May

BRISBANE FOR… families, lovers, foodies & sports fans

Families: ‘Big,
loud, fun’ is the tagline for the Workshops Rail Museum, where kids 2-12 years can
drive a diesel or a tilt train, and the nippers’ railway adventure playground
has goods trains, boom gates and a central station. Everything in this
award-winning museum is designed to be touched, climbed on, pushed or pulled.
North Street, North Ipswich, theworkshops.qm.qld.gov.au

Lovers: What better way to declare your heart than to bedeck your beloved
with vintage-inspired jewels by celebrated jeweller Chelsea De Luca? Nope, we can’t think
of anything to top that. Local gal
Chelsea’s following includes Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow,
76 James St, chelseadeluca.com.au

Foodies: The Spring Cooking School’s express
one-hour tapas classes will help you keep up with the Hyphen-Jones at your next
cocktail party, and have a great lunch at the same time. The three-hour classes
with guest chefs cover, for example, the secrets of bouillabaisse or red duck
curry, 26 Felix St, CBD, spring.com.au

Sport fans: Take a 1½ hour sunset kayaking trip up the
Brisbane River to see the city light up, then reward yourself with a plate of
fresh ocean king prawns and an icy beer or Aussie wine in the classic Brissy
marriage of Paddle &Prawns. Every
Friday night, riverlife.com.au

Sun Herald www.smh.com.au

May

Travel deals: 29 April 2012

AUSTRALIA

$ TAS

Now’s the time to nip down to Tassie before winter sets
in, so you can rug up with all your chic woollies while you shop Hobart’s
Salamanca Markets and snack on Tassie’s famed scallop pies from the harbour’s
food vans. Stay at the Hobart
Mercure from $123 a night and get a $50 voucher to spend at the hotel’s
restaurants and bars – perhaps raid the Les Grand Vins wine list, which
features the island’s top wines. Book seven days in advance,
accorhotels.com/dine

$$ VIC

An hour from Melbourne and you’re deep in the Yarra
Valley, with its wineries, golf clubs and Yering beach. Stay three nights at
Yering Gorge Cottages and get a free brekky basket each morning, which will
give you the energy to hit the cellar doors close by, including Domaine Chandon
and Yering Station winery. Book by 14 May, travel until 31 August. Costs from
$391 a person, twin share, qantas.com.au/victoria

$$$ QLD

Just 90km from Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast, Caloundra is
home to the Australia Zoo and the Ettamogah Pub, not to mention some pretty
mean surf and swimming beaches. The five-star Rumba Beach Resort, on Bulcock
Beach, gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor. It’s offering one free night when you
book a four-night stay, with a bottle of wine, bike hire and restaurant
discount. Costs from $660 for four nights, rumbaresort.com.au

$$$$ NSW

You may
be staying in the middle of the Hunter Valley, with all its temptations for
fabulous food and divine wine, but it’s all about you and your health when you
stay at the Golden Door – Elysia. Some may say life’s too short for no salt,
caffeine or alcohol, others say life is about early morning tai chi, country
walks, and truly beautiful, healthful food. Book the health retreat’s seven day program
and pay for the price of five before 31 May. Normally $3700, pay $2840 a
person, elysia.com.au

$$$$
WA

High up on the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, the newest address
in the Kimberley is the Berkeley River. Accessible only by sea plane, an hour
from the nearest town, Wyndham, do not expect your phone to work. The hotel opened
on April 13, and its chalets feature 180 views. Opening specials save up to $90
per night, includes all meals, transfers from Kununurra, all activities
including fishing, 4WD tours, river cruises and bushwalking. Costs from $1307 a
night, travel.com.au

$$$$ SA

Skim the historic beauty of northern SA in a Pilatus PC12
on a two-day adventure that includes a stay in the outback Prairie Hotel and a
full-day air tour of Lake Eyre South, Innamincka and the Birdsville Track.
Highlights include Burke & Wills’ Dig tree and a flight over Wilpena Pound
and the Flinders Ranges. Departs most weekends from 19 May to end September. Was
$2999, now $2850 a person based on six travelling, includes a copy of the
luxury tome Australia in Style,
thetailor.com

