Australia | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Apr

Escape to the country, within the city limits: Marnong Estate, Victoria

Review of Melbourne hotel Marnong Estate, on the northern fringe of the city.

As a travel writer, I’ve got to say that it’s hard not to get gloomy when we see how the world has changed in the past few weeks – the whim of an orange man and his handlers changes our lives – and that’s not counting the human cost.

It’s kind of like COVID all over again, isn’t it? We suddenly find our wings clipped – whether we’ve planned to fly to Europe via the Middle East, or if the soaring cost of fuel has limited our local driving holiday.

So I bring you a timely story about a country escape within Melbourne’s city limits; Marnong Estate is many things; a vineyard, restaurant, cafe and farm, and also has stylish accommodation, making it the ideal place to sneak away overnight.

It’s my second time staying at Marnong – I reviewed the property when it first opened. Then, there were just four beautiful suites in the original bluestone homestead, which dates from 1840s.

This time, I stayed in one of the much, much newer 10 contemporary cabins; each cabin has a studio bedroom and a one-bedroom suite which are completely separate (or you can link the two up, if you’re travelling in a party – and Marnong caters for groups beautifully).

I reviewed the cabin accommodation for the Traveller section of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s Traveller section. To read the full feature, click here.

Oct

Best things to do on the Great Ocean Road with Lonely Planet

The Great Ocean Road is Australia’s most iconic road trip, running along the coastline of Victoria. I wrote this guide to the drive for Lonely Planet, sharing some of my favourite stops along the Great Ocean Road, with tips on the best places to eat, my favourite swim spots and some of the new, beautiful architecture along the way.

The route starts west of Melbourne at Torquay and ends at Allansford, on the way to Adelaide. Buckle up for 243km of heart-burstingly beautiful surf strips and quiet coves, pine-lined beach towns and country roads fringed by forests.

You can read more about the Great Ocean Road, the best walks along the route on the Lonely Planet website, or see more on the official website of the road here: https://visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/

and you can see more on Tourism Australia’s website: https://www.australia.com/en/places/melbourne-and-surrounds/guide-to-the-great-ocean-road.html

To read the full story, visit https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/guide-to-the-great-ocean-road

Oct

Roadtrip to Uluru and Australia’s Red Centre, Michelin Keys now rate the world’s best hotels & dogs on planes

As Australia celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Uluru Handback, host Belle Jackson shares how you can take a bite of the red dust on a roadtrip around the Red Centre Way.

From Alice Springs/Alice Springs to Watarrka/Kings Canyon and Uluru, here’s your list of where to stay, what to eat and some of the best experiences on a drive holiday in the Northern Territory.

Also, the world’s best hotels are recognised in the new Michelin Key hotels guide; Australia’s Lizard Island is the only the three-key hotel, with Longtitude 131 near Uluru, Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island and Drift House in Port Fairy, Victoria. Click here for the full list.

And dogs on planes – are you on board? Virgin Australia has become Australia’s first airline to allow dogs in the cabin, launching its new trial, as well as more generous carry-on limits.

Belle’s recommendations on the Red Centre Way include:

Ooraminna Station, 40 mins from Alice Springs, https://www.ooraminna.com.au/
Ormiston Gorge, West Macdonnell Ranges https://nt.gov.au/parks/find-a-park/tjoritja-west-macdonnell-national-park/ormiston-gorge
Kings Creek Station https://kingscreekstation.com.au/
Ayres Rock Resort, https://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/
Standley Chasm, West Macdonnell Ranges, https://standleychasm.com.au/
Northern Territory Tourism https://northernterritory.com/

Other places mentioned:
Melbourne Winery https://www.melbournewinery.com.au/
Virgin Australia https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/

#northernterritory

Jun

It’s a flower-powered Frida (Kahlo) fest in Bendigo. Canberra Times

“I’ve come to see Frida,” I overhear a woman telling another, as she admires a collection of perfume bottles. It sounds like she’s popping over to see a friend, not a woman who died more than 70 years ago, and who’d probably never, ever heard of Bendigo.

The speaker could be excused for her familiarity with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; the latest exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery, Frida Kahlo: In her own image, is at times so intimate you’d think it was your bestie’s drawers you were rifling through.

My latest story for Explore Travel, in the Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald and regional Australian family of newspapers, goes to the Victorian town of Bendigo. Here, its excellent art gallery has hosted exclusive exhibitions on Elvis, straight from Graceland, and Grace Kelly’s style and fashion extravaganza from the Victoria & Albert Museum, so Bendigo’s got form, and does its current exhibition, an exclusive retrospective from Mexico, proud.

