Get Up & Go

Where you should be travelling in 2012

2012-02-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

According to Abercrombie & Kent's compilation of trends (hot list) of destinations for 2012 we should be thinking outside the box. Try these on for size:
Cuba - classic cars, Cuban cigars and an array of colonial attractions, romantic Havana - just the beginnings of discovery.
Mongolia - one of the last travel frontiers - think yurts, wild horsemen, nomads and dramatic landscapes - and imagine Genghis Khan.
Myanmar - beautiful, peaceful and unspoilt, Myanmar (Burma) has ancient culture, modern turbulent politics and beautiful, glistening temples.
Nepal - Boasting the world's highest mountains, beautiful, sweeping Himalayan scenery, mediaeval architecture and charming rural villages.
Orissa - traditional delights of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh await you. This is the star of East India.
Russia - still an intriguing and fascinating place to explore, Russia offers up a profusion of historic monuments and cultural attractions. For galleries and museums, St Petersburg is where it's at.
Tanzania - home of the famous Serengeti, Tanzania will appeal to first-time visitors to Africa and seasoned travellers alike. Great game viewing - with Africa's highest mountain and deepest lake.
Tasmania - quaint colonial villages, magnificent, rugged landscapes, pristine national parks, fine food and wine and brilliant boutique accommodation - and so close to home.
Uganda - the 'Pearl of Africa' is an unexpected pleasure. A spell at the Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp' offers you one of the best chances of an encounter with this amazing primate.
Have you discovered somewhere that is well worth exploring?

Still in South Australia

2012-02-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

My previous blog, regaling the wonders of a B&B in South Australia - I called it Thorn Hill - THE NAME IS Thorn Park by the Vines, a couple of hours north of Adelaide towards Clare, and I misspelled Michael's name - his correct moniker is Michael Speers, and a lovely man too. I've added a couple of extra South Aussie pics to keep you keen.
Images - my favourite tree outside of Mintaro Maze and Gift shop - check out the trim! Breakfast at Thorn Park and some doughnut peaches at Adelaide Central Markets . . .

South Australia - hot stuff!

2012-01-27T01:55:00.000-08:00

A two hour drive back from the Clare Valley - hot as Hades out here, and even in Adelaide 34deg. beautiful stay at Thorn Hill in the Vines - a luxe B&B, that is top shelf - decor (my 'white' room so elegant, a gourmet meal last night that set me back a few paces - avocado salad soup, mmmm and a hearty 'yum', barramundi fillets with chilli roast potatoes on a stack of thinly sliced zucchini, couldn't fit the citrus salad in - but did manage the three fruit sorbet and a caramel ice cream that will be my last meal on earth.
After a breakfast o

f champions we reluctantly left the premise! David Hay and Michael Spears had been our pleasant and welcoming, and incredibly talented - design, decor, decoration and dining . . . (pictured).
Stopped at Martindale Hall (remember the school in Picnic at Hanging Rock?) - that's the one. Pictures of Martindale next blog.
Hit the big smoke and headed for central Markets - an Adelaide institution - what fresh food and - have you ever heard of doughnut peaches ? More on that next postong . . .

Guests' criminal intent

2012-01-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, Get Up & Go reader David Ellis says light-fingered hotel guests in the UK helped themselves last year to enough goodies to start a second-hand shop – and it was anything other than just soaps and toiletries.
Amongst items that the country’s Best Western hotel group reported stolen by guests last year were a 20kg suit of armour, a two-piece leather sofa, a 4m-long model of the Concorde supersonic jetliner, a decorated Christmas tree, a life-size model of a man made out of papier mache, TV sets… and a cigarette machine.
Head of Marketing with the company, Tim Wade said the hotel was so proud of its soaps that it actually printed “So good you’ll want to steal two” on the wrappers – but he never expected so many other large-as-life items to go as well. “Goodness knows how they got them past Reception when they checked-out,” he said.
And while soaps and toiletries were still generally considered the most fair-game for pinching, many guests also helped themselves to their hotel room’s energy-saving light bulbs, batteries from the TV remote controllers, towels and bathrobes – and at one Best Western in the UK a bedspread and a matching set of curtains.

“Christmas gave us a particularly busy time replacing items,” Mr Wade said. “Our managers reported partying guests nicking off with a decorated Christmas tree from one hotel, a nativity scene from another, strings of Christmas lights, baubles and tinsel from yet others, and at one a whole garden bed of Christmas-time plants – including the bark chip mulch around them.”

It seems Some Mothers Do ‘ave ‘em.

(Image: Moira Burke courtesy Flickr/Wikipedia)

Summer is well and truly here . . .

2012-01-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

Get Up & Go summer edition is on sale now. This bumper beauty has 10 pages of '50 Ways to Spend the Kids' Inheritance' - we show you how to rob the/your family bank! Outrageous, luxury, sensible, crazy, innovative and thoughtful ways to enjoy this amazing time of your life . .. but that's not all . . .there's more, much more.

We take you sailing in Greece, walking in Victoria's goldfields, coaching it in Provence, France and cookin' with gas in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Ever considered a house swap holiday? How about a house in Iceland - we've got the story.

The issue shows you a starry ski in New Zealand and an amazing, colourful festival in New Guinea. Play a round of golf in Brunei and take the train from London to Edinburgh; and did you know there was another Niagara? Read all about it in this issue of get Up & Go magazine - and check out the competition, win a holiday in Turkey . . .go to www.getupandgo.net.au

Sailing in Greece

2012-01-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

What a trip, five days and nights on board the Star Flyer - a beautiful reproduction clipper - so smooth ands elegant you can hardly believe it's not the original ship! We skipped over waves and flew through mythology and the romance of the Aegean Sea, we drew close to ancient islands and craggy hills; we explored the shores of islands, ate at small cafes and tavernas, browsed the tourist shops with their crafty wares, patted the odd cat and generally soaked up more than the Greek sun.
Read all about the trip in the upcoming Get Up & Go magazine - summer edition out in a week! Yassou!

Solo in Avignon

2011-12-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

We walked into the courtyard in front of the mighty Palace of the Popes in Avignon,
France, a marvellous sight to see with the blue sky framing the silhouette of the building roof. There was the clear, pure sound of the saxophone echoing around the empty square and this fellow was there on his own in his own musical world - a particular lovely memory of this Trafalgar Tour.

South for Santa

2011-12-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

Headed south out of Sydney searching for Santa Claus - and I know he will visit Australia before the Europeans hear him coming down the chimney. We left Sydney behind and drove into sunshine after weeks of nasty, rainy weather. Bowral was a picture of relaxed holiday atmosphere, no scrambling to shops or screaming kids, no agitated drivers in the parking lot, just folk being pleasant to each other, catching up with local gossip and enjoying the cafes under the shady trees. Settling into a resort and chilling out until dinner, and then tomorrow, Christmas lunch - more images to come soon, this writer is having a little holiday and will be back soon with lots of good pictures - from where? Wait and see.
Two day's on and after a splendid, traditional Christmas lunch - turkey, ham, pork - and all the rest! Had to have a chilled out evening - no dinner!
Images of Bowral, in the southern highlands of New South Wales.

Hanoi's Hidden Secret

2011-12-12T21:52:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year on a trip to Vietnam and Myanmar - after a week or so we ended the stay in Hanoi. Our last activity was to learn to Cook some 'street food' at a cooking school.
In the new issue of Get Up & Go magazine (out early January) I have written about the school, our experience and the fabulous teacher Tranh Hanh An (pictured). I still remember how lovely our food tasted - with her expert help we made a damn fine lunch.
Visit: www.hiddenhanoi.com.vn

No room at the inn - names please!

2011-12-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

Contributor David Ellis says the Travelodge chain’s 480 hotels in the UK are offering a free night’s accommodation between Christmas Eve and the Twelfth Night (January 5th) for married couples who can prove that their first names are Mary and Joseph, or their surname Jesus.
It says the idea is meant in the spirit of Christmas, and to atone for there being 'no room at the inn' on Christmas Eve all those years ago when the original Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus had to spend the night in a stable.
Marys and Josephs who apply will be given a free night in a Family Room the hotel chain says 'can cater for a baby and a manger, with a free car-parking space available for the donkey if needed.' And a Double Room will be provided for a night for anyone during the Twelve Days of Christmas who can prove their surname is Jesus...
Applicants for the free rooms have to apply by email, provide proof of marriage and that their first names are Mary and Joseph or surname Jesus, and meet some fourteen other criteria including being UK citizens, agree not try to sell the room for cash or give it to another person… and be prepared to participate in any post-stay publicity that we presume will be meant purely in the spirit of Christmas.

Right royal cook up!

2011-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

In the presence of HRH Princess Mary of Denmark at Sydney's Sofitel Wentworth hotel today to hear a discussion on the world's hottest food destination at the moment - Denmark. Copenhagen has more Michelin starred chefs/restaurants for its size than many of Europe's glittering cities.
Rasmus Kofoed is the numero uno top chef in the world according to Bocuse d'Or competition. Rasmus held bronze, silver and then cracked the big one with his amazing technique, style and creativity.
When did Denmark discover good food? In the past it has not had much polish except for a decent sandwich - but now, the entire culinary world is looking its way.
This morning, coinciding with a visit by Prince Frederick and Princess Mary and their twins, Danish food and expertise was on show at the hotel.
Matt Moran was there playing for Australia and he and Rasmus prepared two stunning dishes that a few of us had the privilege to taste. Matt - the spanner crab from Noosa was brilliant and Rasmus - that 'Very Green' dessert was one of the sexiest, silky desserts ever invented, thank you.

France to Tuscany

2011-11-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

Hardly time to blog - I've had a brilliant trip to New Zealand (will post later) and am now in Tuscany, about 20 minutes from Florence. We arrived (a small group familiarisation - yep, that's what they call it) at Rome airport to a sunny day then coached it north. We left behind a rainy gloomy looking Nice - but only after a few splendid days in Provence.
The 'A's' have it
Avignon and Aix-en-Provence were the spots we looked at and enjoyed.
We had a wonderful lunch in a small town at a tucked-away Michelin starred cook's Le Jardin du Quai. Chef Daniel Hebet gave us a masterclass 'demo' on creating the perfect macrons. Perfect little pink beauties.
Highlights:
* The 21/2 hour fast train trip (TVG) from Paris to Avignon
* The dinner at night in a restaurant over a thundering river - we were eating trout too
* A stroll around the walled town of Avignon checking the Pope's Palace - those crazy pope's and their indulgences!
* Lunch at an exquisite private home in Provence - set in the middle of its vineyard
* Counting the dogs being taken for a walk in Aix-en-Provence
This is just a taste - more to come later. Off to buy ingredients in Florence with the chef from the villa here. We are then going to take a cooking class - bella!
Ciao for now

Portugal calling . . .

2011-10-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

I attended a travel show last Sunday and visited the stands where they were promoting Portugal. It isn't the flavour of the month for Aussie travellers and I wonder why? Lack of promotion, lack of education of the region. . .who knows, but what I do know, because I have been there, that it is one of Europe's most marvellous destinations.
I have visited Lisbon, Oporto and cruised the Douro River along the spectacular Douro Valley. This region is untouched by commercial tourism, is scenic, interesting, and ultimately seductive.
The amazing terraces that are the banks of the river slide down steeply to the water with tiny, narrow ledges/paths that grape pickers use - to pick the grapes that produce the 'port' of Portugal - the country's gold. And the Douro River is called the river of gold.
If you get the chance, take a holiday to this beautiful country - there's so much to do and see, you won't be sorry.

Europe here we come

2011-10-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed by Glenn Wheeler on Macquarie Network 2GB radio station last Saturday - talking about Get Up & Go of course. And we chatted about the Europe special - it never ceases to draw Australians across the world. We may have visited when we were young backpackers but hey, now we like a bit more comfort. And it's wonderful to revisit places and discover them all over again. But it's not all about Europe, we've explored 'voluntourism' and joining Rotary, so it's about giving back too. We visit our own lovely country - take a cooking class and head deep into the caves at Margaret River WA. Enter the competition for a holiday in Turkey - crazy if you don't. Learn more about the magazine via the interview - how embarrassing listening to yourself! It's all for the good of get Up & Go. Have a gorgeous day. I'm off to Tassie today to check out Wrest Point and MONA! The interview is here, and the inages are of a bread seller outside the Topkapi Palace/Museum and some wonderful spices on sale at the Grand Bazaar Istanbul.

Spring has sprung!

2011-10-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

The new, spring edition of Get Up & Go has hit the shelves! Our big fat Europe special has been created to inspire you to get up and go to Europe. We cover the grand city of Istanbul; the magic of Montmarte in Paris; a cruise on the Danube and a winter cruise on the Rhone. There are ideas on what to do in Amsterdam and Bruges, plus how to learn the lingo in Italy. Take an Irish road trip, volunteer to work with elephants and we tell you just how Rotary works and how you can help.
We attend a cooking school in northern NSW and go caving in Western Australia. There is so much to read about. Also there's a subscription prize of a holiday in Turkey - got your attention?
Don't forget Christmas is rushing towards us like a speeding train - how about a gift subscription for a friend or relative? Just go to the website to sign up to subscribe, or receive the FREE e-newsletter. Visit: www.getupandgo.net.au

Travelling cats

2011-09-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

On my recent jaunt to Greece and Turkey I kept my eye out for notable cats. And in Greece, there are always cats. I remember the first time I visited Greece in the late 70s and was thrilled to see so many cats around. A friend of mine who is not impressed with anything rodent-like said she loved the cats of Athens because as a crowded and grungy as the city wa then - the cats kept the 'you-know-whats' population down.
I also had the local moggies crowding around me in taverna's just in case a fish head or other tidbit fell from the table into their mouths. Here are a couple of felines I met along the way - in Turkey, Cannakale (man and kitten in cafe); dude cat sunning itself under a seat in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum; and a stunning mosaic creature that was originally on the battlement walls of Babylon - how beautiful it is, so well-preserved, so modern in concept. There are several panels in the museum - all as immaculate as this.
Read all about Istanbul in the upcoming issue of Get Up & Go - out next week.

The dirt on Floriade

2011-09-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

From 17 Sept. to 16 October the air in Canberra is fragrant with a million flowers. Forget the politicians, just head to Floriade for a flower fix. This year's theme is 'A feast for the senses' and the beautiful gardens have their own foodie themes - and there will be food demo's along the way and a special garden to visit - the Victory Garden. This is based on the gardens in Australia during WWII. Everyone was encouraged to grow their own veggies as supplies were short. The Victory Garden was a household contribution to the war effort.
The gardens are spread over four hectares - with more than one million bulbs that have been persuaded to bloom on cue!
(Floriade comes from the Latin word 'floriat' which means to design with flowers.)
I visited the gardens last weekend for a sneak preview and the scene is wondrous.
Stayed at the Crowne Plaza Canberra and I recommend the steak dishes if you eat at the hotel's restaurant - superb.
Trying to fit everything in to a couple of days in Canberra is too hard but I managed a visit to the NGA and saw the splendid Fred Williams exhibition and the following morning snuck into the Portrait Gallery - mind blowingly wonderful!
Don't miss Floriade and all our capital city has to offer . . .there's lots!
The flower images are just before opening day and the window is at the Portrait Gallery.
Visit: www.floriadeaustralia.com

Gingerbread house (almost)

2011-09-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

I received this beautiful image from a friend who has been travelling in Europe. The colour is so vivid and positive, it feels like there could be kids called Hansel and Gretel living there - and no bad witch neighbour around either.

Scott Lawrance stumbled across this storybook perfect cottage in the village of Putgarten on the island of Rugen which is in the Baltic Sea, East Germany. It seems that being in East Germany under Communist rule has preserved these little Tudor villages from any modernism and they have remained virtually untouched. Rugen is Germany's largest island and is now one of the most visited holiday destinations. Also famous for its sand beaches and chalk cliffs Rugen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany approximately 4 hours from Hamburg.
So you heard it from us first!
In the upcoming spring edition of the magazine we are featuring Europe as the main destination - and it just doesn't get any better at the moment for travellers - cruise the Danube, visit Bohemia, head to Paris, mooch around Amsterdam, discover Bruges, learn Italian in Tuscany and enjoy Istanbul.
Enjoy this image - it's our 'picture of the week'.

Australia's widest street?

2011-09-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Look to the right, to the left and then to the right again more than once when crossing the main street of Trundle in country NSW – its an amazing 66-metres wide (that’s 157-feet, or the equivalent of three cricket pitches), making what locals claim is the widest street in Australia.
And it’s because when Trundle was first pegged out in the late 1800s it was intended that its main street run at right-angles to the-then Travelling Stock Route that the town would be built alongside, and which by law had to be at least three chains (60-metres) wide so bullock trains had enough room to turn around and reverse.
But like all good intentions, commerce and council couldn’t get together and commercial buildings started popping-up alongside and parallel with the Stock Route, with in fact the Stock Route becoming Trundle’s main street, renamed where it went through town Forbes Street.
Today, Trundle’s locals joke that you need something from the take-away or the pub to see you through from one side of their main street to the other.
Researched by David Ellis

…………………..

How to cancel your holiday

2011-08-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I've only cancelled a flight once - and due to family problems it was all I could do. I was refunded some money but it didn't matter. Seeing this piece that our loyal and friendly Get Up & Go reader David Ellis sent in surprised me - who cancels willy nilly? Do people make crazy spur of the moment bookings and are they too chicken to say they can't afford the trip and they made a mistake.
In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says accommodation website Wotif.com has revealed some of the weirder calls received at its Customer Service Call Centre by people wanting to cancel holiday bookings.

They included:

• A customer who claimed her cat had walked on her computer keyboard, resulting in the wrong dates being booked.
• Another who said she couldn’t stay at a particular hotel because she believed she had stayed there in a previous life.
• A father who called because his child was sick, just as a young voice in the background called out “but I’m not sick, daddy!”
• A customer who asked to cancel a booking because of fraud, claiming his four-year-old child had used his credit card to process an online booking.
• After checking into his hotel room, one customer called to complain that there was an “adult photo shoot” underway in a nearby room.
• During a lengthy chat, an intoxicated customer began to cry, telling the staff member “please don’t hang up, don’t leave me, your voice is so beautiful.”
• Another customer wanted to book herself, her husband and two children into a two-bedroom apartment, but asked to change the childrens’ bedroom from a twin to a double, “because her children weren’t twins.”
• Yet another called to say she was mystified by hotel bookings made on her credit card under her partner’s name – because they were at hotels she’d never stayed at.
• And one believed he was entitled to cancel a non-refundable booking –because he was the President of his local cards club.
Too those 'cancellers' - here's a couple of images that surely you wouldn't think of not visiting . . .…………………………….

Visitor number 3 million requiring information

2011-08-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Tourism Central Australia (TCA) welcomed Julie Chester-Master from Brisbane, visitor number three million to use the facilities of the Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre on Gregory Terrace.
“This is definitely a milestone,” said Peter Grigg, the general manager of TCA, “and a very strong indication of the great customer service and professional skills of the people who have served the Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre since it began back in 1958.”
Back then the visitor’s centre was based in the Connellen Airways buildings at the old airport on Memorial Drive in what is now the suburb of Araluen and was known as the Alice Springs Tourist Promotion Association. The name has changed several times over the years but the service to visitors to Central Australia has always remained of the highest standard.
“Celebrating our 3,000,000th visitor reinforces that tourism is alive and well in Alice Springs and across the region,” said Mr Grigg.
Mr Grigg said over the past 25 years the Visitor Information Centre has averaged about 100,000 visitors a year.
“We are looking forward to continuing to welcome travellers to Alice Springs and Central Australia,” he said. “We want people who come here to know all about the region and what is has to offer.”
The Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre helps people visiting the area with tour and accommodation bookings, travel itineraries, current road condition information as well as a stocking comprehensive range travel guides and maps of the Northern Territory and South Australia.
“Tourism Cental Australia also sponsors an Ambassador Program to help travellers when they first arrive in the town,” he said. “Our dedicated volunteer Ambassadors greet new arrivals at the airport and coming off The Ghan with a friendly welcome to the Territory.”
The Alice Springs Visitor Information Centre is open daily from 9am to 5pm.
Image: Julie Chester-Master, three millionth visitor and Peter Grigg, General Manager, TCA. (Image courtesy of Centralian Advocate)

Lost property - you will be surprised!

2011-08-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

While the editor gets herself together and catches up with a backlog of emails that have piled up while she was in Greece and Turkey - here's a bit of light relief from one of Get Up & Go's diligent readers.
In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says air travellers can be a forgetful lot: Britain’s Virgin Atlantic Airways has revealed that every year it collects more than 12,000 books, 10,500 pairs of reading glasses, around 5,000 mobile phones, almost the same number of cameras and iPod/MP3 players, and thousands of items of clothing that have been left on its flights.
And more unusual, cleaners have also recovered an artificial limb, an urn of ashes, a movie script, a wheelchair belonging to a member of the cast of the American TV show Glee... and from one flight, a witch’s broomstick.
Flight Services Manager at Virgin Atlantic, Laura Hutcheson says many passengers go into holiday mode the moment they get on board their plane, and simply forget to check seat-back pockets and overhead bins before leaving for anything they may have put there.
And while she did not say what happened to these items, most airlines hold left items for a set number of days, and if not claimed donate them to charity (Lions Clubs getting most of the reading glasses for use in third-world countries,) or dispose of them in job-lots to private companies that sell them through second-hand outlets.

Holiday in Istanbul

2011-08-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

Thinking of visiting an exotic destination for your next trip? Readers of Get Up & Go magazine may have visited Istanbul 30 or so years ago in their hippie heyday - say no more! I'm 24 hours away from flying out of a city of more than 15 million people - Istanbul. I've been here for just four and a half days after a brilliant cruise from Athens to Istanbul.
After the peace and sailing serenity, arriving in Istanbul was like a shot of adrenalin.
What an extraordinary place, layer up on layer of history - talking Turkey means talking Hittites, Persians, Romans, Gauls, Macedonians, Ottoman Turks - and an amazing, glittering era of Byzantine rule and splendor.
When I see a pile of pomegranates, next to a tray of fresh dates - I'm seeing the same thing here that someone else was checking out at the green grocer's a few thousand years ago.
I am here in the middle of Ramadan, and there aren't too many people in a bad mood. I wonder as a man serves me dinner - houmus, shepherd's salad, kebabs, bread floating across the room with air filled wings; all finished off with a plate of sliced watermelon. A glass of apple tea washes it all down as a cup of the high octane Turkish coffee would keep me awake until next week.
Everything about Istanbul is full on . . .more to come.
Tonight staying at Divan Istanbul City - www.divan.com.tr - nighty, night, the air con is being pumped up tonight.
Enjoy a couple of non 'postcard perfect' pictures from the frontline.

The new Greece

2011-08-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Athens at a sweltering midday to find there were no taxis. Strike happening, and had to use my old hippie smarts to find the best person to get me to a hotel in a district that I had no idea about.
Five old guys drinking coffee when they should be working - my target (offered one of them some euros to take me there). Endaxi! Gave me a lift, I parted with the cash and he gave me his number in case I got stuck anywhere. Trust is the key!
Athens is frantic, everyone looks very grumpy even though half the population has left town for a the summer holidays.
Despite the country being broke, Gen Y are spending up big at the department store sales - why not? Yeti Ochi?
Main focus for me was getting around on the metro (much improved since I was here last) and the local buses - they turn up!
The new Acropolis Museum is stunning - elegant and spacious and very much the people's museum with kids and adults enjoying the interactivity of the set up. The floors slope upwards (to replicate the place where most of the exhibits come from, around the base of the Acropolis) and are glass, which is quite disconcerting - mild vertigo looking down at the diggings underneath.
Left Athens for a two hour bus trip to Napflion, a lovely town in the Peloponnese.
More to come . . .yassas!

Far, far away from Sydney - Birdsville

2011-07-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

I had a quick 'flying' visit to Birdsville this year when the Dash 8 that was carrying us Bill Peach Journeys people landed for lunch.
We had lunch in the Birdsville Pub - one of Australia's most famous pubs. Once a year, hundreds of people descend on this remote Outback town to go to the races! The local oval is filled with tents, the caravan park is bulging and the airstrip is as crowded as a supermarket car park - folk fly in from all over for the races and a crazy time!
The day we arrived Birdsville was as quiet as a sleepy mouse.
Birdsville is situated on the Diamantina River (which unusually had water in it) between the sands of the Simpson Desert and the 'gibbers' (a rock formation on the surface of the ground - often called stony pavement)of Sturts Stony Desert. The entire area is steeped in history from Aboriginal meeting places to European settlement in the late 1870s. The population of Birdsville is about 120 and there are modern facilities or all travellers who land, drive or race into town.
Road Trains supply the town with fresh produce and general supplies from Adelaide (south) and Quilpie (east) on a fortnightly basis.
Visit: www.birdsvilleraces.com/Abouit/Aboutbirdsville

India's 'King of the Road'

2011-07-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

The Hindustan Ambassador is a car manufactured by Hindustan Motors of India. It has been in production since 1948 with few modifications or changes and is based on the Morris Oxford III model first made by the Morris Motor Company at Cowley, Oxford in the United Kingdom from 1946 to 1959.
Despite its British origins, the Ambassador is considered as the definitive Indian car and is fondly called "The king of Indian roads". In major cities their numbers are declining with the new cars on the road driven by the newly wealthy middle class. But it is the car that chugs along at a safe and steady pace and packs the entire family in. The Ambassador was the giant social leap in India from the bullock and bicycle. The automobile is manufactured by Hindustan Motors at its Uttarpara plant near Kolkata, West Bengal. It was the most popular car in India and is perceived to be best suited to the harsh Indian terrain due to its very good suspension. Its status was helped by the fact that it was the preferred means of conveyance of India's political leadership, including the Prime Minister of India, before they moved on to other luxury cars and SUVs. (This info cam from Wikipedia)
I loved seeing the cars choof around towns, carefully dodging cows and people, and it was a sad thing to see them lined up (see picture) getting dusty and being neglected.

Survey reveals sleep habits

2011-07-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

A national survey of 1200 Australians* by Travelodge Hotels has delved into the nation’s sleep habits and revealed that the ‘Friday Feeling’ is no longer defined by a few drinks after work, but the signal for a good night’s sleep, with over a third (37%) reporting Friday night as their best night’s sleep of the week!
And the worst? With Monday morning playing on our minds, almost 40% stated Sunday night’s sleep as a struggle…and it’s work related stress at fault, with a quarter of respondents (25%) tossing and turning because of work worries.

Work woes
Work woes affect men the most, with a third reporting it as the main reason they can’t sleep at night. For women, while the office is definitely a factor (22%), they’re mostly missing out on precious shut-eye because of their partner’s snoring! A quarter (25%) of the female respondents complained of a noisy other half, compared to just 8% of men!

A sneaky doze
The survey also revealed that we’re not catching up on crucial missed sleep under the covers. Busy lifestyles are seeing Aussies catching up wherever they can and it might be our work that’s suffering with 26% of men and 16% of women confessing to a sneaky doze in a meeting. Other places where Aussies are attempting to get out of sleep debt include trips on the bus or train to work (62%), at the movies (40%) and in a lecture (32%).
The survey was commissioned by Travelodge Hotels, just one aspect of a new sleep campaign that sees Travelodge Hotels engaged in a range of activities to help ensure a good night’s sleep for every guest including complimentary Good Sleep Guides and “dream tea” for all guests. In 16 city locations across Australia and New Zealand, Travelodge Hotels offer great rates, rest assured.
Rachel Argaman, CEO of Travelodge Hotels, says: “Providing a good night’s rest for guests is a priority for the teams at each Travelodge Hotel across Australia and New Zealand. Whether you’re on holiday or a business trip, a good night’s sleep puts you in the right headspace for tackling the day’s excitement and challenges. We want Travelodge guests to feel relaxed and revitalised when they check-out and this new survey shows just how important that commitment is to the wellbeing of our guests.”

