"Bandi" wrote in message
...
"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote
in
message ...
HI,
I'm considering a trip to Australia in the March-April
time frame next year....
Scenic parks,
wildlife preserves, waterfalls, and mountains top my interests.

Thanks in advance
Roger



Hi Roger

I'm not familiar with the Sydney area, but if your heading north to Qld,
try checking out the area around the Qld/NSW border. Lots of great
opportunities to be had. (Some of the links aren't great but they were the
best I found in a short time!)

The Byron bay (just in NSW) area is a great coastal spot. Headlands, open
beaches and a pretty famous lighthouse sitting on the most easterly point
of
Aus. Byron bay itself is on the coast and is surround by rolling hills,
almost reminiscent of English countryside, dotted with cattle and
macadamia
nut farms. Eg:
http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/aaa_si...hinterland.jpg

The hills lead into the Wollumbin Caldera, the remains of an old volcano
just north of Byron of which Mt. Warning is the core. It's the first place
in the country to get sun of a morning. The mountains aren't huge but
there
pretty spectacular. Eg:
http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/aaa_si...mt_warning.jpg

Just north of Mt Warning is Lamington nation park. Another amazing place
with as many waterfalls as you'd want and enough wildlife to start an
ark...
http://lamington.nrsm.uq.edu.au/MainMenu.html The veiws you get from some
of the walks in the park are great.

An hour north west of Lamington NP will get you to the Border ranges NP.
More mountains there but the area around it has a totally different feel.
eg...
http://www.tropicalnsw.com.au/aaa_si...er_ranges2.jpg

A couple of hours north from Lamington NP and your at the Glass house
mountains. These things stick up out of the ground like giant fingers and
have to be some of the most photogenic formations in QLD... eg:..
http://www.walkabout.com.au/fairfax/...ountains.shtml
http://www.totaltravel.com.au/travel...andqld/guide/g
lass-house-mountains

All these places are within 1 - 2 hours drive from Brisbane (Qld's capital
city), so theres plenty to see and do.

If you want any more info, feel free to ask!

Anthony


No bears here. And for some reason some one decided to give the passenger a
steering wheel to play with. You'll thus find many drivers dropping out,
directing, pointing, arguing and ignoring perfectly good maps. Never the
less one will find a spot or two to reflect upon only the distances between
them tend at times to be a hours or days apart.

From Sydney there is inland the Blue Mountains and further inland the
Riverina area offers some capital sights. Best considered by map.

If you are considering places further afield, in Victoria there sits the
Grampian Mts. pretty but populated. (maybe not by your standards.) And in
Sth. Australia the more photographic Flinders Ranges offers a good look. Bit
more remote (?) but offering more ancient rock formations. This area
requires days rather than hours. We tend not to have the grand canyon
vistas you may be accustomed to. We can offer unlimited flat space though.
Inland NSW just about affords the curvature of the earth from the roof of
your car. Then again you can get that anywhere with a wide angle lens.

Car hire is essential but driving here is relatively simple. Fences are put
along both sides of the road to stop folk wandering too far off the track.
Can't go wrong really as being an island you'll eventually hit the coast you
then just follow it around.

--
Otzi