Innholdsfortegnelse for May - July 2023 i Australian Traveller

SOMEONE RECENTLY ASKED ME IF it was hard to find things to keep writing about as editor of Australian Traveller – the country’s only publication dedicated to travelling on home soil. My answer was an immediate no. Quite the opposite: it’s almost impossible to keep up with all the incredible ways to explore Australia. As I write this, I’m holed up in a holiday home on the Hawkesbury River as darkness falls on the ridges and an orchestra of cicadas and lapping water surpasses any personalised Spotify playlist. I’m only just over an hour from home in Sydney and have long loved this river, but today was the first time I’ve navigated it myself at the helm of my own private tinnie. Australia’s always-evolving tourism offering is what has inspired…

PUTTING ON THE RITZ The scene is set the minute you step out of the lift on level 80 and into the soaring lobby of The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne. The landmark building is part of the new West Side Place precinct. The luxury hotel has 257 rooms and suites fitted out with custom leather and velvet furniture plus bespoke light fixtures that are as marvellously theatrical as the ground-level entrance on Lonsdale Street. In addition to a spa on level 64 and a radical infinity pool that overlooks the city, there will be signature bar and restaurant experiences led by culinary advisor Mark Best. ritzcarlton.com NOD TO NOSTALGIA A new one-of-a-kind retro motel has us feeling all sentimental about road trips. Well, pack your jumpsuit and set your GPS for tranquil…

Walk the walk I’M LYING IN BED, ONE WALL of my canvas tent-slash-cabin rolled up to welcome in the chorus of frogs and birds, when a rustling prompts me to prop myself up on my elbows. Outside, barely a few metres away, is a bandicoot snuffling among the bracken fern. It’s Tasmania but somehow I feel like I’m on safari. The Maria Island Walk is a four-day guided hike traversing the entire length of a national park that has become something of a sanctuary for wildlife. Maria’s wombats and Cape Barren geese are renowned but it’s also home to myriad other species including bettongs, pademelons, Forester kangaroos and a healthy population of Tasmanian devils; if we don’t tick off every species, we at least see their footprints. Adding to the…

Reviews SUNLIGHT RIPPLES ACROSS THE umbrella overhead and skips off the ice cubes in my Bloody Mary. As palm fronds fringe my view, I lazily slump onto the forest-green bolster behind me and contemplate a dip in the pool to diffuse the rising heat. Nearby, sun-visored patrons sip juices with Bloody Mary chasers, or click-clack to the poolside in heeled sandals, looking as though they’re escaping the desert heat of downtown Palm Springs. California this is not, but cloistered in the pool-adjacent bar of Sydney’s Oxford House (OH!), you’re wholly invited to revel in the illusion. Designed for languid lingering, refreshments are served here from breakfast to pre-dinner drinks and are set to a backing track of low-key tunes, gentle laughter and the occasional splash in the pool. Its very…

IT’S LOVELY WEATHER FOR DUCKS. A sudden shower prompts hoods and umbrellas up for the Royal Mail Hotel guests who have joined a kitchen garden tour this morning. But the ducks are unfazed. They flap busily between the garden beds on their usual mission to save the veggies from slugs and snails as key components of the garden’s pest control. It’s one of the many insights into Australia’s largest working restaurant kitchen garden shared generously with us over the course of an hour and a half. The Royal Mail Hotel runs chef-led tours three times a week and if you’re lucky, as we are today, Robin Wickens will be on duty. The executive chef behind one of regional Australia’s best restaurants, two-hatted Wickens, divulges behind-the-scenes secrets and gardening tips and…

1 The Sunshine Coast’s under-the-radar hinterland town IT’S A DRIZZLY FRIDAY afternoon when I step onto the deck of Mapleton Public House, the rouge-hued old dame of the tiny hinterland town. And she’s flush with company. The pub has been presiding over Flaxton Drive with views barrelling down the hill to the Sunshine Coast’s beaches since 1910. But it’s only in the past eight months that punters have been making a pilgrimage – many from Brisbane – for a chance to eat from a refined menu, with produce plucked from the farm run by the pub’s new owners, Jessica Huddart and Ben Johnston. Mapleton has always played third fiddle to Maleny and Montville in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland but with a bounty of walking trails, waterfalls and now this culinary…

27 THE NEW PRECINCTS REVITALISING BRISBANE WITH THE 2032 SUMMER OLYMPICS on the horizon, Brisbane is soaring to new heights as striking precincts enliven the city. In the CBD, Queen’s Wharf Brisbane precinct will merge state-of-the-art contemporary architecture with heritage buildings, securing itself as a world-recognised destination. Four new luxury hotels, more than 50 wine-and-dine experiences, a new pedestrian-only bridge connecting to South Bank and a 100-metre-high Sky Deck are just the beginning. Rivermakers Heritage Quarter in the city’s east, a once-hidden gem, has transformed into Brisbane’s newest lifestyle precinct. It’s a hub of dining, entertainment and creativity with Low n Slow Meat Co, Revel Brewing Co, Bavay Distillery and Mas & Miek Ceramics calling it home. Emily Murphy 28 Canberra’s newest village ON NGUNNAWAL LAND in a…

