Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 26.4 i Australian Country

Travel, they say, is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer and this issue is packed with stories that are the result of lives filled with travel. They begin with a visit to the NSW High Country where Sue Collings and her husband, (retired Air Marshal) John Harvey, have come home to roost after decades of travel on John’s many postings for the Royal Australian Air Force. Sue says the experience has left her with the ability to turn a house into a home in just 12 hours. An account of their journey begins on page 16. Continue to page 26, where the feature on the extraordinary home Margaret and Michael Randle have created in the Adelaide Hills begins. The historic building is packed with intriguing artefacts,…

South-western Queensland is cattle country where the ability to handle livestock from horseback, with a team of dogs at the heel, is both a matter of pride and a way of life. It’s where you’re likely to see drovers moving large mobs of cattle along the roadside or any manner of horse events showcasing the range of skills essential to life on the land. It’s where you can call into a pub and chat to stockmen and women clad in the traditional bush uniform of Akubra, long-sleeved collared shirt, jeans and boots. You may even fi nd a bushranger. The best place to start this road trip is at Roma, the commercial and business centre of the region, and home of Australia’s largest cattle-selling complex at the Roma Saleyards. Perhaps…

THOMAS COOK The Dani barrel bag, $129.95, and Nina wallet, $39.95, make the perfect travelling pair with a stylish TC monogram print in navy. The Dani bag has an adjustable, detachable strap and internal pockets, while the wallet has room for your cards and any loose change. thomascook.com.au THOMAS COOK Thomas Cook’s Kate parka is made from a waterresistant, cottoncoated fabric and features a luxurious faux-fur lining, detachable faux-fur hood trim, internal waist drawcord, hidden rib sleeve cuffs for warmth, internal and outer pockets and a zipper opening. Available in sizes S-3XL and priced at $249.95. thomascook.com.au COTSWOLD INOUT FURNITURE The Adirondack armchair from Cotswold InOut Furniture is hand-crafted in Myanmar from highquality, solid teak and is made to last. A fabulous addition to your courtyard or garden, this comfortable…

AM-Boss Access Ladders, 11-13 Maida Ave, North Sunshine Vic 3020 ph: (03) 9310 8788 e: amboss@ambossaccessladder.com.au w: ambossaccessladder.com.au Baimbridge Antiques, 64 Thompson St, Hamilton Vic 3280 ph: (03) 5572 2516 e: info@baimbridge.com.au w: baimbridge.com.au Black Inc. Books 22-24 Northumberland Street Collingwood Vic 3066 Phone: +61 3 9486 0288 e: enquiries@blackincbooks.com.au w: blackincbooks.com Cotswold InOut Furniture 29/69 O’Riordan St, Alexandria NSW 2015 ph: (02) 9906 3686 e: sales@cotswoldfurniture.com.au w: cotswoldfurniture.com.au Ecodownunder e: service@ecodownunder.com.au w: ecodownunder.com.au Emu Wire Industries 2/25 Encore Ave, Somerton Vic 3062 ph: (03) 9308 5599 e: sales@emuwire.com.au w: emuwire.com.au Dirty Janes 13-15 Banyette St, Bowral NSW 2576 ph: (02) 4861 3231 80 Collie St, Fyshwick ACT 2609 ph: (02) 6169 4945 w: dirtyjanes.com Glenview Products 3 Edenholme St, West Pymble NSW 2073 ph: 0411 732 950 e: sales@glenviewproducts.com.au…

ANABEL DEAN WRITER Anabel is an award-winning travel journalist who began her career as a Fleet Street news reporter in London. She has worked as a feature writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, arts editor for The Bulletin and lifestyle editor for Medical Observer magazine. She contributes to national and international publications sharing adventures of people, places, art, nature and food from around the world.. KEN BRASS PHOTOGRAPHER Ken has stayed uncharactertisically close to his Sydney home base for this issue, travelling to Berry for the story about a creative couple who live in the rainforest, to Bungendore to shoot the highland home of Sue Collings and John Harvey, and the outskirts of Goulburn to capture insights into the beautiful parkland garden landscape architect Michael Bligh and his wife, Annie,…

ON THE RIGHT TRACK As a child, I thought I was an artist,” Annie Sloan says while sitting in her brilliantly eclectic Oxford, UK, home surrounded by her own upcycled furnishing creations. “I remember being at school as a little girl and a girl in my class winning the art prize and I was thinking, ‘No, that’s wrong, it should be me, don’t you understand?’” Annie wasn’t altogether wrong. It was just that it took her a while to discover what sort of an artist she was. “I went to art school and also studied fine art at university, but it took me a while to work out who I was and what I wanted to do,” she says. “I had a brief career as a musician, in a band…

GROWING GRAPES MIGHT BE FUN Deidre Macken, Allen& Unwin, $32.99 Deidre Macken is an accomplished journalist, columnist and author. Her husband, Roger Johnstone, has also enjoyed a long career as a newspaper and magazine editor and publishing executive. So what on earth persuaded them to move away from the city “inland of the last espresso machine” to establish a vineyard at Murrumbateman in Canberra’s cool-climate wine region? Looming retirement, the quest for a challenge, perhaps, mixed with a good measure of blind optimism. Deidre has written a highly entertaining memoir of their transition from city slickers to vignerons. For anyone who’s ever dreamt of embarking on a wine-making tree change, this is a cautionary tale about years of hard work, countless trips to the tip to clear a former sheep…

SEPTEMBER 11-15 (ITALY) Still Life Painting Workshop Join celebrated Sydney still-life artist Charlotte Thodey for residential classes in the beautiful Umbrian town of Todi. Charlotte’s classes use seasonal fruit and veg, flowers and kitchen equipment to explore drawing, composition, colour, tone and light. These are collected by her from local produce markets and flower nurseries. Classes are with a group of eight to 10 students over five days and participants can expect to paint up to five artworks and have the chance to show one or two in an exhibition at a local gallery. Email: info@artclassitaly.com OCTOBER 7 (VIC) The Salami Festival Dal Zotto Wines and The Meat Room will host the ultimate contest of salami styles to decide which region is worthy of the title Il Salame Perfetto (The…

YOU BEAUTY…

BOUQUET FOR A BRICKBAT I have just finished the April/May edition of Australian Country and enjoyed my bi-monthly couple of hours of escapism. I particularly enjoyed the story about Alastair and Kerry Houston and their new life in one of my favourite Australian towns — Stanley in Tasmania. They have brought an old historic building back to life in such an exciting way and it has inspired me to return for another visit to Stanley. What I found really refreshing in this issue was the fact that you awarded the prize in the mailbag section to a gentleman who was mildly critical of the content regarding property restorations. Well done — in most magazines, it is the gushing and complimentary letter writers who win the prize. It shows that you…