BNE Magazine Issue 26

FR EE YO M UR AG AZ IN E

ISSUE #26 MAY/JUNE 2018

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EVERYBODY SING

WHY IT’S GOOD FOR YOU

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Welcome to your free BNE magazine, brought to you by Brisbane Airport

CONTENTS

B

ritain is already buzzing with Royal Wedding fever and while we are more than 16,000km away from the big event there’s no reason why we can’t be too. Inspired by the royal romance we came up with our own itinerary for getting that loving feeling in London – from a date night at the Soho hotspot where HRH Prince Harry and his bride-tobe Meghan have been spotted to a long walk down the ‘aisle’ at the wedding venue. And you could win tickets to get there! Simply enter our competition on page 13 for your chance to win. But don’t travel overseas without insurance. Find out why on page 7 and you could win a car. Happy reading …

12

4 Brisbane Airport News

32 Greek odyssey

6 Brisbane Insider

WHAT’S ON 34 Queensland duo on the

Wins for Brisbane Airport at Routes Asia; cars are the hot prizes for travellers, and more

Art project addresses mental health issues; what pilots do off duty; how to make a difference on World Environment Day, and more

8 Everybody sing now

Why people are flocking to sing with community choirs

10 P!NK

She’s back in Brisbane after a five-year break but don’t call it a comeback

ESCAPE 12 Find the love in London

An itinerary inspired by the Royal Wedding

13 Win airfares to London

Enter our competition to win tickets to the British capital

14 Sunken treasure in the Solomon Islands

Diving wrecks is not just for experts

20 Lord Howe, naturally

Live your own David Attenborough documentary on the island

24 Getting to know Caloundra Eight ways to experience its past and present

26 Escape Extra

Top picks for skiing overseas; great ways to travel – walk, cycle, rail journeys

TASTE 30 Taste local at Brisbane

Best Greek feast in Brisbane; new dining experiences keeping it fresh; sublime cakes

hit list

Busby Marou’s epic year; groove guru; 4 Seasons of dance, and more

36 A very happy Anh Do

Telling his own story; outback filmathon, and more

37 Events calendar

What’s happening around the city

I QUEENSLAND 42 Julia Baker Snake wrangler

GALLERY 39 Day in the life

People in transit at Brisbane Airport

35 BNE magazine is published bi-monthly by Brisbane Airport Corporation

NEED TO KNOW 38 Helpful information for

visitors to Brisbane Airport

40 Destination map 43 Brisbane region map 31

Brisbane Airport Corporation Corporate Communications and Media Manager: Leonie Vandeven Managing Editor: Heather McWhinnie (editor@bnemagazine.com.au) Advertising sales: advertising@bnemagazine.com.au Designers: Leanne Thompson and Mhari Hughes, PrintPublish Cover photography: P!NK ©Andrew Macpherson/CPi Syndication/Headpress ©2018 Brisbane Airport Corporation.

The contents of this publication are not for reproduction, redistribution or reuse by any means whatsoever or in any form whatsoever without express permission of the publisher. Advertising: all advertisements in BNE magazine are the responsibility of advertisers. Advertising is accepted on the understanding that it does not contravene the Trade Practices Act. Responsibility is not accepted by BNE magazine for statements made or the failure of any product or service to give satisfaction. The publication of any material or editorial does not necessarily constitute endorsement of views or opinions expressed. While every effort is made to avoid errors, some information contained in the publication may be superceded.

Airport

There’s a trail of boutique producers on the menu BNE May/June 2018 | 3

BRISBANE AIRPORT NEWS

JULIEANNE ALROE

S

ince Julieanne Alroe was appointed chief executive and managing director of Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) nine years ago the airport has received a growing list of accolades, climbing higher in the list of Top 20 World Airports and consistently ranked in the top five Best Airports in Australia Pacific. It has won awards for construction and design, customer service and sustainability, and last year was recognised as an Employer of Choice in the Australian Business Awards, but one of Alroe’s personal favourites is also one of their most recent, for Best Public Toilet in Australia, “because I am a great believer that you have got to get the basics right,” she says with a smile and a sparkle in her eye.

On the topic of infrastructure Alroe is particularly ebullient so she is an ideal match for her newest role as chair of Infrastructure Australia, one of several board positions that will be her priority when she retires from Brisbane Airport in June. Her departure brings to an end a career in the aviation industry that has spanned more than 30 years. Over coffee, she reflects on it all and condenses it into one conversation with BNE editor, Heather McWhinnie.

From an ordinary start academically, she says, she was encouraged to do well enough in Year 12 to get a scholarship to University of Queensland (where she is now a member of the Senate Committee). “It changed my life and opened the way to many subsequent opportunities.”

Her first job applications were sent to airlines while she was still at university but “they didn’t have women in management in those days (1970s). The only non-flying jobs for women were in check-in or as flight attendants.”

She moved to Canberra the day after graduation. “I was accepted into the graduate program of the federal public service and soon discovered the government owned aviation in this country at that time – airlines, airports, traffic control – so I moved into transport and policy.”

She tried a long distance relationship with her now husband but eventually moved to Sydney and her first airport job – the first woman to be hired in management in an airport at the time. “I loved it as soon as I walked into the joint. It was wonderful. I kept moving from job to job, always doing something different and my bosses just kept pushing me and challenging me. I didn’t mind doing any job.”

She never looked back. “I never thought about going to an airline again. I didn’t have any one role for more than two years. I kept moving

4 | BNE May/June 2018

Image: Megan Rizzo, Studio Fascino

DEPARTS BNE

to a new area or was promoted within an area and the opportunities kept coming.”

She was gifted four copies of the business book Your First 100 Days when she was first appointed CEO of BAC. “I soon realised I needed more time to understand the ins and outs of the place and so any idea of trying to make some radical 100-day target or anything like that was nonsense. I spent the first six months getting my head around the place.”

She did make changes. “I created individual teams in property, parking and retail to build new revenue streams and brought in experts in those fields who weren’t from airport backgrounds. We now have one of the biggest parking businesses in Queensland.”

The new runway has been the biggest project on her plate since she joined BAC and is due to open in 2020. She’s not sad to be leaving before it opens but “I hope we both (she and her predecessor at BAC Koen Rooijmans) get an invitation to be there.”

There are plenty of memorable moments. “Airports are so much part of what’s going on in the world you’re always engaged in the zeitgeist.

I’ve met royals, heads of state and two popes. At G20 in 2014 I shook hands with Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, which was very special for me. It’s been a privilege to spend all these years in such an extraordinary environment.”

The hardest thing for her to give up will be her ID card. “I’ve had access all areas for nearly 40 years and although it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to drive around airside by myself I used to love being out on the airfield and being able to cross the runway. But inside it’s good, too, to get among the baggage systems and behind-the-scenes.”

The first thing she will do when she leaves BAC: “Probably reorganise the house. I want to set up a home office and de-clutter.”

She has a holiday booked for Japan, taking off within weeks of her departure from BAC. “I’ve been so many times but only seen bits of Tokyo, lots of meeting rooms and hotels, so I want to get out and walk around.”

Her parting words to her successor Gert-Jan De Graaff. “It’s a great place. Keep the good and go for it. He’s got to make it what he wants it to be now.”

Brisbane wins at Routes Asia The who’s who of Asia-Pacific’s aviation industry descended on Brisbane for the Routes Asia forum in March bringing 950 delegates from more than 140 airports, 96 airlines and 23 destinations to attend a whopping 2000 face-to-face meetings in just three days – and while there was a serious side to the conference to attract even more airlines and services to Brisbane Airport, delegates did enjoy the lighter side of Queensland life – and wildlife – from the shores of South Bank to Moreton Island. Horses, koalas and one cute wombat were called in to entertain guests at the event hosted by Brisbane Airport, Brisbane Marketing, Tourism and Events Queensland and Tourism Australia.

Brisbane Airport was also the winner at the event with announcements that Vietjet Air will make Brisbane its first Australian long haul destination, committing to launch direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City from 2019 and Virgin Australia announced it will introduce direct services between Brisbane and Alice Springs from 19 June 2018.

NEW FACILITIES TO MEET INTERNATIONAL DEMAND

Image: Toby Scott

Artist Michael Phillips used woodblock prints to create his own oddly pictorial language to depict a message to ‘tread lightly on this earth’ – a poignant message to travellers as they pass through Brisbane Airport’s new northern concourse in the International Terminal.

Phillips’ new work (below), titled Make the World a Lighter Place, is his largest to date, stretching the full 90 metres of the concourse, part of a $135 million project that has been carried out to meet the needs of increasing international flights through the terminal. It adds more boarding and dwell zones for passengers, new aerobridges and walk out gates and the larger expansion includes new aircraft parking bays and taxiways.

hot prizes

CARS ARE THE

at airport

DREAM WIN AFTER HOLIDAY …

It was the best birthday present Graham Taylor could have wished for – a $320,000 BMW i8 supercar presented to him at Brisbane Airport, soon after he arrived home from a holiday in Norfolk Island. Graham and his wife Julie (below) couldn’t believe their luck when they were told they had won the spectacular car, one of four given away in the biggest ever national promotion by airport retailer JR/Duty Free.

To enter customers had to spend $100 on any liquor in-store or online and Julie entered Graham’s name noticing the draw date would be on his birthday – but still the couple was shocked to hear they had won the super luxury car. The plug-in hybrid sports car is a futuristic model with distinctive wing doors that open upwards and advanced technology features such as Head Up Display that projects information onto the driver’s windscreen. For Graham and Julie it provided the dream road trip from Brisbane as they were able to put its features to the test on the 950km drive home to Mackay.

DRIVE TO BOOST TRAVEL INSURANCE

Accidents, flight and tour cancellations and lost property can cost Australian travellers big time but, surprisingly, more than 840,000 Australians travelled overseas without insurance in the last 12 months according to a survey carried out by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Insurance Council of Australia. At least one quarter of those experienced something that would have been covered by travel insurance – and could have saved them costly out-of-pocket expenses.

The travellers most at risk are aged 18-29, the age group least likely to have travel insurance and most likely to take part in risky activities that can lead to accidents, mishaps and injury in a foreign country.

The same survey showed that the most common reason for not getting travel insurance, in almost one third of responses, was ‘they just didn’t think about it’. In an effort to change that attitude, insurance provider Allianz Worldwide Partners has partnered with Brisbane Airport Corporation to make it even easier to book travel insurance online at the Brisbane Airport website alongside other services such as booking accommodation (with www.booking.com).

To launch the new service Allianz Worldwide Partners is giving away an Audi A1 car. Find out how to enter on page 7.

BNE May/June 2018 | 5

BRISBANE INSIDER

VISION OF MENTAL HEALTH

WO M EN who shaped Brisbane

S

he may look like Mary Poppins and her performance does have a certain magic but Natalie Cowling (above) is bringing to life more unsung heroines in Brisbane’s history on a unique tour of the city. HerStory tours are led by Cowling in character as one of her ‘heroines’, Brisbane’s first internationally recognised author that we’ve never heard of, Rosa Caroline Praed, who wrote 40 novels before she died in 1935. Cowling’s Rosa guides her followers through the city streets unearthing key landmarks with a link to more than 20 women who have helped shape Queensland’s history in diverse fields such as art, science, medicine, law and politics from the days of the suffragettes.

Cowling, a history buff and theatrical performer, was inspired to look more closely at the women in Brisbane’s history while she was playing Anna Wickham, wife of notable Captain John Wickham, at Newstead House.

“It was then I thought ‘why aren’t we telling more stories about women when there are already so many stories about men and their achievements in history’,” she says.

Cowling set about her goal in earnest spending months in the State Library and researching her characters, particularly the life of Rosa Praed. “The research, to me, is like panning for gold. A sprinkle here, a nugget there. It’s very exciting. I have spent a lot of time in libraries and talking to women in heritage societies, hunting for just the right clothes from the era. It has taken me all over Brisbane and beyond to the Scenic Rim and the Darling Downs.”

Cowling’s tour is more than a walk-through as she takes on the character of Rosa Praed and in her words relates stories and anecdotes to reveal the life and times of these women in a repertoire that includes song, dance and poetry.

HerStory tours take three hours, and depart every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10am from the School of Arts building, 166 Ann Street, city.

Cost $49.50 per person. Find out how to book at facebook.com/talkofthetownss 6 | BNE May/June 2018

Deena Lynch has battled demons for most of her young life and suffered PTSD and depression as a result but it has not stifled her creative expression and the talented musician has more recently turned to art, under the moniker Spectator Jonze, to communicate struggles with mental health – not only for her but for others too – and it has been a form of healing.

