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George Burnett - is a proven High Quality Spice Merchant "HERE"
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| Your Pictorial Web Site containing 1,120 Pictures of; | ||||||||||||
| PICTORIAL AUSTRALIA | ||||||||||||
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| Designed and Constructed by George Burnett of Hervey Bay Queensland, 4655 Australia | ||||||||||||
| Barrier Reef | Birds of Prey | Blue Mountains | Cape York | Eastern Forests | ||||||||
| Esperance | South West | Tropical Fish | Flinders Ranges | Flora | ||||||||
| Fraser Island | Gippsland | Gulf Country | Insects | Kakadu | ||||||||
| Kangaroo Island | Mount Gambier | Nocturnal | Open Country | Other Birds | ||||||||
| The Outback | Parrots | Philip Island | Pilbara | Pinnacles | ||||||||
| The Red Centre | Reptiles | Sea Animals | Sea Creatures | Snowy Mountains | ||||||||
| Tasmania | Water Birds | Wetlands | Wild Flowers | Wild Life | ||||||||
| Wilson Promontory | Whales | Backpacking | 4 Wheel Drive Hire | My Links | ||||||||
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| This web site is still under construction, please return. I will complete all names and details of pictures as soon as possible, thank you for visiting, George Burnett | |||
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| Outback Australia Page 1 | |||
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| Introduction |
| While you travel through the vast
South Australian outback in the comfort of your vehicle, spare a thought
for explorers like Eyre, Sturt, King, Burke and Wills, who battled their
way across the continent, suffering incredible hardship along the way,
Burke and Wills paying the ultimate price when they died in mid-1861 on
the return leg of their journey. The huge but sparsely populated outback
is steeped with history. Australia's driest area is the Simpson Desert, which receives only slightly more rain than the Sahara Desert. Fortunately this region lies above the Great Artesian Basin which is one of the largest in the world. Extending right across Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, the basin takes in waters from the Great Dividing range, with natural discharge occurring through a large number of springs across the south western margin in South Australia. These springs and man-made bores have helped to open up the previously inaccessible outback and enabled routes like the Birdsville, Strzelecki and Oodnadatta Tracks to be formed. Lake Eyre, biggest of the salt lakes at 9690 square kilometres, is also the lowest part of the continent, fifteen metres below sea level. Another saltpan lake, Lake Callabonna, is a declared fossil reserve, where the remains of the giant Diprotodons, extinct for 16,000 years, are preserved. Contrasting with the dry white salt lakes are huge gibber plains and the continually drifting sand dunes, often rising to 40 metres and extending in length up to 300 km. The dunes vary in colour from bright yellow to vivid red and are dotted with spinifex grass, bluebush and saltbush. The outback is a wilderness experience that one remembers for a lifetime. |
| Birdsville Track |
| The explorer Charles Sturt, who was
one of the first white men to travel through the desolate gibber plain of
the Stony Desert, described this as a "desperate region". It remains as he
saw it, apart from the Birdsville Track, which cuts through the western
edge of Sturt's Stony Desert and runs for about 480 km of discomfort. The
track skirts some of the most arid land in Australia, with habitation
restricted to scattered homesteads. The environment is hot and arid, made
of sandhills and claypans, and the sharp gibber covering much of the track
is a hazard. The track began life as a stock route for cattle driven down through Queensland to the Diamantina waterhole, later named Birdsville because of the prolific birdlife. Travelling through the region one comes across the Dingo Fence, which stretches from the N.S.W. border to the edge of the Great Australian Bight. The world's longest fence, it was built to keep dingoes from sheep flocks in the south and stretches an incredible 5,614km. Despite such extreme measures and after more than a century of hunting and trapping, dingoes still roam throughout most of mainland Australia. Today the Birdsville Track is a graded highway that can be covered in seven hours. Cattle stations along the track care for the diversity of flora and fauna as well as using the natural pastures to produce quality beef. Travellers should check road conditions before departure. |
| Desert |
| The vast desert areas of Western
