People and Whale Skulls on the Ozette Loop

A Gray Whale jaw, washed ashore along the Ozette Loop, Washington state

Here I am living in the Pacific Northwest again. It's been an incredibly beautiful summer, the hottest I can remember in this part of the world.

I'm super grateful and excited to have fallen in with a group of women who love to stay fit and hit the trails, be it biking or hiking. We've had several great day hikes in the East Olympic Mountains, and last weekend a group of us piled into my Forester and drove five hours north on the Olympic Peninsula to backpack along the Ozette Loop for two nights.

A Must-Do at Ningaloo

Giant of the fish world safe and relaxed on Ningaloo Reef, September 2013

What’s it like to swim with whalesharks? 

“A little intimidating” is how a friend described it when he recently returned from Western Australia, where the opportunity had been offered as part of his business trip.

“Why?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.

“They’re just so darn big,” my friend said.

Nature Flourishes in the Manmade

Sky and water meet on beautiful Lake Argyle, Australia's largest freshwater reservoir

Should you ever choose to tour large swaths of Australia (by campervan or other means), you might be surprised how often you discover the best place ever — only to reluctantly leave and find another best place, and another one.

Protecting the Kimberley's Humpbacks

A mother and her calf breach along Australia's Kimberley coast (Photo courtesy Kimberley Whale Watching)

As I write the headline for this article, the unmistakable shape of a whale’s pectoral fin rises and falls on the turquoise ocean surface near Broome, Western Australia. I’m about to write about humpbacks, so this comes as no real surprise. With time to notice, these kinds of coincidences are occurring with growing frequency on my personal Tour de Oz.

Most people don’t realise this remote stretch of coastline — part of the huge northern Australian region known as the Kimberley — supports the largest population of humpback whales in the world.

Meet Sam

A truly sustainable method of travel around the enormous continent of Australia

The first time we happened upon Sam Mitchell we were driving west in Outback Queensland on the Gulf Developmental Road. 

Fortunately, Sam is a little hard to miss. He appears along the road a couple of kilometres in the distance as a series of dazzling red strobe lights. As you grow closer, you start to make out that the “lights” are actually strips of highly reflective fabric flapping in the hot air, attached to a slowly moving series of solar panels.

Playing with Marbles at Dawn

Some 150,000 people descend on the remarkable Devil's Marbles Conservation Area (Karlu Karlu), south of Tennant Creek, every year. Sacred to First Australians (with ownership passed back in 2008), much of the area is off limits to the average traveller. Still, it's possible to walk solo amongst an impressive array of the huge granite boulders any sunrise. Here are some of my favourite views from doing so on the morning of July 30, 2013.

Wild Dog Misfortune

We were on the Stuart Highway north of Alice Springs when I saw a large piece of brown paper undulating in the wind on the side of the road. As we got closer, I realised my mistake.

“It’s a dog,” Melonie voiced first. “I saw him move.”

“We have to turn back,” I said.

“OK.”