Qantas magazine - June 23

30 Epic Stays

KNOW THE OLD-SCHOOL CHARM OF RETRO MOTELS

FINE DINING WITHOUT THE PRICE TAG

Power. Play.

The Audi Q8

The irresistible Audi Q8 is style, substance and performance — all powerfully amplifed. It holds back nothing, so that you can experience everything.

When Life Demands Further Exploration

Go deeper exploring a world beyond your imagination. Our luxurious Expedition ships take you to the ends of the Earth and our elite Expedition Team brings you up close to rare wildlife by submarine, Zodiac, and kayak. What a way to open your mind.

132 Ocean Front Suites

24 Expert Expedition Team

Continents of the World Expedition Wildlife Inspired Culinary Experience

Exploring the Kimberley in 2024

CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL ADVISOR OR VISIT SEABOURN.COM

DISCOVER MORE

ELECTRIC FLEXIBILITY. DEFENDER CAPABILITY.

60 Best of...

62 Wine List: Malbec

64

119

140 Give Ways: The changing sources and expectations of corporate philanthropy in Australia

148 View From The Top: Rachel Noble, director-general, Australian Signals Directorate

150 Career Path: John Brogden, president, Lifeline International

152 Clock Wise: Kat Jade Robinson, global CEO, Miroma Project Factory

156 Small Business: Why personalisation is a vital tool for growing your customer base and revenue

Sustainability special report

159 The progress being made in four key areas of the fight against climate change

On board

169 Inflight entertainment

174 Health, safety and security on board and when you land

178 Games

Innovate

Château Voltaire, Paris

River cruise special

Our round-up of the most incredible voyages on the world’s greatest waterways

Discover 30 epic stays

Editorial

Editor-in-Chief

Kirsten Galliott

Content Director

Genevra Leek

Deputy Content Director

Faith Campbell

Content Manager

Natalie Reilly

Digital and Content Operations Lead

Hana Jo

Online Editor

Christina Rae

Managing Editor, Qantas Hotels

Bridget de Maine

Digital Producer

Anneliese Beard

For editorial inquiries, contact: qantaseditorial@mediumrarecontent.com

Advertising

Head of Sales, Travel

Tony Trovato

+61 404 093 472

NSW Sales Manager

Callum Bean

+61 404 729 224

NSW Senior Account Manager

Crystal Wong +61 420 558 697

National Advertising Manager, Business & Travel

Isabella Severino

+61 459 999 715

Qld, WA and SA Sales Manager

Sarah Harding

+61 403 699 867

Head of Sales, Victoria Chris Joy +61 406 397 715

Senior Account Manager, Victoria Miranda Adofaci

+61 410 387 707

Senior Account Manager, Victoria

Jo Farrugia +61 450 968 882

Digital Sales Director

Mike Hanna +61 402 640 095

Digital Campaign Manager and Product Specialist

Anna Delgado +61 404 855 041

Creative Director

Tony Rice

Art Directors

Kate Timms

Nick Clark

Visual Director

Elizabeth Hachem

Copy Director

Rosemary Bruce

Deputy Copy Director

Sandra Bridekirk

Copy Editors

Pippa Duffy

Nick Hadley

Production Manager

Chrissy Fragkakis

International Representatives

Greater China and Japan

Peter Jeffery +852 2850 4013 peterjeffery@asianimedia.com

South-East Asia and the UK

Nick Lockwood +65 9776 6255 nick.lockwood@ pharpartnerships.com

United States

Ralph Lockwood +1 408 879 6666 ralph.lockwood@ husonmedia.com

For advertising inquiries, contact: qantasadvertising@mediumrarecontent.com

Rare Creative Strategy and Partnerships

Head of Rare Creative Paulette Parisi Content and Partnerships Director Mark Brandon Senior Content

Editor Natalie Babic Partnerships Editor Helen Martin Senior Writer Terry Christodoulou Creative

Director Philippa Moffitt Art Director Georgia Dixon Designer Mark Gattellari Strategy and Insights

Director Jane Schofield Senior Strategy Manager Natalie Pizanis Qantas Senior Partnerships Manager

Alana Baird Qantas Loyalty Partnerships Manager Molly Maguire Qantas Partnerships Executive

Ellisa Kimura Content and Events Campaign Manager Jessica Manson

For Rare Creative inquiries, contact: rarecreative@mediumrarecontent.com

Managing Director Nick Smith Chief Commercial Officer Fiorella Di Santo Head of Content, Travel and Business Kirsten Galliott Head of Design, Travel and Business Tony Rice Head of Audience Intelligence Catherine Ross Financial Controller Leslie To Finance Manager Yane Chak Junior Accountant Yongjia Zhou

Qantas magazine is published for Qantas Airways Ltd (ABN 16 009 661 901) by Medium Rare Content Agency (ABN 83 169 879 921), Level 1, 83 Bowman Street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009. ©2023. All rights reserved. Printed by IVE Group. Paper fibre is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. Articles express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of Qantas Airways Ltd or Medium Rare Content Agency. ISSN 1443-2013. For a copy of Medium Rare Content Agency’s Privacy Policy, please visit mediumrarecontent.com.

