Posts from ‘General News’
The Best Beaches in the World (possibly).
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
I’ve just got home from a lovely week in sunny Hervey Bay, Queensland where I did lots of swimming, eating, swimming, drinking and also some swimming. My favourite place was Pelican Beach, which was one of the most beautiful, untouched beaches that I’ve ever been to. In fact, it would easily make my top 10 beaches that I’ve been to. Which then means I should have a Top 10 list to put it in. There are so many other wonderful beaches in the world that I’m yet to go to, but… (read more)
Pelicans and Paradise.
Monday, January 11th, 2010
I discovered paradise today. Okay, I didn’t discover it personally and my brother has been coming here for years, but Pelican Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. Pelican Beach is actually a tiny island about twenty minutes by boat from Hervey Bay in Queensland. My brother Bruce (along with his family) took us out there on the way to Fraser Island. And, best of all, we had the entire island to ourselves… (read more)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles… and Buses.
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Okay it’s time for a little whinge. Tomorrow my daughter Jasmine and I are flying to Hervey Bay in Queensland with Tiger Airways (which should be interesting). Except we’re not flying to Hervey Bay because it was so ridiculously expensive to fly there direct from Melbourne. So we got a cheap flight to the Sunshine coast where I thought we could just jump on a bus and be in Hervey Bay in a couple of hours. I was so wrong. I just assumed that because Queensland is Australia’s biggest tourist destination and Hervey Bay is a major tourist town that there would be a direct bus there. There are no buses – unless… (read more)
Tall things.
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
I like tall things. When I travel I like going to the top of tall buildings (maybe it’s because I’m short?). I’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building, the World Trade Centre, Petronas Towers, Eiffel Tower, CNN Tower (Toronto), Sydney Tower, Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower – or ‘what are you talking about Willis Tower’), John Hancock Centre, Montparnasse Tower, Commerzbank Tower (Frankfurt), Tokyo Tower, and Lincoln Cathedral (which is only 159 meters tall, but it was the tallest building in the world from… (read more)
Travel highlights of 2009.
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Another year has flown by (they really do fly the older you get) and it’s been another great year of travelling for me. I feel so blessed to have these wonderful opportunities to travel like I do and there were many ‘highlights’ in my travels this year. And often the highlights are not necessarily about a place as such, but about the people you are with, the food you ate, discovering something so new or simply a beautiful moment. So, I thought I’d put together a list of my Top Ten Travel Highlights from 2009 (in no particular order)… (read more)
World’s Best Hotel (minus the stained sheets)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
A survey released this week by travel website Travel+Leisure ranked Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve in South Africa as the world’s best hotel in 2009. The survey ranks the tops 500 places to stay across the globe, and was compiled based on the opinions of the website’s ‘experts’ and thousands of readers. A night at Bushmans Kloof (about 3 hours away from Cape Town) will set you back US$715 (A$803). Second place went to the Oberoi Vanyavilas in Rajasthan… (read more)
Christmas in Killarney.
Monday, December 14th, 2009
I’m not having Christmas in Killarney, nor have I ever had Christmas in Ireland (it’s a Bing Crosby song), but I have had quite a few Christmases overseas. Coming from balmy Australia my first white Christmas was truly magical. I was living in London (as Australians do), but I wanted my first Christmas away from home to be in the snow so a big bunch of us booked a chalet in Les Diablerets in Switzerland. On Christmas day we wrapped ourselves in tinsel and skied all day. My Christmas lunch was a frankfurter and chips. That’s because we had our Christmas lunch on Christmas eve like a lot of Europeans do. I’ve had four Christmases in Switzerland and… (read more)
Books like these.
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
Although I have been a bit slack on the reading front this year, I did manage to get through a handful of travel books: some old, some new, some borrowed and one with stories from a Sue and Stu. Here’s my list of travel books for 2009:
New Europe – Michael Palin
I like Michael Palin. I like his TV travel series and this book is a very enjoyable and funny journey through the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. My only gripe is that it’s all somewhat premeditated and contrived. A research team goes out and plans the entire trip, including finding ‘wacky’ festivals to attend and ‘wacky’ locals to interview… (read more)
Holidays with Sheep!
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
I was in the newsagency today checking out travel magazines and by gosh is there a lot to choose from. I remember a few years back (okay it was quite a few years back) when there was Vogue Entertaining + Travel and that was about it. There were over 30 different titles in my local newsagency covering just about everything to do with travel (except holidaying with sheep – which you think would be a big hit in New Zealand). There are travel magazines targeting couples, travelling with kids, retirees, luxury travel, backpacking, walking holidays, cruise holidays, island holidays and even one called… (read more)
The world’s top 10 party towns.
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
In today’s Age newspaper there was a piece on the world’s top 10 party towns – which came from Lonely Planet’s list in it’s new guide ‘1000 Ultimate experiences’. Here’s the list:
1. Belgrade, Serbia
2. Montreal, Canada
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina