Aussie Bush Adventure

Outback tour host SALLY BRAY writes about the authentic Aussie Bush Adventure experience she introduces travellers to …

On an Aussie Bush Adventure you know you will have a lot of Fair Dinkum Aussie fun, with experiences in discovering the culture, nature and history of the Aussie Bush, but it’s the unexpected experiences that invariably pop up which really add to the wow factor of a tour with Aussie Farmstay and Bush Adventures.

The four day Venture West Tour begins with a visit to the renowned Koala Park Sanctuary Wildlife Park in North West Sydney, so it is guaranteed that you will meet some Koalas, pat them, have a photograph taken with them and have their habits explained to you by one of the expert keepers. You’ll also definitely pat or hand feed lots of friendly kangaroos and their joeys and you’ll see dozens of other examples of Australia’s unique native wildlife including colourful and talkative birds.

But after that, out on the road in the Mountains and the bush we can never be sure what birds and animals we will see in the wild. The most frequent sightings would be birds. Everyday there’s pink and grey Galahs, snowy white Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, multicoloured Crimson and Eastern Rosellas, black and white Magpies and Currawongs and pure black Crows. We even saw a pair of Wedgetail Eagles last week. The animals we see on these tours from Sydney are just as varied. On recent tours we have come across echidnas (spiny ant eaters), Shingleback and Eastern Blue Tongue Lizards, Kangaroos, Wallaroos and Wallabies – including last week a family of Eastern Grey Kangaroos of a Male and Female with Joey in pouch. I can’t orchestrate their appearance, but by the numbers we see, passengers often wonder if I’ve had a hand!

The people that you’re sure to meet on tour will include many Fair Dinkum Aussies born and bred in the Bush, including Bill and Mary Norris who own Inglevale farm where we stay. Bill’s parents Wilf and Pat usually come out for the night as do my parents Jan and John who also live locally. They’re all wonderfully fun and warm heartedly hospitable and love to meet travellers and tell stories..

But the farmstay is not a static display, it’s a dynamic event that happens when we arrive and I never know who will turn up. Bill has seven brothers and sisters, who have partners and children, and any of them may come out for the evening. All of the regulars invite local family and friends to different nights, and they usually take up the invitation to attend because the local Aussies love the entertainment on the farm just as much as the travellers. With animal tricks, farming displays, singing and poetry around the campfire it’s a night to remember. When Wilf and Pat decided to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on the farm there were 50 locals to greet my two passengers. They were treated to the most wonderful friendly Dinky Di bush night ever.

Legends of the Bush

Australia in general, has temperatures much more temperate then the United Kingdom, Europe and United States, and the weather is usually pleasant. But Australia is an unpredictable environment and we can never know what might happen on our tours from Sydney. Although normally temperatures in winter don’t drop below freezing, last July the country was covered with a generous drop of snow on day 3 of one tour, as the below photo taken by one of our passengers shows:

New South Wales has recently endured nine years of drought, but in December last year the creeks around Eugowra and Canowindra were all flooded the day before we came through on our Outback tour. And this week, only days after we visited the Blue Mountains, there were bush fires around Katoomba.

So if it’s the excitement of experiencing the unknown and the pleasure of surprise that you’re looking for in a holiday, you can’t go past an outback tour run by Aussie Bush Adventures. Guaranteed to be an experience you’ll never forget, even if you can’t exactly predict everything.