Global Travel Writers: Articles http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/ Global Travel Writers en Global Travel Writers: Articles http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/EXT:tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/ Global Travel Writers TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:50:00 -0400 Ali Mills sings about respect http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/ali-mills-sings-about-respect/ An interview with Aboriginal singer/songwriter Ali Mills Ali Mills, who won the “Significant Contribution to the Indigenous Music Scene" award at the Indigenous Music Awards 2010 in Darwin, is an impressive figure. She says that Aboriginal people have managed to live in Australia for over 50,000 years due solely to their total respect for the environment. "You didn't shake the plum tree", she says. "You just tapped it lightly". She believes that this message, including respect for highways, cars and other motorists, needs to be conveyed to all Aussie schoolkids. The tracks on Ali's latest album Watjim Bat Matilda fully amplify this theme - from Song Kungarakan (about her great-grandmother, who was matriarch of the Kungarakan tribe) to the highly evocative Larrakia Tears.

]]> Graham Simmons Australia Northern Territory Cultural Travel By: Graham Simmons Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:00:00 -0500 Civilised Seisia http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/civilised-seisia/ Having sailed along the coast of Arnhem Land, traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria and into one of... Having sailed along the coast of Arnhem Land, traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria and into one of the most remote towns on the Australian coast, I hungrily anticipated a return to civilisation. Dropping anchor near the town jetty at Seisia on the western tip of Cape York, I discovered that civilisation comes in many surprising guises. We had arrived in a ‘dry town’, which meant slaking one’s parched throat with a beer involved a rather long taxi ride to the closest restricted liquor outlet, far down the highway.

Though fortunately we had arrived on the one day of the week when it was possible to purchase a beer. Donning a pair of shorts and t-shirt, and retrieving my best thongs from the dinghy, we walked down the beach to the Fishing Club for Friday night barefoot dancing beneath the stars with the locals.

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

]]> Fiona Harper Australia Northern Territory Adventure Travel Cultural Travel Cruising Destination Travel History Boats and Yachting Beach Holidays By: Fiona Harper Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:58:00 -0400 Bridges across the Arafura Sea http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/bridges-across-the-arafura-sea/ Musicians from northern Australia's Arnhem Land are building cultural bridges in trailblazing... Bridges across the Arafura Sea: For thousands of years, the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land traded with Makassan seafarers from Indonesia. Now, musicians at the annual Darwin Festival are rebuilding these cultural bridges. The group Tanah Merege is a groundbreaking collaboration between the Arnhem Land band Yilila and villagers from Watublapi on the Indonesian island of Flores. Yilila’s band manager Tony Gray and songwriter/lead singer Grant Nundhirribala on a recent visit to Flores found that Watublapi was used by the Macassans as a staging post on their trips to Australia. “There is still a lot more to learn in terms of shared language and culture”, says Gray.  Also at the Darwin Festival, Arnhem Land singer Gurrumul Yunupingu performed on-stage with Ego Lemos of East Timor. Yunupingu, described in the Sydney Morning Herald as having “the greatest voice this continent (Australia) has ever recorded”, will be performing at Carnegie Hall in New York on January 22, 2009. See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=9343

]]> Graham Simmons Northern Territory Cultural Travel Festivals & Events Socially Aware Travel By: Graham Simmons Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:34:00 -0500 Yellow Waters, Yellow Eyes http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/yellow-waters-yellow-eyes/ Most southerners shun Australia's Top End during the hot, expectant time of year around October.... Are there only two seasons in Northern Australia?  No, there are six, say the Gagudju.  Gunumeleng, for example, is the Build-up, the hot, expectant time of year around October,  when the land seems to lay dormant waiting for the rains to break.  

It is a time when most visitors shun the Top End.   Yet there is no better time to to visit, for as the months pass, the shrinking billabongs and wetlands will become ever more crowded with browsing waterfowl, crocodiles submerged like floating logs and the occasional bird of prey, all jostling for survival in a habitat which dwindles daily. 

Kakadu’s other great attractions are the works of the Gagadju people who for eons lived in harmony with this environment.  Their rock art galleries reflect the passing of countless generations since the legendary Dreamtime; so many that even climatic changes have come and gone.

]]> Philip Game Australia Northern Territory Eco-tourism Nature and Wildlife By: Philip Game Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:53:00 -0400 Ride the Ghan through the Outback deserts http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/ride-the-ghan-through-the-outback-deserts/ Ride ‘The Ghan’ through the desert to Alice Springs… and on to Darwin. Named for the Afghan... Ride ‘The Ghan’ through the desert to Alice Springs… and on to Darwin.  Named for the Afghan cameleers who worked the route, the first steam train in 1929 took two days to reach Alice Springs.  For decades it remained a vital if erratic lifeline, a far cry from today’s eminently civilised overnight journey.

