This is something new I’m trying, since I unceremoniously dumped my New York City Life series after moving back to Australia (and I haven’t even posted my final NYC Life post – I think I’m still in denial that its over).

I wanted to find a way to share more in real time (or close to it), and round up interesting travel news, openings and share my favourite travel-related books, TV & movies, as well as show Melbourne some love with recommendations for hospitality, arts & culture and the outdoors.

I’d love to know what you think, and if you have any travel news, inspo or stories to share! Let me know in the comments.

Right now, I’m…

• Feeling more optimistic despite still being in Melbourne lockdown, as the roadmap out of lockdown and towards a 80-90% vaccinated population becomes clearer. I’m still hanging out to go home to Brisbane to see my family, but it’s starting to feel safer to feel hopeful
• Learning to play guitar. My parents gave me a guitar for my birthday (three months early) so I could start learning during lockdown. Best present! I’ve been having weekly guitar lessons over Zoom with my Dad which has been so much fun.
• Letting myself daydream about foreign destinations again, even though I won’t be going overseas any time soon
• Crossing my fingers that we won’t have to cancel our trip to the Great Ocean Road, but assuming we probably will. All this rain has me so excited to see all the waterfalls in Great Otway National Park at their peak!
• Planning our first day hike trips out of Melbourne, as our travel limit slowly increases
• Re-thinking how to make my life feel like an adventure again. This week, I realised that’s one of the things I miss the most about moving back to Australia from New York City (the lockdown isn’t helping).
• Appreciating spring blooms and learning the names of the beauties popping up all over Melbourne. Cherry blossoms here aren’t quite as eye-popping and abundant as the ones in New York City, but they have a fragile beauty of their own. Also loving the giant peace lilies popping out of the ground, the vivid Pride of Madeira bushes providing a splash of purple and the gorgeous ranunculus (buttercups) which are available in florists at the moment

Travel News & Writing

• Just in – Australia’s international borders will re-open this November! It sounds like the plan is for fully vaccinated incoming travellers to be able to home quarantine for two weeks, and that unvaccinated travellers will do a 2 week managed quarantine. It will mean Australians will be able to travel overseas more easily and I hope it means the interstate travel follows a similar model.
• This New York Times article about the Caribbean island of Montserrat’s Remote Worker Program which is a unique approach to declining tourism during Covid. Travellers can apply to visit, if they complete hotel quarantine and stay for two months. Interesting read!
• I really enjoyed Scottish travel blogger Katie MacLeod’s recent post about enjoying the great outdoors, without being an “outdoorsy type.” She reflects on the images we’re fed in travel media, particularly in influencer culture, of the outdoors only being enjoyed and appreciated by those pitching tents in remote spots in the wilderness or undertaking epic, strenuous outdoor journeys.

Melbourne Love

Hospitality

• Wine tasting kits from Misc Wine – My friends & I did a group Zoom blind tasting with wine kits from Misc Wines. It’s designed like a quiz, with clues given for each wine’s tasting notes, a fun way to spend a Saturday night and support small businesses during lockdown!
• Byrdi’s at home cocktails – I haven’t ordered these yet, but I was so impressed with Byrdi’s cocktails when they first opened. The Wattleseed Negroni and the Bee Pollen Re-Fashioned sound so good!
• I’ve made my first bookings for the re-opening of restaurants in early November. Looking forward to finally visiting Bar Liberty and Elsternwick’s Rooftop Cinema!

Culture & The Arts

• The Australian Ballet’s productions of Romeo & Juliet and Anna Karenina have been postponed to 2022. I am really excited to see these, I hope they can go ahead next year!
• The NGV has announced its summer blockbuster exhibition, Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto, opening December 5. I really enjoyed the Dior exhibition a few years ago, so look forward to this one!

The Outdoors

• I’ve only just learned of the Victoria State Rose Garden at Werribee Park, so I’ve added that to my list to visit this spring while roses are in peak season.

Armchair Travel: Books & Movies

Irish authors

I’ve been on a bit of an unintentional Irish author binge!

• I devoured Caroline O’Donoghue’s second novel, Scenes of A Graphic Nature, which is a mystery set on the fictional Irish island of Clipim, off the coast of Kerry. I’m a big fan of Caroline’s podcast Sentimental Garbage, which I have also been binging this month, and can’t wait to read her first book Promising Young Women.
• I loved reading Evening Class, Maeve Binchy’s 1996 novel set in Dublin and then listening to the corresponding Sentimental Garbage episode.
• I re-read Conversation with Friends in anticipation of Sally Rooney’s new release, Beautiful World Where Are You, which I read within about 48 hours of receiving it. I loved Beautiful World, it’s definitely my favourite of her books so far.
• I abandoned Under the Tuscan Sun, I found a free secondhand copy and thought now might be time for an easy escape, but it seemed to have no plot and no emotional arcs. Every person in this book felt like a stranger

Men In Kilts: A Road Trip around Scotland

David & I have been watching Men in Kilts: A Road Trip around Scotland, a miniseries on Binge with Outlander actors Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish.

I was craving some travel TV and have loved this so far – each episode is themed around an aspect of Scottish culture, such as Food & Drink, Scottish Sport, Song & Dance, Witchcraft & Superstition and Culture & Tradition. My favourite episode has been the latter, because I loved the insight into Gaelic language in Scotland.

The Witchcraft episode gave me chills because it drove home the terror that women have lived with for centuries – the episode didn’t acknowledge the gender politics of witchcraft unfortunately, but the reality is that an accusation of witchcraft was used to torture, silence and persecute women who weren’t conforming to patriarchal culture and subordinating themselves to men.

While watching, I reflected on how persecution of smart and independent women has been so consistent throughout centuries, with the disguise changing to meet the times. Witchcraft became “unholiness” in the century that followed, if you think about examples such as Irish laundries and then insanity in the late 19th and early 20th century, as women could be locked up in asylums for similar reasons. It made me think about how persistent this has been and how the impact of this terror would have reverberated down through generations. Probably not the intention of that particular episode (there was no mention of women really)!

New on the blog

• Amazing Places to Visit in Queensland – This is one of those posts I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already written, so never got around to writing! This post is a great introduction to some of the most beautiful regions of Queensland to inspire your next trip. 2022 is looking promising!
• Australia Travel Guide – After visiting my sixth and final Australian state on my South Australia trip in June, I finally felt confident to post my Australia Travel Guide. I’ve still got one territory to go (Northern Territory) and of course, am nowhere near seeing “it all” – but I’ve seen a fair bit from coast to coast, and am really excited to share my favourite places with you.
• Summer on Burleigh Beach – Just some photos from when I was on the Gold Coast in December. Burleigh gets more beautiful every time I see it.

Dreaming of

Australia: The Red Centre

The Ghan Expedition is Australia’s most iconic rail journey and cuts down the middle of the country from Adelaide to Darwin, through the Red Centre. I’ve been drooling over package options that include a stay near Uluru and time spent in the underground town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. It sounds totally unforgettable and so uniquely Australian.

If you’ve been, I want to hear ALL about it – tell me about it in the comments or link me to your blog post about it!

Overseas: Ireland

No surprises really, after reading four Irish books this month! I’d love to do a road trip around Ireland including Dublin, Galway & the Connemara, Sligo because this is the part of Ireland my Mum’s ancestors are from, Kerry and the towns of Cork, Cobh and Kinsale which look so pretty. Ireland has had such a large cultural presence in my life as an Australian, and as an Australian with distant Irish ancestry, that it is almost hard to believe I’ve never been. If you’ve been to Ireland and have suggestions, let me know in the comments!

What’s been on your radar recently?

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