Vacations & Travel Magazine

THE MOMENT I LANDED OVERSEAS – FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS – I FELL INTO THE snow. I put a bit of it on my tongue. I rolled around in it. I rubbed it over my face. I shook it off the pine trees so it drifted into my hair like a glitter bomb. Swit

Australia’s only underwater museum is about to launch a new exhibition titled Ocean Sentinels. Featuring eight 2.2-metre-high sculptures of world-leading marine scientists, and some of the fiercest protectors of the Great Barrier Reef, the hybrid scu

As a young girl growing up in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City, Cristina Mittermeier knew she wanted to live a life that helped protect the natural world. First she became a marine biologist. Then she was asked to provide the text for a coffee table

The Three Capes is a three-day guided, pack-free walk to the three spectacular capes in the southern end of the Tasman Peninsula: Cape Raoul, which can only be reached by hiking, and has some of the most dramatic coastal scenery on the island. You’ll

The vast majority of life forms we share this planet with are small, but certainly not inconsequential. Insects and other bugs are found on every continent: in the seas and rivers; the skies and under ground; in the darkest of caves and atop the high

Egypt needs no introduction, but Abercrombie & Kent’s unforgettable ‘Nile in Style’ itinerary provides the perfect taste of the world’s oldest travel destination. On this nine-day tour, you’ll wander through dizzying temples and ancient tombs along t

IF THERE’S A FRENCH REGION made for postcards, Provence is it. In the country’s southeast, it’s a dreamy union of hilltop villages and landscapes that alternate between eye-popping lavender fields and silvery olive groves. It’s easy to slip into a ro

BEFORE I BEGIN THIS story – I mean really begin it, with a flowery introduction – I present you with the punch line. Because I don’t have the heart to put you through a tension-building 1,000 words detailing five days of freezing temperatures, yes/ma

THERE’S A MOMENT, AS the sun peeks over the Alps, when it feels like I have Switzerland to myself. Gem-like glaciers glint from atop Europe’s loftiest mountains, unfolding in layers of snow. The sky morphs from a deep bruise to a soft blush, revealin

“THERE’S A LOT OF SIMILARITIES WITH THIS place and Colorado and Utah, just without any of the crowds,” New River Gorge National Park’s chief of interpretation, Eve West, tells me. “It reminds me of when I worked in Moab National Park before it became

I’M KNEE-DEEP IN RICH, BLACK OOZE THAT squelches and splutters like the lava it was borne from, my feet anchored in the aqueous, bowel-like depths of a traditional Hawaiian lo’i, or taro patch. As I attempt to move my feet, I’m laying newspaper over

THE SEA SUCKS DEEP INTO the rock crevices as chinstrap penguins clamber and slide, oblivious to a ship full of peering eyes. There’s a roar as a rogue wave sends a sheet of spray skyward and I catch a glimpse of a bronze bust illuminated against the

IT’S EARLY MORNING IN VIENNA, and the bruised tones of sunrise dapple the Danube’s mirrored surface like a blushing disco ball. It’s a scene worthy of a postcard. But for now, it’s an outlook that’s all mine. Well, shared with the few others up at th

GLIDE THROUGH ICY WATERS where polar bears dive off isolated isles and where Indigenous peoples live how they have since the beginning of time. Reach far-flung islands where geysers spout and waterfalls tumble from towering fiords. A journey with pio

THERE’S A SHRIEK AS OUR WHITE Landcruiser starts skidding sideways down a steep slope. From the passenger’s seat, I had been filming the four-wheel drive ahead of us as it kicked up an impressive cloud of sand and dipped behind a dune. But I had to h

AN ART GALLERY INSIDE a remote resort? A serious art gallery? How’s that going to work? Beautifully, is the answer. When I visited the new Gallery of Central Australia (GoCA), located on the grounds of Ayers Rock Resort, I found a synergy between cul

UNTIL THE PANDEMIC, SYDNEY NORTHERN suburbs resident Sunny had never bothered to explore the tracts of wilderness in her own LGA. A keen bushwalker, she had already conquered the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory and New Zealand’s Milford Tra

IT’S NEITHER NIGHT NOR DAY. NEITHER NOISY NOR hurried. The sun momentarily hangs over the fading landscape, swapping places with a crescent moon. One by one, stars flick on as fingers of firelight spread across Gutharraguda Country – the Malgana name

Few outback experiences beat South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. The state’s largest mountain range has towering ancient cliffs, dusty red roads and ancient rocky gorges. Wilpena Pound is easily the star attraction – from the air it looks like a giant

I’VE NEVER EXPERIENCED weightlessness before, but as I float in water so close to body temperature that I barely feel it, gravity no longer exists. As my watsu therapist Smiljana gently guides me on the surface, she seems to be in the same trance-lik

Once the site of illegal whisky distilling, a 19th-century mill is now home to Tasmania’s newest boozy hotspot in the tiny town of Oatlands. Callington Mill’s expansive estate not only takes you behind the scenes of the whisky-making process, but als

A weekend in Daylesford is all about blissing out – in every sense. Nestled among the Macedon Ranges, this is Victoria’s spa country, dotted with natural mineral springs and wellness retreats. Between soaks, try fresh farm produce straight from the s

Perched on a floral sofa inside the Commandant’s House, which whiffs of Grandma’s linen press, Colin Knight recounts grave and gory anecdotes from Tasmania’s Village of the Damned and Australia’s true-crime Shangri-la: Port Arthur Historic Site. He g

Camping doesn’t get much cooler than this. Settle in to one of 47 Airstreams among the famed Joshua trees in Southern California’s epochal desert haven. AutoCamp Joshua Tree is a 10-hectare property where you bed in gleaming 9.5-metre aluminium Ameri

ARRIVING AT THIS HARBOURSIDE hotel, you’d be forgiven for not realising it’s part of The Star Sydney, an enormous complex of entertainment outlets. The Darling is the venue’s boutique accommodation offering, and while it has discrete gaming rooms ava

Sip on a glass of shiraz while you feed a giraffe from your balcony, or bathe in your egg-shaped, deep soaking tub while a bear roams within metres – albeit behind a very strong pane of glass. Jamala Wildlife Lodge is a luxury safari experience just

The latest property in the French Mama Shelter group is in the beating heart of Los Angeles, off Hollywood Boulevard and only minutes from the Walk of Fame. A little bit European, a little bit SoCal, with a lot of urban style, Mama Shelter Los Angele

Spain’s Balearic islands are a string of pearls off the European mainland, shimmering in the Mediterranean sunlight. In 2022, the brightest gleam comes from Menorca, where coastal coves fashion 50 shades of green, and are so blindingly brilliant you’