The Voice Australia’s top four revealed ahead of grand finale

By Caleb Taylor For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 09:13 EDT, 24 September 2023 | Updated: 09:16 EDT, 24 September 2023

It might have a population of only 50 people, but Adrian Bennett made his dream come true by moving from Bradford, England, to the tiny dusty town of Silverton in the NSW outback.

The reason Adrian moved his wife and three children to the other side of the world to a rural village on the NSW/SA border? Because he is a Mad Max super fan, and he wanted to build a museum in the rural area where the second movie, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, was filmed.

The English family moved to the country in 2006, and while it was always their intention to open the museum, Silverton became their home four years later when the Mad Max 2 Museum was finally erected.

Despite having such a small population, the town has a stretch of road with several galleries on it, including The John Dynon Gallery, and of course, Adrian and Linda’s Mad Max museum.

The small wacky building is instantly recognisable as a museum dedicated to George Miller’s post-apocalyptic movie.

It is a must-see for any film buffs, as it is filled with a large collection of photographs from the movie, character costumes, and an impressive collection of original and replica vehicles from the flick – including two interceptors.

While speaking to Adrian, it is clear that he is obsessed with the movie franchise, and building and running the museum was a dream come true for him.

‘Some people think I’m joking when I talk about how much I love the movie,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

Adrian first saw the action movie when it was released in cinemas in the UK when he was 18-years-old.

His wife, Linda, said she wasn’t one bit surprised when he came up with the plan to relocate to Australia and start the museum.

‘The first thing he said to me when we met was, “Have you seen a movie called Mad Max?”‘ she said.

‘So when we had been together forever I wasn’t surprised [he wanted to move to Australia].

‘And I always thought it would be nice to come out here, he was always planning it in his head.’

Despite their clear passion, the couple said many people thought they were mad to start a business in a town that has a population of just 50 people.

‘There are two comments I remember from certain people and one was, “You’re a bit of a financial genius aren’t you, starting a museum in a town with a population of 50 people?”‘ Linda said.

‘And I said, “Financial genius? Yes, this town gets hundreds of thousands of tourists.”‘

Adrian said that on top of the town being popular for tourists, Australia needed to have a dedicated Mad Max museum.

‘They needed this museum, it didn’t make sense not to have something like this,’ he added.

‘When we moved in 50 people were living here but I said yes, the financial genius gets 160,000 tourists coming through [the town every year].

‘If I got a dollar off every 160,000 people coming through I’d be doing alright wouldn’t I?’

While it costs $7 to enter the museum, there is also an abundance of merchandise on sale.

However, the couple said despite their success, it has never been about the money for them.

They’ve just always wanted to live comfortably while living their dream of owning a Mad Max museum in the outback.

‘We have never been driven by cash, we just want to live comfortably, for me I’m living the dream anyway,’ Adrian said.

Linda added: ‘It was built from a passion and if this door shuts tomorrow because no one was coming in we still wouldn’t sell up.’

Sam Kerr high-fives Australia’s luckiest toddler and makes a fan’s day for the second time in 24 hours as she and overjoyed Matildas step out for the first time after smashing Canada

• Team enjoys a walk in Melbourne 
• Fans stopped to congratulate them 
• Matildas enjoying an all-time high 

By Josh Alston For Daily Mail Australia

Updated: 01:48 EDT, 1 August 2023

The affable advice at Aussie Trax, the four-wheel drive hire company located at Kingfisher Bay Resort, is: ‘No worries if yer run into strife, but try not to, mate.’

And then we set off to explore K’gari, the world’s largest sand island, nine miles off Queensland’s southeastern coast and 160 miles north of Brisbane.

With just a couple of campsites, one resort and no permanent residents, these 75 miles by 14 miles of rainforest growing on sand (the only place in the world where this happens) offer one of Australia’s best eco-tourism adventures.

Formerly Fraser Island, the name K’gari means paradise and was given by the local Butchulla people some 5,000 years ago. With my husband Neil and our three teenage sons, we arrive by ferry from the town of River Heads and walk up the jetty towards a powdery beach, the shadow of a green sea turtle gliding in the water.