INTERNATIONAL

$ THAILAND

Smokin’ Bangkok’s
hotspot the Dome at the Lebua Tower is a rooftop restaurant and bar for lovers and
hipsters. Up the swank factor by staying in the Tower Club at Lebua hotel, with
club access and late check-out. Nobody needs to know you’re saving a whopping
80 percent. Get upgraded from a city to a river view suite on one-night stays.
Stay extra nights for an upgrade and airport transfers. Travel until 27
December. Normally $1400, costs $224, lebua.com

$ INDONESIA

At the
northern tip of Indonesia, the best way to the white-sand beaches of Bintan
Island is by high-speed catamaran from Singapore. Save 15 percent on best
available rates and get a buffet breakfast when you book two weeknights
(Sun-Thurs) at the chic, five-star Angsana Bintan. Stay before June 30, costs
from $252 a room a night, angsana.com

$$$ COSTA RICA

So, what did you do today? Why, I zip-lined my way
through a cloud forest. Costa Rica’s Monteverde cloud forest has almost 3km of
treetop walkways and eight suspension bridges where you can spot the country’s
bizarre and beautiful animal and plantlife. Singles get a 10 percent discount,
or the second person scores 20 percent off. Book by 18 May, the 10-day Costa
Rica Family Adventure costs $1592 a person, twin share, worldexpeditions.com

$$$ MOROCCO

Some of the world’s best shopping is
found in the souqs of Morocco, from butter-soft leather slippers to gorgeous
weaves. Book Trafalgar’s nine-day Best of Morocco First Class guided holiday 10
months ahead and save $105 a person, or save $70 when you book six months ahead.
Costs from $1350 a person, twin share. Trafalgar also has discounted winter
companion fares to London when booked with a 2012/13 itinerary. Book by July
31, travel Oct 1 – March 31 2013, trafalgar.com

$$$$$ NEW ZEALAND

Rudyard Kipling called NZ’s Milford Sound the eighth
wonder of the world, and rightfully so. The 15km fjord has rock walls up to 1.2km
high and is one of the star attractions on the Royal Tourer package, along with
the TranzAlpine train journey across the South Island, from Christchurch
over the Alps to Greymouth. Book 12 months ahead, save $1700 per couple.
Book by July 31, save $350 a person. Costs $5045 a person, see travel agents or
aptouring.com.au

TOURWATCH

This is not a trip that you need hiking boots or gas
stoves – the streets of Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive demand other privations, such
as killer heels and death-defyingly tight skirts. This four-day tour takes you through
Hollywood’s most famous shopping strip and goes celeb-spotting around the mansions
of the stars. Includes accommodation at the Andaz West Hollywood hotel on
Sunset Strip, and a hop-on, hop-off double decker tour. For more celeb-chasing,
add a TMZ Hollywood Tour for $70, a Universal Studios VIP Experience from $286
or a J Paul Getty Museum and Movie Star Homes tour from $105 a person. Book
before May 31, travel between Sept 1 – Dec 31. Costs from $672 a person, twin
share, travel-associates.com.au

Source: Sun Herald www.smh.com.au

Apr

Morning glory on ANZAC Day

“Where’d you get those badges?” I heard a little girl ask an old fella today.

“They’re war medals, love!” he said, pointing to the string of metal hanging from his chest.

For my foreign friends, today was, of course, Anzac Day, where Australia remembers its war dead. Sort of like 6 October in Egypt, but less glory-obsessed.

There was a good turnout at my local cenotaph, the memorial found in every town commemorating the local sons and daughters who have died for their country. There was a respectable showing of old blokes with their pressed trousers and medals, some smart older ladies with set hair and nice hats, and quite a lot of young teens wearing what most likely was their great-grandfathers medals and slouch hats. A few blokes with plenty of tatts and shaved heads had the look of Vietnam veterans about them, and amongst the flags was the banner for the Royal Australian Regiment, Second Battalion, which has served in Malaya, Borneo, Korea and Vietnam.

I remember being hauled off to Anzac Day parades when I was a kid, so it was the first time for the Jackson junior to get a dose. Admittedly, she’s a little too young to understand, but she kept quiet during the Last Post and the hymns, curled up against me in the baby carrier.