Lynch works only with an iPad and Apple pencil to create her works which began as self-portraits (right) and now also reveal the stories of others. She interviews all her subjects before she draws them and the result is based on their own feelings about their mental health – laying bare fears, bad habits, traumas, anxieties, disorders, vices and so on.

“I draw myself every 10 portraits as a way to document my own journey of mental health as I work through this project and I find myself opening up and revealing more and more through each one. It’s pretty therapeutic,” she says.

As Spectator Jonze, Lynch is part of Anglicare’s Arts & Minds project which has paired five emerging artists, including Lynch, with five leading artists, including Courier Mail political cartoonist Sean Leahy and pop artist Matt Stewart, to work together to create 10 original works and the process has been filmed for a special web series.

Arts & Minds started in 2016 as a dedicated campaign to raise awareness and increase public conversation about mental health. The web series featuring the artists in the latest campaign is online and there will be a gala auction of the works on 31 May at The Grove, rooftop at 480 Queen Street, city. Tickets $50. For both see www.artsandminds.org.au

MEN in their flying machines

Magnificent Ever wondered what the smooth talking pilot on your last flight is doing when he’s not driving you to your destination at a cruising height of 30,000’? He’s probably flying, that’s what. Look at the list of fliers taking part in the Red Thunder Airshow near Toogoolawah on 26 and 27 May and you’ll see that most of them are commercial pilots, spending their workday hours in the cockpit of wide body Boeing 787s, Airbus A330s and A380s for domestic and international airlines.

Their part-time passion, though, is flying decidedly different aeroplanes, from vintage warbirds to home-built aerobatic aircraft. Most of them started flying at 16, or age 11 in the case of Australian Aerobatic Champion Alan Kilpatrick (in flight left) who admits he’s loved planes since he was a toddler. Kilpatrick will be demonstrating his skills in rolling, tumbling, low level flying and darting vertically up in the air (and down again) in a DR-107 which he not only flies but he also helped to build with a mate over six years. In that, Kilpatrick is not alone as many of the other pilots have also built or restored the planes they fly.

The Russian Roolettes aerobatic formation team, military machines and more will also take to the skies over Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield less than two hours north west of Brisbane. Displays, re-enactments, joy flights and even aircraft for sale will be part of the show.

For details see www.redthunder.com.au

ways to help the environment

Image: Wang LiQiang/Shutterstock

As World Environment Day approaches on 5 June make a date to make a difference. Here are three ways to help …

1. Get a team of friends or colleagues together to take part in the tree planting challenge at Coolnwynpin Creek Corridor Koala Nature Refuge in Capalaba to help with the revegetation program that buffers the refuge from the impact of urban surrounds. Teams will be challenged to plant as many trees as they can in two hours, competing for the title of champion, followed by a celebratory barbecue. Registration required by 18 May, cost $2000 for a team of 10 volunteers.

2. Chances are you’ve never heard of Curlew Island, let alone been there, but every summer from October to March it gets some very special visitors that have made it their annual vacation spot. The critically endangered Eastern Curlew (above) breeds in the Arctic Circle but most of the world’s remaining population spends the northern winter season ‘holidaying’ in Australia’s temperate coastal wetlands.

Volunteer to remove invasive weeds from their holiday habitat, a short boat ride from Labrador on the Gold Coast, and learn about this endangered species and conservation in the process. Weeding days are scheduled 14-22 May. 3. Nathan Road Wetlands Reserve at Rothwell adjoins the massive (110,000 hectares) and internationally significant Moreton Bay Wetlands, an area that is home to koalas, greater gliders, grey-headed flying foxes, wetland birds and native orchids. Conservation Volunteers Australia is working with the local council to help with weed control and the planting of groundcovers and native grasses to improve the life of the site. Join the weeding party on 29 May. All projects hosted by Conservation Volunteers Australia.

For details see www.conservationvolunteers.com.au

BNE May/June 2018 | 7

FEATURE

singNOW

Across Brisbane people are flocking to choirs to sing their heart out, even if they can’t hold a tune. Tonya Turner discovers how, and why, they’re doing it

A

ll over Brisbane, people young and old from different social and cultural backgrounds are flocking to community choirs to let their hair down, tap into their feelings and connect with other souls as an antidote to our increasingly busy world. Go along to one and it’s obvious they’re loving it but there’s mounting evidence, too, that shows a wider range of benefits associated with a group of people gathering together to sing – and anyone can do it. The choirs drawing the most followers don’t hold auditions and you can simply rock up unannounced and join in on the night.

PUB CHOIR Once a month, hundreds of people turn up to a pub somewhere in Brisbane to learn a popular song in 90 minutes over a few drinks and then perform it together at the end of the night. There is no sheet music, audition or sign-up form, just an open invitation to anyone aged 18 and over to come along and sing their heart out. And they turn up in droves – most recently the choir’s first birthday event drew a crowd of 800 to the Triffid in Newstead (pictured above) and video of the song from that night, My Happiness by Powderfinger, has had 126,000 views on Facebook.

Brisbane’s Pub Choir even has had worldwide attention with 4.6 million views of its earlier rendition of the song Zombie by the Cranberries, including by the band itself, which was recorded at the Elephant Hotel in Fortitude Valley.

It started as an idea between friends Meg Bartholomew and Astrid Jorgensen and they hosted their first Pub Choir, with another friend Waveney Yasso as accompanying guitarist, at The Bearded Lady in West End. Back then they charged $5 a head to cover costs, including licensing fees, and more than 70 people showed up. It was such a huge success that the second session sold out and numbers have been growing rapidly ever since. Now it’s $10 a head to cover the cost of venue hire as well and they’ve had to move to bigger premises four times. They are hoping the 8 | BNE May/June 2018

Triffid will hold them for the long term and events are booked there for May and June.

Jorgensen, 27, has been involved with a lot of choirs over the years but she believes there is something about the setting that gives Pub Choir an edge. “You can sing anywhere and anytime but singing at the pub does seem to give a relaxed feeling to the whole night. The pub is a familiar place that we usually visit with friends. I think it gives people permission to relax and to enjoy themselves,” she says.

Yasmin Powell, 25, has been to every Pub Choir since first attending with a friend last year. “The lack of inhibitions you get from being surrounded by hundreds of strangers who are having so much fun and not caring how they sound is so liberating and freeing,” she says.

Making new friends has been a highlight of the monthly sing-a-longs.

“Being in a group of joyful people, you suddenly become instant friends with everyone and start to see more familiar faces in the crowd each time you go,” she says.

In the meantime, Jorgensen has recently quit her day job as a high school music teacher to dedicate more time to Pub Choir as its success draws new crowds outside Brisbane. In May new dates have been added for events in Toowoomba and Maroochydore, in June at Goondiwindi and in July they will host their first events interstate in Hobart.

“It is such a supportive, relaxed, diverse environment … I also really love how Pub Choir encourages people to forget about perfection. I think the world could use a lot more of that. The experience is more important than the outcome,” Jorgensen says.

Find out more at www.pubchoir.com.au

WITH ONE VOICE Scientific studies show that singing releases endorphins and oxytocin which help relieve anxiety and stress and are linked to feelings of trust

Image: this page and top right, Jacob Morrison

EVERYBODY

Line-up for pub choir

and bonding. Choral singing has also been proven to alleviate depression and social isolation.

Cath Mundy has been the choral conductor of With One Voice Brisbane (WOVB) since its inception in April 2014 for these very reasons.

The concept is the brainchild of social entrepreneur and soprano Tania de Jong, and now WOV choirs gather around the country each week, operated by Creativity Australia.

“These choirs are primarily about inclusion,” Mundy says. “The mental, emotional, physical and social benefits of group singing are huge. This choir is a very safe space to come every week and feel that you belong.”

Every Wednesday a choir of about 50 people meets at Brisbane City Hall. There are no auditions so anyone can take part and there’s no need to book ahead. “A lot of people say ‘I can’t sing!’ but I believe if we can speak, we can sing. When we sing together, it’s been scientifically shown to bring our heart beats in sync with each other. Also our brains release a cocktail of feel-good hormones into our bloodstream. These great hormones bring our moods into a positive space and open us to connect with other people more deeply. We feel at peace with ourselves and at one with each other. It’s incredibly unifying,” she says. Each WOVB choir session is followed by a supper.

Michael Campbell, 70, has been with the choir since the beginning.

“I had a latent desire to sing and WOVB provided the ideal opportunity,” he says. He loves the feeling of joy he gets from singing with the group each week and the camaraderie they share.

Many deep and lasting friendships have formed within the choir over the past four years. “When other people you’re singing with are perhaps ‘different’ to you – maybe they come from another country or culture, or perhaps they are differently abled – the differences and barriers start to melt away and we become friends. The friendships and feeling of connection are so important to our well-being,” Mundy says. Entry is by tax-deductible donation and the choir also performs at special events and festivals throughout the year.

five-day program, culminating in a public performance. Participants don’t require any musical knowledge or experience and can either learn the songs using sheet music or by ear.

Mark Taylor, manager of Open Stage, says people come for different reasons. “We have had participants who have never sung in front of people before through to those who are working towards an audition for the Conservatorium. Some want to improve their singing tone or projection, meet new friends or improve their karaoke,” he says.

The paid workshops of approximately 25 people each begin with professional Opera Queensland singers performing chosen pieces to the group, usually in English but sometimes in Italian or French. “The participants usually get a real rush from working so closely with celebrated singers and ultimately the program is about celebrating the human voice and coming together to make music,” Taylor says.

At the end of the next workshop, both groups will come together on 28 June to perform in three classic pieces with Opera Queensland stars Antoinette Haloran and Rosario La Spina at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Lyric Theatre, the main stage for its biggest musical performances.

Battiato was overjoyed by last year’s workshop and performance and is looking forward to attending again this year. “To be trained by the best of the best, you couldn’t have asked for anything else. Singing on stage was a feeling that I cannot explain, it was so powerful and exhilarating,” he says.

Although the choir certainly attracts people wanting to improve their vocal chops, Taylor says it offers so much more. “We see participants’ confidence grow, their stagecraft and stage presence develop, and the most common piece of feedback we receive is that people make new connections and friends,” he says.

The six-week program starts 22 May (and there’s another one coming in October), cost $170 per person and the five-day intensive workshop on 25 June, cost $270 per person, plus booking fees. See www.operaq.com.au

Find out more at www.creativityaustralia.org.au/choirs/

OPEN STAGE With a name like Giovanni Battiato, this bassbaritone’s love for opera was almost inevitable but it wasn’t until later in life that Battiato discovered his passion for operatic singing. Last year he travelled from his home in Cairns to Brisbane to take part in Opera Queensland’s Open Stage workshop and performance.

“The experience was absolutely tremendous and I met some amazing people,” Battiato says. Open Stage is a workshop/operatic choir that runs once a week for six weeks or over an intensive full-time

Open Stage at Opera Queensland BNE May/June 2018 | 9

COVER STORY

10 | BNE May/June 2018

Willow Sage, who turns seven in June, starting school.

“We wanted to have another baby and I wanted to get my daughter into pre-school and let her have just a slice of normal life because we went on tour when she was 14 months old and came home when she was three. So I wanted to do bake sales and make Rice Krispie treats and have a family.”

Known for wearing her heart on her song list, she admits Beautiful Trauma is a reflection of where her life is now, even in the drama, heartache and frustration that seem to inform her lyrics.

“It’s where I’ve been in the last several years. Long term relationships are not easy, but they’re beautiful. They can be. We’ve been together 16 years, and we’re still in it. I love being with my husband. Most of the time.”

How come the songs are all about relationships gone wrong then?

“That’s when I’m inspired to write songs. I’ve never been a person that writes love songs. It’s just not my style. I’ll leave that to Lionel Richie. It’s just that being happy is not inspiring to me and so when I write, that’s what you’re hearing – just the pain of it all.

“My songs have always been therapy. I start from a very narcissistic, selfish place when it comes to writing songs but I have found we are all going through the same thing and my shows are like two hours of group therapy. Exorcising our demons one by one!

“What seems to be so personal means different things to different people. ‘What About Us’, for example, for some people it’s about love and it’s about their personal microcosmic situation. It could be about government. It could be about the world. It could be about your partner.

It could be about whatever it is about for you.”

So are we all living a ‘Beautiful Trauma’?

Image: ©Andrew Macpherson/CPi Syndication/Headpress Text: Peter Reynolds/The Interview People

A

Alecia Beth Moore, otherwise known as P!NK, has been described as an all-spinning, all-flying, all-dancing entertainment machine and the only performer who can bungee and sing at the same time. She’s known for pushing the boundaries with her performance – for the American Music Awards last November she did a jaw-dropping ‘vertical dance’ routine in the dark 30 floors up on the outside of the glass-walled J.W. Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles while singing the title track from her latest album Beautiful Trauma.

