Somewhere Else

The Australian bush isn’t noted for large man eating felines, so this sign isn’t a warning that hikers should look out for lions. It is pointing to the Lions Lookout at Lesmurdie Falls National Park, which we visited a few days back. The lookout juts out disconcertingly from the hillside, near the top of the falls:

Perth is having a remarkably dry year (so far anyway), and the falls were more of a trickle than a torrent. But we were surprised to see even that much water.

Yesterday we drove from Perth to Beverley, stopping off in the historic town of York for a coffee. York is about 90km east of Perth and has some fine buildings, including this very imposing town hall. It was built in 1911, refurbished recently, and now houses the town’s tourist information centre.

You immediately sense that York was a very important town in the early 20th century. But a sign in the main street amusingly suggests that the 1890s were a much quieter era:

A few days back we visited Berry Springs Nature Park, south of Darwin and not far from Humpty Doo. It’s an idyllic rain forest area and we enjoyed walking along the short monsoon forest trail.

But what really amazed us were the pools. They were surrounded by dense forest and had striking mirror reflections on the dead flat water surface. The really surprising thing was that no-one was swimming in them. Maybe we just got there ahead of the crowd, or maybe the locals don’t swim until the wet season has ended (it’s being a bit slow to end this year). Or possibly the signs at the pools put people off a little:

Yesterday we flew to Darwin, in Australia’s “Top End”. Today we’ve been exploring some of the national/conservation parks east of the city – and enjoying them very much.

One thing you can’t overlook here it that this is croc country. There are crocodiles in the ocean, rivers and lakes; so you have to be careful around water. We have seen plenty of crocodiles today, though they have all been “mockadiles” – not the real thing. The Big Crocodile above is next to a service station in Humpty Doo, on the Arnhem Highway. It doesn’t look too ferocious.

But there was one crocodile that we didn’t meet, and were very glad about that. We visited Fogg Dam and saw the signs warning that you shouldn’t walk along the road across the top of the dam (below). There is a “large crocodile” in the water, so you have to drive across rather than walk. Needless to say, we drove across.

Yesterday we drove 600km from Mount Gambier to Mildura, on the Murray River in Victoria. It’s a long drive, but there are plenty of interesting towns to look around along the way. In addition there are some amusing signs to keep you smiling.

The sign above is in Hamilton. The message is clear, but it doesn’t specifically say what they are cross about. And the tiny wheat belt town of Speed has chosen a slogan with a play on words about the town’s name:

We saw these confusing and slightly contradictory signs beside the Swan River recently. So how deep is the river?

The beach – it’s a key part of Australian culture. But it seems to be a dangerous place, since there are always plenty of warning signs. The one above is at Perth’s popular Cottesloe Beach and even seems to warn you that there is water at the beach!

But that’s not the best sign at Cottesloe Beach. At present you can see this one, which gets smiles from everyone:

It is one of the artworks in Sculpture by the Sea, which is currently on display at Cottesloe. The amazing collection of mock signs is the work of West Australian sculptor John Hutchinson and is titled “because I said so”. Our favourite sign (below) was on the other side and seems to perfectly sum up a day at the beach.

Elvis Presley was born on 8 January 1934. Although he died in 1977, reports of sightings continue to roll in from all around the world. Last month we were in the small town of Gnowangerup and found that Elvis has been spotted there several times in the past.

He was apparently seen at the local roadhouse (above), which now contains a small display of Elvis memorabilia. As a rather unusual tribute to the King, the restrooms were given amusing Presleyan names (below).

And before you ask, we didn’t just make up the word Presleyan. Or to be more accurate, we did make it up – but then found that others had thought of it before us. Microsoft Word doesn’t recognise the word, but Google does find some hits.

It pays to read the signs in Sydney. The one above is in the Domain and invites you to walk on the grass, hug the trees and talk to the birds. Yes, that sure sounds like Sydney.

By way of contrast, the sign below is near the Observatory and asks you not to tread on the grass. That sounds like a bit of a mixed message, but with good reason. This grass is too young to be walked on.

While we were touring the south coast of Western Australia last week, we checked out some of the local vineyards and breweries – strictly for travel writing purposes, of course. As we drove into the visitor parking area of one establishment at Denmark, we were confronted by several signs advising us to slow down because of snails and elephants. Ha ha.

But when we reached the cellar door, we found that there were indeed elephants on site. We were at Elephants Rock Cider Company, which is named after a rounded rock formation on the coast nearby. And the cidery features the cider-swilling, swim-suited elephants below.

So what was the cider like? The lady behind the counter cautiously described it as an experiment. But we would describe it as brilliant – full flavoured, ultra dry, packed with the tartness of green apples, and cloudy like a real cider should be. There is also a sweeter apple and pear version for sissies.