In the Land of Oz

By Don Mankin

I woke up in my private villa with the first glow of dawn, climbed out of bed, and walked across the floor to open the drapes. Just 15 yards away was a large kangaroo standing motionless, as if posing for a picture. After a few seconds he bounded silently away. I spent the next hour sipping espresso on the porch, futilely waiting for his return and listening to the sounds of the Australian bush waking up.

I was in Australia for 11 days as a guest of the tourism boards of Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia to showcase the wonders of this vast and varied land. This is the perfect destination for mature adventurers – a beautiful, wild, uncrowded place with extraordinary wildlife, luxurious accommodations, excellent cuisine and wine, and friendly, unpretentious people.

My trip began in Western Australia (WA). From the air WA looks vast and empty, like a wrinkled sheet of brown butcher paper, criss-crossed by thousands of miles of lonely roads. On the ground, there is endless sea, beach, and low-lying brush. A line of low cliffs gouged by gorges parallel the coastline a couple of miles inland. It is an intense, sensual place – hot air, bright sun, soft breezes, blue sky, white sand, cool, aquamarine water, and colorful birds with songs that ring crisply in the dry air.

For two nights I stayed at Sal Salis, a remote, low-impact, luxury safari camp in the sand dunes behind the beach in Cape Range National Park. Every tent is roomy, tastefully decorated and contains big, comfortable beds and private baths. The camp is designed for sustainability and complements rather than overwhelms the setting.

The main attraction is the Ningaloo Reef, which begins a few yards offshore. This means that great snorkeling is just a few waddles and kicks away. Other activities include fishing, whale watching (from boats or via binoculars from the camp), walking along the beach, hiking into a nearby gorge, swimming with whale sharks in the spring (unfortunately I was there in late August), and serious relaxing.

Kangaroos often wandered through camp, especially at dawn or dusk, wallabies scrambled on rocks in the gorge, and colorful, unfamiliar birds flew from the bushes. Often the only sounds I heard were the surf, the birds, and my tent flaps slapping in the breeze.

From there I headed to the Blue Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a 2-3 hour drive west of Sydney. This sandstone plateau is chiseled by deep gorges (the deepest is almost 2500 feet deep and 20 miles across at its widest point). Over 700 major falls tumble over the white, yellow and red escarpments, and a thick forest fills the valley floor. The area also has a rich aboriginal history with sites and artifacts dating back almost 22,000 years.

I spent the night at the Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa in the heart of the Blue Mountains. This natural, outdoorsy but posh resort is the only significant development in the valley, so the 180 degree views of the valley from the individual guest villas (with private swimming pools!) are unspoiled and tranquil. In addition to my dawn encounter with the ephemeral kangaroo, I also saw wallabies, wombats, and other kangaroos, including a rare albino with her joey (offspring).

A spectacular 50 minute helicopter flight over the Blue Mountains, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House whisked me to the airport for my flight to Adelaide in South Australia for the next leg of my adventure.

I stayed one night in the Barossa Valley, Australia’s foremost wine growing region, where I had the best meal of the trip (and one of the best of my life) at Jacobs Creek Retreat at Moorooroo Park. Then I was off to Kangaroo Island, my final stop.

Kangaroo Island more than lived up to its name, with kangaroos on the roads, in the fields, and up close on a walk through a forest at dusk. One-third of the island is devoted to national parks and conservation areas, so wallabies and kangaroos greatly outnumber people – 800,000, 200,000 and 4,300 respectively. I saw plenty of them, plus koalas, echidnas (porcupine-like critters with long snouts), sea lions, seals and some of the most interesting birds I have seen outside of Africa.

I spent my last night at the Southern Ocean Lodge on the rugged southern coast of the island. In a trip filled with highlights and superlatives, SOL blew the needle off the scale – a low-slung structure perched along the cliffs overlooking the crashing surf of the wild Southern Ocean, next stop Antarctica, 8,500 miles away.

The view and the lodge were so spectacular that when it was time to turn in for the night, I resisted falling asleep. For hours I just lay in bed looking at the stars through the wall of sliding glass doors. Eventually the sound of the waves crashing below gently lulled me to sleep.

For more information on the places mentioned in this article, as well as ideas for other places to visit and things to do, please visit my blog.

About the author

Don Mankin is a travel writer, business author, psychologist and consultant who will be contributing a regular feature to Vibrant Living. In every issue, Don will write about a remote, exotic or unusual trip for mature travelers looking for something exciting and different. The Wall Street Journal called his latest book, Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean: A Guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler (from National Geographic Press, 2008), one of the best travel books of the year. For more information on Don check out his website.