Tag Archive - Australia

Why we love airplanes, airshows and all things flying? Our afternoon at RAAF museum Point Cook.

February 20, 2011 in Family, Inspiration with 1 Comment

The same reason why many of us harbour the desire to have the secret ability to fly. 

Its Freedom, Speed, Diving,… 

and there we were listening to Darcy O’Connor, a retired Air Force pilot now flying Airbus jets for Jetstar, one of

Mustang at Point Cook

Mustang from RAAF Museum air display

Australia’s budget airlines. But on weekends he still gets a buzz talking to groups of kids and adults and putting on a short display of aerobatics at the RAAF Air Force base at Point Cook, just outside of Melbourne – the longest continuous operational Air Force base anywhere in the world.

The plane being put through its paces today was a Mustang, built at Fisherman’s Bend in Australia in the 1950’s as the only place outside of the USA licensed for production.  With a huge 12 cylinder Merlin engine, this plane had speed and endurance and as it completed loops and high speed rolls above us as a dad I couldn’t help wish that I had learnt how to fly as a kid. As Darcy returned to the ground in the Mustang my 7 year old daughter asked “Dad, when can I learn to fly”

Flying

Mustang in flight

I imagine amongst the group there to watch the display this weekend, it was a common thought for kids and adults alike. 

The air displays are a regular (and clearly popular) attraction at Point Cook with displays at 1pm each Tuesday, Thursday and Sundaythroughout the year with regular aircraft featured including the Winjeel, Harvard, CT4A, Sopwith Pup replica, Tiger Moth and Mustang. In addition visiting aircraft such as the DC3, Bird Dog or even a modern PC-9 can sometimes be seen. 

RAAF museum

RAAF Museum - military transport display

The adjacent museum capped of the display with some history of the RAAF and several hangars of aircraft. Next door was a hangar showing how restoration of these historic aircraft takes place. 

Flying boat at RAAF Museum

And if you really want more then airshows featuring military, commercial and historic aircraft and aerobatics and regular events at cities around the worlld including world famousFarnborough show in England or the Paris (Le Bourget) show in France.  The USA also has a long season of shows including for example Miramar Airshow in October or Aviation Nationat Nellis AFB every November.  In Australia try catching the Avalon airshow held every 2 years and just down the road from Point Cook towards Geelong.

The RAAF Museum is a 25-minute drive south-west from Melbourne. Air displays and museum entry is free and the museum is open Tuesday to Friday: 10am–3pm;  Weekends and Public Holidays: 10am–5pm. 

If you want to extend your day the point cook area just next to the Air Force base is the Point Cook Coastal Park, with walking trails and great views across Port Phillip Bay back to Melbourne as well as a wetland area teeming with bird life.  Not far away is Weribee park and the open plains zoo.

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Family find! – Jump on the trampolines in Lorne along the Great Ocean Road

October 19, 2010 in Family, Travel with 2 Comments

The Great Ocean Road is considered one of the best drives in Australia and is well known around the world for its beautiful beaches and sheer limestone cliffs that are pounded by the crashing surf of the Southern Ocean.  Starting from Torquay, surf capital Australia, where nearby Bells Beach is one of the most famous surfing locations in the world and stretching past the rugged splendour of the huge rock stacks of the 12 apostles (or the 7 or so that’s left).

Beach at Gibson Steps

This stretch of road is a great place to spend some time either on the beach, exploring the forests of the Otway ranges or admiring the beautiful coastal scenery.  One place to make a stop is Lorne not only for the scenery, great restaurants and shopping which make it popular for weekending from Melbourne but if you have kids a great find is the foreshore trampolines.

With the beach a few steps in front, a big playground next door and rows of trampolines built into the ground all three of my kids loved their jumping for 20 minutes after our drive from Melbourne and would have kept going if they hadn’t closed up at 5pm (we got to use them for free at the end of the day but it seems there is a small charge).  The only problem might be getting on particularly in summer, these trampolines are an institution for visitors to Lorne and a must for the kids.

Explore Seven Continents & Beyond – Best of August 2010

September 13, 2010 in Inspiration, Travel with 1 Comment

August has unfortunately been a bit busy for me, moving house and spending what seems like most of the last month with the flu/bronchitis hasn’t helped but in between unpacking boxes and recovering here is my wrap up of the most interesting, topical and/or useful travel stories I’ve spotted in August to help inspire you to explore seven continents and beyond.

Europe

The Lake District is one of the most beautiful areas in England so head north and explore it.  Tony Greenbank of Guardian Travel provides a short diary of his exploration of the area by bike.

North America

This post on the Frugal Traveler’s parents joining him in Nicaragua caught me eye, a great read and a travel trend for the future I think.