Other interesting statistics from the Travelodge survey:
On average, Australians report getting six to seven hours’ sleep per night (62%)
42% of single Aussies are cuddling up to a pillow to help them drift off, compared to 33% of those married or in a relationship. The loved up Aussies are overwhelmingly cuddling their partner (92%)
When it comes to what side of the bed we sleep on, we’re creatures of habit. An overwhelming 71% stick to their familiar side of the bed even when in a hotel.
18% of 18-24 year olds admit to being afraid of the dark and conquer this fear by sleeping with the TV on (50%).
For general sleep tips, hints on how to combat jetlag and more information about sleep, Travelodge have created the “Sleep Centre” which guests can access at any time through the Travelodge website: www.travelodge.com.au

About Travelodge Hotels
Travelodge is proud of consistently offering great value, rest assured. Whether it’s your next holiday, a weekend getaway or even a business trip, Travelodge’s price per room rates offer comfort and quality at unbeatable value. There are currently 16 Travelodge Hotels across Australia and New Zealand in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Rockhampton, Newcastle, Perth, Darwin, Wellington and Palmerston North. Book a great night’s sleep (at a great rate) at: www.travelodge.com.au

*Survey was conducted via online survey tool Survey Monkey of 1200 over 18 year old Australian men and women during May 2011

Get Up & Go: WIN Maui Jim sunglasses

2011-07-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

Get Up & Go: WIN Maui Jim sunglasses: "I have four pair of stylish and super cool Maui Jim sunglasses ready to give away to Get Up & Go bloggers, readers and facebookers! The su..."

WIN Maui Jim sunglasses

2011-07-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have four pair of stylish and super cool Maui Jim sunglasses ready to give away to Get Up & Go bloggers, readers and facebookers! The sunglasses are worth between $250 and $300 a pair.
To be in with a chance to win your own pair just sign up to the Get Up & Go e-newsletter - go to www.getupandgo.net.au and sign up for the FREE e-newsletter. It comes out once a month and I put specials, bargains, hot deals and giveaways. In fact every newsletter has a great giveaway.
Once you sign up, you'll receive the newsletter next Tuesday, follow the instructions - easy peasy, and who knows, Maui Jim might be coming your way.
What are you waiting for?
Good luck

The absorption principle

2011-07-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says that international hotel chain Crowne Plaza is testing a ‘snore absorption’ room to see if it will help guests sleep better.
Amongst its bag of tricks are walls lined with foam shaped like the bottom of egg-boxes to stop noise reverberating around the room, sound-absorbing bed-heads, and anti-snoring pillows that use magnetic fields to open a person’s airways and stiffen the upper palate – that when soft vibrates during deep breathing and thus creates snoring.
There is also an ‘anti-snoring wedge’ built into the bed that makes it uncomfortable for people to sleep on their backs – often a major contributor to snoring – and forces them to sleep on their sides.
The ‘snore absorption’ room is being trialled in the Crowne Plaza London The City, and nine other hotels in the chain in Europe and the Middle East.
A spokesman said that a survey had found that half of couples complained about partners spoiling their holiday by snoring, and it was hoped that the ‘snore absorption’ room would go a long way towards helping these people get a more restful sleep – and thus enjoy their holiday more.

How sweet it is

2011-06-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

I find when I'm travelling and in a new city it's good to catch a bus or train out of the cbd to discover the suburbs. I have found markets, specialty shops, festivals and regional restaurants in outlying areas of cities in Europe.
And Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Hobart are no different.
One of Sydney's inner west suburbs, Summer Hill is on the train line - just seven stops from Central station and has the feel of a small village. Charming coffee shops and restaurants, bakeries and a marvellous fruit and veg shop are on offer.
There's a tiny, wee gallery shop - Sweets Workshop - that has handcrafted goods for sale, lovely art works and regular exhibitions by the bright young things in the indie art world. The dedicated gallery space has exhibitions that focus on an artists or designer, artistic process or theme.
From 2-20 July is: 'Bread Tag World'. Beth Taylor has created art out of bread tags. Meticulously created, full of heart and humour, Beth has made something beautiful and thoughtful out of something we see every day (see globe image left).
Sweets Workshop, Shop 4, 58-60 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill (opposite Summer Hill railway station). Bread Tag World opens tomorrow art the gallery at 2pm - see you there.
Visit: www.sweetsworkshop.com

Get Up & Go winter issue out now!

2011-06-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Every time I put an issue of Get Up & Go magazine to bed it's with a big sigh of relief, then the excitement starts to build. The first copy to hit my desk is the thrill of the week. And one just turned up. It looks lovely and the cover with penguins should be a hit with everyone.
The birds are part of the parade of amazing animals featured in our Antarctica story.
We have pages and pages of train journeys - so off you choof!
There are stories on Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, England, Hawaii, Fiji, Oman, New Zealand and Macau.
Australia features too with a wonderful air touring trip across the top of Australia; the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, some coffee secrets in Melbourne and the new MONA gallery in Tasmania.
Subscribe to win a holiday in Macau and enter the competition to win a trip to Thailand for a stay on Phuket.
Go on, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Anniversary special for a special anniversary . . .

2011-06-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

The Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills - this is one of my favourite hotels in the USA. As soon as you drive up to the entrance of the hotel you feel that 'I'm a movie/rock star' thing happening. It's not a flashy hotel, it's kind of cool and mellow, and you never know who you'll run into. I was there a few years ago and Sly Stallone was in the bar!
The bed linen ruined me forever - since the time I slept on those beautiful white sheets and fitted my head into clouds imitating pillows I can't settle for anything less on top of a mattress.

The super chic Peninsula Beverly Hills opened its doors on 8 August 1991, and this year is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a host of special offers. Guests booking two nights at the exclusive hotel will enjoy a third consecutive night for just US$20.

As well as this special rate for the third night, guests will receive additional special “20” benefits including a daily breakfast credit of US$20 per person, a 20 per cent discount on Spa and Food and Beverages charges, valet parking at US$20 per vehicle per night, two “Pen 20” cocktails upon arrival, and a 20th anniversary gift.

Room rates for the first two nights start from US$585 per room, per night, for a Superior Room, and the package is valid from 6 August to 22 December 2011.

For more information, please visit www.peninsula.com/beverlyhills

Subject to availability, terms and conditions.

About The Peninsula Beverly Hills
The only AAA Five-Diamond and Forbes Five-Star hotel in Southern California for 18 consecutive years, The Peninsula Beverly Hills offers 193 elegantly appointed rooms, including 36 suites and 16 private villas, nestled among lush tropical gardens in the heart of Beverly Hills. This iconic luxury hotel is home to the sumptuous Belvedere Restaurant, The Living Room, where the legendary Peninsula Afternoon Tea is served daily, The Peninsula Spa and the Rooftop Garden, a refined-resort oasis featuring a swimming pool, private cabanas, and outdoor cocktails and dining. The Peninsula Beverly Hills is located at the intersection of Wilshire and South Santa Monica Boulevards, within easy walking distance of Century City and Beverly Hills’ legendary Rodeo Drive.

Spin me a yarn . . .

2011-06-21T19:38:00.001-07:00

I was walking to the train station last week and spied a post that had been 'graffiti'd' with knitting. What is happening in my suburb?
I love the fact of 'Yarn Bombibng' and did some research on the creative craft.
It's called Yarn Bombing, Yarnstorming or guerrilla knitting and is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than spray paint.
Graffiti knitting groups have been spreading all over the world and the practice is believed to originated in the US with Texan knitters finding creative ways to use up their leftover wool.
The movement is said to be changing the face of craft - I hope so - this is so much fun. And to see my post code proudly wrapped around a light post made my heart swell with pride. Who is the phantom knitter? You legend you . .
If anyone out there has seen the results of Yarn Bombing please send me your comments - have you seen them on your travels? Which country has the best, most creative 'graffiti? tell us all about it.

Visit Korea for FREE!

2011-06-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share this with you. I love Korea and have had a couple of great trips there - I love the food; the countryside - 70 per cent of the country is rural bushland and mountains; the cities which are all different and have their own special appeal and the people who are friendly if a little shy. READ ON:
If you have dreamed of visiting Korea, here is your chance to visit for FREE!
Select three places you would most like to visit in South Korea and explain why and you can have the chance to win one of seven major prizes of a trip to Korea for two including return air tickets to Korea and three nights’ hotel accommodation.
Korea Tourism Organization is running the competition via their website www.visitkorea.or.kr Log on and become a member and then enter your details for the competition and have the chance to win a memorable trip to Korea all for free.
Winners selected should be able to visit Korea within the period from July, 2011 to October, 2011 and should have a valid passport and visa if required. Australian passport holders do not require a visa to visit Korea for up to 90 days.
The event period runs from 16 June to 15 July, 2011. All seven winners will be contacted individually following the selection from 25 July, 2011. The announcement of the winners will be posted on the ‘visitkorea’ website immediately afterwards.
Following the winner’s trip to Korea they should be able to present ten (10) photos and a single A4 page trip review of their trip to Korea Tourism Organization.
There are also 140 supplementary prizes of 4GB USB mother of pearl flash drive.
Full details of the competition are available on the website www.visitkorea.or.kr click on flash banner – Visit your dream destination in Korea!

Winter warmer menu

2011-06-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Sydney's cooler than school Swissotel has just put its new winter menu up for grabs and I taste-tested it last night. Brilliant executive chef Justin Zammit works his magic and had devised an intelligent and inspired menu, that features the best of Aussie produce and an inspired execution.
I couldn't try everything but mu choices were:
Entree - caramelised long stem artichoke, Meredith's curd and walnut and honeycomb salad
Amuse - Pan seared barramundi and olive ice cream
Main - Pan salmon fillet, slow cooked organic cherry tomatoes,vanilla mash, herb paint
Dessert - Apple and rhubarb crumble, strawberry ripple ice cream, milk cookies.
(Dessert was great but I wish I had have had the Lindt 'Noir de Domaine' dark chocolate souffle hokey pokey mascarpone and vanilla bean ice cream.)
The JPB restaurant awaits your company:
The Swissotel
68 Market St
Sydney
Tel: 02 9238 8888
8th floor
Visit: www.swissotel.com/sydney

The top picture is an ice creation which held a calvados sorbet - how fabulous is it?

Anyone for golf?

2011-06-09T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hyatt Regency Coolum provides the perfect location for golf addicts to practice their swing, with unlimited golf included in the resort’s Winter Golf Package.

Priced from $340* per night, the package includes accommodation for two people in a King or Twin room, daily continental breakfast, adult entry to the Spa, tennis court hire, weekday golf clinics and most importantly, unlimited golf rounds. The package also includes a shared motorised cart and a bucket of driving range balls, per person, per night.

The par 72 course at Hyatt Regency Coolum offers 6137m of challenging fairways set between Mount Coolum and the sandy shores of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Created by renowned course designer Robert Trent Jones Jr, it is the home of the Australian PGA Championship. The course has challenged champions like Fred Couples, Peter Lonard, Ian Baker-Finch, Peter Senior and Craig Parry.

The course is supported by Australia’s leading golf education centre, offering under-cover tuition and the very latest technology in biomechanic analysis to help refine swing and technique.

For full details and bookings contact Hyatt Regency Coolum on 07 5446 1234 or
1800 COOLUM or visit coolum.regency.hyatt.com. Quote offer code CLM006.

*Subject to availability, conditions and two night minimum stay applies. Offer valid until August 31, 2011. Tee times should be reserved in advance.

India revisited

2011-05-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

When you have a blog, the worst thing you can do is not update it regularly - at least twice a week - so I have severely reprimanded myself - it's been pretty hectic in my life/work/deadlines/writing/subbing/moving house - all quality problems I know, but if the blog is to succeed - I need to blog!
Thought I would drop in a few images from the trip to Southern India - it has gotten into my blood. After the trip I was exhausted - and it was because it was my first trip to that amazing country and the overwhelming aspects drained me. But now fighting fit again, it is itching me, and my mind keeps returning . . .

Outback rock star

2011-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of images to tantalise! The dragon fly was taken by Melinda Pigott, who was our tour director - more like hostess with the mostest on the Bill Peach air cruising trip last week. Melinda took this beautiful image at Gantheume Point in Broome. We had a ocuple of days in Broome, sunny, blue skies and balmy nights. This is my choice for 'Picture of the Month'.
The other one is of me, the 'Rock Star' with the twilight coloured Uluru in the background. This was just before a group of us sat down to the stunning concept 'Sounds of Silence' dinner in the desert. Uluru behind me and Kata Tjuta in front of me - what a beautiful country we live in. After a tasty three course dinner an astrologer talked about the twinkling stars and planets overhead after we had dimmed the table lamps - an experience everyone should aspire to.
The other picture is a few of my travelling companions reading Get Up & Go magazine.
From left: Jim (Canada), Neil (Qld), Margaret (NSW),Maree (Qld), Gwen (NSW) and Mary Ann (Canada). This lot were just a few of a group of 28 fabulous travelling companions - way to go.

A very peachy journey

2011-05-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

Been on the go on a Bill Peach air tour of distinction. Picked up the tour in Darwin, next stop flying in the comfy, darling Dash 8 to Kununurra and then we took off for a trip up the mighty Ord River. What a magnificent journey - freshwater crocs everywhere, hanging out on rocks enjoying the sun, Ospreys flying high above us . . .lunch in a secret spot on the bank with a little waterfall twinkling behind us. Capt Ken is moving us through the sky and doing figure 8's so we all get the view the magical Kimberley landscape - Bungle Bungles, Argyle dam, vast valleys, red rust colour of iron shining through . . .it's robust country. We flew over the edge of the coast today and spied Cockatoo island, a host of small islands and many dark shapes in the pristine sea below. Now in Broome at Cable beach resort - some days, are the best days of our lives - I'm having one today.

Privacy Awareness Week 1-7 May

2011-05-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of Privacy Awareness week, so it's time to think about your personal information.
Don't forget to check your online privacy settings; your social networking profile and your browser settings. Think about how much personal information you want to reveal before you do so and ask business what will happen to your information when you give it to them. Your information is yours and you are generally under no obligation to hand it over to anyone without knowing what they are going to do with it.
Visit: www.privacyawarenessweek.org

Ho's city of Saigon

2011-04-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) - it's hard not to call it Saigon, and most of the folk who live there do call it by its old name. There are so many interesting buildings with great historic dna that it's difficult to keep up with what's open to the public and what's not. I've included here a couple of images of Saigon's Post Office. The beautiful, maintained building has a portrait of Uncle Ho beaming down and the cavernous space is normally packed with visitors - some there for the touristic element, the others to actually do post office business!
The other image is a group of children outside one of the museums vying for 'air' space near an air conditioner. They were almost being blown away - but it was a hot day and you do what you have to do to keep cool.
When visiting HCMC:
Visit the Reunification Palace - remember that classic end-of-the-war black and white photograph of the tank crashing through the gates here?
Try all the food. Vietnamese food is fresh, crisp and fragrant. From spicy noodles to delicious spring rolls, and for Sweet treats there are pastries to leave home for.

