Global Travel Writers: Articles

Sailing the Tahiti Pearl Regatta

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:58:00 -0400

Possible angles include: Yachting Tahiti profile � Demystifying bareboat charter for those who want to venture outside Aust. Where to go, what to see, charter options. Covering the best charter operators, logistics of chartering, highlights of the region, best time to go etc.

Alternative angles: Regatta roundup/News covering regatta highlights, participants, crews, yachts, who die what and when, in this exotic location, sprinkled with some colourful quotes from sailors and non-sailors alike.

Naturally stunning pics of regatta participants against dramatic seascapes will be available.

The Tahiti Pearl Regatta is an annual event held in May 2011: Fiona Harper will be attending.

With a full program of sailing by day and entertainment Tahitian style by night, it's a fun filled five days in a glorious South Pacific setting. Fiona Harper will be out on the water, as well as digging out stories on shore at the regatta events http://www.tahitipearlregatta.org.pf/index.php

Contact Fiona Harper to register your 'in principal interest' in exclusive editorial www.fionaharper.com.au

Dingo: Have passport, can travel

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:55:00 -0500

Flopping into the gin clear water of Lake Mackenzie, the cool fresh water eased the swelling in my overheated feet. Midway through a 25km walk on Fraser Island, I wondered if we had underestimated the challenge of this trek, as we�re now weary, hot, hungry and somewhat reluctant to carry on. We lolled in the turquoise shallows beneath a cloudless blue sky. Watching a dingo trot casually out of the forest and onto the sand I was relieved that we had hung our backpacks containing lunch in a tree before we collapsed into the water.

Fraser Island has one of eastern Australia�s purest populations of wild dingoes, which, with the influx of tourists, are losing their natural fear of humans. Scavenging for food scraps has become increasingly troublesome behaviour for these cunning carnivores. Nearby, others had also noticed the dingo, amused as it idly sniffed through piles of belongings on the beach. Abruptly the dingo snatched a string bag in its teeth, bounded up the beach and disappeared into the bush with it.

�Hey that�s my bag,� one of the girls further out in the lake cried out in a German accent, while others in the group laughingly captured the dingo�s fleeing rear end on their cameras. �It�s got my passport in it!� she shrieked, as she bolted up the beach, waving her arms in pursuit of the fleet footed dingo.

Retreating to the comfort of Kingfisher Bay Lodge many hours later, my feet resemble bleeding stumps inside my inadequate shoes. Though these wounds will heal in time, I can�t help thinking of the troubles in store for a German tourist trying to explain to disbelieving authorities that a dingo stole her passport. Sounds suspiciously like the old �dog ate my homework� line. Guileful as they are, I wouldn�t be surprised at all if I saw one crafty dingo at the airport trying to board a plane to Berlin.

Looking for a humourous piece with a little tongue in cheek? Commission this piece by Fiona Harper which can run to around 600 - 800 words. Images are available. www.pbase.com/fionaharper/fraserisland

Adventurer Profile: Jessica Watson

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:39:00 -0500

At just eight years old, Jessica Watson's Mother, Julie, read her a book called Lionheart, the story of 18 year old Jesse Martin's record breaking solo voyage around the world. It was enough to set this young girl on the type of adventure most of us don't have the courage to even contemplate. After years of planning, 16 year old Jessica departed Sydney Harbour in October 2009, with the aim of sailing solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. And hopefully, smashing Jesse Martin's record.

More than 8000 miles into a journey that is estimated to be around 27,000 nautical miles, and after more than 60 days at sea alone, Jessica is confidently on track to round Cape Horn, the sailor's Everest.

With access to both Jessica Watson onboard her 34 foot yacht Ella's Pink Lady, as well her support team at home in Australia, Fiona Harper follows Jessica's progress.

This Personality Profile piece can run to around 1000 words. Images are available.

Echoes of elegance

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:03:00 -0500

Opened briefly during August 2009 to for the annual yachting delirium that is Audi Hamilton Race Week, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club opens its stylish, hand crafted doors to members and guests on 25 November. Cleverly designed and inspired by azure Coral Sea colours, this is one seriously well appointed club, creating an element of sophistication rarely seen in the Whitsunday Islands.

Fiona Harper checks out the uber stylish Hamilton Island Yacht Club and Hamilton Island Golf Club

Contact Fiona Harper www.fionaharper.com.au to commission this article. Images are available www.pbase.com/fionaharper/hiyc

Laucala Langour

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:39:00 -0400

There is something decidedly exotic about hopping onboard a private jet and being whisked away to a far-flung South Pacific Island. Particularly so when your destination has been declared one of the 100 most beautiful hotels and resorts of the world.

Laucala Island, east of far-flung Taveuni in Fiji, opened in 2008 for just 50 discerning guests who don't mind shelling out upwards of 3800USD per night for a beachfront Plantation Residence. Set amidst a working coconut plantation, at this level of opulence, privacy, exclusivity and exquisite service is de riguer. With astounding attention to detail, assisted by a guest to staff ratio hovering around 7:1, Laucala Island has perfected the art of fine hospitality infused with an element of Fijian warmth.