To read my feature, visit https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8968858/discover-frida-kahlos-life-at-bendigo-gallery/ or see CANBERRA TIME Frida Kahlo – Belinda Jackson

I will say: some visitors have said they were disappointed there weren’t more works of art by Frida Kahlo – I say they’re missing the point. Her art was everywhere – in her clothes and in her hair, in her house and even on the plaster casts that held her broken body together. An indomitable spirit in the face of genuine, heartbreaking adversity. Go see the exhibition, if you can!

Feb

A coolcation in Vienna, skipping Japan’s cherry blossom crowds & tone-deaf NZ campaign

Ice skating, Christmas markets, imperial palaces and eating sausages in your best opera gown – welcome to Vienna. This week, on The World Awaits travel podcast, I’ll give a rundown from my recent ‘coolcation’ to Austria’s capital and why 2025 is the year to visit, wien.info/en

We also chat about the NZ$500,000 campaign to lure Aussies across the ditch. Have you heard of the new tagline? Sublime or a stinker? Take a listen to hear our thoughts, newzealand.com And here’s a link to Australia’s own tourism classic youtube.com/watch?v=LaWrkBo0t1o starring the Sydney Harbour bridge rigger turned international film star, Paul Hogan, and the current Swiss campaign, which we love, features two Swiss-South Africans, tennis great Roger Federer and comedian Trevor Noah, youtube.com/watch?v=5JK7vjVaIvo

And how do you avoid Japan’s cherry blossom crowds? We’re thinking outside the box on this one… japan-guide.com/sakura/

To listen to The World Awaits travel podcast, which drops every Thursday morning, jump on

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-83-a-coolcation-in-vienna-nzs-new-tourism/id1689931283?i=1000696308917

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/2v0eFSm1BekoEJ8gwMzzkD?si=ojh3L1aMQVuD7qQfJD_yTg

or simply click the ‘listen’ button on our website https://theworldawaits.au

Dec

Australia’s newest ‘Great Walk’ goes to Flinders Island, Tasmania

The warm turquoise waters are so clear that every ridge in the white sand floor is visible. Tea trees line the shore for a distinctively Australian look. Is this the Whitsundays? Maybe Rottnest Island? The dead giveaway is the orange lichen garnishing the granite boulders. Yep, it’s Tasmania. And that’s me, swimming in Bass Strait – the strip of treacherous water between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Flinders Island is not so cold, not so barren.

An hour into my week-long walking holiday, Flinders Island has kicked the stereotype of the Bass Strait islands being cold and barren.

“It’s the jewel of Tasmania,” the pilot shouts as our eight-seater Airvan chugs noisily away from Bridport, on the state’s north-eastern coastline. Below us stretch the low islands of the Furneaux Group, remnants of the mostly submerged plain that once linked Tasmania and Victoria.

On the west coast of Flinders Island, my guide Matt describes the land as “the Bay of Fires on steroids”. On this trip, we climb Mt Killiecrankie (fun to say, almost as much fun to climb) and I swim every day bar one, in spectacularly turquoise seas, making this a walk-swim-walk expedition.

https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/australia-s-newest-great-walk-truly-lives-up-to-the-name-20241129-p5kunw.html

Oct

Best places for stargazing, aurora hunting & dark sky sanctuaries

When was the last time you really soaked up the night sky? Went stargazing? Spotted a full moon? Admired the Milky Way? Saw an aurora?

Marnie Ogg joined me on The World Awaits podcast to talk about astrotourism – where people travel the world to see the best dark skies and celestial phenomenons.

Marnie designs and leads stargazing tours, and she is also the founder of the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance, which educates people about light pollution.

She loves going into the long polar night in Scandinavia, we talk about the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is renowned for its clear, dark skies with little light pollution, and her own pet project back here in Australia.

So stay with us to learn the best places on Earth to go stargazing, aurora hunting and spotting all sorts of celestial bodies. See darkskytraveller.com.au

We also reveal the best little town in Australia: it’s official, with the winner of the Top Tourism Town Awards, and we’ve got some tips about how to make the best memories when you travel. See toptourismtowns.com

To listen, visit https://www.theworldawaits.au/

Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-world-awaits-travel-tales-to-inspire-your-wanderlust/id1689931283

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5RcDD9u7ZyvBmA3yFxJAGv

Oct

Should I swim with whales? An ethical debate

A few months ago, I jumped in the chilly waters to swim with whales, as a pod of over-excited humpback whales were tearing up the NSW South Coast on what’s known as the humpback highway.

