TRAVEL

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Valley of the god
First published in The Australian, July 2020
The ‘paparazzi free’ hashtag on Hermes Estate’s Instagram page is not ironic. The pre-COVID plan for this private retreat on NSW’s north coast was to entice international elites who’d be more dissuaded by a drone-operated camera than an $11,000 per night price tag. Originally slated to open in March and still faced with closed borders, Hermes Estate’s husband and wife team have swung open the ...
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Scents and sensibilities
First published in The Saturday Paper, July 2020
“A Catholic funeral.” “Rotting oranges.” “Burnt hair.” We’re sniffing strips of cardboard freshly dipped in a jar of aldehyde. In 1920, when Coco Chanel was deciding on her signature scent, her perfumer accidentally put 10 times too much aldehyde in his blend. “That’s the one!” Chanel apparently declared. “Until then women had smelled like vanilla and violets,” says Saskia Wilson-Brown, founder of the Institute of ...
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Historic pubs full of cheer
First published in The Australian, May 2020
Soak up the atmosphere at these regional NSW watering holes. The Prince of Wales Hotel, Gulgong Gulgong radiates 19th-century charm with its veranda posts, original shop facades and occasional horse trough. After poking through the fascinating Henry Lawson Centre museum, head to the Prince of Wales Hotel, a favourite for pub grub such as its award-winning steak sandwich. Run by the Ellis family since 1976, ...
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Under the spell of Santa Fe, home and sanctuary of Georgia O’Keeffe
First published in The Australian Financial Review (Life & Leisure), March 2020
Some call painter Georgia O’Keeffe the mother of American modernism. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe – one of just a few in the world dedicated to a female artist – describes her simply as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Either way, her paintings of flowers and New Mexico landscapes, in particular, are luminous and unforgettable. “There is a huge interest in O’Keeffe’s life ...
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Sri Lanka shakes off its shadow
First published in The Australian Financial Review (Life & Leisure), February 2020
A guard thumps the car boot closed. All clear. Up at the entrance we know the drill: bags on belt and walk through the X-ray machine. Like at the airport, but with a bevy of hotel employees beaming in the balmy island air, proving it is possible for a security routine to seem like a greeting ritual on loop. Beneath the smiles is trauma. “We’re ...
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False positives
First published in The Saturday Paper, February 2020
Preserved beneath glass at Vienna’s Beethoven Museum are the composer’s unrequited love letters to a woman known only as his “immortal beloved”. Seeing his raw scrawl sweeps you up, a little, in the agony of it all. “Oh god, why must we distance ourselves from what we love so much?” he wrote. The museum is in the house where Beethoven lived from 1792. The floorboards ...
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Tourism after the bushfires: ‘The whole area is screaming for people to come back’
First published in The Guardian Australia, February 2020
Over the Christmas and New Year’s break thousands of holidaymakers were forced to evacuate coastal regions in Victoria and on the New South Wales south coast. The advice from fire authorities was firm: “If you don’t need to be here, leave now.” Soon after, the message flipped. “We need you here, come back!” was the call, as towns reliant on tourism, especially from peak times such ...
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Baja Beauty (Los Cabos, Mexico)
First published in the Australian, January 2020
01 Los Cabos, on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, is a resort region of long beaches, desert dunes and rocky ranges. Despite its apparent dryness, it’s home to more organic farms than any other Mexican state, feeding a thriving farm-to-table restaurant scene.Driving into Flora Farms is like entering the Garden of Eden. A very industrious Eden. Wheelbarrows laden with leafy greens circle as ...
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Desert mob scenes
First published in Art Guide Australia, January 2020
First held in 1990 at Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs, Desert Mob is the oldest of Australia’s thriving annual program of Aboriginal art fairs. With its 30th anniversary coming up in September 2020, Kate Hennessy looks back on Desert Mob 2019. The first thing to know about Desert Mob is that the artists wholly select the works exhibited. The second thing is those artists come from what Araluen curator ...
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Wineries, galleries and splendid beaches: five car-free day trips from Melbourne
First published in The Guardian Australia, December 2020
Provided there is an excellent meal at the other end, day-tripping to a regional town isn’t out of character for Melburnians. Yet most of them drive. Some of these day-trips do raise challenges once you disembark from the V/Line (regional train line) or ferry. But by challenges I mean a pleasant walk ranging from 20 minutes to two hours, and the same in reverse, which could be ...