All looks peaceful, but when the ‘what to do if you meet a dingo’ leaflet is thrust into my hand, I realise that the island is not without its dangers.

Our spacious wooden villa blends into the forest, kept cool by cooloola pines and pandanus palms. Standing guard on the roof is a family of cockatoos.

Over dinner on the terrace of Dune Restaurant (formerly called Seabelle), we dine on tea-smoked kangaroo loin and crocodile ‘calamari’. Cicadas and frogs provide the background music.

The Lemon myrtle butter (taken from the leaves of a native tree) is a hit with my sons. ‘Bear Grylls would love this,’ sighs my youngest, Freddie.

Jermaine La Rocca is of Butchulla descent and works as an eco ranger. ‘Keep an eye out for Goat’s foot (ipomoea pes-caprae), a coastal creeper vine with a pink to purple flower when you’re exploring,’ he says. ‘My ancestors used the leaves for bites and stings from stingrays, jellyfish, stone fish, spiders and snakes.’

We hum the theme to Jurassic Park as we navigate the slippery tracks in our 4WD, stopping first at the lookout over crystalline Lake Wabby. From here it’s just a short bounce to the ‘highway’ — a 75-mile beach, slashed with freshwater streams that trickle into the ocean. Eli Creek pumps 120 million litres of fresh water into the sea daily and we play a game of Pooh Sticks, watching our twigs race back to shore along this natural lazy river.

‘Can we climb on it?’ asks Freddie. He’s referring to the immense rusting skeleton of the 5,300-ton SS Maheno shipwreck, but this is not a safe frame. Built in 1905, in its heyday it enjoyed an illustrious career (setting a record ferry crossing time from Sydney to Wellington). When a cyclone hit, it washed up here in 1935.

At Indian Head lookout we scour the horizon. Between August and October, these waters become a resting place for humpback whales on their migration from the Antarctic to southern Australia. Three manta rays fly through the water at the foot of the cliffs, but farther out a fountain of water catches our eye. As a breeching humpback slaps the sea with its colossal fin, we whoop at the luck of what we are seeing. Our final stop is Boorangoora lake, where we wade into icy menthol blue water to watch the sunset.

Back at the resort’s Sunset Bar, we hear a holler: ‘Dingo!’ A handsome male dog, with almond eyes and a sleek coat that glows burnt orange in the sunset, comes trotting by. The Butchulla once kept wat’dha (camp dingoes) to help them track prey. These days there are only wongari (wild dingoes) left on the island.

We freeze, remembering to stay calm, and watch as it fishes for a crab supper in the shallows.

‘He’ll be gone soon. No worries,’ the barman tells us, and after only a few days cast away on K’gari, I realise that this is absolutely true. We have no worries at all.

More than 80 per cent of the mammals and reptiles in Australia are unique to the country. 

This makes it a bucket-list destination for animal lovers, with wildlife experiences on offer that range from cage diving with great white sharks to meeting Tasmania‘s most famous resident – the Tasmanian devil.

Here we present the best wildlife tours to experience in Australia, many of which help to raise money to further the conservation of the country’s astonishing animal kingdom…

DIVE WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS – SOUTH AUSTRALIA  

In the 1960s, Adelaide man Rodney Fox survived a near-fatal great white shark attack that left him with 462 stitches in his chest, right hand and arm. But after recovering from the incident, rather than fearing these fascinating creatures, he decided to devote his life to researching them.

He established the Fox Shark Research Foundation, which identifies and catalogues great whites, as well as Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions, a tour operator that sends travellers into the deep in shark-diving cages off the coast of South Australia’s Neptune Islands. 

Those brave enough to go diving with these apex predators have two cage types to choose from – the first is a ‘surface cage’ that sits at the waterline as great white sharks are seen ‘effortlessly gliding around and below the cage’.

Those who have a scuba diving license can go in an ocean floor cage, which descends approximately 20 metres (66ft) ‘into a world that will captivate and spell-bind – a blue aquarium of rocky outcrops teeming with reef fish, white sand and swaying sea-grasses’. The website notes: ‘The great white that appears out of the blue and sweeps gracefully towards, over and around the cage. It is amazing!’ 