Postcards from the English seaside

2011-04-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside . . . and England’s North East coast has some wonderful, sweeping beaches that have their own charm. This part of England never runs out of places to invite you to. By Bev Malzard
A visit to England never fails to impress. You can go back to the UK many times and always find something new out of something old the experience. It’s a country of infinite history, adventure and legends. From the glorious green hills and fields to the wind-swept coastlines it is a place of endless expression.
North East England has a ruggedness to it that appeals to many. This is a region far away from London and its noise and bustle. The countryside here is extraordinary and the cities built on the sweat of hard work and determination. From the superhuman evidence of Hadrian’s Wall to the silhouette of Norman castles on the skyline, there’s a richness to the area that is different to anywhere else on the island.
Some of the North East’s postcard snaps follow.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne
This is the city that reinvented itself. From seriously shabby and grubby a few years ago it is now chic and hip. Everything has been scrubbed up and polished and that includes the food and wine scene.
Walk along Quayside and glimpse the line-up of the famous Tyne bridges and the remains of 17th century Newcastle – crumbling bits of old building, old houses and for something new in Newcastle – the Millennium Bridge and at Gateshead, a stone’s throw across the River Tyne, the Baltic gallery and the Sage entertainment Centre.

Angel of the North
This amazing 200-tonne, rust coloured work of art/sculpture is the most frequently viewed work of art in the world.
It’s a gigantic human frame with its wings outstretched that towers over the A1 motorway about 10 km south of Newcastle. It’s 20m high and has a wingspan wider than a Boeing 767. You can’t miss it!
(The local nickname for it is the Gateshead Flasher.)

Tynemouth
Catch the train out to Tynemouth from Newcastle for a walk on the seaside wild side. This is a charming town that holds a market at the Victorian railway station on the weekends. On the cliff overlooking the beach is a curved row of typical Victorian terrace houses, just the place for a summer holiday. Mediaeval monastery ruins are still standing, braced against the sea breeze and the sands of time.

County Durham
Pretty villages and neat market towns dot the North Pennines and the hills of Teesdale. The town of Durham is a market town and still moves to the rhythm of a place of comings and goings.
You cross the River Wear and view the most magnificent Romanesque cathedral in England. This is considered a masterpiece of Norman architecture. The cathedral and Durham Castle sit high a=above the mediaeval town surrounding it in a protective gathering of tight knit buildings.

Rockliffe Hall, County Durham
Rockliffe Hall is a very smart resort at Hurworth-on-Tees on the border of County Durham and North Yorkshire.
This place began life in the 18th century as a private, residential estate. The mansion was rebuilt in 1860 in the fancy, curly Victorian Gothic style.
Rockliffe Hall is English to its polished bootstraps and enjoys an impeccable reputation for hospitality, luxury, comfort and food cooked by a Michelin-stared chef – a local boy too. The Orangery, a conservatory room is where all the good stuff happens: breakfast, lunch and dinner. If the suites weren’t so wonderful it would be hard to extract yourself from the restaurant.\
The spa at Rockliffe Hall is huge and offers as many treatments as the human body and psyche can take.
Saltburn-by-the-sea
This is almost like being in an old Ealing comedy movie. The retro chic of Saltburn is lovely. To visit on a sunny day is best. There’s a long, long, Victorian pier and you’ll see a lot of hardy surfers in (wetsuits on) with their surfboards on OK sized waves too.
There’s a water-powered ‘cliff lift’, a peculiar funicular that runs modestly between the upper and lower parts of town.

Holy Island (Lindisfarne)
This is an eerie, beautiful place that changes moods with the weather. To see the island surrounded by water on a sunny day it is looks benevolent and slightly aloof; on a misty grey day, it looks forbidding and unapproachable. The island is only five square kilometres, is tricky to get to as it is connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway that appears at low tide.
Isolated, the island is almost as it was when St Aiden came here in 634 to found a monastery.
Go midweek or out of season to avoid the crowds. And be careful – don’t get caught in the middle of the causeway if you are walking to the island at low tide!
Emirates Airlines fly to Newcastle-upon-Tyne daily.
Visit: www.visitbritain.com

Gastronomic tour of Sicily

2011-04-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Cultural tour specialist Peter Sommer Travels has introduced a new gastronomic adventure in eastern Sicily, celebrating the island’s rich culinary traditions and ancient history. One of 16 archaeological and cultural tours in Peter Sommer Travels’ 2011 program, the eight-day Gastronomic Tour of Eastern Sicily explores the markets, farms, vineyards and restaurants of the Italian isle, escorted by experts in Sicilian food, culture and history. Culture with a good feed thrown in - how good can it get?

Beginning in the World Heritage-listed city of Syracuse, the tour includes two cooking classes and opportunities to visit local producers of cheeses, olives, honey and wines. Its highlights include a day of swimming and fishing from aboard a local fishing boat, two nights at a Sicilian farm-stay (Agriturismo) and a walking tour of Mt Etna guided by an expert volcanologist.

Sommer says the new tour is perfect for anyone with a passion for traditional Italian food and ancient Mediterranean history.

“Eastern Sicily is home to a vibrant culinary tradition that mixes delicious local produce with cooking styles drawn from the foreign rulers of its past, including the Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spanish,” he says. “The rolling hills and fertile plains produce seemingly unlimited quantities of fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables, while the abundant flocks and herds produce delicious cheeses and meats.”

The new tour is led by two expert guides - historian Dr Michael Metcalfe, the former Assistant Professor in Ancient History at Sicily’s Mediterranean Center for Arts and Sciences, and Italian food and culture aficionado Marcello Baglioni, named Sicily’s top travel specialist by Condé Nast Traveller magazine.

Peter Sommer Travels is a UK-based specialist tour operator offering archaeological tours and sailing cruises for small groups, visiting ancient sites in Turkey, Greece and Italy. A Gastronomic Tour of Eastern Sicily operates from 3-10 September 2011, priced from £2375 (approx A$3680) per person twin share, including all meals, accommodation, activities, cooking classes and transport (except flights to/from Sicily).

Contact Peter Sommer Travels by email: info@petersommer.com or visit www.petersommer.com

The Mile High Club

2011-04-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says plans by the Saudi Arabian royal family to build an office, hotel and shopping tower that will soar 1.6km high (one mile) into the sky are being greeted by anything but enthusiasm.
Newspaper columnists, talk-back radio callers and environmentalists world-wide are describing it as anything from “a thrusting phallic symbol,” to “hair-brained,” “a scary disaster waiting to happen,” and “delusions of grandeur.”
The tower will be the centre piece of a new city outside the Red Sea port of Jeddah, will be almost twice as high as the current highest tower, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, will take 12-minutes to reach the top by lift, and will cost in the vicinity of $40-billion.
Critics are saying that with plenty of room to expand cities horizontally – as opposed to places like Hong Kong – Saudi Arabia has no need for such a tower, which they also say will attract “lunatic terrorist elements” who’ll attempt to blow it up, fly a plane into it, set fire to it, or cripple power supplies and trap thousands inside.
Others ask how much it will cost to pump water to the top floors for toilets and restaurants, how would people be expected to walk down 5000 steps in the event of a major power failure, and how would emergency services get to the top 330th floor in under 15-minutes to fight a fire… if at all if there is a major power failure?
Or how do you air-condition the top floors that will heat up like an oven in the middle of the day, and cool down to near-freezing at night?
Others simply consider the idea of standing at a window and looking out from 1.6km in the air “all just too scary,” while there are those thinking more positively about joining the Mile High Club in the hotel that’s planned for the top floor.
And the influential Architects Journal summed up: “The race to build the highest skyscraper is quite futile… these buildings are a symbol of an old-fashioned way of thinking.”

Get Up & Go autumn issue . . . out now

2011-04-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

In all its bright colours and finery, the autumn edition of Get Up & Go is about to hit the stands. This is the first issue from BT Publishing, the new owners.
This issue features my trip to India and Vientiane in Laos and our stable of great writers have contributed features: Cruising in Alaska, what to know about China, Norway in a nutshell,the magic of Macau, north east England (can't help myself, I love that part of England)unusual accommodation in Spain,Queenstown in winter if you don't ski, and 10 things to do in Qatar - where? Qatar - read all about it.
There's also a fabulous prize to be won by new subscribers - a holiday in Macau.
To subscribe - go top www.getupandgo.com.au
Happy travels . . .

Queensland's sailing off to a flying start

2011-04-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

Queensland’s Season of Sailing is making it easy to come onboard to stay and sail in the state’s world-class sailing destinations.
Now in its second year, the Season of Sailing aims to attract visitors to sailing events in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Central Queensland, the Whitsundays and Townsville being held from 22 April to 6 September.
Visitors can enjoy and be part of a world famous race week, learn to sail and embark on a bareboat adventure or if DIY sailing doesn’t appeal, a range of crewed charters are available. Choose from a wide range of boating experiences – from catamarans to racing yachts – and explore Queensland’s many spectacular waterways. Stay in a resort with views of the Coral Sea or visit The Great Barrier Reef.
The Season of Sailing website, www.queenslandholidays.com.au/sailing makes it easy to experience a Queensland sailing experience and book a range of stay and sail holiday packages with your friends and family from now until September, with travel extending until 15 December 2011.
The Sunsail Australia package allows you to take to the water on a bareboat charter from $99 per person or Descarada Luxury Charters offer an all-inclusive luxury two night cruise through the Whitsunday Islands – a great way to relax and unwind after the Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island Race Weeks.
There is also a package available for people to explore the Townsville region with a seven night Peppers Island Escape, including accommodation at the Peppers Blue on Blue Magnetic Island and daily breakfast.
From just $85 per night, you can stay at the Island Gateway Holiday Park at beautiful Airlie Beach (kids stay free) or enjoy one of Queensland’s newest resorts, the Boathouse Apartments by Outrigger, also at Airlie Beach, which is offering two bedroom apartments from $260 per night quad-share.
Young Australian of the Year and proud Queenslander, Jessica Watson has come onboard once again as the Queensland’s Season of Sailing ambassador when she launched the 2011 Season at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Manly, Brisbane last Saturday, April 2.
Jessica says she is happy to encourage more people to take up the sport of sailing. “”The Season of Sailing offers everyone, from all age groups, an opportunity to get out there and give it a go.”
There are so many ways to get out on Queensland’s clear blue waters; opportunities for every level of skill and experience, at any time of the year.
Individual race events for 2011 Queensland’s Season of Sailing include:
Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race – April 22–24
Etchells Australasian Winter Championships (Sunshine Coast) – June 9–12
Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race - August 5-8
Airlie Beach Race Week - August 12-18
Hamilton Island Race Week - August 19-27
Magnetic Island Race Week - September 1-6.

Visit:www.queenslandholidays.com.au/sailing

My, my Myanmar . . .

2011-04-03T00:33:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip to Myanmar - via first stop Ho Chi Minh City, then Yangon in Myanmar then out the door through to Sydney via Hanoi. All done neat and tidily by Vietnam Airlines. Indochina is so accessible when flying with this airline.
There will be little samples of images over the next couple of weeks and a story or two later on in the year.
The countryside is lovely outside Yangon, green as green paddy fields and everyone at work.
here's a teaser . . .

Ho Chi Minh City - still shines as Saigon

2011-03-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

A day or so in Saigon is like a week anywhere else, staying in District ! at the delightful Caravelle Hotel (yes, still the best breakfast in Asia)we are opposite the charming Opera House, near every high end shop in town and 15 minutes walk away from the real shopping in Ben Thanh Markets - oh joy, oh joy!
The streets are buzzing with millions of motorbikes and we were pedalled around in a rickshaw yesterday - always a bit embarrassing as the drivers are usually the size of my left leg!
Visited the Reunification Palace and for the first time I visited the War Remnants Museum (much more realistic than the word 'War Memorial'); sombre and heartbreaking, the museum pulls no punches and the photographs on the walls tell the horrific story of Vietnam's suffering.
A funny thing happened at the Palace, there was a group of war vets, men and women who were ecstatic about having their photographs taken with us . . .see, you don't have to mention the war!
Off to Myanmar later today - the world is truly amazing place.

Mushroom magic

2011-03-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

On a quick trip to the Blue Mountains (two hours drive from Sydney) the Australian Society of Travel Writers met for a meeting recently. We stayed at the once magnificent, and on its way again to be, Fairmont Resort at Leura. Twenty years ago the Fairmont was the saviour of tourism to the Blue Mts with families, conferences and weekenders filling each and every room. Set overlooking a magnificent valley, there was hardly a resort to match this in Australia. Bad moves and bad management left the place in a state of neglect but it's feeling the love again. And it's looking good with many of the local staff returning. Welcome back gorgeous!
While in the Mts we dined at the Grand View hotel in Wentworth Falls on excellent bistro food and had dinner at the famous Ashcrofts in Blackheath on Saturday night - bravo Ashcrofts.
Next day we headed to Oberon, a small town with a big heart. We were taken on a 'Mushroom Forage'. I somehow thought I had to get down on the ground and do truffle sniffing but it was easy - once I was told how to identify the mushrooms. In these pictures, the pretty red top one with the spots is dangerous/poisonous and downright nasty - on the other hand the ones I am holding - Saffron Milky Tops are juicy, meaty mushies that when cooked up are delicious.
So if you are out that way, visit the Oberon Visitors Centre for mushrooming kits and go for it.
And if you're asking - there were no hallucinations taking place that day - but what was that seven legged apparition poking its crazy head out of the pine forest?

This could be the last post for a few day, I have just arrived in Vietnam and will be going to Myanmar tomorrow - where it is said that there will be little or no internet connection . . .we;ll see

Rocky Mountaineer - soft sell - all aboard!

2011-03-22T00:11:00.000-07:00

If you need a bit more encouragement - enjoy this lovely video of the train and all who sail in her!

