Travel | GlobalSalsa: travel writer Belinda Jackson

Whales, worship and weird cabaret: the Tongan triumvirate

Humpback whales bring their (very big) babies into the
safe waters of Tonga each year, from July to October.
Photo: Belle Jackson

We’ve all been lamenting the devastation in Fiji from the recent Cyclone Winston, but spare a thought for Tonga, which was in the cyclone’s frontline, and is still picking up the pieces.

The Vava’u archipelago, where I spent most of my time on my recent Tongan visit, was hardest hit.

So if you’re not a Fiji aficionado, preferring something a little more laid back and – to use the word of the decade- ‘authentic’, why not skip one country further east from Australia for whale swimming, a spot of choral singing and the funniest drag shows I’ve seen for many a year.

And if you are a Fiji fan, from this month (April 2016) you can now fly from Australia to Nadi (Fiji) for a little five-star R&R, then fly Nadi direct to Vava’u (Tonga) for said pleasures, with Fiji Airways.

You can read my story about whales, worship and weird cabaret in Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper’s Traveller section by clicking here.

Airline review: Qatar Airways economy class, Melbourne to Doha

A street scene from Doha’s Souq Waqif. Photo: Belle Jackson

Qatar Airways, the newest Middle Eastern airline to service Australia, does the Melbourne-Doha (Qatar) route and recently started flying from Sydney, with Adelaide-Doha in the wings.

I flew Melbourne to Qatar on the way to Stockholm, and reviewed it for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. I never seem to draw the A380 card, so plane nerds please note that this flight was on its Boeing 777-300ER.

Great entertainment system (when it got working), good food (except that thing about stuffing kids full of sugar while in a confined space for 14 hours – um, why???) and timely arrival into Doha’s new airport, which is fantastic until you hit the maniacal bottlenecks at the transit area.

Click here to read my review of the rival to Emirates and Etihad.

Peppers Docklands review: Melbourne’s newest five-star hotel

A couple of weeks ago, I popped in to the newest five-star hotel in
Melbourne, Peppers Docklands. It’s right beside Etihad Stadium, at the
bottom of La Trobe St.

Loved the Melbourne tram printed
on the wall above the bed, the pool with a view and the crayfish
omelette. And if you find pancakes on the new menu, you can thank us for
the junior reviewer’s determined efforts 🙂

To read my review, published on Fairfax Media’s Traveller website, click here.

Mussels and brisket: eating Melbourne this week

It’s been a good week for eating in Melbourne, and I checked out the new Marion wine bar, by chef-restaurateur Andrew McConnell in happening Gertrude St, Fitzroy. How’s that for a minimalist menu? My pick is the mussels, who are enjoying a renaissance in the food world, and nduja, a spicy Italian sausage that’s crumbled onto the dish.

On the opposite side of the city (and the other side of life), it was all about smoke-pit masters at the new San Antone Texan BBQ restaurant in Crown Melbourne. Vegetarians, please look away, the beef brisket wins the day.

This week’s Takeoff column in Sydney’s Sun-Herald also heads offshore to Singapore to check out the new Hotel Vagabond, by designer Jacques Garcia, who won my heart for his spectacular, three-year renovation of Marrakech’s grand dame, La Mamounia.

The Takeoff news column is published every Sunday in the Sun-Herald newspaper’s Traveller section.

Tom Roberts’ cigar box lids a touchstone of Australian impressionism

I recently wrote a couple of pieces on one of Australia’s leading artists, Tom Roberts, and was surprised to find the lengths that he travelled in Australia during his career, from the 1870s till his death in 1931. Not only did he criss-cross from his birthplace in England to his eventual homeland in Australia, but he also went bush, painting up in the Torres Strait, in outback NSW and in the far south of Tasmania.

One of the pioneers of Australia’s plein-air landscape paintings, he would set off on the weekends with fellow artists to the ends of Melbourne’s rail, to camp at Box Hill and Mentone for a few days’ painting. There are more shopping malls and beach boxes at these mid-city suburbs today, so we should be thankful he documented the times when European settlers were still eking out a home amongst the scrublands.

“Think of artist Tom Roberts and you’ll probably recall grand works: his muscular Shearing the Rams, painted in 1890, is more than six feet long (183 centimetres). The Big Picture, commemorating the opening of Parliament, is a “17-foot Frankenstein”.

However, Roberts’ small paintings, known as 9 by 5s, cemented
his position as one of the nation’s eminent artists and along the way
created a new school – Australian impressionism.”

Click here here to read the full story (and to see pictures!)

