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Edition 386: 21st May 2015This Weeks Super Specials
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 | Destination Spotlight - SW QLD
Queensland’s Southern Outback is a blaze of colour, wide
open spaces, National Parks and the deep rivers of Mulga. The name 'Channel
Country' comes from the intertwined rivulets throughout the region. The South West is known for its unspoiled bushland, opal mining, station stays, fishing, 4WDing, and experiences such as natural mud
baths, and hot artesian springs. In this useful article we've amalgamated many of the useful pages that
can be found across the ExplorOz website specific to touring and
exploring this region, together with a selection of the best maps, guide
books, and DVDs. See South West Queensland - Winter Destinations
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| 2015 National Gathering
Plans are in full swing for this year's ExplorOz Members' National Gathering to be held at Ross River Resort in the East McDonnell Ranges, NT. This event is restricted to financial ExplorOz Members only - a group representing the most loyal and passionate contingent of our audience. ExplorOz would like to offer our Business members the opportunity to contribute their product(s) as prizes for promotion during the event. For those of you who wish to contribute to the cause please communicate with the organising Member of this event, Member – Sir Kev and Darkie who will advise further logistics.
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 | Win a First Aid Kit worth over $100
This month our theme ingredient in the ExplorOz recipe collection is Mince. That means we're looking for people to submit camping recipes that use mince. Every submission in the month of May will go in the random prize draw to win the Equip First Aid Pro 1 Kit, as pictured here worth $111. Entering a recipe is easy. Just click the button to add a new recipe and fill in the ingredients list and preparation steps. It doesn't matter where you get the recipe from but it needs to be a recipe that you've cooked before (or plan to cook). If you have a photo you can also add that. If you haven't got a photo you can leave it blank - never post photos that are not your own.
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| Road Alerts
Are you looking for the latest track conditions and news? You'll find a track-by-track Australia-wide report in the ExplorOz Road Alerts section. Please refer to our volunteer job vacancy notice below.
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 | Road Conditions Coordinator Needed
We have a vacancy for a volunteer to join our team to take control of weekly updates to the ExplorOz Road Alerts. If you have a few hours to spare each week and would enjoy contributing to this valuable resource, then we'd like to hear from you. All work is conducted online so an internet connection, and a desktop computer or laptop is required.
To apply, send an email describing why you think you are the right person for the role, along with a description of abilities, strengths, interests and full contact details and availability. Extensive knowledge of road & track names and their location throughout Australia is a pre-requisite. Applications close: Friday 29th May.
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 | New Business Members
Here's 3 new Business Members that are worth checking out.
- Roof Top Camping
- One Step at a Time
- Bush Winches and Anchors
To find other business member or to just browse what's on offer, simply go to the Members section on ExplorOz and click Find a Business.
Members' Benefit: View exclusive offers advertised by our Business Members on the Rewards Page, or click through from the Home Page. (Offer details are hidden to non-members).
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| About EOTopo
If you haven't got EOTopo yet then now is the time. Available on hard media or download, this mapset is an unrivalled whole of Australia map designed for 4WD touring and adventures.
Unsurprisingly, the download product is the most popular option by our customers. See instructions here on our EOTopo Downloads page.
These are map files just like any other digital map - but to ensure compatibility across the many varied and widely popular devices (and their differing operating systems) we provide the files in a multitude of formats. You just have to pick and choose what's best for you.
If you have questions, there are tons of resources online at ExplorOz.com for you to read. Be sure to check the EOTopo FAQ page. You can also post comments to that page which will appear in the Forum where other EOTopo users can help you out if you're having setup problems etc.
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| Camping Guide to Tasmania
The 4th edition to this popular guide book by Boiling Billy has come back into stock after a reprint.
From $23.70 in the ExplorOz Shop
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 | Find more detail on maps
How well do you know how to use the mapping features on ExplorOz? There as many control features but some are very tiny and unless you are familiar with them you may have missed just how useful and powerful this online mapping tool really is; so here's a few big tips:
Open any Place page and by default the Description tab will be open. Click the blue tab labelled "Map" and this will be defaulted to zoom level 8 on the EOTopo map with the Places highlighted in the centre of the map. Click or slide the zoom scale to increase zoom and more detail will appear on the map, or change the base map layer to Satellite and zoom in much further. For some places you might find Street maps better, and you can zoom in even further. Note that by fiddling with zoom levels new data will appear on the map because this is a vector-based mapping system - unlike offline maps that are raster images that do not reveal more detail. To make the map less cluttered, you can also turn off groups of POIs. To do this click the Features tab and select/deselect - watch the features appear/disappear. Use the panel to the right of the map to explore other Nearby Places - hover to see these highlighted on the map.
Once you start exploring the map it will load changes independently of the webpage so any place you click will be loaded without loading the whole page. This means the top section of the page will not change - only the map panels. At the top of the map (immediately below the control panels) you'll note a tiny blue downwards pointing arrow and the name of the Place that is currently active in blue text. Click this arrow to open an info panel for that place that allows you to view a summary of the text description, view coordinates, and a link to Open Place (which will reload the whole page and take you to the selected Place page). In this way you can really explore Places around an area without getting confused. At any time, click the tiny blue upwards arrow in the control panel to close it.
TIP - for best map viewing, click the full screen icon in the right hand corner and set your browser window to full screen.
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 | Win Free Tickets to the Big Red Bash
Thanks to Big Run Events, we have 2 x tickets valued at $620 up for grabs. To enter the prize draw, all you need to do is:
- Purchase Membership Personal ($49.95) or
- Purchase Membership Lifetime ($299.95 or $249.95 for existing Members) or
- Refer
a Friend - if they buy Membership Personal or Lifetime and include your name in their order comment field then both you and they will go in the draw.
This competition is only valid for Membership purchases made between 11th May - 1st June. The two lucky winners will be announced in our newsletter on 3rd June 2015.
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