Category: Memories
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Birdsong – or uncaged birds
One of the most charming surprises on a walk through Sydney is an art installation in the laneway of Angel Place, just off George Street through to Pitt Street. Look up, look up to an array of empty birdcages of all designs suspended and hanging high. Artist Michael Thomas Hill had this splendid work Forgotten…
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How to make sense of scents
or a little dab’ll do ya! I think I’m more of a sensory person than a tactile one – but I do like to touch food, tree trunks, sand, gum leaves, woollen fabric . . . mmm, maybe I’m both. But back to sensory. I love and adore perfume. I do not go a day…
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How to embarrass yourself – or myself while travelling
The Princess of Podcasts (but she’s not a ballerina) Amanda Kendle interviewed me and posed the question: have you ever made cultural blunders while travelling the world. Oh, yes, indeedy! I have made many, not deliberately but in my early days of travelling, ignorance, naivete or blundering impertinence sometimes brought me undone. Mea Culpa. Foloing…
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How to capitalise on the capital
Australia’s capital city is a little different to those of other countries; it is confined to a territory and is surrounded by the bush, with a mountain range in the backdrop. It really began as a rather vast paddock with a view of the Brindabella mountain range to the west, the high country snow fields…
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How to souvenir: or buy something for yourself
When I started travel writing, folks thought I was taking a holiday. I was often asked to bring back duty free perfume, smokes, booze etc. I did in the beginning and then I stopped buying for anyone else – just a simple “no”, said politely and that was that. (I had my own stuff to…
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Postcards from the Seaside
I know my beaches. I grew up in Sydney and had the advantage of swimming at the great urban beaches in this part of Australia’s east coast. Golden sand, the smell of coconut oil and hot chips, squealing children and days so long that they went on forever. And as I grew older and began…
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How not to look like a tourist
You are a tourist but you need not be so obvious – try the ‘blend in’ tactic. We are on the move again. And with the current debacle with lost and lingering luggage maybe it’s time to fly with carry on luggage only. So pack carefully and think on how to mix and match limited…
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Kenya: first time traveller
I was enjoying a story by the fabulous writer, Christine Retschlag, on her experience in Kenya for https://www.dumbofeather.com/articles/out-of-africa/ While I was reading it I was remembering back over 22 years ago when I first visited Kenya and indeed the African continent. It was early days for international travel writing for me and this trip showed…
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Bali: then and now
NEWS . . .NEWS . . .NEWS . . .Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach becomes the first 5-star rated Hotel Indigo in the world. The five star rating is from LSU Pariwisata Bali Mandiri, a tourism association in Bali responsible for all Indonesian property ratings, which is part of the National Accreditation Committee in Indonesia.…
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How to tea-tease and please
I reckon I’ve had more than a 1000 afternoon teas. Call them Cream Teas, Afternoon Tea, Devonshire Tea, Afternoonsies, or a mid-arvo cuppa and cake – I’ve had them. This wasn’t a genteel affectation I grew up with. As a kid it was a biscuit and a glass of cordial and as a teenager, “there’s…
Travelgal on the move 