She has sold more than 42 million albums, and the music video of ‘Just Like Fire’ the song she co-wrote and recorded for Walt Disney’s feature film Alice Through The Looking Glass has had more than 155 million views – the song topped the ARIA chart in Australia – but it’s her stage presence that has Australians clamouring for more. Her last tour, five years ago, still stands as the biggest selling tour by a solo female artist in this country (outselling Taylor Swift and Adele).

Since then she has been largely out of the limelight, having another baby and focusing on family time, until the release of her album Beautiful Trauma last year, and in August she returns to Brisbane with a bang – seven shows selling out in quick succession months before she arrives in town on the final leg of her world tour. But this is not a comeback tour.

“I don’t feel like I ever went away. I just was doing other stuff. I think it’s just another chapter. Nowadays if you go away for five minutes you’re gone. So, I think the thing for me is I love being a mum and I love living life, too, and so I like to have a little bit of both. I’m okay without attention for a while.”

Family has been a priority since P!NK last toured Australia with the birth of her son Jameson Moon, now 18 months old, and daughter

40 IS THE NEW 20

The pop rebel is now a mother of two and a budding winemaker but she has no intention of changing her tune just yet. Interview by Peter Reynolds

I think it’s important to never stop dreaming, and to always follow what’s inside your gut – whatever drives you to get out of bed in the morning, you should always try to find time for that “Yes! [laughs] That’s what life is. Life is traumatic, but it’s beautiful and there’s a lot of beautiful people in the world, I think.”

Since the tour began her family is still quite the centre of her attention and her children are along for the ride. “We’re like a gypsy family. It’s nice, I like it. Willow is an awesome traveller and Jameson will be too. It’s great. Willow’s kindergarten teacher is now her tutor who goes on the road with us.”

And women around the world have applauded their pop idol for her candid portrayal of life on the road for a working mum, breast pumps, sweat pants and all. One of her most recent magazine covers is a family portrait with her children and a story inside about her parenting style.

The rebel has become a role model.

When they are not on tour the family home is now in Santa Ynez, in the heart of California wine country, on about 10 hectares of organic vineyards. “Carey and I had always said that when Willow was a certain age, we wanted to live on a farm and raise her ‘old-school’, just get out of the city and have a really simple life full of grass stains and bugs and that kind of thing.

“It’s actually quite easy. I can still have my life, especially when you get off tour and you’re just around that many people for that long, when you’re travelling a lot you can’t wait to just be by yourself for a minute.”

So has she become a wine connoisseur, with Châteauneuf-du-Pape on her rider?

“I love wine. When I hang out, I’m part of this boys club – I, my promoter, my manager – and they all have great taste and they’re welltravelled. You know, I used to think wine was a punishment at holiday meals. My mom used to drink kosher wine and I’d think, ‘what are you

doing to us’. Then I was with the guys and they would open Châteauneufdu-Pape and I’d think, ‘It’s not awful! In fact it’s brilliant, it’s beautiful, it’s amazing,’ and then it just went on from there.

“I did some online courses and then I got off tour and went to more courses and then I just started going for it. If it’s your passion, then do it.

“I’ve had two dreams in my life, and I’m now following the second one – well, third I guess, my family. But I didn’t ever dream about being a mother when I was little. I was quite the opposite. But now I think, ‘I’m all right at this! I like these little humans!’ So I think it’s important to never stop dreaming, and to always follow what’s inside your gut – whatever drives you to get out of bed in the morning, you should always try to find time for that.”

For now, P!NK is not quite ready to share more about her wine ambitions except to say that she is experimenting with different grapes (“the Malbec didn’t work out and has been replaced with Cabernet Franc, which is perfection”) and that pruning is like a Zen moment.

“It’s how I listen to Beck’s whole first album, pruning. It’s a beautiful experience …”

Is it possible P!NK may be mellowing as she approaches 40, just a little over a year away? Not likely.

“40 is the new 20! I used to think 40 was so old and now I’m like, ‘Ah, I’m just getting started.”

So you are the age you feel, then?

“Yeah, Carey’s 12. I’m 17?” she laughs.

P!NK performs at Brisbane Entertainment Centre 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23 August. Her album Beautiful Trauma is out now BNE May/June 2018 | 11

love

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FIND THE

IN LONDON VISIT THEIR PLACE Dreaming of setting up home together? Be inspired by a sneaky peek at the young Royals’ city abode – Kensington Palace.

While Prince William and Kate live in a 22-room apartment with their growing family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are sharing the more cosy Nottingham Cottage within the grounds until their marriage (and three other royal couples also live in palace apartments).

While the private residences are off limits, the public areas of the Palace are open every day, with extensive state rooms, changing exhibitions and gardens all to view. You can take a picnic and enjoy it in the gardens without buying an entry ticket. See www.hrp.org.uk And even if you didn’t get invited to the wedding, you can still see where it all took place at Windsor Castle (see www.royalcollection.org.uk), the favourite weekender of Her Majesty the Queen, just a 40-minute train ride from Paddington Station. Take a selfie at the entrance to St George’s Chapel and tackle the 5km Long Walk (pictured left) to spot red deer roaming freely in Windsor Great Park. Find out more at www.windsorgreatpark.co.uk

FIND YOUR SPECIAL SCENT

Inspired by the wedding of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, create your own romantic ‘royal’ tour of London with these stops on your itinerary

Penhaligon’s has supplied fragrances to the Royal Family for more than 100 years and holds the Royal Warrants to prove it but you don’t have to be a King or Queen to choose from their long list of exclusive scents for men and women or experience their personal perfume profiling service – sit down with a cappuccino and choose your favourite tones and scents before the expert staff match you to a perfect perfume. Several store locations. See www.penhaligons.com

ROCK ROYALTY HAS STAYED HERE According to the independent Good Hotel Guide’s Emma Field, the flamboyant Portobello Hotel in Notting Hill (pictured right) has a rock ‘n’ roll heritage that can’t fail to seduce with a guest list that includes The Rolling Stones and Patti Smith. Room 16 is particularly notorious with its freestanding Victorian bathtub where Alice Cooper reportedly kept one of his snakes during his stay, while Kate Moss and Johnny Depp bathed in champagne.

Rooms are a delightful curiosity, each one with its own unique character, from murals on the wall to an antique four-poster bed so high you need steps to get into it and breakfast served on vintage crockery from the nearby legendary market (Meghan Markle is also a fan of the market). See www.portobellohotel.com

The Savoy is the first luxury hotel in central London, built in 1889, and still the place to stay in the heart of the West End theatre district. It’s also home to the iconic American Bar (pictured left), so named for serving mixed or ‘American’ style drinks, otherwise known as cocktails, since 1893. This is a grand spot to sip a drink in style, and in May it celebrates the Royal Wedding with a special cocktail called The Royal Welcome – a blend of Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto, Bombay Sapphire gin, Champagne syrup, yuzu, Peychaud’s Bitters and English sparkling wine – and a Royal Flight which is a collection of historical cocktails created at The Savoy that recall some of the world’s most famous weddings. They may not be on the menu when you visit but you get the picture. This is the place to show your love with a little luxe. See www.fairmont.com/savoy-london/

Images: top left Chrislofotos/Shutterstock and top right Willy Barton/Shutterstock

DATE NIGHT

QUALITY COUPLES TIME Londoners in the know had fallen in love with Violet Cakes long before Harry and Meghan chose owner of the small East London bakery Claire Ptak to make their wedding cake.

The newlyweds will be enjoying a lemon and elderflower concoction smothered in Ptak’s signature limited edition buttercream icing but Ptak changes her flavours with the season so there’s always something fresh to try at her shop and café (which also serves savoury dishes for breakfast and lunch daily) and from her Broadway Market stall (every Saturday).

See www.violetcakes.com Continue to follow in Harry and Meghan’s footsteps on a date at Dean Street Townhouse (www.deanstreettownhouse.com) in Soho, with its all-day, all access British menu to suit any occasion (from breakfast and brunch to afternoon tea, theatre supper, late night snacks, special Sunday roast and classy cocktail list), or take a detour to South London and Pop Brixton (pictured right), a social enterprise space that has the Royal couple’s support and hosts everything from yoga and vintage clothing sales to movies, jazz club nights, craft beer and wine bars and more than 20 food outlets. See www.popbrixton.org

CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN TOUR Snuggle in the backseat, and it will be cosy, of a Mini Cooper and let your chauffeur do the driving to sights you know – Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey – and some you don’t on a smallcarBIGCITY tour (pictured left). The classic Mini Coopers are restored gems in themselves and local drivers dart through the city traffic to show you London’s best bits. Tours from one hour to eight hours. See www.smallcarbigcity.com Images, opposite page from top: the 5km Long Walk leads to Windsor Castle through Windsor Great Park; the Portobello Hotel has been host to a different kind of royalty; the American Bar at The Savoy Hotel is a top spot for cocktails. This page, from top: Pop Brixton is a social enterprise for fun activities and food outlets; see the city sights on a Mini tour

For more travel inspiration see www.visitbritain.com

Malaysia Airlines begins new services between Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur four times weekly from 6 June, with connections to London on its international network

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HOW I LEARNED TO

Deborah Dickson-Smith discovered a diving Nirvana in the Solomon Islands and four trips later she finds there’s plenty still to explore 14 | BNE May/June 2018

Image: Mike Scotland

love diving wrecks

Islands from the air

Shrimp on the wreck of the Dauntless

The Solomon Islands has one of the highest diversities of marine life in the world with more than 2000 species of reef fish and more than 600 species of coral recorded

T

he Solomon Islands Western Provinces may seem like the last wild frontier of the South Pacific to some; I confess they certainly did to me. And Munda? A spot on the map I’d never heard of. But all that changed with my first visit four years ago and it was love at first sight with the region’s stunning landscapes, both above and below the water.

I first caught sight of Munda and the surrounding islands out of my plane window, a view of turquoise lagoons dotted with lush green tropical islands, each fringed with white sandy beaches and surrounded by shallow coral reefs. I couldn’t wait to jump in.

As a keen scuba diver, I’m always looking for new underwater worlds to explore and there’s so much to see in the Western Provinces I have been back three more times since … and I’ll be returning again soon because, for a diver, the area has got it all: reefs, wrecks and biodiversity.

In fact, this is the world’s epicentre of biodiversity. Situated on the eastern tip of the Coral Triangle, the Solomon Islands has one of the highest diversities of marine life in the world with 2228 species of reef fish and 605 species of coral recorded. But it’s not just the coral reefs that attract such an abundant variety of fish. Dotted throughout the lagoons of the Western Provinces (and throughout the Solomon Islands) are remnants of hundreds of wrecks of WWII planes, ships and submarines, the legacy of its position in wartime action, now home to myriad colourful marine life from the Nemos and Dorys, jack fish and barracudas to the larger pelagic creatures such as sharks, turtles and rays.

There are stacks of dive sites near Munda with names that conjure up tales of adventure like Shark Point, Barry’s Breakfast, Alice in Wonderland and The Cave of the Kastom Shark, a cave dive that you enter through an opening at the centre of a small island, descend down a chimney and into a tunnel which opens up onto the coral wall about 20 metres deep with enormous sea fans silhouetted in its entrance.

Alice in Wonderland is named for the enormous leather corals found there, which look like giant mushrooms. The reef wall at Shark Point is covered in corals of all shapes, sizes and colours, populated by equally

colourful reef fish and out in the blue, big schools of snapper, trevally, barracuda and, as the name suggests, reef sharks.

SUNKEN TREASURES In such surrounds it’s impossible not to be thrilled by the marine life, the amazing colours and formations life creates on coral reefs but, until visiting this area, I wouldn’t have been excited about diving to great depths to look at rusting hulks of sunken ships. However, it was in Munda that I changed my mind about wrecks. Over two shallow dives we explored the wrecks of two American fighter aircraft; the first a Bell P-39 Airacobra, one of the principal American fighter craft in service when the United States entered the war. Sitting on the sandy sea floor, it’s reasonably intact.

Surprising, but not the first thing I notice about it. What I notice first is that I almost can’t see it at all for all the fish.

It is surrounded by large schools of juvenile fish and, when I get close enough, I see it’s full of them as well, along with hundreds of colourful shrimp. The body of the plane, which I assume was once painted in a US Air Force standard military grey, is camouflaged in colourful coating corals which create gorgeous patterns along the length of the plane.

The second wreck is a Douglas SBD Dauntless, an American naval scout plane and bomber. It’s also sitting on a sandy bottom in very shallow water, covered with soft and hard corals and teeming with life. And this one has a rather interesting story.

