You can tell a lot about a city by its public transport system and Western Australia’s City of Light is no exception. Like the city itself, Perth’s rail system is highly organised with neat, spacious train carriages and platforms that are efficiently colour-coded.
One of my favourite Dr Seuss books is the one about green eggs and ham, and the thing about Spice I Am, is that like the aforementioned dish you can eat Spice I Am anywhere.
A recent survey of the global hotel market revealed Oceania as a global leader, with the most positive sentiment of any region in the world when it comes to current levels of optimism and growth in the hotel sector.
Australia has a reputation for producing great wine – from unctuous reds born out of Barossa dirt and the Yarra Valley, to clean, crisp whites coming from McLaren Vale and Margaret River. Even Tasmania, with its cool climate, has a boutique industry that produces premium sparkling wine.
Australia is rapidly running out of international icons. It doesn’t have many internationally recognizable brands it can be genuinely proud of. I only think of this as I sit becalmed in an ageing late-running Qantas tinny on an asphalt pond at Sydney airport. It’s a sad reflection of what Qantas has become – fewer flights everywhere is the new business plan at the same time as more of the world’s consumers take to the air.
When I meet Ben Quilty he looks and smells exactly as I imagined. He’s dressed in a flannelette shirt, jeans and sneakers, with scruffy hair and a beard that’s fiercely thick. He smells of oil paint and I can see it still jammed under his fingernails. Sitting in a leafy courtyard at the National Art School, Quilty disarms me with his warm and welcoming presence despite the obvious emotion he displays as we start discussing his latest exhibition.
Baz Luhrmann’s visually lush – yet much delayed – adaptation of The Great Gatsby will undoubtedly showcase a golden age in American style including one particular accessory – the headpiece or the hat.
Sydneysiders have become food-obsessed – it’s an epidemic sweeping across the city at a rapid pace. Maybe it’s the rise of the 21st century gourmand, but foodies have become the new hipsters, hunting down the city’s trendy eats to sample the latest and greatest and, of course, be seen doing so – cue Facebook status update and Instagram happy snap.
From the air, Norfolk Island appears to float along the South Pacific Ocean, in between Australia and New Zealand. It’s an isolated green paradise and an ideal spot for a weekend getaway.
Whitehaven Beach has been named one of the world’s best beaches yet again, with the Trip Advisor’s Reader’s Choice awards naming it number three in the world.
A report to be released later this month will uncover the most visible boutique…
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Perched atop the Metropolitan Tower, overlooking Suzhou's heritage-listed gardens, famed Grand Canal and the majestic Taihu Lake is the Shangri-La…
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