Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Austral, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Austral and the surrounding area.

• Weather ...
  • Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
  • The National Weather Service forecast for Austral

• Astronomy & Satellites ...
  • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
  • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Austral:
  • 35.233962, -84.545209
  • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
  • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Austral

• Bird Watching ...
  • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
  • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
  • Since Austral is near McMinn County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
  • Open the eBird sighting report for McMinn County
  • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County

• Waymarking ...
  • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
  • Open the Waymark.com report for Austral

Curious and Interesting Names Near Austral ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

• Balltown
  (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Balltown is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Balltown
• Carlock
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Carlock is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carlock
• Columbus ‑ Historic
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Columbus is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbus
• Dentville
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Dentville is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dentville
• Goodsprings
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
  • Goodsprings is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goodsprings
• Goosetown
  (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Goosetown is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goosetown
• Maggies Mill
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Maggies Mill is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maggies Mill
• Oak Grove
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
• Old Patty
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Old Patty is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Patty
• Patty
  (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Patty is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Patty
• Reliance
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Reliance is located in Polk County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reliance
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Reliance <1>
• Yancey ‑ Historic
  (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Yancey is located in McMinn County
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yancey

How Far From Austral to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Austral to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Austral and extending to:

• Benton, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the Southwest.
• Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 140 miles [225.3 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Austral to Nashville, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
• The White House (Washington, DC) is 484 miles [778.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 19 days and walking would take 28 days.
• The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,376 miles [10,261.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
• The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,086 miles [11,403.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
• The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,962 miles [7,985.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'