Tom Roberts is on at the National Gallery of Australia until March 28.
nga.gov.au/Roberts. Tickets are on sale through Ticketek

Christmas gift guide for people who love to travel

Buy a goat for Christmas…you know you want to,
worldvision.com/gifts

Thought about giving someone a goat for Christmas? It’s time for *drum roll* the Christmas gift guide for travellers.

No matter where your stocking is hung, in a snowy pine
forest or on the walls of a beach shack, here are Christmas gift ideas that will
travel – or will inspire you travel. Here are a couple of suggestions from the story, which was published in the Traveller section of Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper. Gifts range from $10 bags up to a slick weekend in Thailand.

Feel good, make others feel good buying a World Vision gift in their
name. Shop online (no postage or wrapping required) to give a child inrural Cambodia some school pencils or hey, buy a family a llama. You
know you want to. From $5 to $197, worldvision.com.au/gifts.

Add a touch of Scandi style to your Christmas babes with this 100 per
cent organic cotton baby travel blanket. One side is a smart neutral
grey (to go with whatever you’re wearing) the other is a monochromatic,
seasonal forest print, $75, jasperandeve.com.au.

From e-book readers to luxury weekends, if you’re an
armchair traveller or enjoy road trips, click on to my story in Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper for some crackers Christmas ideas for the traveller in your life.

The 16 must-see new architecture projects for 2016

An artist’s impression of WTC transportation hub, US

In what’s becoming an annual story for the Sydney Morning Herald, here’s my round-up of next year’s great architectural openings. Thanks, as ever, to Sydney architect and founder of Sydney Architecture Walks, Eoghan Lewis.

Who doesn’t love an architectural icon? While rising prices and
global uncertainty have slowed many building projects around the world –
the ambitious Grand Egyptian Museum is once again on ice – eyes are
open for key cultural offerings in Hamburg, New York and London.

Sure,
the skyscraper industry isn’t going out of business any time soon –
just take a look at the new Trump Towers going up in Vancouver, while
skinny is inny as New York discusses the rash of slim skyscrapers
overshadowing Central Park and the first super-tall skyscraper has been
approved for Warsaw. However, take your head out of the clouds to see
what’s trending in the world of architecture.

“Analogue seems to
be coming back … less slick, less same-same,” says Sydney architect and
architecture walking guide Eoghan Lewis. “Authenticity is trending, and
there is a new focus on refinement and simplicity.” (see www.sydneyarchitecture.org)

Click here to see what we’ve named the top 16 architectural openings in 2016.

(This feature by Belinda Jackson was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age newpapers.)

Australia’s best resorts and hotels: The 10 best resorts and hotels in Australia

Australia’s best resorts and hotels? That’s a big call – take a look at this piece in this weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald for the top places to lay your head in Australia.

The writers named luxe safari lodges, industrialia in the Tasmanian wilderness, island stays and beach eco-resorts.

On an urban note, I tipped the seven Art Series Hotels in Victoria and South Australia, because the art is sublime, they’re so much fun, and who doesn’t like to wake up with Ned Kelly pointing a gun at your head?

You can read the story in full here, in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Traveller section.

Dolphin Island Fiji: Family experience for a chosen few

Private paradise: Dolphin Island accommodates only six people.

I’ll be blunt, 2014 was a crappy year for our family,
with loved ones lost and the distances separating those of us remaining
felt keenly.

I needed low-fuss nurturing, the chance to reconnect
with my private thoughts and to reconstruct a life without someone who’d
been there from the moment I was born.

The doctor prescribes
meditation and contemplation, the world-map dartboard prescribes Dolphin
Island, at the very tip of Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu.

When you book the island, you get the island, and selfishness is
indulged: you won’t be sharing any of your island paradise with other
guests.

Yes, the island is exclusive, but it’s not opulent in a razzle-dazzle, show-me-the-money kinda way…

To read more about Fiji’s Dolphin Island in Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper, click here

Street art in Melbourne, Australia: The new hotspot outside the CBD

Street art by artist Smug. Photo: Belinda Jackson

Move over, Melbourne central, Fitzroy and Collingwood are the city’s street new art heartlands.

Chances are you’ve seen a tour group standing outside Movida
restaurant on Hosier Lane, camera phones working overtime, two fingers
up in the “victory” salute.

Melbourne has claimed its position as
one of the world’s premier street-art cities, rivalling Berlin, Sao
Paulo, Paris and New York, but the city’s top street artists say it’s
time street-art watchers moved out of the city centre and looked
north-east for the hottest talent on Melbourne’s walls…

Click here to read my article on Melbourne’s new streetart heartland on Fairfax Media’s Traveller website.

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Move over, Melbourne central, Fitzroy and Collingwood are the city’s street new art heartlands.