Visit rodneyfox.com.au. 

SEE THE OUTBACK WITH CAMELS – SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

Camels were first introduced to Australia from the Canary Islands in 1840, the Australian tourist board reveals, with a population of more than one million camels now calling the continent home. 

Allowing travellers to get to know these beautiful hump-backed mammals, Camel Treks Australia offers a variety of excursions with a caravan of camels, spread over several days, in the Gawler Ranges National Park of South Australia.

Guided by modern-day cameleers – people who lead camels through the outback – travellers can choose to either ride a camel through the desert terrain, or simply walk alongside them. The tour’s website notes: ‘Guest trekkers are often amazed by the depth of personality camels have. They can feel and respond to kindness and love, with some even seeking out people for such contact.’

Nights are spent camping in campsites equipped with private toilets and ‘deluxe’ tents with thick mattresses. 

Visit cameltreksaustralia.com.au.

WHALE WATCHING – WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

Each year, whales congregate in the waters above the Bremer Canyon, a 5,000m- (16,400ft) deep sea cleft that lies off the coast of the tiny town of Bremer Bay, southeast of Perth. 

This makes it one of the world’s best whale-watching hotspots – you might spot orcas, long-finned pilot whales, sperm whales and dolphins cutting through the water on a wildlife-watching boat tour with Naturaliste Charters. 

Expect to see researchers on board your boat, as the Naturaliste Charters team is involved with acoustic monitoring of whales and several environmental programs in the area.

In a recent review of the tour, Tripadvisor user ‘Lesley M’ described it as a ‘fantastic experience’, adding that it ‘felt like we were in a David Attenborough documentary’.

Visit naturalistecharters.com.au. 

DIVE WITH WHALE SHARKS – WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

The Ningaloo Marine Park – which lies halfway up Western Australia’s coastline – is one of the world’s longest fringing (close to shore) reefs, stretching an incredible 240km (149 miles). And it spans 2,435 sq km (940 sq miles).

The World Heritage Listed site is ‘home to deep under-sea canyons, diverse colourful sponge gardens and rich fish communities’, the country’s national parks site notes. 

Eco-tourism operator ‘Exmouth Dive and Whalesharks Ningaloo’ takes travellers around the marine park’s waters so they can swim, snorkel or scuba-dive with Ningaloo’s underwater residents – which notably includes whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, known to stretch up to 15m (49ft) in length. 

Other sea creatures you might spot include dolphins, manta rays, turtles, and humpback whales. These tours also double as a data-collection exercise, with the team contributing to environmental studies and scientific research to ensure the longevity of the reef. 

Visit exmouthdiving.com.au. 

THE WILDLIFE WONDERS TOUR – VICTORIA  

The Wildlife Wonders animal sanctuary offers guided tours with a conservationist through the magical Otways bushland, which surrounds its location near the coastal town of Apollo Bay, on the renowned Great Ocean Road driving route.

As you walk, you’ll learn ‘the secrets of the bush and the plants and animals’ in the region, the refuge’s website says. It adds: ‘It’s almost certain you will see koalas, but you might also be lucky enough to spot a potoroo, bandicoot [ both marsupials] and many other amazing Australian animals that call Wildlife Wonders home.’

Wildlife isn’t the only lure – the tour takes in some epic scenery too, revealing eucalypt woodlands and spectacular ocean vistas. What’s more, you give back with your visit – 100 per cent of the profits generated go to support conservation efforts to protect Australia’s threatened species. 

Visit wildlifewonders.org.au. 

MEET TASMANIAN DEVILS – TASMANIA  

For some, a trip to Tasmania might feel incomplete without sighting the state’s most famous resident – the Tasmanian devil.

Get acquainted with the marsupial at the Devils At Cradle sanctuary, a breeding and conservation facility on the edge of the Cradle Mountain National Park World Heritage area that works to ensure the survival of healthy numbers of Tasmanian devils in the wild.