Australia are known to be harsh, forbidding and ruthless. Rainfall is
infrequent and unreliable, drought is a recurring feature, extremes of
temperature are well known, evaporation is high and humidity is low. But after good rains, the starkness is transformed by a colourful film of germinating plants which spring to life with miraculous speed. Desert plants have evolved very efficient survival strategies, which are often evident in the shape, structure and pale colours of the foliage. Probably the most striking of all desert flowers is Sturt's Desert Pea which ranges from the far north-west down to Kalgoorlie. The scarlet and blue-black flowers of this trailing plant literally carpet the dry earth in spring and summer. Sturt's Desert Rose is very much a plant of the deep interior, as is the Emu Bush and the pink Parakeelya with its thick succulent leaves. The balance of nature in the desert is finely tuned. The climate gives no quarter, native fauna consists mainly of grazing-animals, and great tracts have been developed with huge sheep and cattle runs. Only careful control ensures that erosion of topsoil does not wipe out the rare and delicate plants of this fragile ecological system. |
| Oodnadatta Track |
| The Oodnadatta Track runs from Marree
to Marla, following the route taken by the explorer John McDouall Stuart
during his crossing of Australia in 1861-62. The track passes close to the
edge of Simpson Desert, on flat bush and gibber plains. The landscape is barren and unforgiving, with Lake Eyre shimmering on the horizon - a vast salt lake made up of two sections joined together by the fifteen-kilometre Goyders Channel: Lake Eyre North, covering 8,430 square kilometres, and Lake Eyre South, covering 1,260 square kilometres. Lake Eyre is the largest lake in Australia as well as being the lowest part of the continent, fifteen metres below sea level. Its surface is covered with a layer of salt approximately 20cm thick and hard enough to support the weight of heavy vehicles. Mirages produced by the shimmering expanse of salt give the impression of water, and crusty and crystal formations look like vegetation. A few reptiles live in this harsh environment, amongst them the earless Lake Eyre Dragon. Coward Springs at the Curdimurka Siding were formed when a bore was sunk here in 1886, creating extensive wetlands which are a haven to local birds. There is a number of mound springs to be found in the area, situated on the rim of the Great Artesian Basin - one of the world's largest underground water supplies - that extends across Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. Despite the bore water however, it should always be remembered that this is one of the driest parts of Australia where water is precious. The best time of year for outback travel is April to September, when the weather is usually mild and dry. Summers, however, are very hot, and temperatures often reach 50o Celcius, making travel difficult. |
| Simpson Desert |
| Spreading from South Australia into
Queensland and the Northern Territory, and covering an area of 170,000
square kilometres, the Simpson is one of the world's great sand-ridge
deserts. With a rainfall only slightly more than the Sahara's, dunes cover
73 percent of the total area, its huge red sand ridges running unbroken
and parallel for more than 100km. The only vegetation found in the area is mulga spinifex and grasses, but masses of wildflowers appear after the rain. Some samphire grows around the salt lakes, and some areas of waddy trees are found around the desert's borders. (These are medium-sized trees growing to about 14m, known for the hardness of their wood.) Marsupial mice, rodents and feral camels are the most common inhabitants of the area. The desert was home to Aborigines for some 5,000 years before Australia became a colony. In 1936 local bushman Ted Colson made the first recorded European crossing, followed by Cecil Madigan in 1939. During the 1960s and '70s, oil companies probed the desert, leaving a network of tracks that opened the previously inaccessible area. Today the crossing is still considered hazardous and must be attempted by 4WD vehicles only. Up-to-date maps, adequate food, water, fuel, tyres and spare parts - including a radio - must be carried, as rough tracks, sand hills and limited signs are just a few of the problems you will encounter. |
| Strzelecki Track |
| The Strzelecki Track was born back in
1870 when bushman Harry Redford stole 1000 head of cattle from Queensland
and carved the route while making the long trek towards Adelaide. Unused
for years, the dirt road was given a new lease on life with the discovery
