrots documentary narrated by famous actor Colin Friels, co-produced by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and PBS TV in the USA.

The aerial shots of giant flocks flying across the dusty red heart of Australia’s outback, descending onto the edge of water sources and wheeling across the deep blue sky were nothing less than brilliant. Since I’ve traveled through many parts of the Australian Outback I recognised the scenery around several areas featured such as Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar and the Macdonnell Ranges.

Australia Land of Parrots was filmed in high definition which means if you watch it on Bluray you’ll be able to see the parrots as the director intended with “exquisite detail and very saturated and beautiful colours”. Since ABC Shop charges the same amount for the DVD or Bluray if you have a Bluray player the optimal choice is obvious.

I love to take photos of birds (see example photos above/below) so watching the documentary made me wish I too could spend months traveling across Australia with a camera and long zoom lens to photograph them with.

According to the AFI:

“When Australia Land of the Parrots was broadcast on the ABC in May, it was a ratings winner. 1.2 million viewers tuned in to the wildlife documentary – a number that actually beat the Logies broadcast that Sunday night.”

This isn’t surprising when you consider that the raucous cries and striking plumage of parrots like Rainbow Lorikeets, Cockatoos, Corellas and Galahs are familiar and welcome sounds and sights to people living in Australian cities.

David Parer and Elizabeth Parer Cook who are credited as the documentary’s producers were also the principal cameraman and sound-recordist respectively. They’ve had their documentaries broadcast by the BBC, National Geographic and Discovery. In all their films have won over 120 Australian and international awards for program achievement, cinematography, sound and editing

On a sad note Australia: Land of Parrots is the last documentary to be made by the ABC’s in-house Natural History Unit, which was responsible for the ABC’s nature documentary output from the 1970’s until 2008. During this time it won many awards in Australia and Overseas.

David Parer told the AFI:

“Well, the NHU was closed down in September 2008 and now the ABC is concentrating its documentary output on the independent filmmakers around Australia. Natural History programs are being bought from independent producers in Australia. So it’s a change of direction. There’s pressure – they’re trying to do a lot more with basically the same ABC budget. It’s part of that whole move to actually outsource a lot more of the TV production to the independent sector”

You can buy Australia Land of Parrots on DVD or Bluray from ABC Shops or any DVD/Bluray store. The Single disk includes the main 52min documentary which was shown on TV as well as 56min of Extra Features.