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Devil by Name, Not by Nature. Shelly Lord takes a look at one of Australia’s most misunderstood and endangered marsupials. The Tasmanian Devil is possibly one of our more misunderstood native animals. Early European settlers named them “The Devil” after hearing screeches and growl’s coming from the bush at night. Then later being portrayed as a ferocious, spinning cartoon character called “Taz” that would eat anything in his path. There seem to be many people out there who are fearful of the Tassie Devil, believing it is an aggressive and evil animal. Tassie Devils have the most powerful bite for the weight of any animal, strong enough to crush bones. However, these nocturnal carnivorous marsupials are shy and prefer to run away. Tasmanian Devils have coarse black fur, and most have a white stripe on their chest. Some devils have white markings on their rump, with no two markings on a devil being the same. They are pretty small, stocky animals, with the males being larger than the females. A healthy male devil can weigh between 8-and 14kg while the female will weigh between 5-and 9kg. Although not a very big animal, standing up to 30cm at the shoulders, a Tassie Devil can eat up to 40% of its body weight in one day. Tassie Devils are not fussy eaters,…
In this product review, Pat gives you his thoughts on the Track Trailer T4 Hybrid Caravan. It looks like a ‘regular’ single axle off-road caravan by all intents and purposes. Off-road suspension and tyres, loads of ground clearance, and a bed up against one end. But in reality, that’s like comparing a Datsun Fairlady to a Lamborghini Huracan. Yes, they’re both sports cars, but one is a supercar, and the other is not. If you hadn’t already worked it out, the Australian-engineered and built Track Trailer T4 is the Lambo in this analogy. With their glut of winding roads and doorway to Europe, it makes sense that the Italians would design sexy fast cars that know how to corner. Yet it makes even more sense that Australia would be the home of the finest off-road creations on the planet. The caravan industry in Australia has, however, had a chequered past. Manufacturers come and go with the seasons, and things like R&D and warranty are what some builders consider ‘optional’. Track Trailer sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. While its trailers remain essentially hand-built, the roots of the company lie in military contract fulfilment. Before building fancy $100K-plus off-road caravans, they built off-road trailers for the Australian Army. Before Tesla had a Trunk, the T4 had one… HYBRID-OGRAPHY The…
K’gari or Fraser Island is a paradise indeed, but you may benefit from some ‘Mr 4X4’ tips to ensure your journey goes to plan. You might think I’d be getting sick of it after venturing to K’Gari Fraser Island for the past 20 years. But being the largest sand island in the world has its advantages. There’s always a different route to take and something new to experience. This latest journey was blessed with great weather, incredible sunsets, and great rejuvenation. After the wildfires of a few years back, the island has bounced back with vigour. It’s genuinely looking better than ever. Inskip Point (just north of Rainbow Beach) was my start point this time around. This stretch of sand is undoubtedly one of the most changeable. One day, the sand spit stretches far and wide. The next? It’s a slender two-lane sliver of sand out to the barge. And let’s not forget about the sinkholes that randomly appear up here, swallowing whole caravans in the process. My advice with Inskip Point is to never take it lightly. Always air down before hitting the sand, and engage low range if you have it. Not only will you give your 4X4 the best chance of success, but you’ll also be saving yourself an embarrassing recovery in a high traffic area. Our…
Protecting an area of coastal plains, heathlands and pristine beaches, Bundjalung national park also includes an exclusion zone used by the RAAF as an active bombing range….! But don’ty let that stop you visiting this amazing location. The North Coast of NSW has many diverse and unique areas all linking back to when the east coast volcanoes erupted 30-60 million years ago. If it wasn’t for the major upheaval, we wouldn’t have the Great Diving Range holding rainforest pockets, rich soil farmlands and wilderness areas. Luckily, along the north coast region, we can access most of these areas in some way. One of these areas is Bundjalung NP, just 90 minutes south of the NSW/QLD border. On paper, the park has a wide variety of things to do and I remember from 20 years ago I thought I’d head back in for a few days. Parks state that it covers 21,000 hectares with a variety of different environments including wetlands, coastal, rainforest and much more. One significant feature is the Esk River system which apparently is the longest natural coastal river ecosystem on the north coast, say that 10 times! My plan was to start at the southern end of the park at the coastal community of Iluka and 4WD through the park to the main camping area of Black…
Check out what’s happening throughout the industry with insurance options for our two-wheel-drive owner readers, some great news about the Birdsville Races and a major tourism award in South Australia. CLUB 4X4 GOES 2X4 Club 4X4 Insurance has recently broadened its offering to two-wheel-drive vehicles and SUVs. Company chief Kalen Ziflian said: “We recognise that many of our policyholders have a daily driver that is not a 4X4. We wanted to help these people and offer a multi-policy discount. So, when you sign up for an additional vehicle, you’ll receive a discount not just on your daily driver, but on your 4X4 too.” Currently, Club 4X4s Comprehensive Daily Drive Insurance is only available to policyholders. So, if you have your 4X4, caravan or camper-trailer insured with Club 4X4, you can access the Daily Drive Insurance and the associated discounts. The multi-vehicle discounts vary depending on the vehicle or trailer but are up to 10%. Club 4X4 also offers the new multi-vehicle policy to be covered by a single policy schedule. You can have one simple payment per month and a single renewal date across all your vehicles to make managing your insurance easier. To find out more, call 1800 CLUB 4X4 (258 249) BIRDSVILLE IS BACK! The iconic Birdsville Races is back in 2022, ready to celebrate its 140th anniversary!…