Our dive guide tells us that he once took a retired American pilot diving on it. He had asked to dive this particular site because he was the pilot flying it when it was shot down. What is even more remarkable is that a short time later the guide was asked to take a Japanese man diving here too, who claimed to have shot down the plane during the war.

According to our guide the pair met up back in Honiara and have remained in touch. While I’m not sure how much of the tale is true, (the Solomon Islanders do love to spin a yarn), it got me thinking about the stories, and the people, behind the many other wrecks in the Solomon Islands, as well as wreckage that also still sits in the jungle across the islands today.

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SALVAGING WAR RELICS Back on dry land we stumble upon another wreck on our way to visit a nearby WWII Museum. It’s a Jeep, salvaged from the jungle by local character, Alfie Rex Lay, who has lovingly restored it to working order, using parts also salvaged from the jungle.

Barney Paulsen is another local who has been collecting war relics and memorabilia from all over the island for more than 15 years. He’s accumulated so much he’s built his own shed to house it all, and called it the Peter Joseph WWII Museum after his first find, the dog tags belonging to one Corporal Peter Joseph. In fact, there are piles of dog tags sitting among neatly ordered stacks of hand grenades, guns, bullets, CocaCola bottles and mess kits in Paulsen’s private museum and I can’t help thinking that there’s an untold story behind them all.

It’s a stark reminder that this small and so tranquil island nation has a brutal past as the scene of one of the bloodiest naval battles in the Pacific during WWII and the archipelago is littered with wrecks of all shapes and sizes on land and underwater. Each wreck has its own poignant story, the tragedy that brought it to rest and the still unfolding story of the reef society that has adopted it as its own.

Discovering Munda Easy for beginners: Munda is surrounded by quite shallow lagoons, so you don’t need to be an experienced technical diver to dive the wrecks, and there is plenty of choice for shallow reef dives. Many sites (including some wrecks) are also accessible on snorkel. Snorkel tours and gear can be booked at Dive Munda based at Agnes Gateway Hotel.

Go deeper: Dive Munda is a Scuba Schools International Training Centre, owned and operated by instructor trainer Belinda Botha who has trained many locals up to Dive Master qualification. Dives start with the one-day Try Diving course suitable for people with no previous experience and by the end of the day can take divers down to 12 metres at almost any of their nearby dive sites, including wrecks such as the Kashi Maru and the Douglas Dive Bomber which have interesting stories. Beginner divers can reach certification level in three full days of training. See www.divemunda.com Island hopping: Other activities from Munda include fishing trips and cultural tours to villages and other islands including the tiny Skull Island where the last cannibal skulls are enshrined, moved there when the region was converted to Christianity by missionaries.

Gizo is a two-hour boat trip (15 minutes flight) from Munda and is equally beautiful for diving and snorkelling with lots of pretty reefs and its fair share of wrecks. The Japanese transport ship Toa Maru is one of the largest wrecks in the Solomon Islands at more than 140 metres in length and lies about 20 minutes offshore.

Nearby Kennedy Island is a popular picnic and swimming spot, named for one Lieutenant John F. Kennedy who was rescued nearby after his frigate was torpedoed during WWII and later became the 35th President of the United States of America.

One of my favourites is Uepi Island, accessible from Seghe, the most family-friendly resort in the Western Provinces, with a shallow lagoon on one side where you can swim with turtles, go kayaking or stand-up paddleboarding. On the other side, a pristine coral reef drops off into deeper water and just under the jetty you can snorkel with reef sharks in crystal clear water.

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Images, from top: Barney Paulsen has been salvaging war relics for years and houses them at the Peter Joseph WWll Museum, named for Corporal Peter Joseph whose dog tags were Paulsen’s first discovery. Above: Skull Island is a shrine to the last of the cannibals and just a short boat ride from Munda for a sightseeing detour. It’s surrounded in superstition which has been said to haunt some visitors even today who don’t heed the warnings of their guide Images top and bottom: David Kirkland

Getting there A limited special eight-day dive package departs Brisbane Saturdays and returns from Munda on Sundays until 29 July 2018, bookings required by 16 July. Package includes accommodation at Agnes Gateway Hotel and 12 dives with Dive Munda. Cost from $2140 per diver, additional costs apply.

See www.gotours.com.au/dive-munda

Solomon Airlines flies direct between Brisbane and Honiara weekly with connections to Munda

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Lord Howe, naturally

It’s been 20 years since David Attenborough visited Lord Howe Island but a holiday there is still like stepping into a real-life nature documentary, as Heather McWhinnie discovers

20 | BNE May/June 2018

Most of the island is virtually untouched forest, and there are plants, birds and even insects here that are found nowhere else in the world

W

terns in their breeding place. We are rewarded when a few wheel and dart higher up the hill but this is as close as we will get for now as a sign bars the way to allow the birds to breed in peace without interference from nosy humans.

It’s a welcome pause and a chance to admire the views back to the lagoon and Lord Howe’s most dramatic peaks, Mt Lidgbird and Mt Gower. Back at the bottom and after a quick cuppa with our guide – Anthony Riddle, of Marine Adventures, whose ancestors were among the island’s early settlers in the 1850s – I have donned a wetsuit and am floating stealthily in the shallows of North Bay keeping an eagle eye out for a turtle which, of all the marine life on view in this sanctuary, for most of us amateurs is a prized sighting. Turtles frequent the bay but sometimes are more sociable than others and so keep us guessing just where to find them.

My strategy is to swim a little farther from the boat and float awhile to see what passes around me instead of following everything in my path.

It works, something moves to my side and I am startled. The turtle is huge – much bigger than I expected – and it moves off so I try to follow it a little distance for the thrill of it but it’s surprisingly quick and soon it is gliding further away and I am struggling to keep it in sight – then I hear voices and I’m being called back to the boat.

Only halfway into day one of my expedition I’ve encountered two of Lord Howe’s most popular ‘locals’ without much effort at all. Feeling pleased with myself I decide to set out on another walk. After all, this is what Lord Howe Island is renowned for. It may be only small, at 11km long and 2km wide, but it has more than a dozen walks ranging in difficulty from flat and easy to steep and exhausting.

Already I’ve heard that Kim’s Lookout (Class 4, 7km) offers a panoramic view of the island so I take the path along Old Settlement Beach to tackle the uphill track. More stairs. There are a couple of spots

Images: Kenny Lees Photography; birds, Lord Howe Island Tourism Association

hen David Attenborough arrived on Lord Howe Island he described it as “so extraordinary it is almost unbelievable … few islands, surely, can be so accessible, so remarkable, yet so unspoilt.” And it seems nothing much has changed. When I arrived, a couple riding in the shuttle with me from the airport were there to celebrate an anniversary, 20 years after they spent their honeymoon on the island, and said much the same – apart from a few accommodation upgrades, it had changed hardly at all.

And that is perhaps the secret to the lasting beauty of Lord Howe Island. Although it is just two hours from Brisbane, with direct flights departing every weekend, visitors on the island are limited to 400 at any one time, residents number slightly less, only locals drive cars – tourists ride bikes and walk.

Just getting there is a step back in time, aboard a Dash 8 turboprop, the smallest aircraft in the Qantas fleet. It seats 36 passengers (the first commercial services to Lord Howe Island on the ‘flying boats’ of the 1940s and ’50s carried 42), stowed baggage allowance is a strict 14kg per person (and on the return journey passengers are weighed as well as their baggage for the pilot to assess before making his final take-off call). The terminal which has greeted visitors since 1974 is only now going through the final stages of a $1.8 million redevelopment.

Local naturalist Ian Hutton has been living on Lord Howe Island for nearly 40 years and says it’s like living inside a David Attenborough documentary every day and, as a first-time visitor, I can agree wholeheartedly after only a few days.

In the first scene of my imaginary documentary I am walking, vigorously at first, then a little slower as I hit the stairs up the walking track of Mt Eliza (for the bushwalkers, Class 4, 0.6km) – I soon find out there are many stairs on the walking tracks around the island – then balancing on a windy hillock waiting to catch sight of screeching sooty

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THE FISH ARE BITING

It’s true there are heaps of fish circling the shallows as soon as someone even dips a toe in the water and if you throw in a few pellets of fish food they go into a feeding frenzy. It’s hilarious and a little scary at the same time – hilarious because the fish (some large salmon, trevally and mullet among them) weave and tuck around your legs in a way that’s both ticklish and a bit unsteadying as well; scary because you don’t want to fall in the water and get caught in a tangle of limbs and hungry fish.

The food is provided by local Rod Giles who has worked with the Marine Parks Authority to source a food pellet, and a dose, that is healthy for the fish and he makes it available in an automatic dispenser from the beach shed, at $1 a small cup. You can also hire snorkel gear (and paddleboards) on an honour system – pay a few dollars into the box and write down what you are taking in the book.

Ned’s Beach just also happens to have some beautiful coral right off the beach so it’s easy to spend a few hours exploring the reef and ticking fish off your ‘seen’ list. Butterflyfish, check. Angelfish, check. Double header wrasse, check. Spangled Emperor, check. The protected marine park extends 12 nautical miles out from shore so there are plenty of fish that make this most southern reef in the world their home.

I have a few more walks in me but I am just a bit too early to follow in David Attenborough’s footsteps and call the providence petrels down from the sky under the canopy of Mt Gower. It’s a unique phenomenon he recorded for his Life of Birds special all those years ago and it’s something that other visitors have been able to see for themselves every autumn and winter on the guided treks up the mountain.

For me it’s just another reason to come back. I want to conquer Mt Gower, swim with the fishes, again, complete all the walks … but for now my time is up, it’s time to get on the scales at the departure checkin – and it seems I’m out of luck, winds are with us and we’re carrying no excess baggage, so we’re all aboard and there’s no unscheduled stay for me.

QantasLink flies direct between Brisbane and Lord Howe Island every weekend. See www.qantas.com 22 | BNE May/June 2018

Images this page: Lord Howe Island Tourism Association

Images, previous page, main: View of Lord Howe Island’s twin peaks, Mt Lidgbird and Mt Gower from the lagoon; previous page, bottom from left: scaly bark tree on Smoking Tree Ridge trail; sooty terns on Ned’s Beach; fungus growing in the mist forest on Mt Gower. This page, from top: swim with turtles at North Bay and Old Settlement Beach; the Mt Gower walk is an eight-hour trek. Opposite page, clockwise from top: aerial view of Admiralty Apartments at Ned’s Beach; fine dining and picnic hampers for guests staying at beachside suites at Arajilla Retreat, Old Settlement Beach; and inside one of the Admiralty Apartments

at the top where rocks and track become mixed so orienteering skills have to kick in to choose a path and there’s a moment first of confusion and then of relief as a red blob on a rock seems to indicate the right way.

Sitting on a boulder with such a view ahead seems to be a good time to ponder the details: Lord Howe is not only a World Heritage Area, it is a Permanent Park Preserve which means that most of the island is virtually untouched forest, and there are plants, birds and even insects here that are found nowhere else in the world. Snakes and poisonous spiders, though, are not among them. Walkers can be assured they will not come upon one deadly critter on these paths. Looking out onto the palette of blues of sea and sky I can also see how it’s been called one of the ‘cleanest’ places on earth; there is no air or sea pollution or litter.

I continue walking along the island’s most northern edge, just over 200 metres above sea level and it’s a sheer drop to the water – and enough breeze on the open trail to make it exhilarating.

I’m starting to see what local photographer Kenny Lees says he likes about the island landscapes that inspire him, “rich in blues and greens and intense skyscapes; an untouched ruggedness everywhere.”

It suddenly occurs to me that I’ve been on the track a couple of hours without a single other person in sight. Finally I reach the last leg to Ned’s Beach, through the paddock, then back down the road to Old Settlement Beach and I’m home – and I’ve never been so happy to sit down, lie down, and go to sleep!

The next day I have a perfect excuse for a ‘rest day’. Everyone is talking about the fish that come right up to practically eat out of your hand at Ned’s Beach so I am on a mission to check it out.

BASE CAMP Where to stay: There’s no camping on Lord Howe Island, even for purist nature lovers, but you can enjoy a little luxury. Grace and Steve Krick are the super hosts behind Admiralty Apartments (named for the islands that stand just offshore and in view from the beach beyond the garden). It’s the closest accommodation to Ned’s Beach and just a short amble through the trees to Ned’s Shed to grab some fish food, snorkelling gear or paddleboards.

