TRAVEL

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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, ...
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Breadth of field (Dunedin, New Zealand)
First published in The Australian, August 2019
01 Both rail and scenery enthusiasts will delight in the half-day train ride from Dunedin through Taieri Gorge to Pukerangi, and back again. This is no slick, Wi-Fi-enabled affair. Think scones, a locomotive lurch that has you waddling down the aisles, and on-board commentary full of “dad jokes”. But oh, the views. Horse studs, pine forests, ferny thickets and the sheer flinty sides of Taieri ...
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This Daintree Dreamtime Tour Will Change How You See The Rainforest
First published in AWOL, June 2019
Mossman Gorge is an hour north of Cairns. It’s in the southern part of the world’s oldest rainforest, the Daintree. I cringe when people say “Australia has no old things”. Yeah, it does. They’re just not built structures (or ruins of them) like in Europe. The dreamtime walk at Mossman Gorge with a Kuku Yalanji guide may change your perspective on Australia’s Wet Tropics rainforest for good. How ...
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Trouble in #tropicalparadise
Self-published June 26, 2019
The shoreline is tinkling. It’s snapped-off coral, tumbling in the breakers, thousands of porous pieces colliding. As nature-based aural experiences go, the chiming waves of Koh Hong are up there. It’s the highlight of my day exploring Thailand’s Andaman Islands. Despite the cliffs that erupt from the iridescent water and the jungle’s cooling thickets. We are travelling, you see, in a traditional Thai longtail boat ...
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Cool Tasmania: the MONA effect electrifies Launceston
First published in The Australian Financial Review (Life & Leisure), April 2019
The festival merch was a bit of a guffaw. The hats were hot pink and embroidered with eggplant and peach emojis (code for penis and butt) while the tote bags read: “London Paris New York Tokyo Berlin Launceston.” After a decade in Hobart, Mona Foma – the summer festival of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) – moved to Launceston this year, lowbrow gags and all. ...
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Unhurried in Hatta
First published in The CEO Magazine, March 2019
Set in the Al Hajar mountains, not far from Dubai, the quiet town of Hatta won’t be quiet for long Even surrounded by water – which in Dubai, you commonly are – still, you can feel it: the dryness of the Arabian Desert the city is built on and within, second in size only to the Sahara. Not far from the city’s outskirts is the ...
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Old and new speak
First published in The Saturday Paper, February 2019
I glide out of Changi Airport in a chauffeured limousine. I have a cold rolled face cloth, The Straits Times’ broadsheet and market updates murmuring on the radio. Had I not been met at arrivals with a ‘HENNESSY’ sign I’d suspect a bullish Asian businessman remained curbside for pick up. My imposter syndrome suggests that guy wouldn’t be sliding around quite so much on the ...