Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

THE ACTIVE TRAVELER 61
Fun Fact Something Different: Camel Trekking
Camels Down Under? You bet. Australia has one of the world’s largest
camel populations, and even exports racing camels to the Middle East.
Camels were imported to negotiate waterless deserts in the 1900s but
were later set free. They are now a popular way to trek the country. Short
rambles of an hour or two in Alice Springs and at Ayers Rock are a novel
way to see the Outback, or you can join extended camel treks through
Outback deserts offered by a number of operators. Several companies in
Broome lead guided rides along beautiful Cable Beach.
U.S. and Canada; www.adventurous
traveler.com), or from the Quayside
Bookshop in the United Kingdom
(& 01626/77-5436; quaybooks@aol.
com).
Remote Outback Cycle Tours
(& 08/9279 6969; www.cycletours.
com.au) takes novice and expert riders,
young and old, on extended tours
across the country. The distances are
vast, but the trip is combined with
4WD travel in parts. Itineraries include
the Red Centre, the historic Oodnadatta
Track cattle-driving route from
Alice Springs to Adelaide via the underground
opal-mining town of Coober
Pedy in South Australia, and from Adelaide
to Perth across the Nullarbor
Plain desert, and through the pretty
Margaret River wine region in southern
Western Australia.
BIRD-WATCHING Australia’s
unique geography as an island continent
ensures it has species you won’t
see anywhere else. It is probably best
known for its brilliant parrots, but you
will see species from the wetlands,
savannah, mulga scrub, desert, oceans,
dense bushland, rainforest, mangroves,
rivers, and other habitats.
More than half of the country’s species
have been spotted in the Daintree
Rainforest area in north Queensland,
and one-third live in wetlands-rich
Kakadu National Park in the Top End.
The Coorong in South Australia and
Broome in the Top End are home to
marvelous waterfowl populations.
To get in touch with bird-watching
clubs all over Australia, contact Birds
Australia (& 03/9882 2622; www.
birdsaustralia.com.au).
Kirrama Wildlife Tours (& 07/
4065 5181; www.gspeak.com.au/
kirrama/) operates birding expeditions
to remote regions in northern Australia
from a base in north Queensland.
Broome-based ornithologist George
Swann of Kimberley Birdwatching,
Wildlife & Natural History Tours
(& 08/9192 1246; www.kimberley
birdwatching.com.au) tailor-makes
extended birding trips throughout the
Kimberley and the Northern Territory.
Fine Feather Tours (& 07/
4094 1199; www.finefeathertours.
com.au) based near Port Douglas near
the Daintree Rainforest, operates
bird-watching day trips and afternoon
river cruises.
CANOEING & SEA KAYAKING
Katherine Gorge in the Northern Territory
offers some spectacular flat canoeing.
You’ll find delightful canoeing on
the bird-rich Ord River in the Top
End. Katherine Gorge and the Ord are
full of generally harmless freshwater
crocodiles, but never canoe in saltwatercrocodile
territory. White-water canoeing
can be found in Barrington Tops
National Park north of Sydney.
A growing number of operators all
around the coastline rent kayaks and
lead guided expeditions. Popular spots
are the Whitsunday Islands in north
Queensland, the cold southern seas