Swimming with whales in Australia is still a fledging tourism activity – should we even be doing it?

This swim with whales is run by Jervis Bay ecotourism company Woebegone Freedive, and we also had whale scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta on board, and together, we teased out the ethics of whale swimming and interaction, for this feature in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers’ Traveller section.

For some whale background, every year, thousands of humpback whales migrate from the chilly waters of Antarctica to southern Australia, where the split around the continent – some going to the western coast, and others up the east coast, where they find their favourite creche to nurture and teach their babies about life on the humpback highway.

Interestingly, one of those creches is near Fraser Island, where I also spent my childhood. We never knew anything about whales, because by the 1960s, we’d killed most of them for a lucrative whaling industry.

Thankfully, Australia banned killing these marine giants, and the population has begun to swell again. Some scientists put the population at about 40,000, so now we can see them in places like Fraser Island, Warrnambool in Victoria and Albany in Western Australia which, ironically, was the site of Australia’s last whaling station. It now makes its money from tourism, as people come to see the majesty of the animals we used to slaughter.

The trip was hosted by Bannisters Hotels, which offers a stay-and-swim Mollymook Migration package https://www.bannisters.com.au/mollymook-migration/

To read my discussion about whether we should swim with whales, jump to https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/i-swam-australia-s-humpback-highway-but-should-i-have-20240917-p5kbb7.html

Jul

Whale swim in NSW south coast: with 3AW radio Melbourne

Can you imagine the sound of a pod of racing humpbacks? We’re in the thick of whale season, and Australia’s south and east coasts are pinging with cetaceous shenanigans. Last week, I even took a whale swim with ethical sealife tour operator Wobegone in Jervis Bay, on the NSW south coast.

Note that there are currently no whale swims in our state – still a relatively new experience in Australia – which is why I crossed the border, and donned the wetsuit in Jervis Bay.

I had a chat with Melbourne radio station 3AW today about swimming with whales, and the best place to see whales here in Victoria.

However, Victoria has currently spectacular whale watching – I did a ringaround before the interview, and my head is filled with stories of people looking out their windows at whales, seeing them on their morning walk, spotting them on the ferry… the big ones are definitely in town!

You can spot them right across Victoria’s south coast – from Portland to Warrnambool, on the ferry from the Bellarine to the Mornington Peninsula, on The Prom and then they turn north, to head up Australia’s east coast. It really is magical!

The whales’ annual migration from Antarctica to its breeding and calving grounds off the Australia coastline is now on, and we’ll see our biggest visitors around for the next six months.

My whale swim trip was hosted by boutique hotel Bannisters by the Sea in Mollymook, which is owned by British chef Rick Stein and features an exceptional, sustainable seafood restaurant. And to get there, keeping the sustainability focus, I drove to Mollymook in a Polestar electronic car.

LINKS

Woebegone Freedive https://www.woebegone.com.au/

Bannisters by the Sea https://www.bannisters.com.au/mollymook/

Polestar https://www.polestar.com/au/

Jun

Best things to do on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia

In Melbourne, you’re either east or west holidaymaker. Mornington or Bellarine; pick your peninsula.

Never both – east is the Mornington Peninsula – a holiday hotspot close to my heart. It’s where I took my first holiday, at six weeks, and I’m still back there whenever I can shoot through from the city. Stylish and loaded with great wineries and restaurants, cafes and some of the state’s best hotels.

West is the Bellarine Peninsula. It’s the little sister. Also with great places to eat and drink, with fantastic produce and glorious views. But it’s quieter, it’s more low key. Less corporate, more family-run.

The two peninsulas are connected by a ferry across Port Phillip Bay, so I took the trip from Sorrento on the Mornington side to Queenscliff on the Bellarine, complete with dolphins surfing in the ferry’s wake- how’s that for a great omen for the holiday ahead?

The results of my finds on the Bellarine Peninsula are packed into this story for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers’ Traveller section, where I find all the gold; from gold-leaf facials to gold-medalled wines plus wild beaches, wild pinot, wild seals and wild convicts: all just 90 minutes from Melbourne.

https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/nine-must-do-highlights-of-victoria-s-underrated-peninsula-20240610-p5jkii.html

I was a guest of Visit Geelong & The Bellarine. See visitgeelongbellarine.com.au

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