With tours available day or night, visitors can observe these curious creatures up close, learning about their life cycles and the threats they face with talks from the refuge’s expert team. Tasmanian devils aren’t the only marsupials the sanctuary protects – there are also spotted-tail quoll and eastern quoll to be encountered. 

Visit devilsatcradle.com. 

HAVE BREAKFAST WITH A KOALA – QUEENSLAND 

This experience makes breakfast the most exciting meal of the day.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in the Queensland city of Currumbin offers visitors the chance to have breakfast with koalas, sitting down for a ‘gourmet’ spread in the refuge’s ‘Koala Habitat’.

During the meal, visitors can chat with the koala keepers, ‘enjoy a koala cuddle’ and get their photograph taken with the creatures. Once breakfast has wrapped, they can set off to explore the rest of the sanctuary, home to 27 hectares of Currumbin rainforest and animals such as kangaroos, echidnas (a spiky mammal) and possums.

The sanctuary’s Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the world, treating more than 140,000 creatures over the past 20 years. All the money you spend goes to conservation projects, making sure more animals can be cared for in years to come. 

Visit currumbinsanctuary.com.au.

VISIT A WILDLIFE REFUGE – NORTHERN TERRITORY 

The Kangaroo Sanctuary Wildlife refuge for rescued orphaned baby kangaroos and adult kangaroos lies near the outback town of Alice Springs.

It runs guided tours in the late afternoon each day, just when their kangaroos are starting to wake from their daytime sleep. The sanctuary’s website notes: ‘Our Kangaroo Sanctuary is a place to celebrate the beauty of the red kangaroo – an Australian icon… our mission is to educate and encourage people to rescue and care for kangaroos and other wildlife.’ 

The refuge has something of a cult following – a TV docuseries, Kangaroo Dundee, was made about the kangaroos it cares for, with the show airing in over 90 countries worldwide. 

Visit kangaroosanctuary.com. 

SPOT KANGAROOS BY THE SEA – NEW SOUTH WALES  

Blend seeing stunning scenery with wildlife spotting in New South Wales, where a number of beaches and bays are prime locations for kangaroo sightings. 

Keep an eye out for eastern grey kangaroos at beautiful Diamond Head Beach in Crowdy Bay National Park on the Barrington Coast, a three-and-a-half-hour drive north of Sydney.

You might spy more wild kangaroos as you tackle the short hiking trail at the Look At Me Now Headland in the Moonee Beach Nature Reserve. ‘All year round, you can see eastern grey kangaroos nibbling on the grass,’ the national parks website notes. 

And whilst you’re paddling in the waters of Depot Beach and Pebbly Beach in Murramarang National Park, north of Sydney, look to the grassy clearings around the shore – kangaroos are often seen hopping along nearby. 

CROCODILE SPOTTING – QUEENSLAND 

Dating back to the 1930s, Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures has long been an institution for tourists in far North Queensland.

The first place in Australia to breed crocodiles in captivity, the focus at the wildlife centre is on crocodile conservation. Its website notes: ‘Documentaries produced at Hartley’s helped arouse public interest and sympathy for crocodile conservation, leading to the protection of wild crocodiles in 1974.’

Travellers can see crocodiles getting fed as they take a boat ride around the centre’s croc-filled lagoons, with expert guides sharing facts about the lives of these fascinating reptiles throughout the tour. ‘Getting up close and personal with these impressive creatures was amazing,’ declared Tripadvisor user ‘LeisuremanVic’. 

Crocodiles aren’t the only creatures at the centre – there are also snakes, cassowaries (a large bird), lizards and kangaroos. 

Visit crocodileadventures.com.

Harry Brook sends bullish message to Australia’s bowlers ahead of the Ashes as the England star promises to meet fire with fire during the Ashes

• The Ashes begin on Friday and promises to be one of the most exciting series
• It is the most keenly-awaited Ashes since the unforgettable series in 2005
• Harry Brook has been waiting for this moment since he was a young child  

By Paul Newman for MailOnline

Published: 13:15 EDT, 14 June 2023 | Updated: 14:57 EDT, 14 June 2023