Being the size that it is, it is hard to believe that Saolas are rarely seen. Not only is it rarely seen, but the Saola was only discovered in 1992. The Saola is best described as a large antelope-like creature.
The Saola lives in the mountains of the Laos and Vietnam border region.
One of these rare Saolas was captured by Laotian villagers in August 2010 and sadly died in captivity.
For more see:
Travellers to the Barrington Tops are being warned that outlaw and modern bushranger Malcolm Naden is suspected of hiding out in the remote wilderness area. There is currently a $50 000 reward for information that leads to his capture. He is the most wanted person in New South Wales, suspected of being involved in the disappearance of his cousin Lateesha Nolan and the murder of Kristy Scholes in 2005 at Dubbo.
Naden has sought refuge in the bush in the region bordered by Dubbo in the west and Kempsey in the east since 2005. During this time he has broken into homes, stealing non-perishable food items, camping gear and other equipment required to survive the bushland in which he hides and lives. He is known to be an expert bushman.
Naden first hid in the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo and has since been known to have been in the vicinity of the Barrington Tops. In 2008 he was known to be in the vicinity of Stewarts Brook, in the western Barrington Tops area. In January 2009 he was known to be at Bellbrook, west of Kempsey. Three months ago he was known to be at Mount Mooney, in the northern Barrington Tops. It is thought that he is also responsible for similar break-ins around the Mount Mooney area in late August 2010. There have been a large number of break-ins across the region this year. He is believed to be armed, with a rifle having been stolen in one of the break-ins. Not all of the break-ins are confirmed as being committed by Malcolm Naden, but they all seem to bear his signature.
According to local newspapers, it is also believed that kangaroo carcasses have been found in the Barrington Tops, butchered in an expert manner. Naden was an abattoir worker and similar carcasses were found at the Dubbo zoo when Naden was hiding there.
The area in which Malcolm Naden is thought to be hiding was once the hideout for the bushranger known as ‘Captain Thunderbolt.’ Naden seems to be following in Thunderbolt’s footsteps in more ways than one.
For more on Malcolm Naden visit:
http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/wanted/malcolm_john_naden
http://coastmick21.blogspot.com/
http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/Naden.htm
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=4884239637&topic=7725
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/publics-help-sought-over-murder-cases-20100904-14v5u.html
I have come across a few videos on YouTube of some of the places I’ll be going to during my upcoming holiday and thought I’d post them here. These include videos of Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock and The Olgas), Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon), the West MacDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs and Cooper Pedy.
It is time to start planning for my next holiday, which I am hoping to take sometime towards the end of June 2010. I’m not too sure just where I’ll be heading at this stage, but I am beginning to think that it might be good to head out west again (either to the Broken Hill area or to Uluru region) or to head north to the Daintree region.
So, in the next week or so I need to settle on both a date and a destination.
It is now day 5 of the road trip and I have already covered almost 3000km. As you can appreciate covering that amount of territory in 5 days doesn’t leave a lot of time to Blog, especially when I have been trying to keep the website updated as well.
See the NSW Road Trip 2010 website at:
http://www.kevinswilderness.com/NSW/nswRoadTrip2010.html
What I thought I might do in this Blog is just pass on a few thoughts that have come to me while I have been driving around this great state of Australia – New South Wales. Let’s call this post, ‘A Few Thoughts From the Road.’
I have often thought that the governments of this country are wasting a great opportunity in promoting tourism in Australia. With such great distances to travel in Australia, wouldn’t it be great if the governments came up with an action plan to improve the rest areas throughout the country. Certainly some of them have been upgraded to a wonderful state – but then there is a lack of maintenance.
Many of the rest areas I have stopped at in the last few days have no facilities at all. Often they are nothing more than an overloaded garbage bin on the side of a road, with limited space in which to park.
To cut a long story short, I think Australia’s tourism industry would get a great shot in the arm if rest areas were improved across the country. It would also be good if hey could be located somewhere with a good view, an attraction, a small park for families, etc.