In late 2008 Great Southern Rail, operators of The Ghan, introduce two innovations: Platinum Service cabin accommodation, which will greatly enhance the choice of top-end accommodation aboard The Ghan; and  Southern Spirit, combining elements of  The Ghan with other epic rail journeys to create a range of 'luxury Australian rail cruises' spanning the continent.

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]]> Philip Game Northern Territory South Australia Train Journeys By: Philip Game Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:36:00 -0400 Darwin: Frontline Australia http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/darwin-frontline-australia/ Darwin - Frontline Australia, as the license plate slogans put it? Australia's most unusual city,... Darwin - forgotten outpost, or Frontline Australia, as the license plate slogans put it? 

Australia's most remote and most unusual city, Darwin has always been first landfall for visitors from the north, hostile or otherwise: Macassan gatherers of trepang, a sea slug esteemed by Chinese gourmets; the Imperial Japanese Air Force; Vietnamese boat people; even perhaps the junks of the legendary 15th Century Chinese admiral Cheng Ho. 

The city has been devastated twice by natural forces - tropical cyclones - and once by enemy action as Japanese bombers dumped 64 loads of high explosive.  Little wonder that the Territory today prizes a strong sense of its colourful, at times embattled, past.  Squat concrete gun emplacements from World War II days still stand behind many suburban beaches.

Today the only hostile invaders expected are the venomous box jellyfish and the saltwater crocodile. Image gallery

]]> Philip Game Northern Territory Cities By: Philip Game Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:24:00 -0400 Dog Gone http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/dog-gone/ You need a holiday - well, maybe Spot (or Fido or Tiddles) does too. Sheriden Rhodes takes a tour... Planning a holiday, but don’t know what to do with the furry family member? For many, dogs (and cats for that matter) are part of the family and more and more owners are including pets in their holiday plans. “In fact many people plan their holidays around their pets,” says Lisa Goldsmith, marketing manager with online booking engine Pet Stayz. Not to mention the high cost of kennels, pet stitters, and the distress of leaving your best canine buddy behind. Thankfully, growing numbers of accommodation providers have heeded the call, offering animal friendly stays at hotels, motels, B&Bs and self contained holiday homes throughout Australia.

]]> Sheriden Rhodes Australia Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia By: Sheriden Rhodes Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:03:00 -0400 Monsoon Magic http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/monsoon-magic/ While the rest of Australia bakes in a dry heat, Darwin welcomes the summer months with bracing... Hot, sticky, wet - there's no escaping the tropical heat that pervades Australia’s northern-most city during the tropical summer that lasts from December to early March. Thankfully, the wet season also brings with it spectacular daily thunderstorms which offer relief from the steamy weather. Lightning lights up the sky and the heavens open in a deafening torrent of refreshing, tropical rain. The upside of visiting in the wet season is everything springs to life, revealing the Territory's staggering natural beauty at its best.

 

This article runs to approximately 1200 words but can be tailored to suit individual editorial requirements. Images available.

 

]]> Sheriden Rhodes Australia Northern Territory Destination Travel Family Holidays Nature and Wildlife Cruising By: Sheriden Rhodes Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:20:00 -0400 In the Mood for Love http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/in-the-mood-for-love/ Some getaways simply inspire romance. Romantic holidays or exotic honeymoons conjure up images of Paris, Rome, Venice, the Greek islands and the sun-drenched Pacific. But there are languid, sun-blessed alternatives closer to home - from rooms  with a view, a gastronomic getaway or a decadent private hotel on the shores of Lake Queenstown.

 

Here we preview 10 Australian and New Zealand getaways to keep the flame alive - or reignite it.

 

This story runs to around 1200 wds but can be tailored to suit individual editorial requirements. Images available.

]]> Sheriden Rhodes Australia New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland Tasmania Victoria New Zealand Luxury Travel Food & Wine By: Sheriden Rhodes Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:37:00 -0500 No place like The Alice http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/northern-territory/article/no-place-like-the-alice/ Hush... the first notes of the flute waft through the balmy air. Two hundred pairs of hands wave... Hush... the first notes of the flute waft through the balmy air.  Two hundred pairs of hands wave gracefully - keeping time with the flies, rampant after recent rains.   The silhouetted crags of the ancient MacDonnell Ranges form a magnificent open-air backdrop as the heat fades from the harsh Central Australian sun.  Bedtime for flies, too, at last. 

If chamber music is still a fragile flower in the Centre, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta is in robust good health.  Even the spooks from the hush-hush intelligence facility at Pine Gap prepare their Oxford tubs and rowing eights and practise sand shovelling for this annual afternoon of in-your-face slapstick.  

More images

]]> Philip Game Australia Northern Territory Destination Travel By: Philip Game Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:21:00 -0400