There are two self-contained apartments, discreetly positioned for privacy, each with a sun deck and outdoor barbecue, supersized king bedroom, massive ensuite with freestanding bathtub – a godsend for a muscle soothing soak after a day’s hiking – open plan kitchen (with coffee machine), dining and living area, and essential extras such as bath robes, beach towels and day packs in the closet. Grace provides a complimentary welcome hamper on arrival with a few gourmet goodies and they will organise bikes for you. It’s not common on the island but there’s also free WiFi. For more information see www.admiraltyapartments.com.au

Dining in style: There’s no need to survive on basic rations on this naturalist escape. Fine dining to match any in the city is served daily at Arajilla Retreat, at Old Settlement Beach. Head chef Ben Crompton and his team are wizards in the kitchen creating a new menu every day with dishes that are rarely repeated due to the changing nature of the produce they use from their own kitchen garden, local growers, the seafood catch of the day and what comes over on the supply boat.

The corn salsa jalapeno, cherry tomatoes, radish popcorn chorizo crumb and spiced corn puree were an inspired and delicious accompaniment to my trevally for dinner one night, but I’ve heard the flame-tailed snapper is the dish to look out for. Arajilla Retreat provides three meals a day for guests, including picnic hampers to have outdoors, and the restaurant is open to outside guests for dinner. See www.arajilla.com.au

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GREAT THINGS TO DO IN CALOUNDRA

Less than 100km north of Brisbane Caloundra is the gateway to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, a playground for water sports and more …

1. GET WET The calm waterways of Pumicestone Passage, Currimundi Lake or Tooway Creek are playgrounds for stand-up paddleboarders and kayakers and the more adventurous let the wind get beneath their wings kitesurfing under the expert guidance of Kite Thrills at Currimundi Lake, see www.kitethrills.com

3. WALK THE SHORE 2. TAKE A STREET ART STROLL

Image, Golden Beach Jetty: Tourism and Events Queensland

Take a detour off Bulcock Street into Lamkin, ‘Memory’ and Williamson Lanes and discover some street art that is not only colourful and creative it pays homage to the city’s cultural identity and local history in works depicting the iconic Old Caloundra Lighthouse, Kings Beach bathing pavilion and surfing pioneers Ma and Pa Bendall as well as colourful renditions of the area’s coastal character.

See more murals on the corner of Dingle Avenue, Queen Street (covering the water reservoir) and at Kings Beach. Find the Downtown Caloundra Street Art Trail map at www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au

4. VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE The Old Caloundra Lighthouse above Kings Beach played an integral role in Queensland’s coastal navigation from the 1890s and its very narrow and steep steps inside lead to a platform offering sweeping views of the coastline. It stands next to its replacement, built in 1968, on Canberra Terrace. They are open to view every second and fourth Saturday of the month from 9am – when the flag is flying they are open – cost $2 entry for adults, see www.sunshinecoastplaces.com.au

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The Caloundra Coastal Walk stretches 25km from Golden Beach in the south to Kawana in the north passing by headland cliffs, historic sites, nature reserves and an esplanade of shopping and dining.

On the way look out for the Military Jetty (pictured below) at Golden Beach, now a popular spot for fishermen throwing in a line it’s hard to believe it was once used for operations during WWII; also look out for birdlife and dolphins along the calm shoreline of Pumicestone Passage; the heritagelisted Bathing Pavilion at Kings Beach; and remnant coastal rainforest at Dicky Beach.

5. EAT AND DRINK WELL Michael Mulhearn brought fine dining to the seaside holiday spot when he opened Tides Waterfront Dining 10 years ago and now it’s a landmark with premium beachfront views, serving up the region’s best fresh seafood in dishes such as Mooloolaba prawn cakes, charred local squid, Moreton Bay bugs, blue swimmer crab spaghetti and Hervey Bay scallops as well as Moya Valley chicken breast from the northern Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Forge your own food trail and start with coffee at Lamkin Lane Espresso for Tim Adams own brew; Greenhouse Café, also in Lamkin Lane, for vegetarian breakfast and lunch; try Coffee Cat on Kings Beach for live music on weekends and Moffat Beach Brewing Company on Seaview Terrace for a refreshing ale.

6. MEET THE LOCALS AT CALOUNDRA STREET FAIR Karl Angell (above) has what many would call the dream job, spending long hours at the beach in search of the perfect wave – but he’s not surfing, he’s searching for another hero shot to add to his collection of photographs which he sells from his stall at the Caloundra Street Fair every Sunday – just look for the VW Beetle printed with one of his prized surf images (or see his work at www.angellsurfphotography.com) Professional photographer Angell is one of the most longstanding vendors at the fair which features 100 stalls of hand-crafted and locally-made products amidst live entertainment, activities for kids and street theatre, surrounded by the cafés, boutiques and specialty shops of Bulcock Street, just a few minutes walk from the beach.

See www.caloundrastreetfair.com.au

7. ROCK OUT TO THE BLUES Ash Grunwald, Russell Morris, Jon Stevens, Wendy Matthews and the Black Sorrows are just a few of the big names heading to the first Sunshine Rock and Blues Festival hosted by Caloundra RSL over three days from 22 to 24 June. It’s a full program of 20 live acts over three stages, from blues at breakfast to big rocking performances from legends including Richard Clapton and Phil Emmanuel, mixing it up with some of Queensland’s best singers, songwriters and bands. The event will also raise funds for local hospitals. Tickets from $59 for a one day pass. See www.caloundrarsl.com.au

8. QUEENSLAND AIR MUSEUM More than 100 dedicated volunteers work hard on everything from restoration and historical research to maintenance and visitor reception to keep Australia’s largest heritage air museum open every day at Caloundra Aerodrome. Queensland Air Museum now has 90 restored aircraft from many decades (up from the four it had when it opened on the site 31 years ago), including several RAAF planes from the 1960s and 1970s, and related aviation displays. Special events are held during the year such as an Open Cockpit Weekend (7 and 8 July) and an Engines Alive Day (next one in September) with loads more activities and entertainment.

At 7 Pathfinder Drive, Caloundra. General admission from $8. See www.qam.com.au

Comfortable rooms and honest, authentic service are just the start - Jen Fast, free Wi-Fi throughout the Hotel Be at the airport in 25 minutes with direct access to the AirTrain Start the day right with Espresso coffee machines in every room

Image, top: Patrick Woods/News Corp

In the heart of the CBD, just 5 minutes from Queen Street Mall Always the best rates on offer, visit hoteljen.com to book now

Hotel Jen Brisbane, 159 Roma Street, Brisbane, 4000 hjbb@hoteljen.com | www.hoteljen.com | 3238 2222 Find out more at www.visitsunshinecoast.com/caloundra BNE May/June 2018 | 25

ESCAPE EXTRA

onsnow with the

Jackson Hole

Revelstoke, Canada – longest vertical descent This is one of North America’s newest resorts.

Until 10 years ago the way up was by snowcat or helicopter, now high speed chairs and a gondola make for a quick ascent and then it’s a long, thigh burning 1713-metre descent, the longest serviced by a lift in North America. There are only three lifts (not counting a couple of beginner conveyor mats) but they open up more than 69 trails over 1200 hectares of terrain – the longest run is a tad over 15km. Revelstoke is also the only resort in the world to offer lift, cat, heli and backcountry skiing from one village base. See www.revelstokemountainresort.com

Big Sky, Montana – new frontier Known for its vast, steep terrain and an annual snowfall of more than 10 metres, Big Sky is still one of America’s best kept skiing secrets. Most of the skiing is for intermediate level and better with more than 20 lifts servicing 1500 hectares of terrain – the longest run is just under 10km.

Early adopters will want to be first in line next season to ride Big Sky’s new ergonomicallydesigned, eight-seat, high-speed super D-Line chairlift, the first of its type in the world, complete with heated seats and blue ‘bubble’ cover to keep the wind and snow out. On a rest 26 | BNE May/June 2018

day take a trip to Yellowstone National Park, less than 30km away, and spot buffalo herds, elk, bald eagles and geysers from a snowmobile. See www.bigskyresort.com

Aspen, Colorado – best celebrity spotting

Revelstoke

Visit during Christmas and New Year and you could rub shoulders with Hollywood A-listers on the lift and in the bar. Aspen is also wellconnected to Snowmass, Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands for all-round skiing terrain from beginner to expert. Off the slopes it also gets high marks for après ski – not just for shopping, bars and live entertainment but for theatre and culture too. See www.aspensnowmass.com

Jackson Hole, Wyoming – best steep and deep Nestled in the heart of the Teton mountain range, Jackson Hole is a remnant of the old west, a cowboy town that has grown up to offer some of the most challenging ski terrain in North America. Its beauty lies in more than the panoramic mountain views. It boasts uncrowded slopes, more than 1200 metres of vertical skiing and snowboarding and a truly relaxed atmosphere. See www.jacksonhole.com

Aspen

Nozawa Onsen – best cultural experience In the north of Nagano prefecture in Japan Nozawa Onsen is a village with plenty of character in its narrow streets, ryokans (traditional inns) and more than 30 hot springs for après ski wind-down, while on the slopes there’s a world-class terrain park and 50km of groomed trails. On a rest day take a tour to the Yudanaka National Park to see the Nagano Snow Monkeys, about an hour’s drive from Nozawa Onsen. See www.nozawakanko.jp

Nozawa Onsen

Fly between Brisbane and Canada with Air Canada via Vancouver; to Los Angeles with Qantas and Virgin Australia; and to Tokyo with Qantas

Images: Revelstoke, Royce Sihlis Photography; Aspen, Daniel Bayer

THE SNOW HASN’T STARTED FALLING in Australia yet but avid skiers are already looking ahead to the overseas snowfalls which average more than 10 metres each season.

According to ski travel specialists Travelplan, top picks are resorts in North America, Canada and Japan. Here are some of the hot favourites, but plenty more will be showcased at the International Ski Expo, hosted by Travelplan, on 2 June at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. For details see www.travelplan.com.au

Jetstar will launch the first ever direct flights between Brisbane and Uluru from 3 August 2018.

See www.jetstar.com

HANDY CONCIERGE Grosvenor in Cairns is the first venue in Queensland and one of the first in Australia to adopt Handy Concierge, offering guests who book direct on their website a free loan mobile phone during their stay. The phone is pre-programmed with google maps and details of many shops, restaurants, activities and tours available in the Cairns region and guests can use the phone for free unlimited internet, local, interstate and international calls to six selected countries (USA, UK, NZ, Hong Kong, China and India) during their stay. So far only a handful of hotels have adopted the technology in Australia, including the funky Adge boutique apartment hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills but it is widely available in cities around the world, including Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Seoul, London, Paris, Barcelona and more. See www.handy.travel to find out where Handy Concierge is offered.

New guided tour of GREAT WALK The Cooloola Great Walk follows a path more than 100km from the upper Noosa River to Rainbow Beach traversing rainforest, coastal woodland, heath-clad plains and the high dunes of the Cooloola Sandmass. While the route has been a favourite on the list of intrepid hikers, now it is even more easily accessible with a new guided five-day walking tour with camping gear and meals provided. On the tour walkers climb massive sandblows, pass perched lakes, view the spectacular panorama from natural lookouts and encounter wildlife, including koalas and wallabies, birdlife and wildflowers along the way. Tours depart Noosa Northshore fortnightly from 6 May to 23 September 2018. Cost $1595 per person including camping gear, meals and accommodation (or $1095 per person BYO camping gear).

See www.tropicaltreks.com.au

GREAT RAIL JOURNEYS Travelling cross country by train adds a certain charm and sense of adventure to the journey and the Jungfrau Railway in Switzerland (pictured above) is no exception, passing through some of the country’s most beautiful mountain landscape to reach Europe’s highest station. It is just part of the route on the Grand Alpine Explorer from Munich to Zurich, one of Travelmarvel’s Great Rail Journeys departing in 2019.

Other tours offer the chance to ride Scotland’s West Highland Line, Norway’s Flåm Railway, named one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, India’s ‘Toy Train’ in the foothills of the Himalayas, the world’s highest railway line from Xining in China to Lhasa in Tibet and more.

Book 10 months ahead of departure for special early bird offers. See www.travelmarvel.com.au

CYCLE CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA’S WINE COUNTRY IS THE highlight of two new guided cycling tours available from small group adventure tour specialist Grand American Adventures. Cycling California Wine Country travels through the fabled Napa Valley and Sonoma County while Cycling the California Coast travels the Pacific Coast Highway route, travelling through towns such as Ventura, Santa Barbara and the picturesque Solvang (pictured left), also known for its wineries and its charming Danish-style architecture.