Later, as we walked away, we passed a very tall old Scottish man, leaning on his walking frame. The cheeky baby pulled a face at the old soldier. “I wish someone’d carry me,” he said, and trundled down the hill to the RSL (Returned Soldiers’ League) hall to play two-up.

Apr

Nirvana for the wild at heart


Rafting the rapids.

By boat or bike, paddling or pachyderm, the Island of the Gods is heaven for the adventurer.

There’s
more to Bali than the nightclubs and Kuta’s beaches: get on your
elephant, cycle among green paddy fields or take to the water to explore
its underwater life.

Elephant tours

Tap
into Bali’s Hindu culture with a cruise through the jungle atop an
Asian elephant. Don’t worry about the logistics of steering a four-tonne
animal, the elephants are guided by their mahouts (handlers) through
Elephant Safari Park, a world-recognised sanctuary in Taro, 20 minutes
north of Ubud. It started when Australian Nigel Mason rescued 10
endangered elephants from Sumatra and now includes a luxe lodge,
restaurant, night safaris, botanical gardens and white-water rafting and
has earned the thumbs-up from animal luminaries such as Steve Irwin.
Elephant safari tours from $US73/$US49 ($70/$47), include hotel
transfers, lunch and admission to the park. Bali Adventure Tours, +62
361 721 480, baliadventuretours.com.

Rafting the rapids

Skim
through Bali’s lush green scenery, from rice terraces to rainforests,
on the rushing Ayung or Telaga Waja rivers, which provide the perfect
vehicle for white-water rafting. Run by long-time outdoors experts
Sobek, the Ayung River run is best for families, with grade 2-3 rafting
that has a few quiet stops to catch your breath, while the Telaga Waja
river route sends you down shallow rapids on a grade-3 ride in a
two-hour adventure. From $US79/adult, $US52/child (7-15 years), includes
towels, showers, lunch and insurance, Sobek Bali Utama, balisobek.com.

Tropical Trekking

Not-very-hard Bali trekking, Creative Holidays

Trekking
in the quiet of the early morning, you can appreciate Bali’s nickname,
the Island of the Gods. The most popular walking trails are around
Bali’s highest and holiest mountain, Mount Agung, at 3142 metres, and
Mount Batur, 1717 metres, in the north-east. Hiking the crater rim of
Mount Batur is best done in the dry season: head up pre-dawn for a
spectacular sunrise. From 450,000 rupiah ($47), includes torches, hiking
sticks, wet-weather gear, hotel transfers, breakfast and guide, baliecocycling.com.
For a more genteel amble, take a 2½-hour hike through rice paddies,
jungles and the village of Taro, with lunch at the Elephant Safari Park,
Creative Holidays, $63/adult, $45/child, 1300 747 400, creativeholidays.com or through travel agents.

On your bike

Julia
Roberts did it and you too can feel the tropical wind in your hair as
you pedal through the paddies. Staying off the scary main roads, with
their death-wish bemos (buses), seeing Bali by bike lets you listen to
the peaceful soundtrack of village life. From $47, includes transfers
and lunch, viator.com.
Intrepid Travel’s “Beautiful Bali” tour includes one day cycling from
Ubud up into the hills, from $672/nine days, 1300 018 871, intrepidtravel.com.

Dive in

Barat
National Park in north-western Bali is considered one of the island’s
premier diving spots, with the coral reefs of Pulau Menjangan (Deer
Island) the star attraction. Guides are essential when diving in the
national park: you’ll find them at the jetty at Labuhan Lalang, the
island’s jumping-off point. To organise from down south, combine luxury
and diving with Anantara resort’s two-day certification courses in Barat
National Park, $344, anantara.com.
Sleepy Sanur, near Denpasar, is itself a divers’ nursery and also the
starting point for the southern hotspot of Nusa Penida island. From
$US131/four days, +62 361 288 829, enadive.co.id.

