Global Travel Writers: Articles

Ali Mills sings about respect

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:00:00 -0500

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.

Vietnam War veterans work together to create a national museum

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:51:00 -0400

On the outskirts of Newhaven, Phillip Island, stands an unlikely visitor attraction, housed within a starkly industrial aircraft hangar. The National Vietnam Veterans Museum stands as a tribute to what can be achieved by a dedicated group of volunteers.

Not only those who served � and their families � will gain from visiting this sprawling collection; so will anyone who lived through those tumultuous years from 1962 through to 1972.

The Museum soon outgrew its first premises and ranges from documents � letters home, diaries, photos, maps and personal effects � to a Huey Cobra helicopter gunship, a Centurion tank and a Canberra bomber. Especially poignant are the tributes received from the Vietnamese-Australian community. And there�s even a caf� and a souvenir shop, so you can take home a teddy bear soldier or a model F4 Phantom fighter jet.

Walhalla's Golden Glories

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:41:00 -0400

The story of Walhalla today is largely the story of Michael Leaney, a deceptively boyish dynamo who has revitalised the tiny Victorian-era gold rush township, almost lost in the Great Dividing Range.

Twenty years ago Leaney bought a miner�s cottage as a weekend retreat in a ghost town bereft of visitor facilities. Since then he has completely rebuilt and reopened the historic Star Hotel, destroyed by fire in 1951. Leaney�s enthusiasm also helps drive the continuing restoration of the railway which once ran from Moe to Walhalla, and this year celebrates its centenary.

Two and a half hours from Melbourne, Walhalla became the last town in Victoria to hook up to mains power, in 1998. Mobile phone and TV reception are still severely limited in this deep, forested valley, and just ask Leaney about the high farce which can result when overseas tourists try to find their way in or out of here by relying on satellite navigation.

What is it about this remote community, whose population is still measured only in double digits? Perhaps Walhalla satisfies that deep-seated childhood ideal of a pretty toy-town of neat, square houses set alongside a stream which runs through a deep valley.

Australia's best beach houses

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:14:00 -0500

Around this time of year, something akin to an internal alarm clock sounds within almost every Australian who grew up within cooee of the coast. As the temperature slowly nudges north and we tumble head first into the pre-Christmas rush, a voice somewhere inside tells us it�s time for a beach holiday. Any sensible person has booked long before now. But if not, never fear. We�ve scoured the coastline, finding that cute retro shack with the sandy path leading to the beach, through to the new wave beach houses in a class all of their own. If they�re booked out, pencil yourself in for next year, or scour our other options for your place in the sun this summer break, or to escape winter if you happen to be in the southern states.

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

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

So many islands, so little time

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:16:00 -0400

Have you ever closed your eyes and wondered what life would be like sailing around a tropical island, far away from the noise, pollution and stress of urban life?

Can you hear the gentle, soothing slapping as the sea dances beneath the yachts' hull? Christine Anu descends from the salwater people of Torres Strait, singing of her island home and growing up in a small island community. But it's not necessary for you to travel that far to experience island bliss.

Join Fiona Harper as she takes you around the glorious Whitsunday Islands by yacht.

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