And just in case Nicaragua isn’t considered part of North America (where is the accepted line between the continents of North and South America) I loved this visual diary of a flight from New York City to Berlinfrom Christopher Niemann in the New York Times blogs.  The armrest battle starts on boarding!

South America

The Amazon evokes thoughts of adventure and this story from Keith Bellows of the National Geographic Traveler magazine explores the lost world of the Amazon highlighting where travellers rarely go on board the Aqua, one of only a handful of boats running regular trips down the Peruvian Amazon.

Asia

I’m heading to Hong Kong in a couple of days so when I saw this article from CNNGo last month on deserts in Hong Kong I had to make note so I could seek out some mango or thousand layered pudding – Yum

Africa

My first safari experience in Africa was in Botswana, an experience I’ll never forget and these memories were stirred for me by Inside the Travel Lab with The Safari Symphony- The Okavango Delta, Botswana.

Australia & Pacific

Its Australian football league (AFL) finals in September so an apt explanation of Aussie Rulesfrom the @traveldudes for anyone who flicks on late night TV somewhere in the rest of the world and happens upon a telecast of a game will know whats going on.  I also wrote in July about A Day at the Footy: Sport the local way to highlight when travelling that attending a local sports event is a great way to experience a city like a local.

Antarctica

The ice that covers the continent tells a story about what Earth’s climate used to be like.  This post from the Antarctica blog provides a TED Talk on the fascinating process.

Beyond

There is an entire (mostly) undiscovered world under the water to explore so this post from the prolific Patricia Vance on the World’s Most Incredible Underwater Adventures is great to wet your appetite!

From Below – Finding more than Opals in Coober Pedy

August 23, 2010 in Above or Below, Travel with 0 Comments

I’d always wanted to visit Coober Pedy in the far north of South Australia, primarily because I’ve been fascinated with living underground for a long time! This fascination is possibly from seeing too many James Bond villains in their underground lair at the movies or reading the Hobbit as a kid. Though these days it’s also an interest in energy efficient buildings, and living underground does give a comfortable year long temperature range.

And if you ever go to Coober Pedy, a frontier town in the middle of the desert in central Australia, halfway between Adelaide and Alice Springs, you’ll understand why they built underground to escape the baking heat.  Known as the opal capital of the world my family and I were there this past Easter on a trip from Melbourne up to Alice Springs (and back). While above ground we’d timed our visit to coincide with the annual opal festival, which turned out to be an engaging friendly town fair and perhaps made it the most lively time we could have visited.  Not that it felt like anyone extra was in town, as tourists frequently only make a stop for the night on their way up to or from the centre of Australia. 

Our interest was in spending a few nights staying underground, which we did at the aptly named Underground Motel, which had rooms carved into a small sandstone hill overlooking the town and offered rooms suitable for travelling families or couples alike with a friendly host happy to explain more about the town. 

Underground Motel

While during our day in town we visited an underground church, underground town museum, an (underground) opal mine and also Crocodile Harry’s – an bizarre underground house of the aforementioned Harry, which has been used in several movies such as Mel Gibson’s Mad Max beyond Thunderdome.

Underground Church

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Coober Pedy, I loved that a lot of it was underground. It’s unusual and unlike any other place you’ll visit with a character all of its own.  So did my kids, they loved the idea of living underground, exploring caves (as they termed them) and discovering what was there.

From Above or Below – The Great Barrier Reef

July 27, 2010 in Above or Below with 0 Comments

Great Barrier Reef 6

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the natural wonders of the world and is stunningly beautiful both from above and below – something that can’t be said about most places.

The Great Barrier Reef - from above

I first saw the reef as a young teenager on holiday with my family.  The initial excitement came from taking a seaplane (also my first) from the Queensland coast out to the reef.  The small propeller driven plane gave the sense that we were really out on an adventure and offered great views over the pristine water. As we glided low over the reef I could see the profile of the reef and see the changing blue and green hues creating a stunning natural landscape. Gliding onto the surface of the water towards the flotilla of boats for viewing the reef up close we transferred onto a glass bottom boat for the day and were given our snorkeling equipment.  And below the surface was even more beautiful than seeing it from above, being able to reach out and almost touch fish nearby, see the reef up close and explore this underwater world was one of my first travel memories. 

Great Barrier Reef 4

The Great Barrier Reef - from below

Over the years I’ve always enjoyed seeing places from above and below, whether it is nature or cities.  I plan to highlight more places in future posts that you must see from above or below to really highlight their scale and beauty.  I’d also love to hear from you if you have a favourite place, whose beauty can only truly be appreciated from above or below.

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