Looking for some gifts ideas for mother’s day? We have plenty in this month’s gear news. I think mum would really love the Plasma Lighter…! PLASMA LIGHTER’S, ALL THE BUZZ An essential item for every camper has always been a box of matches or a butane lighter. Now there is a new player in the market, the plasma lighter. Plasma lighters first became available in 2015 but are only becoming more popular now. Plasma lighters are rechargeable, and they don’t require refilling with any gas or liquid. Once charged via USB, you can expect to get 300 uses per charge. A plasma lighter does not produce a flame. It forms what’s called a plasma arc. Plasma is an ionized gas in which electrons flow. At the press of the button on your lighter, the stored charge passes between two nodes to create an arc of highly charged plasma. The benefit of the plasma arc over a flame is it will not blow out, and you can safely use it at any angle. Most plasma lighters come with a safety switch which restricts the ignition time to around 10 seconds. There are a few different types of plasma lighter. I’ve chosen to review a 4tech brand lighter with the top facing dual arc configuration. This lighter has four nodes on the…
Pat has done it again and it couldn’t be simpler. Just tear off chunks of bread and douse them in the cheese. Delicious! This cheese delight is very easy to prepare and should be enjoyed around a roaring campfire. According to Recipe Pocket, Cob bread is a crusty round bread that can be made into one large loaf or smaller individual rolls. It’s a simple free-form bread that does not require a bread tin, making it great for cooks who only have basic baking equipment. It can be hollowed out to make a bread bowl for hot dips which is exactly what Pat has done in this yummy recipe. INGREDIENTS 1 large cob loaf (round) 1 big handful of spinach leaves, finely sliced 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 cup mayonnaise 1½ cups cheddar or tasty cheese, grated 250g cream cheese (Philly is good) 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs Salt and pepper THE PROCESS 1. Preheat your camp oven to low/medium and drop in a trivet. 2. Slice a lid off the top of the cob and scoop out the inside – try to keep it in large pieces – leaving at least 2cm thickness of walls and base. 3. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl, then fill into the cob. 4. Place the loaf on your trivet…
From humble farmer to the most brutal takedown in Australia’s history. The story of Ben Hall – legendary Australian bushranger. The notion of a good man turned bad through the harassment by law enforcement agencies is nothing new in early Australian history, but in most cases, it is a notion based on romanticised fiction, rather than fact. Perhaps the most famous tale along these lines is that of old Ned Kelly, however, the harsh truth is that Ned was always a bad apple, right from the start. Enter Bold Ben Hall, who fell in with the wrong crowd and was targeted by the local Police Chief until the bitter, and brutal end! Ben Hall was said to be born in 1837 in either Breeza or Maitland in NSW to convict parents, Ben Snr and Eliza. They settled in the northern NSW town of Murrurundi and Ben Snr even opened a store selling freshly butchered meat, alongside fruit and vegetables. However, it was around the end of 1850 that Ben Snr packed up the kids and headed off for a fresh start on the Lachlan River, where young Ben would spend his formative years developing his skills as a stockman and bushman – skills would serve him well later in life. Ben Snr eventually returned to Murrurundi, but young Ben stayed behind,…
Ever wondered what it’s like to get onto a mapping expedition with the team from HEMA? Ben Carceller got the chance to find out. Hema Maps cover hundreds of thousands of kilometres of tracks all over Australia, and travellers rely on their maps to make real-time navigation decisions when they’re in the Outback or on their favourite local track, so having up to date track data is very important. The challenge for Hema maps is how to keep track data up to date, given the rate of tracks closures, changes of ownership, changes in track condition and difficulty, and the addition and removal of points of interest. One of the ways Hema does this is with regular Map Patrol trips, conducted by their full-time staff in one of the purpose-built vehicles they have for this sort of work. Another method more recently employed, is to engage a limited number of experienced contract operators to assist in the collection of some types of data. This is where we come into the mix. Since late 2020, when we were approached by Hema Maps, we’ve been working with them yet another set of eyes and wheels on the ground, collecting map data which makes its way into software updates for Hema devices and apps, as well as printed map products. Sometimes the two…
