Em Jensen Em Jensen

The strange history of Australia’s UFO capital

The wacky tale of Australia’s self proclaimed UFO capital endures despite floods rebranding Wycliffe Well a ghost town in recent years. Today, Wycliffe Well, which sits on the Stuart Highway about 400 kilometres north of Mpartnwe / Alice Springs, has a population of zero humans and an indeterminate number of alien residents.

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Papunya Tjupi Arts Centre

Papunya is about 240kms northwest of Mparntwe/ Alice Springs, and is considered the birthplace of the Western Desert Art Movement. There’s about 400 people who live here. It’s also where the famous Warumpi band began in the 1980s.

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The Magic of Mutawintji

A place of immense natural, cultural and historical significance, Mutawintji National Park has once again become a vital meeting place for the traditional owners, who famously fought the government for reclamation of their rights over this country.

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This Is My First Rodeo

The tiny outback town of Tibooburra, renowned for being the hottest place in NSW, hosts an annual gymkhana, bikekhana and rodeo each Spring. 

As a fresh-to-the-outback, former city-slicker, I had to know whether the rodeo experience lived up to my romantic yet uninformed idea of it: a blur of line dancing, cowboy boots and something to do with bulls.

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The Black Stump Hotel

The Black Stump Hotel, an unassuming pub in Merriwagga, New South Wales is shrouded in outback mythology and local folklore. There’s the tale of how the pub got its name; a woman named Barbara Blaine who burned alive in 1886 in the area, whose husband reportedly said “looked like a black stump”, or it could be because the surrounding area is known as “Black Stump Country”.

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Maria Island

We hadn’t planned to visit Maria Island but after my car broke down in a tiny coastal town with no real drawcard other than being the jetting-off point for the ferry to Maria Island, we decided this must be the best way to kill time while we wait for car repairs.

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