52 Art illuminates the beating heart of Australia THE SAME RED CENTRE journey that sparked the idea for Bruce Munro’s smash-hit installation at Uluru included a stop at Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park. It, too, left a deep impression. Some three decades later and seven years on from the debut of Field of Light, Munro has unveiled an immersive sound and light installation at Discovery Resorts – Kings Canyon, part of the final stages of a $20 million transformation that began not long after the property was acquired by G’day Group in 2021. Light-Towers sees 69 two-metre-tall towers of solar-powered light pulse gently in the desert during sunrise, sundown and into the inky black of the night. A meditation on synaesthesia, connection and healing, the towers cycle through a…

STEERING STEWARDSHIP Passions of Paradise is the reef tourism operator turning tourists into conservationists. Its citizen science tours allow visitors to be marine biologists for a day by partaking in research projects by documenting the coral and wildlife they see. Backed by a low-impact philosophy, the operator’s ecotourism efforts earned it a Banksia award for sustainability in March 2023. passions.com.au Pockets of peace With the working from roam trend well and truly taking off, being able to sign in and check out on the go is becoming increasingly important. Adelaide entrepreneurs Adam Morgan and Tyson Gundersen are making it easy with their private, soundproof TaskPods. The mini office cubes are available for a small hourly fee and are popping up in public spaces such as airports and shopping centres in…

Cycling trails THERE WERE SOME who were sceptical when I announced I was embarking on an adventurous five-day cycle journey of south-east Queensland, surely a dig at my level of physical prowess. I won’t name names. It may have seemed a big ask to take in Brisbane, Minjerribah/ North Stradbroke Island, Noosa and a good chunk of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail. But I have a secret weapon on my side. I’m on a guided bike tour that handily comes with transport assistance and someone to look after luggage and logistics, plus the option of an electric bike. Can you guess my leaning? BRISBANE We meet up in Brisbane city, a small group of six crossing ages and countries of origin, including a local Queenslander to guide, full of energy…

11 A luxe addition to Sydney’s Sandstone Precinct IF GEORGE MCRAE WERE alive today, he would be well placed swilling whisky in Capella Sydney’s glamorous Victorian-style bolthole that bears his name. During the Scotsman’s tenure as NSW’s government architect in the early 1900s, McRae would leave the Edwardian Baroque-style Department of Education building as his legacy, along with notable landmarks Sydney Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Building. The century-old State Heritage-listed building in Circular Quay was used as bureaucratic offices until 2015, when it was leased to Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group. The luxury property developer then began a meticulous seven-year restoration, reimagining the property as Capella Sydney. The newly opened luxury hotel forms part of the ‘Sandstone Precinct’, which includes the adjacent 19th-century Department of Lands building. Due for…

64 Find new connections at a biodynamic McLaren Vale winery CLUSTERS OF JUICY SHIRAZ and tempranillo grapes poke out beneath extravagant garlands of leaves as I drive through the vineyard at Gemtree Wines to a restored wetland that has been planted with 50,000 trees and shrubs. For custodians Mike and Melissa Brown, this is a labour of love that began when they bought the South Australian property in 1998. For Ngarrindjeri Elder Mark Koolmatrie, the connection goes back far longer. “This is Kaurna Country, but the same values exist as in Ngarrindjeri Land, which is just over that hill,” he tells our small group on the Wuldi Cultural Experience. “Our people have a concept called ngartji that means everyone has to look after something. It could be a…

Islands & coast 81 Time in the sun for Brisbane’s low-key island gem MINJERRIBAH/NORTH Stradbroke Island or Straddie to the locals, might live in the shadow of its big sister, K’gari (Fraser Island), but this beach getaway surrounded by aquamarine waters is a closely held secret. When Sydneysiders and Melburnians cram into Queensland’s Gold and Sunshine coasts during the school holidays, those in the know keep this low-key gem to themselves. While it may be only one-sixth the size of K’gari, this 37-kilometre-long sliver of sand is the second-largest sand island in the world with a mind-boggling array of powdery white beaches. It’s just 45 minutes across Moreton Bay from the Brisbane suburb of Cleveland and once you get off the ferry, you’re on ‘Straddie time’. The Traditional…