Rocky IV

2011-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

No, it's not Rocky anything other than the fabulous train. Canada's Rocky Mountaineer is one of the world's great trains that offers one of the world's great train rides. It choofs across parts of Canada that are wild, wonderful, craggy, gentle, awesome, interesting . . . still looking for more superlatives. I have had the privilege of riding these rails and not only did I see a stunning part of the world I ate Canadian produce prepared by Michelin-trained chefs - can't get much better than that.
If you think this blog is mostly about food, perhaps you are right!
A trip on the Rocky Mountaineer is pretty special as it only travels during the day. You can include the train trip with an independent holiday, get on and off, and extend the dream with a cruise afterwards - rail & cruise - just add water!
After being filled to the emotional brim with the grandeur of the majestic Canadian Rockies go cruising.
On the train enjoy being nurtured by the staff, spoilt by the chef and maybe you'll meet the CEO onboard serving drinks!
During the season, all corporate staff do their time onboard - so if you meet a bloke called Randy who's swerving around the carriage - he's the president and CEO of the company. (It's OK, you don't have to tip him.)
Visit: www.rockymountaineer.com

Washing day

2011-03-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Continuing my fascination with India I want to share the washing day image. Everywhere we went where there was a river - there were woman and some men washing. Beating rolled wet clothes to a pulp almost, this water washes bodies, food, cooking pots and clothes, sheets, towels, saris and more.
Every white piece of fabric was whiter than white, and these mum's didn't have a Whirlpool!
I asked a woman I met there if she owned a washing machine: "Yes, I do, but after I use the machine, the house help takes the clothes to the river - the machine just doesn't clean the clothes as well." See these lovely clean clothes in the picture.
The other shot was of a sweat little bird poking out of a hole in the wall of the big temple in the palace at Mysore.
(Thai International Airways flew me to India, to Chennai via Bangkok.)

Indian signs of the times

2011-03-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Still sorting through many images from my recent trip to India. The further I get away from my return, the fonder are my memories. It really is a big cliche - that is, India! It's been said forever 'a land of contrasts!'. And it is, at every blink of an eye, at every corner, every day - something that sits beside something else that is crazy and just doesn't fit - but it does and it's India. The picture here of the 'modern men's urinal' is mad, as around the corner, 'un-modern' men are peeing up against walls in the street, or on anything that doesn't move; the soft drink bottles and the coconuts - two snack drinks - and the coconuts are healthier and cheaper - every gutter has a pile of coconut shell litter decomposing; and the sign across the front of the bus: 'God's grace', it's the only way you survive a bus trip. We drove up a mountain with 30 hair-pin bends - true! Face to face with other large vehicles; motor bikes and scooters and cheeky cars - everyone wants to get to heaven in a hurry - by God's grace.
Read more about my India trip in the next issue of Get Up & Go magazine. Namaste!

Tourism's 'volunteer army' helping Qld

2011-02-22T15:56:00.000-08:00

'While they will never be as famous as Queensland’s marvellous 'mud army”, the state’s network of 124 accredited Visitor Information Centres (VICs) is ready to help our tourism industry recover after a challenging summer.
Queensland Information Centres Association (QICA) President Greg Realf said the thousands of Queenslanders who volunteered regularly at their local visitor centre were a “volunteer army” ready, willing and able to contribute towards Queensland’s tourism recovery.
“The best way to help our industry recover is to plan a Queensland holiday,” said Mr Realf. “Our trained staff are passionate and knowledgeable about their local regions, so you can’t go wrong if you contact the accredited centre in the region you are thinking of visiting.”
Despite several centres, including those in Esk, Rockhampton and Emerald being completely inundated during the recent floods, the entire network was now fully up and running, according to Mr Realf.
“Our Esk VIC operated out of their front window after the initial clean up after the flood while the Fernvale VIC was used as an evacuation centre then a community recovery centre.
“The network is now completely back to normal and our VIC volunteers and staff are very keen to help with inquiries from anyone thinking of visiting their respective regions or planning a holiday in Queensland.
“Our trained staff is able to offer free, personal advice to travellers and complement this information with brochures and maps, most of them for no charge,” he said.
There are 124 Accredited Visitor Information Centres throughout Queensland – just look out for the blue and yellow italicised ‘í’ sign. Staffed by friendly, professional and trained people with extensive local knowledge, they can provide reliable information on attractions, activities and events, make bookings for accommodation or sightseeing tours, and give up-to-the-minute advice on travel in the area. Visit www.queenslandholidays.com.au/vics to print out a map of the centres and take it with you on your travels. This site also provides links to local information.

I saw Mysore

2011-02-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

Having a day mooching around Mysore. Went out early this morning but just the first flush of traffic and a few wandering cows about - nothing happens until 10am. Found a new four-storey supermarket - where a couple of packets of crisps would cost the same as week's wages for some poor bugger in the paddy fields. And what about the biscuits?
There were three aisles and several baskets of packet biscuits - shame, the Indians have such splendid teeth.
Palaces, guesthouses and mansions that were the vanity of the Maharajahs and British entitlement are now run down with unkempt gardens - most are now schools, training colleges and educational facilities here in the lovely city of Mysore - education for the masses? Those folk in the past wouldn't have been amused!
Tomorrow the train to Chennai, one day there and return to Sydney - will I find it unusual that there are no cows at the bus stop, that an elephant is not wandering through a temple shopping arcade, that there will be no men lined up along any fence structure existing having a pee in public? Funny how the abnormal quickly becomes the normal - that's India for you.
The happy snaps are: me at a bus stop; a new, innovative public toilet and a few of the well-travelled Brits on a tea shop stop at the bottom of the Nilgiri Hills.

On the road again, Indian style

2011-02-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

Bussed it from outside Tanjore today, with a big lunch stop along the way for a typical Tamil banquet of excellent vegetarian nicey spicy dishes. An old temple was another stop - yes, more temples, but it had been used as an ancient tribe's place of worship, the tribe disappeared and the locals took it on as their own - strange ceramic statues of the deity's protectors. Wonderful sight of equine sentinels, broken, busted, solid, painted - all on form too. Arrived in Mandurai late this afternoon and catching up with blogging etc. I've just flicked through 92 TV channels - they love their TV in southern India.

Travelling around southern India

2011-02-09T02:41:00.000-08:00

Well, India might be the IT centre of the universe but trying to get a plug to fit my computer, and download my pictures is more than difficult. I have loaded a picture of the resort I'm in today. Been here two nights with day visits to temples of unimaginable imagination - centuries old and putting the pyramids in a shadow the temple in Tanjore is big and is named 'the big temple', roads are teeth clenching dangerous, no hits yet though. Cars, trucks, bicycles, motor bikes and scooters, bullock driven wagons, goats, cows, people all vie for their piece of road to be transported on - and it's usually a narrow rural road. Getting my head round India as it's my first visit. Love the food, hate the service, love the countryside, hate the mountains of rubbish that lines the road and frames the background scenery - love the kids,love the immaculate appearance of nearly everyone - as they sail through the debris of modern living - the plastic bag has much to answer for . . . this is early days of my journey, hopefiully there will be better images if I can just get technical somewhere . . .
I'm at Paradise Resort, Darasuram Kumbakonam. Visit; www.paradiseresortindia.com

Get Up & Go has gone to new owner

2011-01-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

After 11 years with Mahlab Media, Get Up & Go, Australia’s premier travel magazine for the mature traveller has been bought by award-winning BT Publishing.
Sydney-based BT Publishing is a specialist in the multimedia field.
Group Publisher/Managing Director, Helen Batt-Rawden (pictured) said there was a great opportunity to take Get Up and Go to new heights.
“BT Publishing was the first in the meetings & events industry in Australia to develop a multimedia offering with our flagship micenet AUSTRALIA Magazine, combining the strength of a traditional magazine with the power and immediacy of online publishing.
“We plan to develop Get Up & Go’s existing and widely-read travel blog (http://getupandgomagazine.blogspot.com) in tandem with the magazine to give our growing market more opportunities to interact with us.
Ms Batt-Rawden said the increasingly adventurous mature traveller market still relied heavily on word-of-mouth to make their travel decisions.
“We have Get Up & Go’s editor and Australian Society of Travel Writers’ ‘Best Travel Editor of the Year’ 2010, Bev Malzard coming across too, so we’ll maintain Bev’s crucial and close relationship with our readers.
“She’s a very hands-on editor and blogger, so for readers it’s really like getting travel tips from a friend.”
Get Up & Go magazine is a glossy, quarterly travel magazine featuring stories (international and domestic features, cruise news, and travel news) from Australia’s top travel writers and is supported by premium advertisers. Bev Malzard will take up her position with BT Publishing within the next week.
“I’m thrilled with the magazine going to a lovely home,” she says. “I have built up Get Up & Go over more than four marvellous years working with Mahlab Media, and now it’s time to move along and take the magazine to a new dimension.”

Bev Malzard
Editor Get Up & Go
Travel writer/editor/journalist
President Australian Society of Travel Writers
E: bmalzard@gmail.com

Love is in the air . . .

2011-01-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

We start seeing Christmas trees in September and Easter eggs in January - so we may as well start the Valentine's Day preparations. Here is some news for a resort I had he pleasure of staying in late last year and if I could find a Valentine to whisk me bthere - I'd go in a shot. Oh, well.
AYANA Resort and Spa Bali has replaced the twelve days of Christmas with twelve ways to say “I Love You” this coming Valentine’s Day.
From a three night accommodation package that includes a six-course Valentine’s Day dinner, a Balinese massage and more*, to a horse-and-carriage ride through tropical gardens; signature romantic dining options that range from a Valentine’s menu at Dava restaurant, to a cliff-edge Moonlight Romance Dinner, to a private villa dinner served by a personal butler; or, the ultimate romantic experience for one couple only, a 6-course champagne dinner set on AYANA’s private jetty and accompanied by a private Gamelan music performance. An “Eat Pray Love” inspired 3-course lunch, sunset cocktails perched above the ocean at the Rock Bar or a special couples spa package called Blissful Love are also on the list.

Visit: www.ayanaresort.com

Torquay is tops!

2011-01-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Spending a few days in Victoria's sunshine coast - we are at the start of the Great Ocean Road and the breeze is a little chilly. Hardy souls my friends (Victorians), who have been hitting the surf early morning while I stay warm and cosy and make coffee for their refreshed return. Had a road trip to Bells Beach and then on to Lorne with a stop for lunch at Aireys Inlet at 'a la grecque' (excellent calamari) then a walk round Torquay town.
Loving the smell of ozone and the sun is out today - yippee.
I arived here via a flight on Tiger from Sydney to Avalon Airport near Geelong - good connections indeed.

Summer reading - go get it

2010-12-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

The summer edition of Get Up & Go is out and about now. There's a rundown on every great cruise for 2011; a stress-free guided tour of Italy; a glide along the Perfume River in Vietnam; a holiday in Vanuatu; the glories of Glasgow's architecture; a museum piece in England and more . . .plus every Australian state is covered - cruise the Kimberley, stay in an historic B&B in Tassie, explore the Great Ocean Road and look for the high five in Queensland. Put you feet up and read away. Happy holidays.

Happy snaps

2010-12-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a few images taken over the year for Get Up & Go. England, Queensland, the Kimberley and some shopping in Dubai . . . 2010 was a good year for travel. We visited Maria Island Tassie; Fiji; the Granite Belt Qld; North East England; Dubai; Broome; the Kimberley and Darwin; took the Indian Pacific across the Nullarbor.

Christmas is coming

2010-12-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

Only 12 sleeps til Christmas! Are you winding down or gearing up for the season's festivities. I was walking down a early-morning-cool Sydney street knowing that the day
s temperature would climb to 29deg. and was enjoying the early morning Sydney smells of summer - pine trees lined up on the footpath outside the fruit shops - the scent of apricots and stone fruit; watermelons in big baskets, boxes of cherries and fat bunches of Christmas bush. What a beautiful time of year.
Have included a couple of images from the train trip on the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth - still having happy, lingering memories.

British Airways Top Ten Tips for 2011

2010-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Read on, and let me know if you agree . . .

The US, Caribbean and Indian Ocean all feature heavily in British Airways' top ten tips for 2011, but the pride of place goes to North African destination, Marrakech.
The airline's top ten destinations for the year ahead are as follows:

1. Marrakech, Morocco
Marrakech is a jewel in Morocco, famously known as the 'Red City'. It provides quick access to both the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert.
A wonderful winter warmer, Marrakech is home to the annual Almond Blossom Festival which takes place in the second week of February in the Tafraout Valley area marking the start of spring. The festival offers sights of natural beauty whilst a colourful Souk springs up, complete with dancers, musicians and storytellers.

2. San Diego, USA
As the eighth largest city in the USA, San Diego lies only a few miles from the border of Mexico, mixing its rich heritage built around sailing with a Hispanic vibrancy. Each year, thousands of tourists flock to The Annual San Diego Film Festival held at the end of September, celebrating the art and style of film for five days of premieres, partying and mixing with celebrities.

3. New York, USA
The Big Apple is one destination which never fails to make it onto travel 'hot lists'. New York is a must-go destination for hardcore shoppers and it is no surprise that the busiest shopping day of the year falls on Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving), when shops open at 4am offering promotional sales and mark the start of the Christmas shopping season. The best bargain can be found at department store giants such as Macys and Bloomingdales where prices are slashed in half.

4. St Kitts & Nevis, Caribbean
The two-island nation is a wonderful family destination combining beaches with the splendour of mountains, heaps of activities to engage your body and a rich history to engage your mind. The islands have a strong mix of French and English heritage giving them an incredibly unique atmosphere.

5. Puerto Rico, USA
Puerto Rico is home to the famous 'Puerto Rico Baseball League', who play from November to January. Famous US league players visit Puerto Rico and come down to play in their off-season. For an authentic sporting experience, make sure you visit the Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina.

6. The Maldives
A classic honeymoon destination set in the Indian Ocean, The Maldives is made up of 26 breathtakingly beautiful islands. Eternally romantic, nowhere else can combine luxury with seductive privacy like these islands can.

7. Tokyo, Japan
Japan is famous for its wonderful hospitality and Tokyo is the definitive destination for food lovers with restaurants representing all the cuisines of the world. Even the most discerning and dedicated eaters, will always find something new with the huge variety of delicacies and dining experiences Tokyo has to offer!