Catch a break

Tropic Surf

Explore
remote point breaks from your base at the secluded eastern Balinese
resort Alila Manggis, with Tropic Surf owner and guru Jack Chisholm.
Using the full moon, he’ll lead you on a moonlit surfing safari around
the little-known eastern coastline, $US661/night, four nights includes
accommodation, spa treatments, some meals and daily surf guiding, Alila
Manggis +62 363 41011, alilahotels.com.
Private surf guiding is also available, discovering the iconic, the
infamous and the unknown, from $US500/half-day (extra surfers $US100
each), which can include coaching, surfboard factory tours, transport
and access to the top events on the islands, (07) 5455 4129, tropicsurf.net.

Click here to read more

Apr

TRAVEL DEALS 22 April

AUSTRALIA

Cradle Mountain, APT Tours.

$ SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Surf, swim or shipwreck hunt, Kangaroo Island’s beaches cater for all
comers, including the white-sand Vivonne Bay, often considered Australia’s best
beach. With jetties begging you to drop a line over, and farmers markets on the
first Sunday of the month, SA’s beloved island does winter beautifully. Knock
25 percent off your room rate at the 4-star Kangaroo Island Seafront Resort
from April 22. From $180 a night, 1300 130 485, travel.com.au

$ QUEENSLAND

You don’t have to head to the far north to revel in Queensland’s island
culture. Morton Island is just over an hour from Brisbane’s CBD where you can
4WD, fish and dive wrecks to your heart’s content. Castaways Moreton Island lets
you save $120 between May 1-31. Costs $430 including two night’s accommodation
for two and transfers from the MiCat ferry, (07) 3909 3333, moretonislandadventures.com.au/specials

$$ VICTORIA

The well-heeled Melbourne suburb of Prahran and its none-too-shabby
neighbour South Yarra are enjoying a restaurant renaissance, with notable
dining rooms recently opened by George Calombaris (Mama Baba) and the Reymond family
(Bistro Gitan). Stay amidst them at The Cullen, one of Melbourne’s three
ArtSeries hotels. The Cullen celebrates the work of contemporary artist Adam
Cullen and was recently voted the city’s coolest pad. Book a studio suite seven
days in advance and pay $358, 1800 002 333, wego.com.au/deals

$$ WA

Kick back and learn about life from Mandurah’s most famous tourists, the
dolphins and whales that visit this cruisy town in southern WA. The 4.5-star
Seashells Mandurah sits right on the beach at Comet Bay, and is geared up for
both couples and families. Pay for two, get the third night and a bottle of
wine free when you travel before May 4. Costs from $836 for three nights, twin
share, 1300 551
669, needtoescape.com.au

$$$ NSW

You don’t have to go overseas for extreme luxury – in fact, you don’t
even have to leave the state. Three hours from Sydney, the Wolgan Valley Resort
& Spa is set on 4000 acres, with just 40 individual suites that look over
the national parks of the Blue Mountains, for the last word in eco-luxe. Stay
three nights, pay for two between April 1 and June 30, with three gourmet meals
daily and two nature-based activities each day including wildlife spotting,
horse riding and mountain biking. From $1950 a person, twin share, (02) 9290
9733, wolganvalley.com

$$$$ TAS

The reward for hiking Tassie’s great Overland Track is a dip in the freezing
Lake St Clair, the deepest lake in Australia. Or, you can dip your toes in and
nip back onto a warm luxury coach – far more civilised! Travel at last
year’s prices with APT’s 12-day Royal Tasman tour, saving $225 a person if
booked before July 31 for departures after September. Includes accommodation,
meals, cruises and entrance fees across the southern island’s beauty spots including
Gordon River, Russell Falls, Freycinet National Park and Port Arthur. Costs
$4470 a person, see travel agents, 1300 229 804, aptouring.com.au

Sofitel So Bangkok’s uniforms
by Christian Lacroix.

INTERNATIONAL

$ THAILAND

With fashion guru Christian Lacroix at the design helm, it’s no wonder the
Sofitel So Bangkok is such a lush affair. Set beside Lumpini Park, the
two-month-old hotel includes a chocolate deli, Chocolab! Stay four nights, pay
for three on stays until May 20, and enjoy a decadent 4pm check-out and fruit
basket or flowers to celebrate the diva you really are. From $137 a night, 1300
884 400, sofitel.com

$ USA

Aaah, New York, New York, so good they named it twice. Splash your cash on a
show in the nearby theatre district when you save up to 30 percent on Big Apple
hotel rooms during May and June. The three-star Amsterdam Court Hotel, in the
heart of the action in Midtown West, costs $235 a night, (02) 9037 0397, worldwideholidays.com.au