The tours average 60-80km cycling per day with up to three route options available for different levels of ability – including ‘burner routes’ for the super cyclists. Departures available September to November 2018 with prices from $3139 per person including accommodation, road bikes, equipment and the services of a support crew. Cost of flights to California not included. For details see www.grandamericanadventures.com Qantas and Virgin Australia fly direct between Brisbane and Los Angeles BNE May/June 2018 | 27

ESCAPE EXTRA

Luxe NEW LOOK OF

budget accommodation

Hostel accommodation isn’t what it used to be – but it is still a great way to travel on a budget in accommodation that now rivals some of the most hipster boutique hotels. The newly redeveloped Byron Bay YHA is a model of the new “flash backpackers” style of accommodation with eyecatching original artworks in the reception area and framing the outdoor swimming pool, spacious communal areas, barbecue and surfboard and bike hire. The multi-million dollar renovation has doubled the capacity of Byron Bay YHA with rooms ranging from multi-share, from $31 per person per night, to double rooms with ensuite and air conditioning from $110 per room per night. Byron Bay YHA is at 7 Carlyle Street, Byron Bay. See www.yha.com.au

AIRPORT TRANSFERS call us 133 222 get the App 28 | BNE May/June 2018

book a taxi online blackandwhitecabs.com.au

GOURMET

adventure

Foodies can feast and fossick their way around Hobart and Bruny Island in Tasmania with a choice of two new guided two-day tours which can be taken individually or combined for a four-day foodathon. The Feast and Fossick tours have been developed by Bruny Island Adventure Bay Retreat owner Jan Glover who is passionate about her local region.

“Hobart and Bruny Island offer some of the best and most accessible, food experiences, landscapes and adventures in Tasmania. We wanted to share those amazing experiences with our guests – from a local’s perspective,” she says.

The guided tours introduce people to gourmet experiences that they might not normally encounter, with a focus on local artisan producers, as well as adventure experiences such as sea kayaking and wilderness cruising.

Accommodation is provided at the waterfront MACq 01 in Hobart and Adventure Bay Retreat on Bruny Island with tour dates available from August. Prices From $2480 per person for two days. See www.feastfossicktasmania.com.au Jetstar and Virgin Australia fly direct between Brisbane and Hobart

Fuel up your weekend for some big city fun.

Up Fuel

Overnight accommodation in a deluxe city view room, a $25 fuel card and complimentary valet parking. brisbanemarriott.com / 07 3303 8000 T’s and C’s apply. Valid to 30 June 2018. Promo Code TRS. 515 Queen Street, Brisbane Qld 4000

BNE May/June 2018 | 29

TASTE

TASTE LOCAL AT BRISBANE AIRPORT

Food blogger Kerry Heaney dines out at Brisbane Airport and discovers a flavoursome trail of boutique producers on the menu

J

ust one crunchy spoonful is all it takes to become addicted to the delicious flavours of the Muesli Folk’s handcrafted muesli mix (pictured right). Nikki Grant runs the business (previously known as My Maple) with husband Jake and says the organic Canadian maple syrup-infused gluten-free muesli made to a decade-old recipe and roasted in a vintage baker’s oven is their most popular variety. It is also one of the original products sold from Brisbane and Gold Coast farmers markets where the family business began and where the owners of Windmill & Co, at Brisbane Airport’s International Terminal, found the product for their menu. It’s very much a taste of South East Queensland with organic fruit sourced from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, grains harvested from farms surrounding Toowoomba as well as macadamias delivered fresh from a farm in northern NSW. “We care very much for our muesli and only source the very best fresh ingredients, all as local as possible. I like to pair it with coconut or natural Greek yoghurt and fresh Queensland fruit along with a plant-based smoothie,” says Nikki.

Brisbane Airport offers a stage for many top local suppliers to showcase quality regional produce to a growing international audience. The Kingaroy Kitchen tomato relish (pictured left) and mango chutney on the burgers at Corretto Café and Bar, (Level 2, near gate 21, at Domestic Terminal and Level 4 International Terminal), come from the country town of Kingaroy in Queensland’s South Burnett region where the intensely-coloured red soil and verdant green crops of the region provide plentiful ingredients for the Kitchen’s old-fashioned chutneys, rich marmalades and moreish biscuits. Owned and operated by the not-for-profit Endeavour Foundation, the business is a fundraising venture that provides support and employment for people with disabilities.

Windmill & Co has championed local craft beer since it opened at Brisbane Airport’s International Terminal, including ales from Brisbane’s Newstead Brewing Co. and Gold Coast’s Burleigh Brewing Co. which are both success stories in South East Queensland. Former lawyer Peta Fielding and her brew master husband Brennan (pictured below) pioneered craft brewing on the Gold Coast when they launched Burleigh Brewing Co. a dozen years ago and their approach to making beer has since earned a slew of world championship medals for every one of their brews, including My Wife’s Bitter English Ale and Fig Jam India Pale Ale served at Windmill & Co. Burleigh Brewing Co. also sources its supplies close to home, ensuring it’s a taste of the local region.

30 | BNE May/June 2018

AND THERE’S MORE …

Fonzie Abbott

Roasted in the Brisbane suburb of Albion, you can try a cup of sweet FA from one of the best caffeine dealers in town on Level 2, near Gate 41, Domestic Terminal.

Gotzinger Smallgoods

Established in 1908 and now Queensland’s largest Australian-owned smallgoods manufacturer, Yatala-based Gotzinger makes bacon using traditional recipes served at Burger Urge, Level 3 International Terminal.

Green Beacon Brewery

This hip microbrewery at Teneriffe, Brisbane, crafts beer with tremendous flavour and depth designed for food pairing and on the menu at Brisbane River Grill, Level 3 International Terminal or Glasshouse Bar and Aviation Pier, Level 2 Domestic Terminal.

Maleny Cheese

Small herds of cows grazing on the rolling green hills of the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny produce milk for the Maleny Natural Yoghurt in Moroccan Lamb Tenderloin at Corretto Café and Bar, Level 4 International Terminal.

Merlo Coffee

A Brisbane roaster for more than 20 years, Merlo has also been voted Australia’s Favourite Coffee, served at Merlo Caffé, Level 2 near Gate 40 and Merlo Espresso, Level 1 near Jetstar check-in, Domestic Terminal and at The Botanist café, Level 4 International Terminal.

Newstead Brewing Co.

Almost five years young with brewhouses at Newstead and Milton and served at Windmill & Co, International Airport.

Sirromet Wines

Award-winning wines made at Mt Cotton from grapes grown on the Granite Belt available at Brisbane River Grill (Level 3) and The Botanist (Level 4), International Terminal or Glasshouse Bar and Aviation Pier, Level 2 Domestic Terminal.

Tamborine Mountain Free Range Eggs

Small flocks of pasture-raised hens living in mobile caravans produce the Tamborine Mountain tasty creamy eggs at Brisbane River Grill, Level 3 International Terminal, and at Glasshouse Bar and Aviation Pier, Level 2 Domestic Terminal.

Wild Breads

European-style artisan bread baked with age-old recipes at Darra, Brisbane and served at Burger Urge, Level 3 International Terminal.

Woombye Cheese Company

Happy cows at small farms on the Sunshine Coast hinterland create the pure milk used to make award-winning Woombye cheese served at Brisbane River Grill, Level 3 International Terminal.

Find out more about dining at Brisbane Airport at www.bne.com.au Follow Kerry Heaney at www.eatdrinkandbekerry.com.au

TASTE

ALSO IN WEST END

G R E E K F O O D O DY S S E Y You could be forgiven for thinking this is a taverna on the shores of a Greek island, but in fact it is at the plateia (the recreation of a town square meeting place) at Paniyiri, in the heart of Brisbane’s inner city West End. Paniyiri is Queensland’s largest cultural festival and the country’s longest running Greek festival which will take over Musgrave Park and the Greek Club in West End on 19 and 20 May. The festival has been an annual event for 41 years and in that time locals have shown their taste for Greek specialties, devouring more than five million honey puffs, four million souvlaki, 25 tonnes of haloumi and more dolmades than anyone has been able to count.

This year the trend is set to continue with more than 30 food stalls offering authentic Greek food, demonstrating recipes and revealing the foodie secrets from all regions of Greece.

The Paniyiri Plateia was introduced for the first time last year and was such a hit that it returns to recreate the vibe of a Greek village – think blue window shutters and doors, vine-covered pergolas, whitewashed walls and market stalls full of colour, flavours, aromas and characters.

This year alone visitors are expected to eat and drink their way through 300,000 honey puffs, 20,000 coffees, 10,000 Shiftalies (Greek Cypriot sausage) and 1000kg of calamari.

Here’s the foodie’s guide to what not to miss at the Paniyiri Plateia...

32 | BNE May/June 2018

Little Greek Taverna Petros Parmaklis has a passion for slow cooked dishes so they are on the menu all year round at Little Greek Taverna, not just on special occasions such as Easter and Christmas which is the tradition in Greece.

Lamb souvla (spit roast), Florinian lamb, rolled pork belly and Mama’s moussaka are hot favourites, and the Feta Meli, a crispy coated feta drizzled with honey, is a starter with a sweet touch. The Little Greek Glendi is the perfect example of how Greek food should be eaten – platters of seafood and chargrilled meats in a banquet made for sharing. Little Greek Taverna at 1 Browning Street, West End. See www.littlegreektaverna.com.au

• The Kafenio creating traditional Greek

coffee, frappe, freddocino (a traditional Greek iced coffee) and freddospresso

• Zaharoplasteio, or sweet shop, with the

Greek sweet loukoumades (honey puffs!)

• Psaro Taverna or the seafood taverna with fresh seafood prepared and cooked Greek style with meze platters

• O Streidas, The Oyster Man serves up

deliciously fresh oysters and some new menu items for this festival

• Ouzeri, or wine bar, with Greek wines and signature Paniyiri cocktails, including the popular Ouzo Mojito

• Traditional Taverna with lamb, pork and

chicken cooked over the coals served with a Greek salad and patates tiganites (chips!)

• A Fourno, or pie shop, baking fresh and crispy traditional Greek pies.

Lefkas Taverna Owner and chef John Theoharis is the first to say that diners at Lefkas Taverna don’t go away hungry and they agree. Lefkas consistently gets four-star reviews for its authentic Greek food and generous serves.

All the favourites are there, lamb souvlaki, saganaki, spanakopita, but the yiros are his most popular and some people go just to get the lemon potatoes. The desserts are a mouthful in their own right and go beyond the usual baklava and honey puffs ... try kataifi, galaktoboureko, paximadi rola, karythopita, and the vanilla submarine!

On weekends there’s live music and diners have been seen shakin’ off some of those calories between the tables. Lefkas Taverna at 170 Hardgrave Road, West End. See www.lefkas.com.au

the

Cakes

ARTof

C

aitlin Mitchell (above) has made an art of cakes. Her upside-down chandelier cakes (right) turned the industry on its head, so it’s not surprising that she is now one of the finalists for the Australian Haute Couture Wedding Cake Designer of the Year award at the 2018 International Cake Show at Brisbane Showgrounds. The theme for the cake competition is ‘Regal and Opulent’, with all finalists asked to create a cake fit for a Royal Wedding (perfectly timed to coincide with the royal nuptials of HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle).

Mitchell has clocked up state award wins three years running for her beautiful, and delicious, creations and can spend anywhere from five to 20 hours just decorating a bespoke cake. However, it’s not just their elegant good looks that has attracted the attention of

judges and a steady clientele to her Brisbanebased business A Little Cake Place. Mitchell also creates unique flavours for her cakes including macadamia and coconut, choc chili and ‘Tropical Queensland’ which is a fruity combination of pineapple, mango, passionfruit and banana flavours.

Five more Queenslanders make up the nine finalists in the running for the Australian Haute Couture Wedding Cake Designer of the Year award and there are more than 20 different competitions being judged at the show, from cupcakes to royal decorated cookies.

The program includes a host of international celebrity cake artists, chocolatiers, chefs and bakers, a cake-off, demonstrations, interactive zones where visitors can taste and create, workshops, pop-up shops and cake installations in the making.

