Category: Uncategorized
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Beverly Hills – the first time around
Just returned from a sensational trip to Beverly Hills, California and I came back satisfied and with memories of inspired shopping, friendly natives and a relaxed and inclusive vibe. It was many years ago that I first strolled the streets of Beverly Hills. I admit I was a bit of an inverted snob and didn’t…
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Brew-ha-ha in the desert
Lancaster, LA County, California – who knew? Wall of Bravery, Bravery Brewing Company, West Lancaster. If craft beer has come to the desert town of Lancaster in Antelope Valley, LA County (yes, the county covers 500 sq. miles (805km) of cities, beaches, snow-capped mountains,…
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Beat the drum for Burma
Rudyard Kipling once wrote: “This is Burma, it is quite unlike any land you know about”, from his Letters from the East, 1889. And now as Burma is Myanmar it still retains mystery. Burma was the backwater of the region, pressed between the Indian subcontinent and Indochina. The country, historically, had a romantic fascination with the…
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Painting the town red!
Toowoomba has amped up its street cred because of First Coat. It’s not often you see someone painting the town red, or get the chance to look down laneways and see scaffolding supporting a young man or woman going to town with spray cans – and not in an illegal way. We are not looking…
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Southern Comfort
It’s not too far south of Sydney, about two hours’ drive, taking it easy along the way. It’s the beautiful region of the Southern Highlands – an area that is steeped in local history of farming, mining, commerce, bushrangers, Scottish heritage and some wonderful natural wonders of caves, tracks, ghost towns and rugged bushland. Mittagong…
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British food – no longer a scandal
1. British pub holds two Michelin stars Pub food at Michelin star level? SHOCKING. After we all saw the film Burnt starring Bradley Cooper, it gave us a glimpse into the immense amount of pressure that is involved in becoming a Michelin star restaurant. Britain’s gastropub The Sportsman located in Kent, Southeast England, has managed to…
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Italy – Orvieto’s glorious cathedral
I was remembering coming up a narrow street in the small, mediaeval hilltop town of Orvieto in Umbria: I lifted my eyes and saw the most confoundingly beautiful structure – a striped cathedal, with intricate, delicate relief carvings on the capitals with sumptuous cornerstones. It may not be the biggest and the best in the…
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India’s pride and joy
How many times have you seen an image of one of the world’s great monuments and memorised it for years hoping to see it in all its glory one day? Stonehenge in England, the Parthenon looking down from the Acropolis in Athens, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Cairo to name just three. And once…
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Manchester rules OK?
After yesterday’s horrific news of the bombing in Manchester and the destruction it wrought to the families of the dead and injured and to the morale of the city’s citizens, I thought it time to revisit ‘up north’. I send my condolences to all concerned. I visited last year after a 20 year absence –…
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Eating humble pie
When life gives you lemons – go make a pie. For me, travel is 50 per cent about the food. Taste local, mingle in restaurants, explore the great outdoors with a picnic and trawl food markets for perfect produce. But do you ever hanker to have a home-cooked meal? A meal you have cooked yourself?…
Travelgal on the move 