Wander Downunder Headquarters

Award Winners 

The Extraordinary Complex Bowerbird

Male Golden-fronted Bowerbirds are rare exotic birds. I have one featured in a mating dance in rare video footage of it here. The Fawn-breasted Bowerbird is distributed in New Guinea and northern Australia, where it inhabits the tropical forests, ma...

My City: Canberra, Australia

There is no doubt about it, I am a proud Canberran. This lens is a tribute to the city I love! Canberra is the capital city of Australia and has a population of approximately 350,000 and is loated approximately 300 km south of Sydney and 600km north...

Collingwood Football Club

I used to like Australian Rules Football (Aussie Rules Footy) but now I don't. By not liking the game or having a favourite team, I was able to record elements of a grand final event at Collingwood's Victoria Park home ground with dispassion. Fans w...

How the Frog made the Flood

In the Dreamtime, a terrible drought once swept across the land. The leaves of the trees turned brown and fell from the branches, the flowers drooped their heads and died, and the green grass withered as though the spirit from the barren mountain ha...

Bushfires! 

Bushfire: Australia, Canberra 2003

All proceeds earned through this lens will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009 On Saturday, December 18 2003, my home town of Canberra was devastated by Bushfire. This was the first time in my memory that bushfire even got clo...

Dogs Downunder  

Border Collies

As a long term owner and breeder of Border Collies, I thought it high time that I share my knowledge and love for these wonderful, loyal dogs. For more information about Border Collies, please visit Learn About Border Collies or my own personal site...

Dingo, ancestor of all dog breeds : Wildlife Australia

The mother of all dingoes was most probably a single pregnant female. An intelligent animal, she trotted across the landbridge from Indonesia to Australia about 5,000 years ago and made a home for herself close to the people who inhabited the great...

Wildlife Downunder 

Tasmanian Tiger : Wildlife Australia

The Tasmanian Tiger or, to give him his real name, the Thylacine, is generally believed to be extinct. However each year there are about a dozen unconfirmed sightings in remote areas, and several reported sets of Tiger tracks. As recently as 1995, a...

The Extraordinary Complex Bowerbird

Male Golden-fronted Bowerbirds are rare exotic birds. I have one featured in a mating dance in rare video footage of it here. The Fawn-breasted Bowerbird is distributed in New Guinea and northern Australia, where it inhabits the tropical forests, ma...

Dangerous Jellyfish : Wildlife Australia

Lots of people are afraid of sharks, although the prospect of being attacked by a shark is only slightly more probable than the chances of a meteorite falling on your head. Of course, you can encourage a shark attack by disguising yourself as a seal...

Kookaburra : Wildlife Australia

He who laughs last, laughs longest and in the case of the Kookaburra it's true. For indeed he laughs the last, laughs the longest, and also laughs the loudest. The sound of the kookaburra is synonymous with Australia and it's been suggested that our...

Cuddly and Creepy Australians : Wildlife Australia

Have you ever cuddled a koala? They're warm, furry and they smell beautiful! Plenty of other animals can be cuddly too, or at least look cuddly, like this Tasmanian Devil who, besides being a bit on the nose, has extremely strong teeth and jaws....

Artists Downunder 

Cheryl Craig Aboriginal Artist

Cheryl Craig is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people of Australia. Her paintings tell the stories of how her people once lived, how they live today, and of her own dreaming. Cheryl was born and still lives on the Wiradjuri lands of NSW. As a child s...

Quilt and textile art design study

Welcome to the Artful Quilt Design School lens! Here you'll be able to find information on the study of colour and design as these relate to textile/quilt art, as well as information about my new online quilt school. Some of the contents are excerpt...

Patchwork in Australia, then and now

Patchwork has been around in Australia for more than 40,000 years. Yes! 40,000. The Aboriginals made patchwork cloaks from animal skins. The first documented traditional patchwork was that made by the female convicts sent out in the transports from...

Nick Griffin Contemporary Artist & Designer

Introducing the new and dynamic art from one of the most innovative contemporary artists in Australia, Nick Griffin. This gallery presents you with pieces of artwork that are guaranteed to make you think and reflect on your construct of the world aro...

Home preserving with Vacola

Whether you call it bottling, canning or preserving, Vacola make a great range of products for home preserving food. Learn how to use this economical method for preserving and fill your cupboards with delicious food that everybody will love. I've bee...

