Saturday May 3
7:30pm

Tonight Ernie Dingo hosts The Great Outdoors from Western Australia, where he is embarking on the South West Drive.

He begins in Perth, with first stop Mandurah. It may be WA’s biggest regional city, but the main attraction in town is a miniature village. It’s called Abingdon and it’s modelled on the English village of the same name. Then it’s on to Bunbury, surrounded on three sides by water. Ernie checks out the local birdlife at the wetlands, before heading to Wellington National Park near Collie Dam, where you can camp and swim all year round. He then heads to Spring Hills Farmstay, where city people can experience a real slice of country life. Farmstays run all over the country, and it’s great for farmers who are struggling with the drought.

Tom Williams embarks on a journey from Goa to Kerala, on the west coast of India. For years travellers from around the world have come here on their own spiritual journey and Tom is trying to find out why. He starts in Goa, taxis down to the beach town of Arombol and takes a backwater cruise through Kerala, the ‘land of the coconut”, where he runs into a snake worshipper’s ceremony. Tom heads out of Kerala’s backwaters on a converted rice boat, hops on a train to Varkal and hires the sole surfboard in town before watching a traditional dance of Kerala, the Katakhali dancers.

Jennifer Hawkins puts on her walking shoes and joins the new Urban Walkabout Shopping Tour in Paddington in Sydney, where she gets an insider’s knowledge for locals and tourists to discover the city’s most fashion and design savvy shopping destinations.

Andrew Daddo continues his journey through South West China. Li River is one of the most beautiful places in China, but the packed boats are not there for sightseeing. Most of the passengers are all heading to Yangshuo to go shopping. Andrew does his best to interpret the river scenery the Chinese way, then fights his way through the crush of the Hello Markets, where you can buy almost anything. He emerges in the quiet countryside at the end of the markets and unwinds with a little Thai Chi.

And we also check out the world’s most famous waterfall, Niagara Falls, in Canada.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS is presented by ERNIE DINGO, TOM WILLIAMS, ANDREW DADDO and JENNIFER HAWKINS.