Holiday Destinations
Here are some great holiday places to visit in Queensland, Australia.
Mareeba Warbird Adventure Flights
2005 In Victoria
SOVEREIGN HILL
The Soldier looks scared that Lish will get away with him. |
The coach ride was one of the highlights at Sovereign Hill. |
Remember that Liberator that Doug and Syd chased in the Gulf? Here is one being rebuilt close to the Sale Aviation Museum. I did not realise how HUGE they were. |
WOW! The work involved in the restoration of this Supermarine Walrus. |
Now for my first helicopter ride. Where better than over the 12 Apostles. Stunning. |
Waiting our turn to land - 100 feet up and zero airspeed. Not how I learned to fly, even Doug was fidgety. (I say he was anyway). It was a BALL |
Next Please. |
BEAUTIFUL! |
At Avalon Airshow we saw the worlds smallest Twin engined aircraft The Cri-Cri |
And the New F35 Fighter that is being developed in America |
I went through both the Super Constellation and the "Black Cat" Catalina. This was superb. |
Australia's first restored Catalina. Found in France, made airworthy in Spain, then flown home by the son of one of the "Black Cat" Drivers of WW2. |
Hawk Trainer RAAF. |
P51 Mustang last piston fighter of the RAAF |
Ultralight Wing Walker. |
A Paraplegic flying a hang glider! |
If you're looking for some great fishing, food & company, then try
which is situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The island is only accessible by aircraft or boat and there are always plenty of pilots to spin some good yarns in the evenings. The area is classed as Australia's Premier Fishing Site. The resort is down to earth, where you can have a relaxing, comfortable holiday without any of the glitz.
Don't forget, if you're visiting the Whitsunday Islands, try
Brampton Island
situated just below the Whitsunday group of islands, out from the city of Mackay. You can swim all year round in the beautiful blue waters and there are plenty of fun watersports to enjoy. You can fly in or go by ferry.
Other places that are worthwhile seeing are:
The Cairns to Port Douglas Road
along the coast. Spectacular views of rainforest meeting sea as you drive up to Port Douglas.
The Stockman's Hall of Fame and QANTAS musuem
out west near Longreach, is a great way to find out about our Australian heritage and outback life. We spent a week out there in May 2004
 Sunflowers at Emerald |
 Antique farm machinery at Ilfracombe |
 Ilfracombe's Wellshot hotel |
 Longreach at last with 747 in the distance. |
 Longreach's Powerhouse Museum |
 School of Air's first on-air aerobic class |
 Lish boarding QANTAS's 1929 passenger plane, a DH61 "Giant Moth". |
 VH-EBQ (747) at the QANTAS birthplace after a final landing on the small airstrip in 2002. |
 "Doug, how will these do for our plane"? |
 WOW, what a history of a great Australian story - QANTAS. Took us a full day to see it all. |
 Flying the Avro, the first QANTAS plane bought in 1921. |
 Stockman's Hall of Fame took us 2 days - |
 it consists of an incredible 3 floors - |
 packed with outback history. |
Then to BARCALDINE |
 Barcaldine, beside the tree of knowledge |
 At the Worker's Heritage Centre, Lish takes a break on the "Seat of Knowledge" |
 An interesting Masonic Lodge, with the beautifully decorated face and corrugated iron sides. |
 Early Queensland Parliament replicated. |
Fossicking for Saphires at Sapphire. |
The Beck Aviation Museum-
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is found near Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands. A wonderful display of old aircraft and some other war machinery. Most of the display is based around World War II aircraft that have been salvaged from remote places in Australia. Doug has gone to some of the difficult areas with Syd, navigating through the bush miles away from any roads to help gather some of these historic parts of our past (aeroplanes crash in the damnedest places). Left - Retrieving a Liberator in the Gulf of Carpentaria. |
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Anti-aircraft gun |
Swingin' on the prop of a DC-3 |
W.W.II Ford Blitz truck (Henry) which was used in the recovery of many of the items on display. Yep it ploughed through virgin bush in the Gulf to get to the Liberator. |
The Powerhouse Museum (NSW Version)
is located in Sydney near Darling Harbour. An enormous living science museum. Find out how steam engines, generators and electricity work, how smells are made, see Sydney's old tram ways, famous airplanes and find out about space travel, plus see a module from a NASA space shuttle, see all the moving parts of a car. To see all of it you need a good 2 days. A must see for families (the kids definitely won't get bored).
Last updated on the 4 September, 2008