Melbourne Restaurants

Melbourne is the wining and dining capital of Australia, with one restaurant for every 30 people who live here. That means, even with a population of 4 million, you can still find a restaurant that can take a last minute booking. Here are some of my f...

Great Australian Food

Once we lived on English food - it was all we knew. Meat, lots of meat, roast lamb, roast beef, lamb chops, grilled steak, marinated mutton and beef, lamb, lamb and more lamb. We had sausages and bacon for breakfast, lamb cutlets for lunch and at din...

Classic Roasts : Lamb with Rosemary

I can think of nothing better than sitting down to a dish of sweet roast lamb, crisp on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. Roasting is a dry heat cooking method, with no liquid added to the meat as you cook it, so it's a perfect way, surel...

I Love Cheese!

There's something quite indulgent about the delicious labours of the ancient craft of cheese-making - the sheer enjoyment from a simple wedge of crumbly red cheddar or a sharp shaving of tart parmesan. Cheese tastes best in its country of origin and...

Aeroplane Jelly

I love Aeroplane Jelly...... Aeroplane Jelly For Me..... Another trip down the Australiana memory lane. Aeroplane Jelly was, essentially, a staple food in Australian households from 1927 onwards. Even today, we will seek out good old Aeroplane Jelly...

Vegemite - The Australian Favorite

Vegemite is an Australian icon. It is a food, we use it mostly as a spread for toast. I love cheese and vegemite sandwiches. To look at it, it resembles tar in a jar and it is incredibly salty. But... for some reason most Australians love it. Enj...

Downunder Legends 

Banjo Paterson, Bush Poet

Banjo Paterson, the well-loved Australian poet, is known chiefly for his 'Waltzing Matilda'. It's our unofficial anthem. Small children read his poems at school and advertisers know the very real power of his verse. He vividly captured the 'feel' of...

Famous Australians

There are many famous Australians who have helped to shape Australia as a nation. Australia is largely multi-cultural and as such our famous australians can vary between our cultural sub category. There are however a few names that rise above the pac...

Fred Hollows : True Humanitarian

Fred Hollows was an inspiring man. A passionate man. An opthalmologist at a prestigious Sydney hospital, he helped set up the first Aboriginal Medical Service and launched a national programme to combat eye disease in Aboriginal Australians. By the...

Steve Irwin, A Tribute To The Crocodile Hunter

Steve Irwin or "The Crocodile Hunter" is a famous Australian TV personality, wildlife expert and conservationist. Steve Irwin became a household name through his TV show The Crocodile Hunter, in which he educated people about Australian wildlife and...

Music Downunder 

Aussie Rock Legend: John Farnham

John Farnham is probably my fave Aussie Rock Legend. There aren't many 'rockers' who appealed to your parents, to you and to your kids... but 'Farnesy' is certainly one. John Farnham is the only Australian artist to have a number one record in five...

Thirsty Merc - Aussie popular rock band

Thirsty Merc is an Australian pop rock band, originating in 2002 in Dubbo, Australia, and currently residing in Sydney. The band consists of Rai Thistlethwayte (vocals), Phil Stack (bass guitar), Karl Robertson (drums), and Sean Carey (guitar). Thir...

Downunder Collections 

Australia : Lensography of My Place

G'day from Melbourne, Australia, where I put these pages together while looking out the window at the kookaburras. I have a number of lenses on Australia, some dealing with the creatures who bound across this land, some highlighting the different pl...

Aussie Pride, Proud To Be Australian

Do you love being an aussie and everything that comes with living in the greatest country on Earth? Then you've come to the right place, this page features the biggest and most Australian collection of resources to celebrate being Australian. Whethe...

Whitsunday Islands : Travel North Australia

Bordered by the Great Barrier Reef and cradled by the calm waters of the Coral Sea, the Whitsunday Islands lay midway along Australia's Queensland coast. This region spans from the beautiful beaches of Bowen in Northern Queensland to the cane fields...

The Curious Town of Coober Pedy

Nothing but dust, heat, flies and more dust. No water, scarcely anything green to rest your eyes from the orange and ochre of a stony, treeless desert. It gets to 52 degrees Celsius, 126 Fahrenheit, in Summer and it's always cold at night. Out here...

7 Quirky Places to Visit in Australia

Everyone knows Australians have a quirky sense of humor and nothing is more obvious than when you visit. Australia is also a nation of contradictions. The cities are sophisticated, multicultural and arts orientated but, head into the country and you'...

