Pictured above is my stateroom aboard a vessel offering a maximum manifest of around 100 passengers the attentions of a crew of almost equal numbers. The bedroom, dressed in designer linens, makes for restful luxury. The wide window – no mere port hole – affords exceptional viewing; the carpeted sitting room, with high-set coffee table for serving snacks, is equipped with the latest techno gear. Obscured are generous wardrobe space and the sparkling marble bathroom with flushing loo. Read more
It’s the dream holiday of a lifetime – close-up encounters with the world’s most majestic wildlife on an African safari. The thrill of spotting “the Big 5” in their natural habitat – elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo (so named by colonial white hunters as being the most dangerous and sought after to track) - and zebras, giraffes, hippos, springboks, wildebeest, antelopes, aardvarks, jackals, cheetahs, hyenas, monkeys, baboons … Read more
TRAVEL DESTINATION: CHINA
When Jim Maguire landed in Port Macquarie in 1990, it was a stark transition to a place that, weeks earlier, he’d never even heard of. Yet he turned out ideally suited to drive one of the town’s cultural foundations into the 21st century. This month, Susie shares lunch with our chief librarian.
South America has an appeal like no other place on earth. The experiences I love most are basic ones: strolling Ipanema and Copacabana and climbing Sugarloaf and Corcovado, location of the famous Christ the Redeemer atop Rio …
What single thing best typifies Port Macquarie? No, silly, not potholes. Tacking Point Lighthouse has given its name to a beach, suburb and numerous organisations and its image is a popular icon, despite its recent sad and sorry state. This month, Susie meets the man leading the push to restore the landmark to the condition it deserves. With it, Neil Black and helpers will probably also restore some much-needed civic pride.
TRAVEL DESTINATION:
International house-sitting
Four brothers, eight pharmacies, the majority in the Port Macquarie region, with the chain here in the Hastings – literally, on Rawdon Island. This month, Susie chats with Ibby Khodary, the smiling eminence atop the mid-town shop, about the brothers’ drive to build discount pharmacies in country community settings…
I first set foot on Cook Islands by accident. Or serendipity, as they say. En route to Moorea, the affordable and most accessible Tahitian holiday island, I was unaware my Air New Zealand flight would transit Rarotonga, Cook Islands’ capital.
As Australia suffers manufacturing, retailing and employment crises, Port Macquarie shares the challenges. Toyota/Lexus dealer Warren Plowright grew up humbly, then earned success over 30 years in his own business.
TRAVEL DESTINATION: CAMBODIA. The name Cambodia evokes contrasting images: of the magnificent Angkor Wat temple, and of the misery the nation known as Kampuchea suffered under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime.
So you thought the footy season was over? Wallabies languishing in bronze position in the World Cup last month? Well the “Game They Play in Heaven” never says die so if you missed the action across The Ditch, have your appetite whetted for more, or you’re even a Bleus fan seeking a rematch of sorts …
Cruising is enjoying renewed allure for Australian travellers, heightened by Cunard’s Queen Mary 2’s circumnavigation our coastline early next year.
OK so winter’s over – freezing nights and cold windy days are gone … Exactly! Crisp, not frigid, mornings in Australia’s alpine resorts are ideal for leaping out of bed early and hitting the slopes.