TELL US ABOUT GROWING UP IN BAWAKA, IN NORTH-EAST ARNHEM LAND. I didn’t go to school. I grew up running around a beautiful beach with my siblings and my cousins. Bawaka (1) is a special place because of the environment and people who are half Yol u and half Makassar [Makassar people are from Sulawesi in Indonesia and began visiting the northern coast of Australia in the 18th century]. WHAT CAN VISITORS EXPECT FROM THE TOURISM EXPERIENCE ON OFFER? My dad runs the homelands and I come back here whenever I’m not on tour. There’s accommodation for tourists and it’s right by the ocean. We sit around the campfire (2) and share the exact stories we told to the Makassar people. These are stories from a long time ago. I…

ON THE PROMENADE Promenade Bondi Beach is sitting pretty, just metres from the sand in a fetching corner of Sydney’s newly reimagined Bondi Pavilion. And it’s now the place to take your Bondi bae to people-watch over plates of fresh-made pasta or chilled seafood. Bondi is famous for its bronzed surfers and beautiful beach and the menu at this new House Made Hospitality venue reflects influences from coastal regions around the globe. promenadebondibeach.com Hot to trot in Lorne Merivale’s much-loved Totti’s has landed at the Lorne Hotel in Victoria. It’s the fifth outpost of the popular Italian eatery and well worth a stop on your next road trip along the Great Ocean Road. Executive chef Matt Germanchis is a Surf Coast local who aims to celebrate the very best local…

SHOULD YOU ASK AN Australian if they’re willing to dine at a hotel restaurant in their own country, I forecast the response to come as an incredulous scrunched face followed by a near-panicked plea: “There must be somewhere else?!” Historically, albeit with a few exceptions, we’ve not been all that good at hotel restaurants. This might ruffle a few starched napkins, but look into your memories of steak Dianes sinking titanically into a buttery swamp, served in dining rooms void of discernible personality, and your heart will know the truth. Down in the antipodes, we’ve not been graced with the diverting hotel dining culture of Europe, Britain or the States, where these establishments are places to covet a booking, not pity those with the misfortune of dining in them on…

Reviews THE CITY IS A cacophonous symphony of activity when I check into voco Melbourne Central for a staycation; shoppers mill to and fro, office workers rush about and cafes and restaurants are once again brimming with groups of diners. Slipping down Timothy Lane and being whisked up to the hotel foyer on Level 6 is the escape I’m looking for. The voco vibe is elegant with a modern Art Deco style and the hotel embodies the brand’s sustainability initiatives. An artwork by Australian environmental artist John Dahlsen, Yellow and Blue Micro-Plastics, hangs in the foyer. The canvas is made by Better Cotton Initiative, the same company that approves the linen (made from 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles) dressing the hotel’s beds. Beyond the foyer, I’m thrilled to find…

SLEEPY TOWNS WEREN’T ALWAYS the best place for good sleep. In the beachside holidays of our youth, sleep came in fits and starts in the caravan annex on a rudimentary canvas stretcher. Or in a baking fibro shack with no indoor loo. These days, while our nostalgia for sleepy beachside towns is still writ large, our tastes have matured. We want not only a comfortable bed (and preferably good coffee within proximity), but the design has to be a step above, with a few luxuries thrown in. This yearning is what has led me to Old Bar – a town so sleepy its bakery prices seemingly haven’t risen since 1999. Bordering Wallabi Point and Saltwater National Park, about an hour south of Port Macquarie, Old Bar epitomises a laid-back surfer…

73 Rail trail movement gathers steam ABANDONED RAILWAY TRACKS around Australia continue to be reimagined as recreational trails for cyclists. And riding along these corridors is one of the most popular ways to enjoy a join-the-dots jaunt through the countryside. NSW’s first true rail trail on an ex-government rail corridor sealed the deal for the small townships of Tumbarumba and Rosewood, when the first section of the pioneering Riverina Highlands Rail Trail opened in 2020. The rail trail has put the Snowy Valleys region on the map, providing visitors with yet another excuse to hit the high country and explore this stunning subalpine region when it’s not dusted in snow. The trail is about 21 kilometres each way and includes interpretive signage about the history of the rail…

UNTIL 11 JUNE Zampatti Powerhouse POWERHOUSE MUSEUM, NSW Carla Zampatti is the Aussie fashion label synonymous with simplicity, sophistication and style. Now, a retrospective celebrates the late designer and five decades of her work – telling the trailblazing story of the label and its creator through a selection of archival garments. Emerging dancers from Sydney Dance Company will also debut a spellbinding performance inspired by the exhibition on select days. maas.museum 7–18 JUNE RISING NAARM/MELBOURNE, VIC Rising Festival is bringing the weird and the wonderful to Naarm/ Melbourne with acts like Flying Lotus and Consort of the Moon, an interactive performance which allows the audience to participate in the work. Tune in this winter to enjoy music, food, art and culture beneath the moonlight. rising.melbourne FROM 9 JUNE PIERRE…