TRAVEL

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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 ...
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Open book on women’s history
First published in The Australian, November 2019
“If it’s not in London does it even exist?” says Sue John, chief executive officer of Glasgow Women’s Library. “We’ve had Londoners say there’s no women’s history museum and we say ‘Hello’,” – she waves – “We’re up here!” Glasgow Women’s Library is the UK’s only accredited museum dedicated to women’s history. Last year it was among five organisations shortlisted for Britain’s biggest single art ...
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Wild swimming, art walks and islands: five car-free day trips from Sydney
First published in The Guardian Australia, October 2019
With the Hawkesbury River to the north, the Royal national park to the south, and mountains and highlands to the west, you don’t have to travel far from Sydney to feel like you’ve escaped. When you’re trapped in crawling traffic on one of the city’s arterial roads, however, even short distances drag on. Free from traffic and toll roads, Sydney’s local and regional train network can be ...
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Ditch the party for arty
First published in the Australian, October 2019
On the arid southern tip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, in a municipality called Los Cabos, the towns of San Jose and San Lucas are separated by 30 minutes in a car and very different ways to holiday. “Do you want to relax or party?” says my driver, Luis. “You mean go to clubs?” I ask. “Yes,” he says. “San Lucas has very many.” So many, ...