As it turns out, not in Australia… and, if the rona continues to hang around for a while, I probably won’t be there for a while (sorry Mum)!
So while Australians have been soaking up the summer sun and enjoying a relatively corona-free Christmas, I have been watching from afar in lockdown. That sounds creepy, and maybe it is. But all my spare time has enabled me to put together a wishlist of all the places I would go if I was in Australia (and hopefully will, eventually…).
For those of you playing along from home (well, my home country, in any case) with no international travel on the cards in the foreseeable future, I hope this gives you some inspiration for the wonderful trips you can do in the beautiful place that is Oz.
Without further ado, in no particular order:
PORT DOUGLAS, QLD
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Barbados Nautilus Annabel’s Sassi On the Inlet Choo Choos Hemingways Salsa Bar and Grill Melaleuca Tin Shed Surf Club Zinc | Beaches (in town) Sea Temple Sheraton Mirage | Great Barrier Reef The Daintree Cape Tribulation Daintree Town Four Mile Beach Eat Point Walk Shop Macrossan Street and surrounds (Tshinta) |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Bang Bang (Vegan) No Bones (Vegan) Paper Daisy (Cabarita) Combi Raes Top Shop Folk The Farm Harvest (Newrybar) Doma WOODS Mez Club Light Years Byron Bay General Store Bayleaf Cafe Barrio Eltham Pub | Elements The Byron at Byron Halcyon House (Cabarita) The Atlantic The Bower Raes Bask & Stow | Wategos Beach Belongil Beach The Pass Lighthouse Walk Shopping in town Lunch at The Farm Bexhill Quarry Rippon Falls |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Monty’s Ethos Me Wah The Glass House Rockwall Machine Laundry Cafe Fish Frenzy Preachers Salamanca Whisky and Cocktail Bar Sisterhood Cascade Brewery In the Hanging Garden The Lounge by Frogmore Creek Peacock and Jones The Whaler Hobart Lark Distillery | Captains Cottage, Hobart Captains Rest, Strahan Thalia Haven (AirBnB) – bathtub spot Saffire Freycinet Eagle’s Nest Pumphouse Point Hotel Deviot Boat House Butcher’s House, Bothwell Whale Song Shack Bruny Boat House Islington Hotel, Hobart Stillwater Seven Mona Pavilion MACq 01 | Cradle Mountain Bay of Fires Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park Binalong Bay Bridestow Lavender Dove Lakes The Hazards, Freycinet National Park Tulip Farm, Table Cape The Overland Track Tamar Valley Wine Region MONA (Museum of Old & New Art) Satellite Island Bruny Island (departure from Kettering) Port Arthur Historic Site Tessellated Pavement West Coast Wilderness Railway Play golf at Barnbougle Lost Farm Stand atop Mount Wellington Three Capes Track Southern Aurora Australis Richmond Bridge (Australia’s oldest bridge) Salamanca Market Cataract Gorge Lake Oberon, Western Arthur Range Strathgordon Dam Kayak Bathurst Harbour |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Down the Rabbit Hole Wines | Cabn.life The Landing – Aldinga Beach Bayside Glamping Rawnsley Park Bellwether Wines glamping Holowiliena Station | Barossa Valley Port Willunga Sellicks Beach Port Elliot Blowhole Beach at Deep Creek Conservation Park Adelaide Flinders Ranges Eyre Peninsula Shell Beach Fleurieu Peninsula Kangaroo Island Coober Pedy Blewitt Springs, Fleurieu Peninsula Ethel Wreck Shell Beach McLaren Vale Rapid Bay/Port Willunga Lake Macdonnell (pink on one side blue on the other) Dalhousie Springs |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Campervan and make your own Mangrove Hotel | Esperance Chalet Village Campervan | Exmouth Ningaloo Reed Marine Park Margaret River Broome The Kimberley Rottnest Island Esperance Bay Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) NP Cathedral Gorge The Pinnacles Wave Rock Esperance Lucky Bay Hellfire Bay Blue Haven Duke of Orleans Bay Albany The Drift at Turquoise Bay Nature’s Window Kalbarri |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Bistro Molines FogHorn Brewhouse Audrey Wilkinson Salt at Shoal Bay Usher Tinkler Muse Moorebank Vineyard | Tinonee Estate Shoal Bay Country Club The Convent Kirkton Park | Hunter Valley wineries Hot air ballooning Newcastle Bather’s Way Walk Spa at Chateau Elan Catherine Hill Bay Stockton Beach shipwrecks Swim at the Bogey Hole Caves Beach Shoal Bay Country Club |
MELBOURNE, VIC
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Lucy Liu’s Mr Miyagi Flower Drum Attica Cumulus Inc Kettle Black Chin Chin Hawker Hall Cookie Tonka Top Paddock Higher Ground Siglo Naked for Satan 1806 Bomba Boilermaker House Heartbreaker Lui Bar at Vue de Monde Seamstress Lily Blacks | The Windsor The Olsen | Cocktails at Eau de Vie and 1806 Shop on Chapel Street Visit the NGV Walk through the Botanic Gardens Try the bakeries of St Kilda Queen Victoria Markets Australian Open |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Bistro C Bang Bang Somedays Pizza Light Years Asian Diner Coconut Head Land and Sea Brewery | Peppers Seahaven | Hastings Street Walk Noosa NP Fairy Pools Eumundi Markets Rainbow Beach Fraser Island Walk to Hell’s Gate |
| EAT | SLEEP | DO |
| Rick Shores Burleigh Pavilion Elke Espresso Embassy XO The Tropic Social Eating House Paper Daisy Etsu Justin Lane Lost Palms The Milkman’s Daughter Stable Coffee | The Calile Grounds of Cabarita Halcyon House | Surfer’s Paradise Beaches Tallebudgera Creek Crystal Castle Day trip to Byron Gold Coast hinterland Tamborine Rainforest Skyline Thunderbird Park Currumbin Rock Pools Greenmount Husk Farm Distillery |
alice in londonland. 