Feb/Mar/Apr 2018

Australian Traveller

The most trusted guide to travelling this great country

Australian Traveller2 min read
Editor’s Letter
FOR A CITY DWELLER like myself, it is all too easy to forget that Australia does not start and end at the invisible borders that demarcate our state capitals from, well, everywhere else really. Sitting in morning traffic or dashing to the chi-chi new
Australian Traveller2 min read
Travel Buzz
The local art scene is set to get a hit of colour with the opening of a new permanent exhibition, and the arrival on our shores of a clutch of masterpieces. New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale ( neram.com.au ) continues the rise and rise of t
Australian Traveller3 min read
CLEVER AUSSIES Q&A TINA ISHAK
WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR LAUNCHING BAYTHE SWIM? The idea first came to me a couple of years ago while sitting on a beautiful beach in the Greek Islands. I was searching for swimwear that was both minimal in design and easy to wear. I wanted eno
Australian Traveller3 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Wine & Dine
The boldly ambitious Barangaroo House, the latest venture from celebrity chef Matt Moran and hospitality group Solotel, offers up a one-stop-shop of drinking and dining, all housed in an award-winning design (by Sydney-based H&E Architects) that inje
Australian Traveller1 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Hot Openings
The folks who made putt-putt golf a cool after-dark pursuit at Holey Moley in the inner-west Sydney suburb of Newtown are at it again, this time with the opening of ARCHIE BROTHERS ELECTRIC CIRCUS. Located in Alexandria, the venue includes dodgems, c
Australian Traveller1 min readCooking, Food & Wine
One For The Road
Tasmania is filled with bright young people doing all sorts of innovative things. One of them is Ryan Hartshorn, whose family runs Grandvewe Farm in Birchs Bay in the state’s south. The farm produces a selection of cheeses derived from sheep’s milk (
Australian Traveller3 min read
Bush Baby
TO SOME, THE thought of taking time off with a baby is fraught with trepidation, a logistical nonsense of car hire firms and baby seats, travel cots, oversized luggage, and tubs of white powder that would raise eyebrows and rifle muzzles in Bali. But
Australian Traveller1 min read
Pillow Talk
The funky W brand returns to Australia with the opening of the new-build W Brisbane in the city’s CBD. Overlooking the Brisbane River, the property has 312 guestrooms, including 29 suites, two Wow Suites and the Extreme Wow Suite, as well as a signat
Australian Traveller2 min read
Picture Perfect Picture Palaces
PULLING IN THE CROWDS SINCE 1935, THE ORPHEUM HAS ALL THE GRAND, REFINED FLOURISHES YOU’D EXPECT FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF CINEMA, BUT TIME IT RIGHT AND YOUR SCREENING IN THE ORIGINAL MAIN AUDITORIUM WILL BE HERALDED BY A 93-YEAR-OLD WURLITZER ORGAN THA
Australian Traveller5 min read
Gorgeous Gorge
GLIDING EFFORTLESSLY through Cobbold Gorge in Queensland’s Gulf Savannah country, the question soon becomes, which way to look? Down into the still crystalline waters? Ahead to the narrow rocky rift we’re drifting towards? Sideways at the crazy curl
Australian Traveller2 min read
More Gorgeous Gorges
Located in the Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, in the remote north-west highlands of Queensland, Lawn Hill’s sandstone cliffs, emerald waters and surrounding lush vegetation are stunning. Formed by Lawn Hill Creek, the gorge is an oasis in the
Australian Traveller2 min read
Word On The Street: The Story Of Mr Eternity
ALMOST EVERY DAY before dawn for 37 years, Arthur Stace would write the word ‘Eternity’ on the streets of Sydney in chalk, rendering it in a beautiful copperplate script. He was for a long time anonymous; his identity a mystery until it was revealed
Australian Traveller4 min read
A New Darling
IT’S DIFFICULT TO PINPOINT exactly when Darling Harbour started to look a little weary. But once the Millennium ticked over and we were suddenly beyond 2000, and it became clear the monorail wasn’t the transport system of the future (or even the pres
Australian Traveller3 min read
Get Centred
‘SECOND BEST COFFEE IN ALICE’ reads a sign perched on the footpath near Todd St Mall, leading locals and blow-ins such as myself to a cafe crowded with film memorabilia and pint-sized figurines. “This place sure has a sense of humour,” my travel mate
Australian Traveller3 min read
Desert Soul
IT’S 7PM and I’m sitting cross-legged among rings of spinifex, a cockatoo’s flight from the main stage – a glowing red rock that, at almost 350 metres high, is taller than the Eiffel Tower. As the sun sinks into the horizon’s blanket, the rock slides
Australian Traveller3 min read
Tropical Fix
SPENDING a week in the Top End offers up ample opportunity to experience everything the tropics can throw at you: an abundance of water, sorbet sunsets, fronds the size of houses, crocodiles (from afar!), Indigenous culture and frosty mango smoothies
Australian Traveller2 min read
Fair Winds
EAST FREMANTLE IS a true local’s secret. More poised than its hippie sister suburb, its boutiques and cafes charm with ornate plasterwork, historic stone and, inside, covetable finds. The newly renovated Tradewinds Hotel is one of few accommodations
Australian Traveller2 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Tides Of Change
IT WASN’T LONG AGO that the best meal you could have on the Gold Coast was chicken parmigiana with chips, provided you signed in at the surf club it came served up in. Surfers Paradise had fancier fare, but who wanted to go there on a Saturday night
Australian Traveller2 min read
Desert Island