Fiona Harper is one of few journalists invited to visit Laucala Island. Contact Fiona Harper to commission your exclusively crafted feature or puchase the article for immediate download.

Images are available.

My island home

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:56:00 -0400

Christine Anu comes from the saltwater people and sings about her island home, growing up in a small beachfront community in the Torres Strait. But it�s not necessary for you to venture that far to escape the ever-increasing crowds at popular island destinations. Perhaps you�re looking for a simple little piece of paradise in a world becoming ever more technical and complicated? Perhaps you�d like to slow down and actually smell those roses? Or sniff the salty scent of the sea at dawn. To awake beneath a forest canopy and listen as the wildlife erupts into its own operatic chorus. Perhaps then you�re tempted to enjoy the carefree life of a castaway on an island?

Daniel Defoe wrote a fictional autobiography based on an English castaway named Robinson Crusoe, who spent 28 years on a remote tropical island. So, while you probably don�t have 28 years to spare, possibly you do have a week or so to meld into an island existence. Where days revolve around the setting of the sun and the rising of the tide. Where evenings are spent beneath the stars watching clouds skitter across the moon. Where shoes are discarded and the only footprints on the beach are likely to be your own.

Contact Fiona Harper if you'd like to commission this article. Images are available.

www.fionaharper.com.au

Divine Docklands

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:46:00 -0400

There is an old proverb that decrees it is better to travel than to arrive. Robert Louis Stevenson was a great adventurer who said �I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel�s sake�. As a career gypsy who earns a living out of travelling the oceans and lands of the world, who am I to dispute such wisdom? However, I wonder if I�ve found my match at the end of a coastal voyage that terminates at the swanky Melbourne waterfront precinct of Docklands.

Passing beneath the skyward reaching pylons of the Bolte Bridge and into Victoria Harbour with its waterfront promenade chock full of restaurants, bars and entertainment, as twilight falls upon the city backdrop, I quietly start swallowing my words. "Perhaps, after all, it is better to arrive", I ponder as we dock at Waterfront City Marina. Amid the tinkling of wine glasses and the heady restaurant aromas wafting across the dock, Docklands throws open its arms in an exuberant welcome.

Contact Fiona Harper to commission this article. Images are available.

www.fionaharper.com.au

Vanuatu cruising

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:45:00 -0400

Cruising into Port Vila Harbour I�m reminded of those romantic South Pacific voyages I dreamt of as a teenager, having secured by chance a berth on a yacht through the Kimberleys. This tantalizing coastal passage introduced me to sailing, whetting my appetite for further adventures at sea. Reluctantly disembarking in Darwin, I left the yacht with my head filled with dreams to travel to far-flung exotic ports. The idyllic islands of the Pacific Ocean were then, as now, high on my �must see� list. I wasn�t alone as it turned out. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist James Michener long before was also seduced by similar dreams, crafting his epic novel Tales of the South Pacific based on his experiences in Samoa and Vanuatu......

Contact Fiona Harper to commission this article, or others along a similar theme from this yachting enthusiast.

Tales from a Tall Ship

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:35:00 -0400

Admiring the graceful elegance of this grand old lady of the sea, guests onboard Star Clipper watch languidly from their sunlounges as the crew scrabble up the rigging, unfurling yards and yards of billowing sail cloth. As the sheets that control the sails tighten, it feels as though Star Clipper lifts slightly higher in the water, picking up her skirts as she scoots across the deep blue Indian Ocean.

Star Clipper is a 115m Tall Ship, carrying just 170 guests in pampered comfort. She cruises out of Phuket during the southern summer, relocating to the Med in March to cruise the Med during the northern summer.

Onboard for an Indian Ocean crossing, Fiona Harper will join Star Clipper in March 2010 on her repositioning cruise. Contact Fiona (fiona@fionaharper.com.au) to confirm in principle support in commissioning an article based on this voyage.

Images will be available from Fiona Harper and Star Clipper.

Aground off the Pilbara coast

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:07:00 -0400

Living onboard a cruising yacht is a remarkably satisfying experience, offering the rare opportunity to be totally self-supporting. Daily life revolves around keeping the ship safe, the complex essential systems operating and the yacht moving towards its destination. Oh, and there�s plenty of sundowners on arrival, usually beneath an unashamedly scarlet sky as the sun disappears over the horizon. Arriving at an anchorage late afternoon, its not unusual to run into cruising buddies who we may not have seen for months, but who immediately invite us to join them on the beach to share a cold beer or two as soon as our anchor is down and secure.

But there is a frustratingly accurate saying amongst these same yachties: there are those who have run aground and those who soon will. As I found out just a few months into our Australian circumnavigation.....

Please contact Fiona Harper to commission this article or others along a yachting theme. Images are available.