If you’re considering crossing the Simpson Desert with a trailer, you might want to read this first…! It might save you a lot of trouble. So, you’re wanting to cross the Simpson Desert and you may be wondering if you can bring your camper trailer or some other type of trailer you have for a particular purpose. There could be many reasons you’re considering towing across the Simpson. You might not have enough space to bring the equipment and supplies for you and your family, you might want the comfort and convenience of a trailer, or you might already be travelling somewhere with a trailer and want to include a Simpson crossing in your journey. There’s a good chance that if you turn to many of the online platforms for advice on the subject, you’ll be met with sternly worded replies about how you can’t tow in the Simpson, or that it should be illegal, how you’ll be stuck and destroy your gear, or that you’re an environmental vandal. Most people will tell you flat out no that you can’t tow across the desert, whether they’ve done it themselves or not. Some of these statements may be true, or partially true, but it all depends on the circumstances. The main reason behind the general suggestion not to tow in the…
That was the slogan for promoting travel to the Apple Isle back in 1987. 35 years on and Tasmania is still a top 4WD destination. Tasmania is full of stunning scenery, has an array of history and some bloody great 4WDing to boot. I wanted to try and get to the North-East corner on this trip from Hobart totally off-road, and with a few snippets of local info, I did just that. My main starting point was Sorell just out of Hobart where there are plenty of decent supply shops for food and fuel. I was given a tip that if I headed 20 km up the Tasman Highway and found Woodsdale Road that’s where I could hit the dirt and stay there to the cape. An easy and scenic run-up to the bitumen to the turning point got me into the groove for the trip. Woodsdale Rd is a well-used dirt road to farms, a few wineries and into the forest, nether the less I was on the dirt for the journey. Passing alongside Prossers Ridgeline and turning across towards Mount Hobbs it was typical bush I was used to on the mainland with great views and the anticipation of what was in store for the next few days. A local told me about the Swanston Track and where…
Pat heads up to WA’s iconic Kimberley region and discovers there’s more to it than the Gibb River Road. Read on to find out. The Kimberley township of Kununurra can get quite warm. Just ask our cameraman Bernie Kavanagh, who, at 9 am in October, was ferried off to hospital in an ambulance with heatstroke. Yes, you read that right, at nine o’clock in the morning. It was 42 degrees Celcius and Bernie was lugging a big video camera and bigger sticks (code for tripod) in the sweltering heat. I’m sure it had little to do with the eleventeen poolside ales he had consumed the day before… You wouldn’t typically plan to be travelling around the Kimberley in October during the build-up to the wet season, but Covid restrictions had pushed our run late. Was it worth it? Well, you tell me after dialling your focus into these Tommy Salmon images within. Your regular Kimberley 4X4 journey starts at Kununurra and finishes at Broome, running north to Mitchell Falls. But this time around would be different. Producer Paul Waterhouse had sniffed out promising-sounding locations that would keep us within a 100-mile radius of Kununurra. It was a gamble, but one that paid off handsomely. OLD KURUNJIE TRACK The most photographed part of the Kimberley, is undoubtedly the Pentecost River crossing,…
William John Wills was the man behind the success of the epic Burke & Wills story. He is an unsung Aussie hero, but you have heard of him? He is an unsung hero, but you have heard of him. Seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? You mention the name William John Wills in any outback pub, and there will be a bit of head-scratching, but mention Burke & Wills, and you’ll be met with knowing nods and maybe even a deprecating monologue on how foolish they were. But to focus on the few bad choices they made is to do the whole story, and in particular, William John Wills, a massive injustice. Wills was born in Devon, England in 1834 to Dr William Wills, and his wife Sarah. Will’s early life in England saw him attend St Andrews Grammar, and he was also tutored by his father. After school, he worked with his father while undertaking courses at a couple of local hospitals. Like a lot of folks in the UK at the time, Dr Wills had a keen interest in Australia, in particular, the gold mining that was taking the world by storm. An 18-year-old Wills and his brother Thomas both boarded the Janet Mitchell in Dartmouth and set sail for Australia, arriving in Port Phillip in January…
When it comes to poisonous snakes in Australia, their reputations are more myth than reality. We try to set the record straight. Australia tops the list of countries for having the most dangerous animals. Up near the top of this list are snakes. There are about 170 species of terrestrial snakes and 32 seas snakes. Of these snakes, 104 are venomous, 40 to humans, but only 12 are likely to inflict a bite that could kill you. We are fortunate here in Australia to have a very effective first aid treatment for snake bites. On average, we see 3000 snake bites a year, with an estimated 300 lives saved by antivenom. We have an antivenom program thanks to The Australian Reptile Parks venom milking program, which has been running since the 1950s and continues to be the sole provider of snake venom in this country. Due to this program, Australia only sees an average of 2-3 deaths per year from snake bites. Most species during our winter months in the cooler climates of Australia will become inactive. The duration of inactivity depends on the species and where they live. Some snakes like the Tiger Snake and Copperhead are tolerant of colder conditions, so they may still be active during the cooler months. Most snakes are more active during the warmer…
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