8. Las Vegas, USA
Las Vegas is the ultimate destination for bright lights and glitz. The best time to go is either in the spring or autumn when the weather is beautifully balmy. The city is home to the world famous Las Vegas Strip when you will find the world's most famous casinos and non-stop nightlife.

9. Mauritius
Mauritius exhibits all the attributes of a tropical paradise. Pristine white beaches fringed with palm trees stretch along the coastline, while the rhythmic lapping of waves breaking on coral reefs provides a comforting soundtrack. In the interior, mountains and dormant volcanoes rise out of lush jungle, broken only by plunging waterfalls, craters and deep gorges.
Black River Gorges, a Unesco national park in the south-west of the island is home to unique flora and fauna such as the pink pigeon and the Mauritian flying fox.

10. St Lucia, Caribbean
Absorb the magnificent scenery of lush green mountains, tropical forests and the dramatic twin Pitons. A photographer's dream, St. Lucia has an unspoilt beauty and a bursting calendar of cultural events including the annual Jazz Festival in May and the St. Lucia carnival in June and July.
St. Lucia is also home to La Soufriere volcano - the world's only drive-in volcano which erupted for the first time some 400,000 years ago and has been burning lava ever since.
* British Airways will begin flights to Haneda (Tokyo) on 19 Feb., Marrakech on 27 March, Puerto Rico on 28 March, and San Diego on 1 June, 2011.
About British Airways
* British Airways has a worldwide route network that covers more than 150 destinations in 75 countries.
* British Airways has been operating in Australia for 75 years.
* British Airways operate from Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. The state-of-the-art Terminal 5 is exclusive to the airline's customers and is capable of handling 30 million customers a year.
* Australia flights operate from the multi-million pound refurbished Terminal 3.
* In September 2010, British Airways was recognised as "Best European Airline" for the 10th consecutive year, by readers of Business Traveller at the 19th Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards.
* At the Business Traveller Awards 2010 held in London, British Airways was also chosen by readers as the "Best Short-Haul Carrier" and "Best Frequent Flyer Programme" for the Executive Club.
* British Airways won the recognition as the "Best Airline in Europe" at the 2010 Passenger Choice Awards, by the APEX in the US.
* British Airways operates a double daily service between Sydney and London Heathrow - one via Singapore and one via Bangkok.

Great train journey

2010-12-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

For ten years now the Indian Pacific has choofed across Australia, from Sydney to Perth on a mission of Santa Claus proportions. The loco carries international and domestic media, a pop star or two and Santa. Stars of the past include: Human Nature, Guy Sebastian, Marcia Hynes, David Campbell and Jimmy Barnes. This year, rock legends James Reyne (Australian Crawl) and Mark Seymour (Hunters & Collectors) entertained the media on the train and gave concerts across the country. We stopped in Broken Hill for the first event. Every stop provided a welcoming crowd and the local school choir singing Christmas carols before James and Mark did their thing.
The Indian Pacific is celebrating 40 years of travelling this year - happy anniversary to the great train and many more happy Christmases across the country. Pictures are a few scenes from the trip, the lady with Get Up & Go is Shelley Howells deputy editor of Air New Zealand's inflight magazine; the chap with Mark Seymour, James Reyne and moi is Tony Braxton-Smith, CEO of Great Southern Rail.
Watch this video of the trip - wonderful shots and evocative of the variety and wonder of Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch

Winners are grinners

2010-11-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the Australian Society of Travel Writers had its AGM, travel awards night and conference. And what a weekend it was too. So much to talk about, so much to learn, the seminars at conference were brilliant and the speakers included author Robert Dessaix and Tony and Maureen Wheeler founders of Lonely Planet publications. It as quite a weekend for yours truly to. I was elected as president of the ASTW, to serve a year – quite a responsibility but the society has a brilliant membership so with a little help from my friends . . .
Also I was awarded Travel Editor of the Year - kudos for not on only me but for the magazine. Being editor of a travel magazine is a fabulous job, and it takes a lot of energy to keep up the good work, entice our readers to travel and generally engage with them o they feel some ownership with the magazine.
As editor of Get Up & Go it is my pleasure to accept this award on behalf of my own hard work, and my publisher, staff and the readers - what stars! All of us!
Pictures: Moi and Glyn May, public relations representative for Star Clippers - those divine sailing ships. And that was my prize - not Glyn – but a cruise in the Mediterranean!

Hey, hey, it's Hayman

2010-11-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hayman in the wondrous Whitsundays of Queensland has had so many awards granted that the island could almost sink under them at any time. Just kidding! It's Paradise where you can chill out in splendid resort accommodation and also find yourself in beach villas with private indoor pools, eat from several award-winning restaurants, go for a spa treatment and refuse to ever leave, take advantage of the water activities if you can lift your head off the beach lounge . . .do you get the drift?
Last week the company held a lunch for 'friends' in the media. This is an annual event and so for this editor has stayed on the list - because of good behaviour, no doubt. The lunch is always held at the divine Aria restaurant at Circular Quay Sydney, and maestro Matt Moran teams up with the executive chef of Hayman to present us guests with stunning meals - and this year the benchmark was again lifted.
Pictures with Matthew Moran is Glenn Bacon of Hayman. The food speaks for itself!

Canada is cool now!

2010-11-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

As we start to complain about the weather heating up as we are edging closer to Christmas in Australia - spare a thought for the cold climate folk. I spent a few days in Canada just before Christmas a couple of years ago. And as the city of Vancouver was lighting up the shop windows and streets it was out of town where the brrrr buzz was. We headed to Whistler and stayed at the divine Fairmont Hotel where I had a room that looked out to the mountains and the the ski slopes – this is a winter wonderland exemplified.
I love snow, lots of it piled up against walls, weighing down the branches on large trees, crunching underfoot.
So, for the future if you would like a change of scenery for the festive season why not try Canada and enjoy the traditions of a cheery winter Christmas.
Air Canada flies directly to Vancouver from Sydney.
(Couple of signs around the village of Whistler, the terrace at the cafe on top of the mountain - where are all the customers? And a very nice dog I met along the way - a good dog who didn't complain about the cold and we shared a hot chocolate later in the day.)

Rock Garden in the Red Centre

2010-11-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

Due to heavy rains throughout the year and the wettest September on record, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory has bloomed this spring. The unprecedented level of rainfall has resulted in an abundance of wildflowers and a riot of greenery that is not typically associated with the Red Centre and it is a spectacular time to visit.
Guests staying at Ayers Rock Resort in the last month have been rewarded with the amazing sight of waterfalls tumbling off the rocks and lush new growth everywhere. There's not a bit of dry red dust to be seen. Vibrant coloured wildflowers have sprung up around Ayers Rock Resort and in the national park: there's spearbrush, honey grevilleas, bluebells, early nancy lilies, parakeelya and desert peas.
Martha Coomber from Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park commented: “It is a beautiful time to visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta with colourful flowers all around the base walk of Uluru and in Walpa Gorge and fresh new growth everywhere. There are more than 416 species of native plants in the national park, but some of the plants that have bloomed this spring are so rare that staff have received special plant identification training to help identify them all.”
Ayers Rock Resort, gateway to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, is offering a great value Rock Summer package, ideal for those who wish to arrange a trip soon to experience the Red Centre in bloom. Available for bookings to 30 November 2010 and travel until 31 March 2011, you can enjoy two night packages at the Lost Camel or the Outback Pioneer Hotel starting from just $298* per person, twin share, with a special rate of just $49* per person for the third night.

Visit www.ayersrockresort.com.au

Malaysia Airlines gives 'em stick

2010-11-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Blog contributor and fellow traveller David Ellis says that on a recent flight with Malaysia Airlines from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, a passenger near him complained to the flight attendants that 'he had paid a lot of money to fly Business Class, and did not expect to have to eat with his fingers'.
When it was explained to him what the snack was, he still demanded that it be re-presented to him 'the right way' – with a knife and fork.
The attendants returned with his request, but politely pointed out that 'as a traditional Malay dish, satay is always served on small wooden skewers and eaten with the fingers'.
The passenger remained unimpressed, but Malaysia Airlines obviously aims to please.
The airline serves an amazing 20,000 a day of its famous little satay sticks in Business Class on flights worldwide, using its own recipes for beef and chicken marinated in shallots, turmeric, garlic, galangal and lemongrass, char-grilling and basting them over mangrove wood charcoal in their ground kitchens before treating them to a smothering of spicy crushed peanut sauce – and serving with a side of refreshing cucumber, onion and a cube of rice cake.
And yes, for its loyal followers in Business Class, the airline invariably has enough of its satay appetisers on board for seconds. (No need to guess who put his hand up for those seconds!)

USA's worst airlines?

2010-11-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

According to a US News & World Report, Delta Airlines came last in a customer satisfaction report.
* It was first in delays and customer complaints among major airlines.
* United Airlines came a close second, with surveys reserving particular scorn for its 'meals and rude flight attendants'.
* Third worst was Alaska Airlines, which earned its poor ranking due to a 'high number of mishandled baggage reports'. The airline lost roughly four bags for every 1000 customers last year. But airline was noted for its excellent on-time performance.
* American Airlines landed in fourth place, not so much for its own performance, but that of subsidiary American Eagle, which drove its overall numbers down, the survey said.
* US Airways ranked fifth after improving its scores for overall customer satisfaction compared to 2009.

On the opposite end of the spectrum was Hawaiian Airlines, which ranked best in customer satisfaction for its near-perfect on-time performance. AirTran was ranked second best, followed by JetBlue.
(Cartoon of the day: Where astronauts hang out after work.)

Ultimate road trip

2010-10-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

In his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, Get Up & Go contributor David Ellis says that if you complain at election time about the condition of some of our country roads, consider the lot of those who have to use the North Yungas Road in Bolivia – known locally as El Camino de la Muerte, or The Road of Death.
Running 60-something kilometres from the administrative capital of La Paz to Coroico in the Amazon rainforest region of the country’s north, the road rises as high as 4650m in some places and drops to around 1200m in the mountains at its final destination.
But it’s the way that it clings to the mountainous cliffsides that have earned it its gruesome nickname, coupled with the fact its just 3.2m wide, has no guard rails, and in most places falls 600m or more into valleys below.
Add to this the torrential rain that can make the surface like glass and its little wonder that before an alternative road was built, the North Yungas Road claimed between 200 and 300 lives a year, including in one horror accident more than 100 passengers in a bus that fell off the side into a ravine below.
And yet despite being only 3.2m wide, heavy trucks that still use the road actually pass each other – bizarrely each travelling on 'the wrong side of the road' to do so, but meaning that the driver of the truck heading downhill is on the outside of the road, and therefore can see just how close his wheels are to the 600m drop below him.
While fewer trucks are now using the road, its still popular with thrill-seeking holidaymakers in 4WDs – and in recent years has been luring increasing numbers of mountain bike enthusiasts who are catered for by local companies that take them and their bikes to the highest point of the road for a 50km-plus, heart-stopping downhill ride that’s dubbed The Dice With Death….

…………………..

Bali flavours

2010-10-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Back in Sydney after a red eye flight from Bali. Have featured a couple of images from the various food outlets of the Ayana Resort & Spa in Jimbaran. In four days there wasn't enough time to eat at all the restaurants but managed to get around to a few and taste the offerings and put on three kilos. More to follow in future issue of Get Up & Go magazine. Currently reminiscing about the food but seriously missing the private pool, and my butler - why can't I always have a butler?
Nasi goring and Bali fruits at breakfast - yummy.

Bali the beautiful

2010-10-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Last day in Bali after a short but very sweet experience staying at the Ayana Resort and Spa perched above Jimbaran Bay, since Sunday night. After intensive eating, swimming, eating, viewing the view, today, a few of us will leave the comfortable confines of the 75hectare compound for a lightning trip to Seminyak and Legian for a shopping expedition.
Spa treatment day here was an amazing Bali Treatment where my body was covered in a paste of turmeric powder, sandalwood and yoghurt, packed down and almost dried and then rubbed off. Next came the almond oil to assist the massage - I felt wonderful but suspected at one stage of being marinated for a curry pot!
An evening at the rock bar - yep, real rocks on the cliff above the beach - offered a soft sunset and after a dinner at a restaurant where you kick your shoes off and wiggle your toes n the sand while eating local seafood.
Here are a couple of images from the resort and enjoy the 'floating breakfast'. I had the brekkie in my own pool and it was enhanced by sharing it with a couple of visitors - it would have felt a bit silly standing on tip toe in the pool cutting up toast and eggs on my own. This is a treat for couples who want that extra bit of romance while on holidays. In fact the entire resort and award winning spa is a treat - beats the real world any day. Visit: http://www.ayanaresort.com

All is fair in Sydney

2010-10-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

Pick any Saturday or Sunday from the end of September to mid November in Sydney (or for that matter any city and surrounds in Australia) and you'll find a suburban or city-based food fair or local craft fair.
Close to me in the inner west last Sunday as the Summer Hill Food Fair. This is a small village close to the railway line and populated with all strata of people. The food fair was meticulously organised and down the main street the aromas enticed the visitors: barbecued octopus, pizza, grilled prawns, lamb curry, spicy kebabs, pad Thai, cakes, baklava, gelato and superb coffee.
A South American band was playing sexy salsa for entertainment and the sun shone – and all was well with the world.
An ex- Get Up & Go art director was there too promoting her charming shop 'Sweets work shop', and selling lovely gifts and affordable works of art.
Fetes, bazaars, fairs and craft shows are quintessential elements of colour and familiarity of community and I find if I am visiting other cities, states or countries I like to tag along to the wanderers as goods are inspected, stuff browsed over and friendly banter is to be had. This is another way of having an authentic travel experience.
So, if you are a local, or a visitor planning any city visits, check the local council websites and you can be part of all the fun of a fair.
Visit: www.sweetsworkshop.com.au

Europe and Britain touring - the Insight way

2010-10-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Premium tour operator Insight Vacations has released it’s 2011 Premium Europe and Britain program, offering an extensive range of holiday options with a style to suit every type of traveller. These include Discovery Tours, snapshot-style tours of Europe suited for the first time traveller; Regional Tours which focus on highlights in a specific region or area; Easy Pace, featuring longer stays in each city for more in-depth exploration; Country Roads, which veer off the beaten track; Gold,a range of deluxe itineraries and Select Choices, a range of independent-style itineraries without the hassles.