Ulusaba Private Game
Reserve

$$ SOUTH AFRICA

If it’s good enough for Virgin’s Richard Branson, Ulusaba Private Game
Reserve is good enough for us. Butting up against Kruger National Park, you can
be sure to tick off the Big Five during your twice-daily game drives and walks.
There’s no roughing it, the champagne’s on ice and the spa will soothe any
nerves. Stay four nights, pay for three until July 31. Costs from $1707 for
four nights, virtuoso.com.au

$$$ EGYPT

Photographers should make a beeline for Egypt while its normally roaring
tourism industry is in a lull and the sites are relatively empty. Two can
travel for the price of one on Icon Holiday’s nine-day Treasures of the Nile,
which includes four nights in Cairo and four on the Nile. Applies to Friday
arrivals only, on sale until August 31 for travel to September 7. Costs $3125
for two people, twin share, 1300 853 953, iconjourneys.com

$$$$$ SRI LANKA

The Festival of the Tooth isn’t a dentist’s convention, it’s a wild
celebration of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha arriving in Sri Lanka in
the fourth century. One of the world’s great festivals, Perehara mixes
slow-moving elephants with whip crackers, drummers and fire throwers who parade
the streets of Kandy. This 15-day small group tour visits rock fortresses,
ancient Buddhist shrines, hill towns and tea plantations. Book before April 30
for a July 25 departure to save $250 a person. Costs $6209 (ex-Sydney), 1300
363 302, naturalfocussafaris.com.au

TOURWATCH

Pull out all the stops this Christmas with the works: snow-clad mountains,
hot spiced drinks, festive markets and hotels that could be cut from a
gingerbread mould. Albatross Tours’ eight-day package whisks you away to
spend the season in a timber chalet-style hotel the Swiss Alps, exploring the
lakes and cities of Luzern and Bern by Switzerland’s alpine trains. With access
to great walking trails, medieval cobbled stone
streets and some of the world’s best skiing, this is an unescorted tour
designed to let you do the exploring. The package includes most meals including
Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas lunch. Costs $1579 a person, twin share,
1300 135 015, albatrosstours.com.au

See more at smh.com.au/travel

Apr

Secrets from the grave revealed in Book of the Dead (aka The Mummy part II)

A ps to my post the other evening about The Mummy exhibition in Brisbane:

I flicked open this morning’s papers to find a front page story that famous Egyptologist John Taylor, who is in Brisbane for the exhibition’s opening, has discovered a piece of burial scroll of one of Egypt’s biggest names, amongst Queensland Museum’s holdings!

Apparently, the scrap of papyrus belongs to the Book of the Dead – a burial scroll laden with spells – that was written for the 15th-century BC chief builder Amenhotep, Egypt’s top builder during the construction of Karnak temple. The papyrus was donated in 1913 by an unknown woman.

You can read the full story in today’s Australian here:

Apr

Top of Tassie on go-slow

“Far OUT!” says the man in my life. “There’s nothing here. Nothing! No McDonalds. No KFC. No Red Rooster.”

Driving across the top of Tasmania, from Launceston to Burnie late on a Friday afternoon, there is a notable lack of inhabitants, but it’s more than compensated for by the signs of life: two cheese factories, a chocolate factory and tasting shop, a Fuchsia Factory (don’t ask me), Penguin Market and The Big Penguin. I suspect they don’t actually sell penguins, but it is the street market at the town named Penguin.

Instead of stinky fast-food shops, there is soft mist on farm dams, a sunset of gold, rose and powder blue. There are busy milking sheds with black-and-white cows waiting for their turn, tiny towns with tiny white churches, arched bridges over little brooks and I learn that the town of La Trobe is the platypus capital of the world.

When we hit Devonport, the billboards start – McDonalds in 10km! Doesn’t seem so important by now.

Apr

Priest keeps mum about temple secrets, now unwrapped by scientists

Looking inside the mummy to Nesperennub.

Last week, I had a sneak peak at a 3000-year-old-man. Sounds a bit naughty, but he had all his clothes on, and more.