Australia - all the best bits for travellers

OK, so you are thinking about travelling in Australia. You have heard of a few places, The Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, Uluru (Ayers Rock) and of course The Outback. The good news is that these places are truly fantastic and they are of c...

Kakadu

Kakadu National Park is a living cultural landscape, inhabited continuously by Aboriginal traditional owners for more than 50,000 years. You just won't believe Kakadu until you see it. Be prepared for the majestic sandstone escarpment which sna...

Cities of Australia 

Where I live: Jan T's Hunter Valley

at least at the moment — I am in the Lower Hunter Valley, close to Maitland, NSW. I have had more than thirty addresses as an adult. My brother-in-law said when I came back to the Hunter in 1999, that perhaps I would stay put. My sister said,...

Visit Melbourne, Australia

I love Melbourne! It's been my home for 40 years and it's a great city to live in. Many Aussies consider it to be the sporting capital of Australia and being a musician, I can safely say that Melbourne offers the best live music scene as well. Get to...

Darwin, Gateway to Asia : Travel North Australia

In the Top End of Australia, one of the last remaining wild regions of the world, is Darwin, a thriving modern city with a relaxed multicultural lifestyle in the laid- back tropics. Sitting up on a low bluff overlooking the harbour which leads out t...

My City: Canberra, Australia

There is no doubt about it, I am a proud Canberran. This lens is a tribute to the city I love! Canberra is the capital city of Australia and has a population of approximately 350,000 and is loated approximately 300 km south of Sydney and 600km north...

Victoria 

Looking for Gold : Travel Victoria

It's been worshipped, plundered, fought over and traded for thousands of years and the search for gold is as eager as ever. In the Victoria of 1851 gold was literally oozing from the ground in almost inexhaustible quantities. Wealth was everywhere,...

Port Phillip Bay : Travel Victoria

Port Phillip Bay is Australia's largest tidal lagoon covering around two thousand square kilometres and having a maximum depth of over 30 metres. It's surprisingly shallow, almost an inland sea, and it has only a narrow 3 and 1/2 kilometre-wide entr...

Ballarat and Bendigo : Travel Victoria

In 1851 a Melbourne newspaper published an article about the discovery of gold at Ballarat. It wasn't long before more gold was found nearer to Bendigo and set off a gold rush similar to the California gold rush of 1849. The population of Victoria e...

Tasmania 

The lush and lovely Huon Valley : Travel Tasmania

Tasmania is different from the rest of Australia, it's greener, wetter and much colder. It's a tiny little place, only about the size of Ireland, and sits roughly 150 miles off the southeast corner of the mainland, directly south of Melbourne. It's...

Kelly Country : Travel Victoria

Up in the north east of Victoria is Kelly Country, where the bushranger, Ned Kelly, roamed and the Kelly legacy lives on. But there's more to Kelly Country than Australia's greatest folk tale - the northeast of Victoria is a favourite destination fo...

Ned Kelly, Bushranger : Australian People

Ned Kelly is Australia's most famous bushranger, a folk hero who became a legend during his own life. The Kelly Gang rose from petty horse thieves to Australia's most wanted outlaws but Ned had the hearts of the common people. Controversy still ride...

Christmas Downunder 

Christmas in Australia

Christmas is a splendid time of year in Australia. December and January are at the very height of our beach season, and we love to head for the beach and relax. The Christmas holidays stretch over the longest days of our long summers. The holidays b...

Australia Christmas Carols

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought I would share Christmas songs and carols that are from Australia, or have been adapted to an Australian Theme. Many of the carols shared on this lens are sung to familiar tunes like Deck The Halls and...

Australians on Squidoo 

What is it about Jan T (Urquhart) Baillie

Many things to many people, a very complex lady with lots of joie de vivre. Funny, bright, lively, can be serious. Find out all about her here. Do you know Jan T? Do you know any of Jan T's secrets or her hidden talents? Her name keeps cropping u...

Charly Leetham

Hi There! Welcome to my lens about, well.... about me! I've been updating my Squidoo profile and I see that I have space for a Lensography - so here it is. Please leave your comments and feedback and PLEASE visit my other lenses and those of my frie...

Susanna Duffy

My love affair with the Web began in the Southern Spring of 1997. Our romance is still hot! When I can be dragged away from my computer I'm a Funeral Celebrant, produce a syndicated talkback radio programme, direct and perform in community theatrica...