The new program includes 25 exciting new itineraries, including the 16-day Treasures of the Balkans. Designed exclusively for members of Insight’s online Travel Forum, this tour was such a big success that Insight decided to include it in the brochure. Designed with the seasoned traveller in mind, this is one feature-packed adventure, however there is still plenty of time to soak up the sights and culture as you travel through exotic destinations such as Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Hungary.
Insight’s 16-day Treasures of the Balkans is priced from $3625 per person, twin share, land only (single supplement option from $1170). Departures available from 14 May until 01 October, 2011.
(The lovely images are: Montenegro (orthodox church) ; Dubrovnik and Budapest.

For more information, visit www.insightvacations.com.au or see your local travel agent.

Have you read this magazine?

2010-10-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

The spring edition of Get Up & Go is out and about. We've tweaked the design, given you bigger and more beautiful images and have stories that will have you booking holidays right now.
Read about how to deal with the tricky bits in India; a Cambodian movie star; a trip on Canada's Rocky Mountaineer; a tale of Porto in Portugal; lion kings of Kenya and much more to titillate on o/s destinations.
At home we cover every state with tall tales and true. Walk with me on Tassie's Maria Island; go four-wheel driving in Kakadu and enjoy South East Queensland's gourmet corner.
WIN a cruise for two with P&O Cruises and subscribe for the next great issue - Christmas is around the corner - how about a subscription for a friend - just go to www.getupandgo.com.au
Get Up & Go now!

London's Savoy Hotel reopens - divine darling!

2010-10-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Glittering with new crystal chandeliers, gold leaf and polished marble floors, London's Savoy hotel reopened on Sunday after a three-year, multi-million-pound refit to restore its former splendour.
London's first luxury hotel, which hosted luminairies from Marlene Dietrich to Claude Monet, has been renovated from top to bottom in a mammoth project costing 220 million pounds (250 million euros, 350 million dollars).
British actor Stephen Fry was the first guest to check in, arriving in a Rolls Royce to be met by hotel managers in the famed art deco lobby.
"It feels the same but it's really different," sales director Simon Gilkes told AFP, adding: "It wasn't about changing the Savoy but restoring the Savoy. We wanted to keep the heritage and elevate it."
New chandeliers in Murano crystal light up the public rooms, and in the lobby the old tattered carpets have been replaced with gleaming marble.
A new bar has been installed in the old Beaufort Room where George Gershwin played to guests during WWII, selling champagne, cocktails and cabaret in art deco surroundings adorned with gold leaf worth more than 38,000 pounds.
In an example of the painstaking work carried out by more than 100 craftsmen, one woman took almost six months to renovate the hand-lacquered wood and gold paint in the insides of the lifts.
In addition to 38 new rooms built with views of the River Thames, there is a new Royal Suite covering 325sq.m, complete with a ventilated shoe closet and costing a recession-busting 10,000 pounds a night.
The Savoy was built in 1889 to cater for the nearby Savoy Theatre and over the next century was home to Hollywood and acting royalty, including Sarah Bernhardt, Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and Frank Sinatra.
But it also became the favourite haunt of prime ministers and the royal family, and it was here that Queen Elizabeth II, then a young princess, was first seen in public with her future husband, Philip.
Aside from hosting glittering parties and A-list guests, the Savoy also prides itself for being at the forefront of modern technology -- it was the first hotel in London to use electric lights, elevators and 24-hour service.
But despite all the building work, the hotel retains its lived-in feel and remains quintessentially English, with straight-backed valets ready to cater to your every whim and a classic 'high tea' still served each afternoon.
Situated just a short walk from the theatres of London's West End, the Savoy is to London what the Ritz is to Paris -- and indeed Cesar Ritz, who founded the eponymous hotel chain, was the Savoy's first manager.
These days, it is owned by Canadian group Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which took over five years ago.

Art & About Sydney 2010

2010-10-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Are You Looking At Me? Laneway Art

We haven't got to the excellent laneway exposition status of Melbourne yet but someone's trying! Contemporary Australian artists have transformed eight laneways in central Sydney into temporary art installations as part of Art & About Sydney 2010.
Nine artists are exploring the potential of forgotten city lanes in a new way, through light projection, sound, text and imagery.
The contemporary artists working on Are You Looking At Me? include Simryn Gill, Jan van der Ploeg, Jon Campbell, Justene Williams, Mikala Dwyer, Simon Yates, Newell Harry, Nike Savvas and Rocket Mattler.
Conceived by international art curator Barbara Flynn, the Are You Looking At Me? Laneway project will both delight and challenge the public whilst enlivening and reactivating under utilised urban spaces.
“Each artist has come up with a new work especially for the project. Their art will so radically transform the space, it will be as if people are seeing the laneway for the first time. Their art will transcend temporality and become an unforgettable part of the living memory of Sydney,” said curator Barbara Flynn.
Last year, an estimated 100,000 people explored the By George Hidden Networks - Laneway Art project.
The Are You Looking At Me? Laneway Art project will remain in place until January 31.

Art & About Sydney runs until 24 October 2010. The full program will be online in early September: www.artandabout.com.au

Ten top tips to travel smart

2010-10-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Travel smart
1. Copy your passport and driver’s licence: take a photocopy and keep them separate from the original or take a photo of them and keep it on your phone. Do the same with your travel insurance documents.
2. Stay covered: Make sure you know exactly what your travel insurance covers (regarding medical and emergency assistance) and that the policy will be recognised around the world. In some countries, if they don’t recognise the insurance underwriter, they may not admit you to a hospital. Make sure your insurer has a 24-hour assistance phone line. Program the help number into your mobile.
3. Shoot your luggage: have a photo of your luggage and any valuable items stored on your phone to show to someone who doesn’t speak English if they get lost.
4. Suitcase saviours: wet wipes and hand sanitiser are invaluable. Gaffer (electrical) tape can be used to repair luggage, hold up mozzie nets or repair shoes. Pack a sarong, to use as a sheet, towel, pillow case, head scarf or shopping bag.
5. Stay in touch: sign up for a free Skype account to call people using the internet, or purchase a local SIM card for your phone, but you’ll have to get a new card and number in every country you visit. Alternatively, buy a SIM card aimed at travellers such as TravelSIM (www.travelsim.net.au) Keep the card and use the same phone number every trip.
6. Cash & carry: pre-paid credit and debit cards offer the most convenient form of travel money. Visa is the most world-widely accepted. Even in techno-savvy Japan you’ll find that you can’t use many ATMs – always look for the Cirrus or PLUS logo.
7. A good book: load audio books or podcast radio shows into your iPod.
8. Adaptors and batteries: For iPods, digital cameras, phones, laptops and camcorders, carry a power adaptor and rechargeable batteries. Don’t lose the charger or cables, they are hard to replace overseas.
9. Good nights: travel with an inflatable neck pillow for long-haul flights, ear plugs and an eye mask.
10. Stay well: essential medical kit items include cold and flu pills, painkillers, throat lozenges, band aids, laxatives, something to stop diarrhoea and vomiting, antiseptic cream, eye drops and antihistamines. Tea tree oil soothes itchy bits and doubles as an antiseptic and anti-fungal. Take enough prescribed medications to last the trip, and a copy of the prescription and a letter from your doctor explaining why you need them. If you suffer from food allergies carry ‘food alert’ translation cards (see www.selectwisely.com). And don’t forget a spare set of specs and your prescription just in case.
Picture is guests of MV Orion on a zodiac cruising the coast of the Kimberley, WA.

Zoom zoom to Broome

2010-10-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

If you have compiled a bucket list for Australian destinations, I hope Broome is at the top of the list. This sunny, open-hearted town in northern WA, on the edge of the Kimberley wears its history on its sleeve, has much to tell us about the past and captures the imagination of a would-be, could-be or is - an adventurer. Some of the old shopfronts remain static and enjoy the vintage look, while flash harry establishments like Paspaley Pearls shine with the gloss of big city shopping.
Recommended for a 24-hour stopover before embarking on the cruise to Darwin around the Kimberley on MV Orion:
* walk along Cable Beach
* have a coffee at the cafe on the beach across the road from the cable Beach resort (the beach cafe at the resort was closed for lunch!)
* spend some money at the boutique shops in Chinatown
* have dinner at the Zoo cafe
* buy a pearl
* take an hour tour round town in a Chinatown taxi
Go to bed, have a good sleep, a lazy breakfast and there you are - 24 hours gone for good.
You'll have to comeback to enjoy the other treats of Broome.
Visit:www.orionexpeditions.com.au

Cruising the Kimberley

2010-09-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

I've just ended a stunning cruise through the Kimberley coast waters on the elegant and charming MV Orion. An expedition ship, Orion is a beauty. Stories to come early next year. I've included a couple of candid shots of guests (we aren't called passengers on this friendly ship), reading Get Up & Go of course! And the bathrobe fantasy is after an informal dinner on deck one night with selected company. This was a cruise of a lifetime for me - seeing this par tr of Australia is not only exciting, it is very moving. Don't miss the boat, visit: www.orionexpeditions.com.au
Pictures include Malcolm and Anita from New Zealand, Shirley from Perth (this was Shirley's 16th cruise with Orion and she was continuing on after I disembarked at Darwin for Cairns - what a trooper. The other pic is of moi with Clinton, maitre de of delights MV Orion.

Did the Brisbane butcher do it?

2010-09-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Contributor to this blog David Ellis has tracked down a mystery from Brisbane's past.

TWENTY-SIX million people a year wend their way along Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, taking a break from the office, ogling, daydreaming, cuddling-up, taking lunch, or simply doing some serious shopping.
Yet few realise that a store they pass in the Mall’s Brisbane Arcade, or perhaps drop into for some of that shopping, is on the site of what was once home to Brisbane’s most-gruesome colonial murderer.
And not far away, guests indulging in a palatial Brisbane hotel little realise that they too are frolicking on the site of another property owned by that same killer.
Nor that the spectacular campus on which the University of Queensland now stands, is yet another of his legacies…
Irishman Patrick Mayne arrived in Brisbane in 1844 and soon landed himself a job as a slaughterman at Campbell’s Boiling Down Works at Kangaroo Point.
He bought cheap land on the outskirts of town at what is now fashionable Wickham Terrace, learned butchering skills to supplement his meager slaughterman’s wages, and after marrying Mary McIntosh in 1849, to the surprise of many invested in a prime block on Brisbane’s very smart Queen Street.
Here, on what is now the Brisbane Arcade, he built a butcher’s shop with a coach-house and an upstairs residence, worked his way onto the Municipal Council, and started buying-up some 400ha (1000 acres) or prime real estate.
But Patrick Mayne was also showing signs of madness, attacking some perceived-enemies with a riding-crop or stock-whip, and abusing others in fits of alcohol-fueled rage. Despite their wealth the Maynes were soon being quietly shunned by Brisbane’s more polite society.
And extraordinarily in 1865 on his deathbed above his Queen Street butcher’s shop, Patrick Mayne out-of-the-blue confessed to Brisbane’s most-grisly murder seventeen years previously, and for which a hapless cook had already been hanged.
Mayne said that after hearing that a drunken timber worker named Robert Cox was boasting in the primitive Bush Inn at Kangaroo Point of receiving a princely sum for a delivery of precious cedar, he and two others had gone to the Inn and ambushed the befuddled Cox after closing time.
The next morning a man in a rowing boat came upon the legs and loin of a man floating in the Brisbane River. Soon after police found the upper part of the body on the shore, while the head had been propped in a shed to face entering searchers.
And in a well behind the Bush Inn that was used to keep milk, butter and cheese cool, police now found more of Cox’s remains. A hapless cook at the Bush Inn was hanged for the murder, despite professing innocence until the trapdoors of the gallows dropped below him…
And to the surprise of many it was soon after the execution that Patrick Mayne bought the land in Queen Street and built his butcher’s shop (and two others nearby that he rented to a draper and a grocer)… paying the equivalent in cash of nearly five years’ slaughterman’s wages for all three properties.
After Mayne’s death in 1865 and that of his wife in 1889, their four children consolidated their parents’ properties and donated generously to churches and charities.
Amongst prime holding sold off was a house and land on which the Urban Hotel Brisbane on Wickham Terrace now overlooks the spectacular Roma Street Parklands, its 170 guest rooms and luxuries a far cry from the primitive Bush Inn at Kangaroo Point in which Patrick Mayne says he committed Queensland’s bloodiest murder 162-years ago.
In 1924 the surviving Mayne children, who had deliberately not married due to their father’s madness and the insanity of a brother, built the Edwardian-style Brisbane Arcade on the site of their parents’ butcher shop.
Three years later they bought land at St Lucia which they donated to the fledgling University of Queensland, with all profits from the trust they established to run the Brisbane Arcade, going to the University to this day.
When next you’re visiting Queen Street, pause at the Colorado Clothing Store in the Brisbane Arcade – it’s on the site of the original Mayne butchery, home and coachhouse.
And ponder that today, crime historians are now suggesting Mayne’s confession was another side of his madness – leaving the question, did he, or did he not do it?
Pictures are Adams cake shop, Brisbane Arcade 1938; Brisbane Arcade today and Patrick Mayne.

Maria, Maria, Maria

2010-08-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not West Side Story - more like on the east coast off Tasmania story. I'm just finishing writing up a story on the Maria Island Walk I did last February - read all about it in the Spring edition of Get Up & Go magazine. And wishing I had ten pages to fill with it, I could ramble on forever it was so good, I thought I'd put a couple of pics up so you could have your walking appetite whetted.
Book soon as the walks happen from mid Oct - end of April. gets a bit too chilly down there after that. The island is so wonderful with amazing natural attributes, and A lot of history pre colonisation and post - makes for a fascinating perambulation.
Visit: www.mariaislandwalk.com.au

International food @ Hartlepool

2010-08-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

At the Hartlepool (North East England) Tall Ships Race Event in August, with the influx of international ships and sailors came their cuisine along with them. Along the sides of the harbour and on the wharfs, emanating from food stalls, beautiful, aromatic flavours wafted on the warm, northern summer air. Massive bowls were being stirred with noodles, chilli and savoury meats and the best of baking was to be seen. Italian, French, Spanish and Middle Eastern pastries, cakes and confections were on display. Early in the day I heard the odd" OOOh, I wouldn't eat that", coming from some of the more conservative coastal folk but as the day lengthened, young families and cosmopolitan visitors we queuing (as the English do so politely) to grab their share of the goodies on offer.
So, apart from the race days and ship inspections, there were gourmet treats for all, concerts and good will was the order of the occasion. Visit: www.visitteesvalley.org and www.onenortheast.co.uk.