Nesperennub was a temple priest in Thebes (now Luxor), whose mummified body now rests in the British Museum’s Egyptology collection.

The priest is now holidaying in Brisbane, and is the headline act in Mummy: Secrets of the Tomb, an exhibition that opens tomorrow, Thursday 19 April, at the Queensland Museum.

There are four mummies in the exhibition, including the body of Tjayasetimun, a singer in the temple of Amun.

“Sometimes, I look at her and I think about the hopes, dreams and memories of each object,” one of the curators told me as we wandered around the exhibition. “That’s why we investigate.”

One of the coolest things is the 3D movie at the entrance. It shows the CT and X-ray scans used to analyse the mummy, without unwrapping him and ultimately destroying his fragile frame. From this, a rather lifelike model of the priest’s face was constructed, and is also on display.

For tickets: http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/Events+and+Exhibitions/Exhibitions/2012/04/Mummy+Secrets+of+the+Tomb

Apr

Putting the Gold Coast in your face

Risque … chocolate three ways at Salt Grill Restaurant, the Hilton Hotel.

New food stars have come out to shine on the Gold Coast, leaving kebabs and burgers in the shade.

The
new Hilton hotel features another Gold Coast newbie, Sydney chef Luke
Mangan, who has made the trek north to open Salt Grill restaurant. Four
months after opening, it was awarded a Chef Hat at the 2012 Australian
Good Food Guide awards. As we toss over the difference between
striploin, fillet and tenderloin, Mangan works the room, smiling and
shaking hands like the best-trained celebrity chef.

In case you
forget who designed your dinner, his name is on every plate laid on the
table. And there are many, many plates on our table.

We
eat the kingfish sashimi, with the most divine crust of ginger,
eschallot and Persian feta. We eat chargrilled quail on shredded
zucchini studded with pine nuts and currants. We eat the tenderloin, we
eat the striploin. Heaven help us, we eat dessert: a strip of
sunshine-orange cheesecake and a risque-sounding chocolate three ways.

You
might be shocked but, finally, we are so full we forgo a post-prandial
cocktail in the hotel’s heaving bar, Fix, even if it is by international
barmeister Grant Collins, who lists Sydney’s Zeta bar among his
conquests.

You would think we wouldn’t eat again but you’d be
wrong. The next night is earmarked for Bazaar, an “interactive
marketplace” housed in the QT Gold Coast hotel (qtgoldcoast.com.au). Forget tired hotel restaurants: every table is packed, wine is flowing, and the chefs in the alfresco kitchens are running.

It’s
an eye-popping international array of hanging meats, sizzling
barbecues, woks on fire, an embarrassment of raw fish and, when the
dessert chef pops out, he’s mobbed by grateful women like a celebrity
turning up to an AA convention. “It’s a buffet but it’s a buffet on
steroids,” one of the many beautiful staff members says.

The
restaurant pumps not only to its own beat but the beat of the nightclub
Stingray, one floor below, where waitresses in tight ‘n’ t’riffic red
minidresses mingle between thirtysomething local partiers, who are all
happy to leave at midnight, while still beautiful.

More great eats

1 Hellenika, Nobby Beach An
effusive Greek restaurant famed for its luscious baked lamb, though the
white marinated anchovies and chargrilled Mooloolaba king prawns are
worthy of the journey. (07) 5572 8009, hellenika.com.au

2
Vie Restaurant, Palazzo Versace, Main Beach Now serving Sunday brunch.
The duck confit on polenta is creamy and rich with the scent of truffle
and the wagyu beef divine. Order Bloody Marys and pretend you own one of
the yachts in the marina. $49 for two courses and welcome drink. (07)
5509 8000, palazzoversace.com.au

3
The Food Store, Hilton Surfers Paradise Create the perfect picnic with
charcuterie and ask hotel staff to set up a picnic at Main Beach.
Must-eats include dried, tissue-thin wagyu beef, black truffle duck,
chicken liver pate and muscatels. (07) 5680 8000.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/places-to-go-for-dinner-and-a-bit-of-a-showoff-20120405-1weww.html

Mar

Oh my goodness, Ballarat!

Oh my goodness! Miss Lulu snapped in Ballarat.

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