Outdoors

IN his book Down Under, American author Bill Bryson claims the one animal that instils fear into Australians is the crocodile. Our estuarine crocodile is a huge aquatic predator that certainly has a fearsome reputation for ‘taking’ humans, even though such ‘attacks’ are actually quite rare. They absolutely have to be respected! Talking to people visiting the region, it seems …

AS part of the Queensland Government’s commitment to boost visitor and residents’ safety on K’gari (Fraser Island), two hefty fines have been issued under the recently increased penalties legislated for interfering with dingoes. Minister for Environment and Science Leeanne Enoch said the fines served as a timely dingo safe reminder that people need to be aware of the significant and …

WE recently came to the grim realisation we’d had a serious lack of adventure over the past few months. Consequently, we were eager to book a trip away. After considering our options, we made the choice to head across Moreton Bay for a beautiful Stradbroke Island escape. We were lucky to decide just in time to buy our four-wheel-drive beach permit …

TOYOTA has introduced four new advanced safety features to its Fortuner range, including high-tech crash avoidance capability and technology to help drivers stay in the desired lane. The move means Toyota vehicles representing 89.5 percent of its sales are now available with these key features from the Toyota Safety Sense suite of advanced technologies. This includes 97 percent of Toyota’s …

HI all, southeast Queensland and northern NSW have endured a terrible fire season and my heart goes out to those who have felt the harshness of Mother Nature. Some have lost property and livelihoods, but one thing is for sure, the Australian landscape will return with fresh regrowth and the burnt scars will fade into the greenery. It will once …

CONTINUING our Aussie adventure, we headed to another epic Northern Territory National Park: Litchfield. Litchfield National Park is amazing and a great family camping destination, with plenty of great campgrounds within a short drive from one another. We decided to base ourselves at Florence Falls Campground. This area is nestled on top of a hill, which gave us a nice outlook and …

AFTER testing the new Isuzu D-MAX several months ago, an opportunity arose to try out the top-of-the-range Isuzu MU-X LS-T 4X4, so I jumped at it. The MU-X comes in three models starting with the base LS-M, moving up to the LS-U and finally the top-spec LS-T, all of which are powered by the ever-reliable three-litre turbo-diesel engine, which is …

HI all, after playing around with solar equipment for camping for about seven years, I have a good understanding of what you need for all-weather base camp-style camping. I started out years ago with just two 120W fold-out 12V panels hooked together to make 240W and one PWR controller. For storage I had three 70A four-wheel-drive batteries, as I was …

WOW, this month is about Kakadu in the Northern Territory. What an amazing place and great to be back in some of my old haunts. It’s been about seven years since I have last been up here, when I was guiding in Arnhem Land and Kakadu. I really like Kakadu. Just one of those places which feels like it has …

SANCTUARY Cove has already locked in dates for the return of OutdoorX in 2020, with exhibitors and visitors alike celebrating the success of Australia’s newest outdoor lifestyle event. Held beneath stunning blue skies on the Gold Coast, the inaugural OutdoorX attracted almost 12,000 people across three days with more than 100 brands recording strong sales of their latest products. The …