Wild table

International Cake Show Australia 2018 at Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills, 18-20 May. Winners of all awards announced at a gala dinner at Rydges Hotel, South Bank, 19 May. See www.acada.com.au

GREEN chefs

Once a month guests turn up to a pop-up dinner created by chef Chris Sitkars (left) to be treated to a menu created just for that event, showcasing produce foraged from Sitkars’ own garden and sourced from growers in the food bowls of northern NSW to Stanthorpe and the Sunshine Coast. It’s a concept Sitkars started one year ago when he realised the rules of a restaurant kitchen weren’t for him and he launched Black Ox Dining with partner Rachael. It’s been a big learning curve for Sitkars as he masters the art of cultivating, not just cooking, his own food from bee hives in the foothills of Mt Coot-tha to heritage corn (with a purple kernel) and soon from the native bushes just planted. The next event is a Wild Table dinner on 16 May at BWCC Hall, 301 Given Terrace, Paddington. For details see www.blackoxdining.com

Asian inspiration The look of Salon de Co at Ovolo Inchcolm Hotel in Spring Hill may be art deco in style but the inspiration for the menu is skewed with Asian influences. Hatted chef Anthony Hales (left) leads the kitchen and has travelled widely, particularly in Korea and Japan, and across Australia, to grow his knowledge of the connections between culture and cuisine. The result is translated delicately to the plate where hydroponic leaves, baby vegetables and edible flowers sourced from the Petite Bouche farm at Mt Nathan complement dishes with a strong plant-based focus and hero ingredients including local seafood, lamb and beef. Salon de Co at Ovolo Inchcolm Hotel, 73 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill. See www.ovolohotels.com.au

Farm to five-star hotel There’s no need to travel to Byron Bay to get a taste of the farm-fresh flavours championed by Three Blue Ducks as one of the original ‘ducks’ Darren Robertson (left) brings their real food philosophy to the new five-star hotel W Brisbane, opening on 1 June. It’s a shake-up in hotel dining, bringing the laidback ethos of Robertson and friends to the glitz of a mid-city hotel, complete with wood fire oven, rotisserie and charcoal pit in the kitchen, but the menu will hold true to its origins and favourites such as the Spanner Crab scramble, coal roasted lamb, poke bowls and corn fritters with guacamole, fermented cabbage, jalapeno, herb salad, labneh and poached eggs will also be served in Brisbane. Three Blue Ducks at W Brisbane, 81 North Quay. See www.wbrisbane.com BNE May/June 2018 | 33

WHAT’S ON

QUEENSLAND’S fa vouri te SONS It has been a big year for Busby Marou, aka Thomas Busby and Jeremy Marou, the mates who met in Rockhampton and have become Queensland’s most in-demand duo. The big buzz started last year with the release of their album Postcards from the Shell House, their first to go straight to the top of the ARIA chart, and they have been on the road ever since, playing gigs the length of the east coast in towns big and small from Cairns to Phillip Island. In between they have been Elton John’s support act, starred as the faces of a new Queensland tourism campaign which also uses one of their early songs as its theme, and they were the hit of the Commonwealth Games for their appearances at Festival 2018 and their song ‘The Days of Gold’ adopted as mascot Borobi’s theme song. There’s no rest for the pair yet as their tour lands at the Triffid in Newstead on 31 May. Tickets $35.10. See www.thetriffid.com.au

wind down ON THE GREEN

RENT

REBOOT

Local talent Tom Oliver, Ruby Clark and new discovery Stephie Da Silva join the cast of a refreshed production of Rent as it rocks the stage at Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, until 19 May. The multiaward-winning musical is loosely based on La Bohème and follows the life of a group of friends struggling to make it in big city New York. When it was first staged more than 20 years ago it was a seminal piece of musical theatre dealing with cultural themes and the conflicts of youth at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Tickets from $69 plus fees. See www.qpac.com.au

The beauty of Queensland is that even as we head towards winter it is still warm enough to wind down outdoors – day or night – and Sunday Sessions at South Bank’s River Quay Green continue until 24 June. Each week the green is alive with music performances and lawn games or chill-out in the funky seating with views of the city skyline over the river. River Quay Green is licensed between 10am and 8pm daily (over 18s only and you must have food to accompany your drinks) and there are first class eateries on the spot. Enter from Sidon Street or Clem Jones Promenade, South Bank Parklands.

Latin and Cuban Bands Salsa Dancers Workshops Stalls Food Cocktails Beer Competitions Chilli Dogs Kids Craft Jumping Castles Donkey Rides Tix at www.brizchillifest.com.au

brizchillifest

34 | BNE May/June 2018

THE CONSEQUENCES

OF CURIOUS

The National Theatre’s award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted from Mark Haddon’s internationally bestselling novel of the same name opens in Brisbane on 12 June for a 12-day season. The book is an award winner in its own right and tells the story of teenager Christopher Boone who finds his neighbour’s dog lying dead on the lawn in the middle of the night and decides to track down the killer. But Christopher is not like other teenagers and his investigations uncover more than he bargained for. Like the book, the stage show holds the audience spellbound until the end. From 12-24 June, at Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane.

Tickets from $99.90 plus fees. See www.curiousincident.com.au

GROOVE with the GURU If you haven’t unleashed your inner disco to open up your ‘laughter meridians’ you don’t know what you’re missing. Guru Dudu led a merry dance through Kurrawa Park at Broadbeach during Festival 2018 and now the Pied Piper of disco is doing the same in Brisbane from Reddacliff Place. It’s a sort of walking tour to music. You book your spot then turn up and grab a set of headphones and follow the Guru, listening to his comic commentary and dance-mix along the way. Get your groove on and be prepared for some crazy improvisation en route. Five Friday night tours from Reddacliff Place from 4 May to 29 June. Tickets $24 each (adult). See www.guru.org. Also find Guru Dudu at Out of the Box Festival for kids age 8 and under from 26 June to 1 July. Day passes from $35. See www.outoftheboxfestival.com.au

4 SEASONS Images: above, BrinkhoffMo–genburg; right, Dylan Evans

3 WAYS

A NEW TRIPLE BILL DANCE PERFORMANCE IS THE LATEST production in a five-year exchange program between Brisbane-based Expressions Dance Company (EDC) and Hong Kong’s City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC). It brings together the work of three choreographers including Australianbased Kristina Chan who travelled to Hong Kong to develop her work with CCDC and Dominic Wong, assistant artistic director of CCDC who arrived in Brisbane to work with EDC. Natalie Weir, artistic director of EDC, created her work for 4 Seasons around the seasons that make up a life, and how lives and relationships change as people mature and age. “One of the Chinese dancers is 52, which is remarkable for a dancer whose careers are usually short, and we see that beautiful dancer depict winter,” she says.

Wong’s work looks at the different seasons and how they differ between Hong Kong and Australia, while Chan’s work looks at climate change and the effect on humanity.

In working together, Weir says the international language of dance prevailed. “I am always amazed by how the dancers find a language of their own in the studio, even though the Australian dancers speak no Chinese, and the Chinese dancers speak little English,” she says. 4 Seasons will premiere in Hong Kong in June. It shows at Playhouse, QPAC, 14-22 June. Tickets from $69. See www.qpac.com.au BNE May/June 2018 | 35

WHAT’S ON

SOLVE THE MYSTERY

Lunch hour Gathering Full Steam Ahead

ANYWHERE THEATRE FESTIVAL IS ALL ABOUT PERFORMANCE anywhere but a theatre, which is just the ticket for Inside Outside Theatre Company’s production of Full Steam Ahead, an interactive murder mystery that will play out at the Spring Hill Reservoirs, 18-20 May. Guests are invited to dress up, ask questions of the survivors and help solve the crime. Angela Wichter’s Inside Outside Theatre Company performs ‘anywhere’ even outside the festival and has staged shows in cafés and on steam trains. Full Steam Ahead appears on a double bill with The Ballad of Rosie Quinn. Tickets from $28 for one play, $47 for two. Anywhere Theatre Festival is on from 10-27 May, for the program and bookings see www.anywhere.is. For more about Inside Outside Theatre Company see www.insideoutsidetheatre.com

Joe Geia is widely regarded as a pioneer of contemporary Aboriginal music and his song ‘Yil Lull’ – now a 30-yearold classic – is often called Australia’s unofficial Indigenous national anthem.

Geia continues to tour and appears in Queen Street Mall in the city on 23 May (12 noon) as part of Gathering, an Indigenous Performing Arts Project hosted by Brisbane City Council. “I want to promote change and understanding, while at the same time still sharing the little known aspects of Aboriginal history,” he says.

Plenty to smile about Anh Do has many talents. Some of them we know – comedian, writer, actor, producer, dancer, accomplished artist and interviewer – and some of them we didn’t, until his memoir The Happiest Refugee was published – footballer, fish breeder, fire twirler!

His life certainly didn’t start well – fleeing Vietnam with his family packed like sardines in a small boat at age three and attacked by pirates – twice – before being rescued and finally landing in Australia. By 13 his mother was raising her children alone so he helped her with her sweatshop work and started doing all sorts of odd jobs to help make ends meet. By 23 he was studying law at university and bought his mother a house.

Do has been hit by a bus, faced some tough crowds and been so poor he couldn’t buy textbooks but through it all he’s been able to see the bright side – and humour, he says, is a natural family trait. But things may have been different if a good friend hadn’t egged him on at an open mic night at a comedy club, telling him he was funnier than the talent on show. He did have a go and he got booked for his first professional gig that night. And we’re so glad he did. Anh Do brings to life ‘the happiest refugee’ at Brisbane City Hall on 24 May. Tickets from $64.90 plus fees. See www.ticketmaster.com.au

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FESTIVAL

WHEN WHAT

a vision splendid

MAY

There’s no shortage of wide open roads in Queensland so it’s fitting inspiration for the theme for this year’s Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival in Winton from 29 June to 7 July. The town may be way out west but it is fondly known as ‘Hollywood in the Outback’, for the film-makers and stars it has hosted, and for championing local productions in the world’s largest festival dedicated to Australian film.

This year visitors will be able to see award-winning Sweet Country, Breath and Strange Colours on the program as well as a preview of a new Queensland film, and the short film program has been so popular it has been extended this year.

But the films are not the only cause for celebration – the iconic Royal Open Air Theatre turns 100 and will host its own birthday party with dinner and a screening of the best film from 1918, The Sentimental Bloke, accompanied by musicians providing a newly composed live soundtrack to the film. Find out more at www.visionsplendidfilmfest.com

2

Missy Higgins, Solastalgia Tour

2-3

Women and Leadership Symposium Rydges Hotel, South Bank

2-26

Coastline by Stewart McFarlane, exhibition

Mitchell Fine Art, Fortitude Valley

4-6

Buddha Birth Day Festival

South Bank Parklands

Belle & Sebastian

The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

8-9

Burn the Floor

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

From Davida Allen, exhibition 8 10 11

Philip Bacon Galleries, Fortitude Valley

Barry Humphries

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

Brisbane Small Business Expo

Hibiscus Sports Complex, Upper Mt Gravatt

11

Dear Prudence 50th Anniversary Tour Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

11

Archie Roach

The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

11+12

Quiet Faith, theatre

Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm

12

Hugh Mackay, writers + ideas

Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm

12

Sarah Blasko

The Triffid, Newstead

13

Colorfest

Rocklea Showgrounds

15

The Andrews Sisters

Brisbane City Hall

17

No Such Thing As a Fish

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

17-27

Melt, Queer Festival

Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm

18

Prisoner of Azkaban, Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane

18

Broadbeach Jazz and Blues Festival

Broadbeach, Gold Coast

19

Shannon Noll

The Triffid, Newstead

25

Carmen + Firebird Double Bill, Queensland Ballet

25

Augie March

25-26 Swing for Prostate Cancer Image: Anita Jamieson

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

5

24-25 Tex Perkins

focus

WHERE

26

Queensland Youth Symphony, Undercurrents

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane Playhouse, QPAC, South Brisbane The Zoo, Fortitude Valley Goodwill Bridge, South Brisbane Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

From The Longest Minute, Queensland 26 Theatre

Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, South Brisbane

26-27 Gluten Free Food Expo

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane

30

The Iron Maidens

The Zoo, Fortitude Valley

1

APIA Good Times Tour

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

2

Madman Anime Expo

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane

3

Niall Horan

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

5

Lea DeLaria, comedian

Concert Hall, QPAC, South Brisbane

5-10; 12-15

Lano and Woodley

Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm

JUNE

ON SOCIAL ISSUES

From Fred Williams, exhibition 5

You See Monsters

Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF) fosters film-making that influences social change and to mark its 10th anniversary it has joined Event Cinemas to host Docsocial, a series of films that showcase the very best documentary storytelling on social issues, one each month for 10 months this year. For films screening on 16 May, 20 June and 25 July at Event Cinemas, Myer Centre, Brisbane, see www.eventcinemas.com.au. For more information about films see www.documentaryaustralia.com.au

Philip Bacon Galleries, Fortitude Valley

6-11

Caravan, Camping and Touring Supershow

Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills

7

Stitches and Craft Show

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane

8

City Calm Down

The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley

10

Briz-Chilli Fest

Bulimba Golf Club, Bulimba

15-17

Parents, Babies and Children Expo

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane

16

Last Cowboy Standing

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

22-30 The Merry Widow, Opera Queensland Lyric Theatre, QPAC, South Brisbane From Disney on Ice 29

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall

29-30 Ian Moss

The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley BNE May/June 2018 | 37

NEED TO KNOW

Welcoming volunteers are available to answer questions and offer directions to visitors within Brisbane Airport’s Domestic and International Terminals. Look for ambassadors wearing bright blue shirts if you need assistance and our team of Chinesespeaking ambassadors wear red shirts.