PART OF THE Shark Bay World Heritage area, Dirk Hartog Island is a remote nirvana steeped in history and rich with wildlife. And its 1616 discovery by Captain Dirk Hartog also happened to put Australia on the world map. A pewter plate, inscribed with
Australian Traveller3 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Drink It In
SET UP IN THE GENTEEL, northern end of Melbourne’s Chinatown, mod-Thai pioneer Longrain has been drawing crowds for its big flavours and cocktail-fuelled buzz for over a decade now, but a one-level stair climb up to new sibling venue Longsong is like
Australian Traveller5 min read
Rock Of Ages
IF THERE WAS EVER GOING to be such a thing as an Academy Awards ceremony for bathtubs then this would be the winner hands down. It’s a bit about the design of the thing – it resembles a luxe rainwater tank – but it’s mostly about the outlook. It sits
Australian Traveller4 min read
Northern Soul
HOME TO THE SMALLEST population of any Aussie state or territory, the NT is big on landscape and natural beauty, and far leaner on an urban scene. But that’s precisely why this region is a firm traveller’s ‘must-do’. Here, indigenous culture looms la
Australian Traveller4 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Carlton, Vic
THOUGH NO ONE’S GOING to deny that it has its tacky side, Carlton is one of those rare Melbourne precincts that just seems to keep enduring and evolving. Once you look beyond the “ciao bella” cheese of the touristy bits, you’ll find an appealing mix
Australian Traveller5 min read
Mornington Awakens
IT HAS BECOME SOMETHING of an accepted norm that almost everywhere else in the country is relegated to the role of second fiddle when it comes to Victoria. It gets all the best sporting events – the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the Australian Ope
Australian Traveller2 min read
A Cute Above
I HAVE DRIVEN up and down Victor Harbor searching for beach huts that are not really near the beach several times now, before I finally locate them in a quiet backstreet. Our hastily booked end-of-holiday accommodation choices have been somewhat dagg
Australian Traveller3 min read
At Loggerheads
HOW LIKE A CELEBRITY to keep you waiting? Herded together on the moonlit sand out of turtle sight, we watch Mon Repos’s rangers mill about like a diva’s PR team, phoning in updates. “No, she’s not ready,” ranger Cathy Gatley tells her walkie-talkie.
Australian Traveller6 min read
Something In The Eyre
HOW THIRSTY WOULD YOU have to be before you gave in, before the pitiless outback swelter forced you to lap up salt water like a desperate animal? Up ahead, a pannier-burdened bicycle lies cumbersomely on its side on the stony track’s shoulder, as if
Australian Traveller8 min read
Edge Of The World
“I RECKON SOMEONE MIGHT’VE gone through the fibre optics cable on their tractor.” It serves me right, I suppose, for asking the big, bearded bloke pulling beers behind the bar why I can’t get emails on my iPhone. The men all round him – knocking back
Australian Traveller11 min read
Timeless Movement
AT THE PRECISE MOMENT her uncle died, an owl perched itself on the back fence. It gazed through the house like an X-ray. Come dawn, it would fly away to wherever owls spend their sleepy days, returning to the same spot every single night. Nothing, it
Australian Traveller7 min read
Out Of The Ord
AN IRISHMAN, AN Australian woman and an Englishman walk into a pub. The establishment is the Hotel Kununurra and it’s talent night. Inside the redbrick walls of the 1960s low-rise building, the vinyl cushion stools, framed football jerseys and corrug
Australian Traveller7 min read
Best Of The Outback
Mt Borradaile is a remote 700 square-kilometre, exclusively leased Safari Lodge nestled against the Arnhem Land escarpment. This landscape of rugged ranges is fringed by idyllic billabongs, boasting a stunningly beautiful wilderness and the cultural
Australian Traveller7 min read
Emu Dreaming
RISSOLE THE EMU IS MOTIONLESS, looking me dead in the eye. At this close range, it’s clear she’s either sizing me up for fighting, feeding or mating, and the cerulean shade painting her neck in a dirty watercolour makes me surmise she’s showing her b
Australian Traveller2 min read
ONE FINE DAY Strahan
STRAHAN IS the thriving port town on the west coast of Tasmania that Sheree Crane is proud to call home (her parents grew up here and she opted to raise her two children here too, it’s that good). Sheree works for Gordon River Cruises, a locally owne
Australian Traveller5 min read
WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE… To Be A Designer
I HAD ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY AS A CHILD. I eventually ended up excavating a Hellenistic site on the Euphrates river in Syria near Aleppo over a number of seasons with a team from the Australian National University (ANU) and
Australian Traveller2 min read
Win!
The Lexicon collection offers the most technically advanced hardside products ever produced by Victorinox, with super-recessed wheels and handles. A class leader in volume, as illustrated by the Medium Case’s impressive 73-litre capacity, the collect
Australian Traveller2 min read
Osher Günsberg
1. AS A CHILD, OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS WERE ALWAYS TO... Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast. 2. NOW IF I HAVE TIME FOR A SHORT BREAK, I HEAD STRAIGHT TO… my wife’s home country of Fiji. 3. MY LOCAL’S TIP FOR SYDNEY IS… Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. 4. MY
Australian Traveller2 min read
What’s On
Dive right in to this citywide festival that presents over 230dynamic events – spanning the arts – from across the globe. perthfestival.com.au Find sure-fire highlights on Cocktaoo Island (one of seven venues) as superlative artists Ai Weiwei, Anya

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