of natural gas. Commencing at Lyndhurst, the track weaves its way north east through the famous Dingo Fence some 100km along the route. Near the dry salt pan of Lake Blanche is found the Monte Collina Bore. At Cameron Corner, South Australia meets Queensland and New South Wales. At Innamincka, many years ago Aborigines used to trade native Tobacco, the stimulant pituri. The pituri was taken south to the Flinders Ranges where it was then exchanged for the red ochre used in ceremonies. At the National Parks & Wildlife Service centre, visitors can obtain information and view a historic display. Cooper Creek runs down from where two Queensland rivers, the Thomson and the Barcoo, are joined at Windorah. The creek and the seven lakes that make up the Coongie system were discovered by Sturt in 1845 and are a haven for thousands of birds including corellas, barking owls, pelicans, freckled ducks, great egrets, brolgas and wedge-tailed eagles to name a few. |
| Along The Stuart Highway |
| The Stuart Highway consists of 2,900
kilometres of sealed road, which runs all the way to Darwin. It begins the
long trek north at Port Augusta. In the past the Stuart Highway had a well earned reputation for being the longest and roughest stretch of road in Australia. On the eastern side of the road, minor roads lead to the clay-plains of the salt Lake Torrens area and the Andamooka Ranges, famous for the rich ore deposits at Roxby Downs which contain copper, uranium, gold and silver, and opal in Andamooka. Agate and jasper are also mined in the area. Some of the most beautiful opal in Australia has come out of Andamooka. The opal field was discovered in 1930, when two drovers from Andamooka Station saw flashes of brilliant colour on a hillside after a rare thunderstorm. The opal level is an ancient sea-bed formed millions of years ago during the Tertiary Period. As a result of this, opalised shells and bones of ancient creatures are still being brought to the surface today. The opal mining usually extends between 3 to 10 metres below the surface. Andamooka's opal has darker colour shades and is considered by experts to be the most stable in the world. Further north-west and at the edge of the Stuart Range is the world's largest opal producing area, on a treeless plain which is covered with only sparse scrub. The area is named after the town, Coober Pedy, which is Australia's biggest and best known opal town. In 1915 a teenager stumbled on an opal field while gold prospecting with his father. The opal mined here is mainly white. Opal is a form of silica, chemically similar to quartz. Colour in precious opal is caused by the regular array of silica spheres diffracting white light and breaking it up into the colours of the spectrum. The diameter and spacing of the spheres controls the colour range. In summer the temperature averages between 35 and 47 degrees outside, with many days over 50. In winter however, the nights are bitterly cold. The annual rainfall is only 100mm making the water as precious as the opal that is mined here. |
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The Spice Guys |
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| Luxury Paints Hervey Bay |
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Business
Cards, Web Page Design & Hosting Internet Marketing; Computer Software Upgrades; Sales & Service; Computers; Monitors; Accessories; New or Used; DVD & CD Burning; Scanning; Secretarial Services; Digital Photography; Computer Tuition Working in Association with; Bay City Electronics, Shop 8, Focal Point, 19 Taylor Street, Pialba Qld 4655, near Corner of Torquay Road. Q4655 (Ph: (07) 4124 6015 By Appointment Only Ph: (07) 4124 8687 Mobile: 0422 297 925 E-mail: georgewhale@yahoo.com |
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| George Burnett, Webmaster, Unit 3, 327 The Esplanade | |
| Scarness, Hervey Bay, Queensland 4655, Australia | |
| Web Site Design, Marketing, Promotion, Scanning, | |
| Video Capture, CD Burning, Data, Music, Entertainment, Computer Backup, | |
| TV, Video Capture, Business Cards, Computer Upgrades, Repairs, Computer Tuition | |
| Fraser Island Marketing, Hervey Bay Real Estate, Hervey Bay For Sale | |
| Phone: (07) 4124 8687 - Mobile: 0422 297 925 |
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sprake real estate since 1938 |
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| R. G. Sprake & Co. Real Estate at it's Best! | ||
| R. G. Sprake & Co. | ||
| Hervey Bay Office: | Ph: 07 41246200 | Email Hervey Bay Office |
| Maryborough Office: | Ph: 07 41212466 | Email Maryborough Office |
| sprake | Web Sites | "CLICK HERE" |