Winning ticket for England

2010-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Following is a letter from Get Up & Go's prize winner of the trip to North East England to enjoy the area and especially the Hartlepool Tall Ships Race Event. I was also there but managed to miss our two happy winners.
Hello Bev..... Well we are back home and back at work already. It's hard to
believe that just a week ago we were crawling over sailing ships and
swanning around beautiful old castles.
I want to thank Get Up & Go sincerely for giving me the opportunity to fulfill
my boyhood dream of being aboard a real tall ship. The Hartlepool experience
was truly magical. To see all those wonderful craft gathered there with
flags waving in the breeze was a sight to behold.The atmosphere was fabulous
and the crowds really were in the spirit of the occasion.
The emotion experienced from seeing such beauty was overwhelming.
Then add to this the wonderful accommodation in old castles and homes and
the dream is complete.
We covered miles and miles exploring the region and visiting many of the old
castles and ruins, plus a walk along Hadrian's wall to cap things off.
There were so many magical moments, that I could write a book about that
beautiful part of the world. It far exceeded my expectations... and believe
me they were already high.
If I never get to travel anywhere else, I will satisfy myself that I have
enjoyed a very special holiday to a very special place.
So, again, thank you so much.
Kindest regards and best wishes,
Geoff and Sharon Naismith.
Visit: www.onenortheast.co.uk

Explore Sydney - the new way

2010-08-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Two of Sydney’s biggest tourist operators The Manly Flyer catamaran and the City Sightseeing Sydney to Bondi ‘Hop-On Hop-Off’ bus have joined forces to offer out-of-towners and Sydneysiders the best way to explore Sydney’s iconic attractions.
Hop on the luxury Manly Flyer catamaran and cruise Sydney Harbour then take in the sites as you travel around Sydney or from Sydney to Bondi on the ‘Hop-On Hop-Off’ double-decker bus for a fun filled day where you are in complete control. Feel like a feed of fish and chips on the beach at Manly? Or would you rather see the Opera House up close, it’s as simple as alighting at any of the Manly Flyer’s or the double-decker’s stops to explore on foot or simply sit pretty and take in all Sydney has to offer.
For more information visit: http://manlyfastferry.com.au/

Happy to be home

2010-08-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

After a fabulous week and a half in North East England and a day in Dubai, it's nice to be home. And being sent back across the world in a lovely bed (courtesy Emirates Airline) jet lag has now disappeared. I think the flat bed is the best invention (in the travelling genre) since suitcases gained wheels. As soon as the photographs are downloaded we'll tease you with stories from the Tees Valley, delight you with Durham, and re-acquaint you with Newcastle on Tyne - we can't get enough of the place!
Reading the quick 1000 emails today and will be looking at what will appear in the next issue (spring/October) of Get Up & Go magazine. The picture is of me just before i flew back to Oz - well, I was a bit tired and Dubai's heat took it out of me.

Get Up & Go goes to breakfast

2010-08-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

At Romaldkirk, County Durham there's the charming Rose & Crown, one of the Great Inn's of England. Owned by Christopher and Alison Davy, the inn offers elegant accommodation and food to write home about. The restaurant sports numerous awards and Get Up & Go enjoyed a brilliant dinner and a breakfast of champions. See the picture of my gorgeous bedroom, the brekkie table and the pub sign.
Visit: www.rose-and-crown.co.uk and be enticed to experience a real English, traditional inn and a beautiful village. (The picture of the editor was not taken outside the Rose & Crown it was in another village 'Blanchard", a few km away.)

Summer gardens Durham UK

2010-08-04T22:39:00.001-07:00

Visited the charming, romantic gardens of Crook Hall in Durham, and as close to the city it is, it's a million light years away from the noise and bustle. Keith and Maggie Bell have created a beautiful work of love in a series of themed gardens that take you places. No stuffy formal beds here, but areas that are a riot of wild flowers, a walled garden to disappear into - typical English plants cheek by jowl and loving the close proximity. The gardens urge the visitor to follow the curved paths, discover the beauty of what man and nature can do. Well done Maggie and Keith - you are legends and thanks for very good coffee and cake. If you visit here, you will fall under the spell of the enchanting gardens - and that's a promise.
Visit: www.crookhallgardens.co.uk

North East England

2010-08-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Newcastle England yesterday afternoon, a bit of a hike - 13 hours from Sydney to Dubai (slept well in my business class cocoon, thank you elegant Emirates) and then a quick scoot through many hectares of space to catch the next flight of six hours to Newcastle. Geordie town shining in the sun and after a marathon sleep yesterday afternoon until this morning, up and at 'em. Did a walk around town, through the Quays, a power shop in Boots, a coffee and Scone in Fenwick's (the almost David Jones of Durham)'s, then to Durham. What beautiful little place this is... wonderful, ancient buildings, the cathedral was an inspired creation - truly divine. Durham Cathedral is the shrine to St Cuthbert.
Got the best insight to the city and what it's all about from one of Britain's legendary Blue Badge Guides - Kate showed me what's what. To get to know a place walk with a local.
It's warm, almost balmy today. Every tree is thick with summer leaves and great swathes of green line the roads and the river bank. Durham's river is the Wear, pronounced weir! It's great to be in this part of the country . . .more to come

Westin's decade of delights

2010-07-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

I have happy memories of wonderful nights spent at The Westin Melbourne. When it opened - yes - it was 10 years ago - I refused to leave my room as I had become so attached to the pillows supplied. Another time after foolishly inviting me to try the 'Heavenly Beds', there was another sit-in - make that not leaving the bed for anyone siege situation. I might be known as a troublemaker but as a more than satisfied guest - what do they expect?
Bringing Westin innovation and style to Melbourne now for 10 years, The Westin Melbourne has sold more than 1000 Heavenly Beds to guests; it displays a permanent art collection; and is now ready to 'refresh' the 262 rooms at a cost of $5.5 million.
The Westin Melbourne is offering a 10th Birthday Celebration package as well as special elements to add to your stay for $10. Package rates per room per night start at $315, guests can select an upgrade; an extra late 2pm check out; a pair of Heavenly bath towels to take home; 1000 bonus Starwood Preferred Guest points or 24 hour Internet access for only an additional $10 each.
if you haven't stayed at this lovely hotel give yourself a treat and enjoy a special weekend away in Melbourne. I would love to go back again, but they haven't forgiven me for stealing the King size mattress - they found me stuck in a lift with it!
More on The Westin Melbourne's 10th Birthday at www.westin.com.au/melbourne

More and more Moorea

2010-07-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just received a press release saying: "you deserve Tahiti". Well, yes, of course I do! Tahiti's magical Moorea Island is home to host of walking trails, water activities including dolphin watching, stretches of white sandy beaches, crystal clear lagoons and mountain peaks - something for everyone. Elegant Resorts and Villas is offering a taste of Moorea in a seven-night package, staying five nights at the decadent Sofitel Moore la Ora Beach Resort in a luxury beach bungalow - ooh la la!
There's breakfast included for $3745 (twin share) and an option to upgrade to a superior overwater bungalow for only $330 per person. return economy airfares and taxes are included on Air Tahiti Nui from Sydney, along with a night before and after the Moorea stopover in a classic mountain view room in Tahiti's beautiful Sofitel Maeva Beach Resort along with all transfers - this offer is valid until 16 December 2010.
I do deserve a trip to Tahiti, now!
Visit: www.youdeservetahiti.com.au and for more information on Tahiti go to http://www.tahitinow.com.au

Pearls & Opera in the Kimberley

2010-07-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

In September, Get Up & Go will be sailing on the Orion in and around the Kimberley. This is a 'wish list' kind of holiday - but there's a couple of fantastic special cruises happening before I go, see below:
Exquisite pearls and fine opera combine as naturally as champagne and caviar or Orion and the Kimberley, and this year two Orion Kimberley voyages provide exclusive inclusions for those interested in the finer things in life.
Join either 10 night Orion voyage and receive an invitation to the highlight of Broome's cultural events calendar of the year, OPERA UNDER THE STARS®, featuring performers of national and international acclaim including soprano Antoinette Halloran, tenors Aldo Di Toro and Stuart Skelton, and baritone, James Clayton.
• 19 August 2010 Pearls of the Kimberley or
• 29 August 2010 Kimberley Expedition
In addition, the Pearls of the Kimberley voyage incorporates Orion’s first visit to Rowley Shoals plus a Paspaley Pearls special event held at their South Sea Pearl Farm, Kuri Bay, including a cocktail party featuring opera singers flown in for this exclusive private performance.
Both voyages include Orion’s signature Kimberley explorations highlighting the visual drama of 3000km of Kimberley coast with its ancient indigenous rock art, vast tidal changes, emerging reefs, dramatic waterfalls and prolific marine life – all experienced in a relaxed atmosphere of five star comfort under the watchful eye of 75 professional crew.
Visit: www.orionexpeditions.com

Packing tips

2010-07-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

The key is to roll your cloths! And if you are backpacking take as little as possible! – Teddy Cook
Prepare the clothes you intend to take, then halve the pile. – Shenee Tuck
Yes, roll! And charge someone else with halving your pile before it goes in the bag! – Jane Nicholls
Passport and credit card is all you need. – Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan
Pack and then remove half of what you have packed. If you are going o/s take waterproof jacket and pants......you stand out like a sore thumb but heck it can be a life saver in some of the cold windy countries– Joan Morgan Pack a sarong to double as a towel, a large scarf to keep warm in flights and for a quick modesty fix, and house keys in the hand luggage! – Belle Jackson Never trust airlines - only check-in what you can afford to lose or at least be without for a few days. – Martyn Paterson
And
Always carry-on a spare set of clothes, toiletries, medications & leave a copy of your itinerary inside your suitcase.
And
If you are travelling on low-cost airlines - particularly in Europe where they prefer you to not check-in luggage - make sure your carry-on bag is big enough to switch heavy items from your suitcase.
·Always pack a large empty plastic bag in your suitcase when you leave home. Then stick all your unwashed clothes in it as you travel. This has saved me from the dirty sock horror many times. – Bruce Heilbruth
If doing a lot of road trips don’t wear white! Red, orange & pink are good colours in dusty areas! – Tiffany Snowdon
Any more for any more?
Post your tips now . . .

Tin Can Mail

2010-07-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

The tiny South Pacific island of Niuafo’ou in Tonga is also known as Tin Can Island. It's because Niuafo’ou has no harbour and no wharf, and in the early days of European visitation and settlement, during bad weather, passenger and cargo ships would give it a miss as there was no way of either landing or picking up freight or passengers.
But because mail was so important to the tiny community (there are still only around 650 people living there today) an ingenious local storekeeper came up with the idea of getting mail out to ships in bad weather by using old tin cans in which biscuits had earlier been delivered to his grocery store.
He put the mail inside the tins, soldered them up so they were watertight… and had a powerful local swim them on a floating pole out to ships standing in rough seas off the island.
Ship’s captains refilled the tins with the mail for Niuafo’ou, and the habit quickly became known as Tin Can Mail; a local postmaster later convinced the Tongan government to print special Tin Can Mail stamps for the island, and these are still used today and treasured by stamp collectors around the world.
Our pic shows a postcard mailed from the island in 1936 with the official Post Office cancellation DISPATCHED BY TIN CAN MAIL.
Written by David Ellis, who continues to seek out the weird and wacky from around the globe.

Picture perfect

2010-07-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Answering queries as to where the pictures on this month's banner came from, here you are:
the maze garden at Villa Parma, part of the Peppers Spring Resort in Daylesford, Victoria; detail of the ancient sandstone cliffs on Maria Island, Tasmania (read all about it in the October/spring edition of Get Up & Go); yoga students on the lawn of Solitaire Lodge, Rotorua, New Zealand and the outdoor cafe on top of Whistler mountain, BC Canada. I visited all these places in the name of Get Up & Go magazine . . . someone's got to do it.

Get Up & Go winter edition

2010-06-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

The winter edition of Australia's premier travel magazine for mature travellers (we like to think of them as grown-ups) is out and about now. Our cover story – and that bear is seriously magnificent – is of an Arctic odyssey in Canada, a special trip indeed.
We visit the misty hills of Dalat, Vietnam, a Royal beach resort in Thailand, the friendly Cook Islands and Mikimoto's island in Japan.
We eat Seoul food in Korea and go river cruising in Europe. At home we show large rocks in SA; a walk in Victoria that does more than keep travellers fit, we head to Queensland's warmth and enjoy Long Island in the Whitsundays and discover that there are no Oranges in Orange, NSW. And, of course much more!
There's P&O Cruises holiday in the Pacific to be won and until 1 August, a trip to China – don't miss out. Subscribe to the magazine now and get up and go! Visit: www.getupandgo.com.au

Make a spectacle of yourself

2010-06-27T16:58:00.001-07:00

If you, like me, wear glasses, it's always a concern travelling and worrying about losing yours specs. My travel advice always has been to: carry your prescription with you. But best of all, carry a spare pair of glasses, and maybe your spare pair can be your prescription sunglasses?
But frames are expensive and no matter what they cost on the lower price end - you want to look good and not have the old-fashioned Mr Magoo makeshift spare pair. Specsavers has partnered with The Country Road Eyewear Collection 2010 and has released a 24-piece men and women's eyewear range and are offering fabulous styles for the discerning traveller who doesn't want to sell the family heirlooms to pay for them! Specsavers have the frames in store now and the range starts from $199 for two pairs of frames> Bargain!
Henry Roth, Specsavers Style Ambassador says: "Whatever age you are, choose frames that fit your personality and individuality. You don't have to make the decision on the shape of your face or age. The Country Road collection has many colours and styles to choose from - and to choose two pairs."
And having two pairs of spectacles: "Match them to your mood and personal style. Add a burst of colour to your outfit, day or even the country you are travelling in."
To see the range of Specsavers Country Road fab frame collection and to find out where stockists are visit: www.specsavers.com.au