Nissan Australia - Owning Nissan - 4X4 Australia, Great Aussie Trek Series

November 2002	Tall Trees Fine Seas
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	The south-west of Western Australia is known for its magnificent forested country and its spectacular coastline. This trek takes in a great sample of each, and while it can be done in a longish day it would be much better to allow yourself three days, or preferably more, to enjoy this marvellous area. The region is dotted with National Parks, including the Warren and Beedelup National Parks, both of which are passed through on this route and offer walking trails, waterfalls, fishing and camping spots as well as impressively tall trees.

October 2002	Magnetic Appeal
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Cape Palmerston played havoc with Captain Cook's compass (because of near by granite deposits) and the area, ALLAN WHITING reckons, still attracts plenty of visitors. Cape Palmerston National Park is an easy two-hour drive south of Mackay in North Queensland and is one of the few legal beach drives you can do near civilisation these days. Access is now ridiculously easy, thanks to a new land development road that leads to the Park boundary.

September 2002	Altered States
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	A two state jaunt through incredible landscapes and the largest parallel dune desert in the world. RON MOON drove the route from Alice Springs to South Australia's Mt Dare. One of the best and most enjoyable routes between Alice Springs, in Central Australia, and Mt Dare, in northern SA, is out through Old Andado. For much of the way the track crosses wide sandy plains hemmed in by low rugged ranges and occasionally crossed by normally dry meandering creeks.

August 2002	The Copper Climb
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	St Lawrence is tucked away just off the highway between Rockhampton and Mackay but a few days here, ALLAN WHITING says, makes for a worthwhile detour. St Lawrence is about halfway between Rockhampton and Mackay and hardly registers on modern maps. Yet, when today's port towns were just muddy inlets the port of St Lawrence had 34 pubs and a thriving metals and animal products export industry.

July 2002	From Stones to Spires
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	PHILIP LORD ventures into the Blue Mountains for a dose of weekend adventure in The Lost City. Standing atop a sky-reaching column of sandstone, surveying lush folds of green canopy beyond further steel-coloured spires, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the majesty of nature at The Lost City. And the bonus is, up here in this corner of the eucalypt-scented haze of the Blue Mountains, there's a top four-wheel drive track leading into this dramatic rock formation.

June 2002	Yerr Piece of Paradise.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	If you fancy a few days meandering through eucalypt forests south-west of Sydney, Allan Whiting reckons head for Yerranderie. Yerranderie is the site of a silver mining venture whose fortunes fluctuated wildly during its 60-year history, from the 1890s to the 1950s. Without its mining lease background the largely-restored township of Yerrandie,at the edge of the Blue Mountains National Park, would certainly be part of the locked-up wilderness region.

May 2002	Standing Tall.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Ron and Viv Moon take in some of and most remote country in the Australian Alps. The Kosciuszko National Park is one of the great national parks of this country and the largest in NSW. It stretches from the NSW/Victorian border all the way north to the ACT, taking in the highest peaks of the Great Dividing Range. Across its vastness some of south-east Australia's major rivers are spawned, trickling between grassy tussocks and across narrow rocky beds to form the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Snowy rivers, to name a few.

April 2002	On a Mountain.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Peace can be discovered, Philip Lord reveals, a mere hour away from the nation's capital. There aren't too many countries in which you can camp by a serene river only an hour away from pollies muckraking each other. The Brindabella Range, the broad shoulder to the west/south-west of the Canberra valley, is such a place. Beautiful alpine forest vistas can be soaked up within a short drive from the bush capital, with plenty of scope for a thorough 4X4 workout.

March 2002	Bound for Bunyip.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Venture a mere 100 km from the heart of Melbourne, Ron Moon reveals, and you're in Bunyip country. Starting just north of the Princes Highway, and less than 100 km east of Melbourne's centre, is a near-continuous stretch of forested mountain country (mostly state forest, state park or national park) which meanders to the north.Your first patch of verdant scrub north of the Princes is the Bunyip State Park,which has on its northern border the Yarra State Forest.On the north-west boundary is Kurth Kiln Park.

February 2002	The joy of Discovery.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Tony Kinna contemplates the sweet life on a gorgeous stretch of as-yet -unspoilt coastline in the Sunshine State. This stretch of the Queensland coastline, commonly dubbed The Discovery Coast,is a veritable paradise that combines magnificent, untouched beaches with aquamarine sea, rugged headlands and lush forest. The Discovery Coast - which includes the Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters - is a marvellous region, ideal for a range of activities including four-wheel driving, fishing, bushwalking and exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

January 2002	Shooting along the Gun Barrel.
View Entire Article (Adobe Acrobat format)	Ron and Viv Moon take a trip along one of spectacular drives in Australia's desert the 'abandoned' section of the Gunbarrel Highway. The Gunbarrel Highway, which cuts across central Australia, is like a magnet to today 's desert travellers. The Gunbarrel,more a dirt road at best than a highway, was built between 1955 and 1958 and linked Victory Downs station, near the Stuart Highway, with Carnegie Station, 1500 km further west. It was the first road across a vast wilderness which had seen very few white men since being crossed by Ernest Giles on expeditions between 1872 and 1876.