To go a step further (and this is perhaps pie in the sky), wouldn’t it also be great for the many Australians that drive throughout the country on camping/caravan holidays, if a percentage of these rest areas had some limited facilities for tents and caravans as well?
Perhaps a lot more people would travel around the country if such improved rest areas were created. There would also need to be some plan to keep the maintenance of these areas up to scratch also.
Another thing that militates against the travelling tourism that is fairly popular in Australia (it could be far greater), is the condition of many of the caravan parks across the country. To be sure, there are some excellent parks – but there are also a large number of parks that charge top dollar for run down facilities and grubby grounds. These poor operators need to lift their games to provide good facilities for their customers or they won’t get the return business that caravan parks depend upon. They need to spend a bit of money in order to make money.
I won’t return to a caravan park in which I had a bad experience – whether it be top dollar for run down facilities, poor service, poor attitudes of operators, etc. Some of these places just have no idea how to run a successful caravan park.
More thoughts to come – these will do for today.
I have been doing a little work on the planning side of things for my holiday. There have been some changes and these will be explained below.
Firstly, I have decided to push the holiday back a bit. There are a few public holidays during January 2010, so I think I can cope with a few extra weeks at work before needing the break. So instead of taking the holiday at the start of February, I am thinking of taking the holiday for two weeks in late February – early March 2010, or maybe a week or so later than that.
The later time for the holiday will also allow me to save for the trip and ensure I have everything I want for the holiday. I may even be able to get a digital video camera by then, which will be a great plus.
Secondly, the destination has also changed. I won’t be going out west as temperatures out that way are sure to be very hot and somewhat unbearable for any bushwalks I would want to do. The out west option will need to be looked at for a winter holiday (even though night temperatures are bound to be quite cold then). I do have a plan underway for that option also, which will probably mean a holiday in about August – September 2010 (but that is another story for another time). So to make sense of these two possible (probable) holidays in my Blog posts, the earlier holiday will be called the summer holiday 2010 and the later the winter holiday 2010.
So instead of going way out west for the summer holiday 2010, I’m thinking of going west a little (and to the south), before heading back to the southeast and travelling through the far southeast of New South Wales.
Are there any solid plans? Solid may not be quite the word for it, but I am settling on what I’d call a fairly sure itinerary for the first couple of days of summer holiday 2010. The date is certainly not fixed and that is really quite flexible at the moment. The itinerary for the first few days will probably be:
Day 1 Destination – Dubbo
Day 2 Destination – Conimbla National Park
Day 3 Destination – Wagga Wagga
So the next stage of planning will be to iron out the itinerary for these first three days before moving on towards my planned far southeast New South Wales travels.
For information on Conimbla National Park:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0053
I am yet to come up with any real destination for my next holiday, despite saying it was time to plan back in August 2009. I do however, have a possible timeframe in which to have the holiday, so planning must now begin with some earnest.
I am hoping to go on my next trip at the start of February 2010 and it will be for about 2 weeks I think. I have no solid plans on just where to go, but I am thinking out west somewhere (New South Wales, Australia). I may even go to the Northern Territory.
So now it is time to really begin planning.
Peter Garrett, Australia’s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, today released a report on the biodiversity, ecosystems and social and economic uses of the oceans of northern Australia. The report entitled ‘The North Marine Bioregional Profile,’ brings together and explores the available knowledge of the Arafura and eastern Timor Seas, from the Northern Territory/Western Australia border to Torres Strait, including the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The report is expected to assist the government to better understand and protect our marine environment, conserve biodiversity and determine the priorities in our marine conservation efforts. It will also assist industry to better plan and manage their activities in the region.
A Marine Bioregional Plan for the region covered in the report is expected to be handed down in 2010. In total there will be five plans covering Australia’s marine regions.
View The North Marine Bioregional Profile at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/mbp/north/index.html
Kevin's Walk on the Wild Side 