BNE PARKING Convenient, secure and undercover short and long-term parking is available within walking distance to both terminals. For more information about special offers and full product offering including valet, car washing, AIRPARK and more see www.bne.com.au

TERMINAL TRANSFERS Passengers transferring between the terminals can travel via the free Transfer Bus which departs at regular intervals from Level 2 International Terminal and Level 1 Domestic Terminal and travels via Skygate.

TRANSPORT BOOKINGS Coach, rail, limousine and corporate car bookings can be made at the Visitor Information Centre, Level 2 International Terminal or Level 1 Domestic Terminal.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT TransLink is the local bus, ferry and train public transport network stretching north to Gympie, south to Coolangatta and west to Helidon. For information and timetables see www.translink.com.au or call 13 12 30.

TAXIS AND AIRTRAIN Taxi ranks are located kerbside Level 2 International Terminal and Level 1 Domestic Terminal. Airtrain provides regular rail links between Brisbane Airport, Brisbane city, Gold Coast and TransLink network as well as terminal transfers. Tickets available in the terminal or at the station.

BNE Maps + More Download the Brisbane Airport app to access important flight information, terminal maps and parking, shopping and dining options at the airport. Add your itinerary and more. Available free for iPhone and Android at Google play and App Store.

38 | BNE May/June 2018

RIDE SHARE PICK UP ZONES Brisbane Airport now has dedicated Ride Booking (Ride Share) pick-up zones at both the Domestic and International Terminals.

Look for the signs indicating Pre-Booked Express and Ride Booking outside each terminal. At Domestic Terminal, the Ride Booking Pick-up Zone is on the central road between the taxi pick-up and passenger drop-off on either side of the Skywalk. At International Terminal, the Ride Booking Pick-up Zone can be accessed by heading outside the terminal at the southern end, turning left and taking the ramp to ground level. A Brisbane Airport access fee of $3.50 applies to all pick-ups from the Ride Booking zones, which will be added to your booking by your ride sharing service. For location maps see www.bne.com.au/tofrom-brisbane-airport/transport-options

Image: Uber

Airport ambassadors

IMPORTANT INFORMATION Visitor Information Centres For information about accommodation, tours, transfer tickets and general enquiries, Visitor Information Centres are on Level 2 International Terminal and Level 1 Domestic Terminal Central Area.

Currency exchange Travelex currency exchange and transfer facilities are on Levels 2, 3 and 4 International Terminal and Level 2 Domestic Terminal near Gate 23.

Baggage lockers Find small, medium and large lockers for short and long-term hire at the terminal entrance to the public car park at the International Terminal, at either end of the Domestic Terminal, or next to the bus stop at Skygate.

Tax Refund Scheme (TRS) The TRS enables you to claim a refund, subject to certain conditions, of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) that you pay on goods bought in Australia. Call 1300 363 263 or see www.customs.gov.au Lost property International: enquiries to Visitor Information Centre, Level 2; call (07) 3406 3190 or email international@sqt.com.au. Domestic: enquiries first to your airline. Qantas call (07) 3867 3264, Virgin Australia (07) 3114 8150, Jetstar (07) 3336 1752 or email Tigerair at ttbne.ops@ aerocare.com.au before contacting the Visitor Information Centre on Level 1; call (07) 3068 6698 or send emails to domestic@sqt.com.au Disability Access Lifts, travelators, ramps, aerobridges, rest points, accessible parking spaces and toilet facilities are in place for passengers with limited mobility or disabilities. Airlines are responsible for assisting

passengers with disabilities within terminals.

Passengers should refer to their airline’s policies prior to booking their ticket. There is no porter service or any form of direct assistance provided at Brisbane Airport other than any assistance that may be provided by the passenger’s airline.

A dedicated Changing Places bathroom facility for the use of travellers with special needs is located on the central ground floor area of Domestic Terminal (near Qantas baggage carousel 3).

Facilities for assistance dogs are available at International Terminal Level 3 Departures and Domestic Terminal Level 2 Central Area.

WiFi access Brisbane Airport has the fastest uncapped free WiFi in Australia available at International Terminal and Domestic Terminal Central Area.

Local amenities Skygate is Brisbane Airport’s retail and dining precinct, a short free ride on the Transfer Bus from the terminals. There are more than 160 stores, including brand-name factory outlets, a 24/7 supermarket, hairdresser, gym, restaurants, chemist, medical clinic, hotel, beauty services, barber, tavern and golf leisure centre.

Prayer Room A multi-denominational prayer room is located at International Terminal Level 4.

Police For assistance at Brisbane Airport telephone 13 12 37.

Tour Brisbane Airport Have a question about the new runway? Want to know more about Brisbane Airport? Join a free community bus tour. For information and to book see www.bne.com.au/tours

DAY IN THE LIFE

More than

23 MILLION

passengers travel through BRISBANE AIRPORT each year.

Here are just a few people seen at the terminals...

China Airlines crew members Amanda Ho and Carol Lin arriving in Brisbane from Taipei, Taiwan

Reptile expert Neville Burns departing for Sydney after participating in the Brisbane Reptile Expo

Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games mascot Borobi at Brisbane Airport to welcome the arrival of Usain Bolt

Photography by Grace Smith

Commonwealth Games volunteer Hannah Davies from The Gap, Brisbane, at International Terminal to welcome teams and delegates on their way to the Gold Coast

Luke Stanton, from London, England, departing for Sydney

Sisters Sarah and Patricia Renete on their way to Sydney

Angie Rui in transit to Sydney

Patrick Clye in transit to Hobart

HRH Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, land at Brisbane Airport

BNE May/June 2018 | 39

BNE IT ALL BEGINS HERE

Seoul

Beijing

South Korea

China

Tokyo (Narita) Japan

Shanghai (Pudong)

Guangzhou

China

China

Shenzhen China

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

Bangkok

Abu Dhabi

Hong Kong

Taipei

Thailand

United Arab Emirates

Taiwan

China

Manila

Philippines

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Singapore Singapore

Port Moresby Papua New Guinea

Denpasar Indonesia

BRISBANE

BRISBANE

to the world

To 85 destinations direct from Brisbane and beyond

Air China

Air Canada

Air Niugini

Air New Zealand

40 | BNE May/June 2018

Aircalin

Air Vanuatu

Cathay Pacific

Alliance Airlines

China Eastern Airlines China Airlines

Emirates China Southern Airlines

Eva Air

Etihad

Fly Corporate

Fiji Airlines

Vancouver

Canada

Los Angeles USA

Honolulu

USA

Darwin

Nauru Nauru

Cairns

Apia

Munda Honiara

Solomon Islands

Mt Isa

Port Hedland

Espiritu Santo

Longreach

Vanuatu

New Caledonia

Auckland

Perth

New Zealand

Queenstown New Zealand

Emerald

Whitsunday Coast (Proserpine) Hamilton Island Mackay Rockhampton Gladstone

Biloela Bundaberg Windorah Charleville Fraser Coast (Hervey Bay) Birdsville Roma Miles Quilpie BRISBANE BRISBANE St George Toowoomba Thargomindah Cunnamulla Norfolk Island Moree Inverell Narrabri Coffs Harbour Tamworth Armidale Dubbo Port Macquarie

Uluru*

Fiji

Moranbah Barcaldine

Blackall

Alice Springs

Port Vila Vanuatu Nadi

Noumea

Townsville

Cloncurry

Samoa

Adelaide

Wellington New Zealand

Christchurch

Newcastle Orange Sydney Lord Howe Wollongong Island Wagga Wagga Canberra Albury

New Zealand

Melbourne

Dunedin

New Zealand

Launceston Hobart

*Starting August 2018. Map not to scale. Please note airlines and destinations are current at time of print.

Hawaiian Airlines Hainan Airlines

Jetstar Jetgo

Malaysia Airlines Korean Air

Nauru Airlines Malindo Air

Qantas/ QantasLink Philippine Airlines

Singapore Airlines Rex

Thai Airways

Solomon Airlines

Virgin Australia

Tigerair

BNE May/June 2018 | 41

I

QUEENSLAND

J

ulia Baker admits she’s afraid of flying cockroaches, Huntsman spiders and rhinoceros beetles but she has no qualms about cuddling up close to a python or catching a red-bellied black snake.

Baker is the star of Snake Boss, the television series filmed in Queensland that became the highest rating show ever on Animal Planet Australia and continues to be watched around the world in as many as 170 countries. She’s also the star of her own Snake Boss reptile shows which tour schools, parties and events and she’s a licensed snake catcher.

Baker’s love affair with snakes began the first time she saw one – cosying up to a Burmese python at Australia Zoo while others were recoiling from its slithery touch.

Ever since she’s been on a mission to show people of all ages snakes are not the evil monsters they are often portrayed to be.

It may be World Environment Day on 5 June but Baker is a wildlife warrior year round helping others understand why much maligned snakes, and some of her other favourite wildlife, deserve more love not hate.

Where do you live?

JULIA BAKER

SNAKE WRANGLER

Eatons Hill, about 25km north of the city.

What do you like about your neighbourhood?

Everything is on our doorstep! My kids could walk to school when they were younger, across our road is a great little shopping centre and the Eatons Hill Hotel which often hosts live bands and is so close that we can stumble back home after a night out! It has been named the Best Entertainment Venue of the Year for Excellence many times and there’s always something going on there. If we want to go to the city it’s not far to drive and yet here we are surrounded by ample nature and incredible wildlife.

What do you always recommend to visitors?

Samford Village is amazing and just about 15 minutes down the road. It’s a little village with lots of quaint cafés and restaurants and stunning scenery.

How do you spend your leisure time?

Julia, Johnny and Bonnie 42 | BNE May/June 2018

We have a walking routine every evening with our dog Bonnie that takes us down to the South Pine River where we sit until the sun sets over the water’s edge. There’s an amazing variety of local wildlife from water dragons to turtles and occasionally we get to see a platypus.

The best part for me is when the black flying foxes come out at dusk as they will swoop down to the river right in front of us and collect water with the fur on their bellies which absorbs the water that they can then drink from. I love hearing them chatter to each other and I am in absolute awe of flying foxes – I think they look like flying teddy bears once you get to see them up close.

We also go to Bribie Island which has a doggy beach where we can take Bonnie off lead too!

Have you got any other animals at home?

I have nine pet snakes and 10 lizards that I use for my live Snake Boss reptile shows – they are all family to me, have names and different temperaments – and I am a bat carer so I sometimes have baby bats that I raise at home too!

Do snakes get a bad rap?

Absolutely! There is no such thing as an evil or nasty animal. Snakes are instinct driven and being so low to the ground they are very vulnerable and will, of course, bite when they feel threatened. When people understand snakes they become far less dangerous.

People need to know that they have an important place in our eco-system and do a fantastic job of keeping Australia’s rodent population under control. Without snakes we would be inundated with rats and mice that would cause far more problems.

Snake venom is also used in a lot of medications such as blood pressure medicine so all around they are great wildlife to have.

How do you try to help wildlife?

Right now I am completely “batty” about helping our bats. They struggle with an even worse reputation than snakes. Most people think flying foxes are pests, yet the truth is actually completely the opposite. Flying foxes are highly intelligent, very sociable and they don’t attack humans. However, they are crucial to ensuring the survival of our threatened rainforests yet, sadly, many species are now on the vulnerable list due to habitat loss, culling and so on. I am a proud member of Bats Qld and there are some incredible people committing a lot of their time and finances into helping bats.

What’s your favourite wildlife experience?

Two years ago, I went ‘herping’ (searching for amphibians or reptiles) at Mount Glorious one night with a few other snake enthusiasts and we found some awesome species cruising around, such as a brown tree snake – one of my favourite snakes! It’s always more fun to see them in the wild and not have to interfere with them.

I believe another passion is motorcycle riding?

I ride a Yamaha V-Star 1100cc with a detachable side-car which accommodates my husband Johnny occasionally, although he reckons he looks like Mr Bean sitting in it.

Our favourite ride is out to Samford Valley or Dayboro Village and stopping in for a pub lunch.

Where’s your favourite holiday destination?

I’d have to say the Whitsundays – it’s a tropical paradise. I’ve only been there once but it’s on my list to go back and I’m a big fan of the theme parks on the Gold Coast.

BRISBANE REGION MAP

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which Brisbane Airport stands and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. *The general locations of larger Indigenous language groups of South East Queensland on this map are indicative only, based on the AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia published by Aboriginal Studies Press

Map illustration by Eun-Young Lim. Map is not to scale or exact and an indication only.

BNE May/June 2018 | 43

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