FROM THE EDITOR

What makes a stay epic?

Amazing views, certainly. Incredible food and drinks, underpinned by friendly service. Rooms with curated interiors. Thoughtful touches.

When I was in South Africa last November, I stayed at a property that delivered on all of the above... and then some. It was the “some” that got me thinking about how travel is changing.

When Michael Lutzeyer bought Grootbos (see page 94) on the west coast of South Africa, a little over two hours south of Cape Town, it was a “holiday farm” beloved by its previous owners.

But the land was part of a greater conservancy of 24,000 hectares of fynbos – literally “fine bush” – and Lutzeyer had bigger ambitions for his own property.

Fast forward 32 years and Grootbos has three full-time botanists, two entomologists and a fire expert. There’s student accommodation onsite so visitors can do research on this “floral kingdom”. More than 900 species of plants, birds, mammals and reptiles have been recorded, including seven new to science.

The Grootbos Foundation creates employment opportunities (an organic farm, small business mentoring and more) and offers local kids access to sport, be it football or a girls’ surfing school. There’s an indigenous nursery, a reforestation project and adult education courses in horticulture.

And now there’s a gallery that celebrates the art of 44 botanical artists. The funds raised go back to the foundation and to teaching art in the local community.

Not only has the Lutzeyer family created a spectacular luxury lodge but it has a positive impact on the local community, the arts and science. This is the tourism of the future.

And that seems pretty epic to me.

Kirsten Galliott Editor-in-Chief

kirstengalliott

Our writers are not armchair travellers. Rest assured any assistance we accept from the travel industry in the course of preparing our stories does not compromise the integrity of our coverage.

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FROM THE CEO

New York has always been one of the furthest points on our network map. It’s also one of the most iconic but we haven’t flown there since before COVID.

With new aircraft joining our fleet, we’re heading back to the Big Apple this month. And we’re taking a different route to get there. Previously, we flew from the east coast of Australia to Los Angeles then on to New York. Our new route will take us from Sydney to Auckland and then it’s a straight 16-hour shot to New York. The route will offer more connection options from Australia and a more seamless transfer in Auckland.

Based on feedback from a lot of our customers, we think this new flight path will be very popular. It’s made possible in part because our Boeing Dreamliners are configured with fewer seats than most other airlines (so we can fly them further), as well as the flight planning capabilities we’ve developed over decades. We have three new Dreamliners arriving this year and, like the ones already in our fleet, they are all named after things that are uniquely Australian. These three are Billabong, Snowy River and Mateship and join the likes of Skippy, Uluru and Waltzing Matilda.

We’re at the start of a big period of renewal. Across Qantas and Jetstar, on average we’ll be receiving one new aircraft every three weeks for the next few years, including Qantas’s first Airbus A220 at the end of this year. The 137-seat aircraft can fly twice as far as the 717s it replaces, carries 25 per cent more passengers, makes up to 50 per cent less noise and uses about 25 per cent less fuel. That gives you a good idea how far aircraft technology has come over the past few decades. We have firm orders for 29 A220s, with options for more. Together with the larger A321s arriving from late 2023, they will be an important part of our domestic fleet.

These changes to our fleet and network are all part of our efforts to make your journey a little bit smoother, whether you’re planning that once-in-a-lifetime trip to The City That Never Sleeps or exploring one of our amazing local destinations.

Thanks for choosing Qantas.

Alan Joyce CEO, Qantas

Limited-edition PJs and amenity kits

There wouldn’t be many Qantas international business travellers who don’t have one of the airline’s amenity kits, created with Australian designers and artists and now living a second life as a wallet or make-up case. In April, Western Australian Wongi artist Kevin Wilson teamed up with Qantas and Tourism Western Australia on a design (above) destined for flights from Singapore, London and Rome to Perth. This month, it’s fashion designer Rebecca Vallance’s turn, with a limitededition pyjamas and amenity kits collection to celebrate Qantas’ new Sydney to New York via Auckland route. Inspired by the glamorous Waldorf Astoria New York hotel, the sleep suit and amenity kits, featuring the Qantas “Roo” and Rebecca Vallance logo in a palette of blues, will be every bit as stylish as the designer herself (see page 34).

Connect to Qantas Fast and Free Wi-Fi

Once onboard, connect your own device to Qantas Free Wi-Fi on domestic flights in three simple steps:

Enable Aeroplane Mode and select the “Qantas Free Wi-Fi” network in your Wi-Fi settings.

Follow the prompts on the “Welcome Onboard” screen to connect.

Once you’re connected, you’re ready to access the internet and start exploring.

Having trouble connecting? Make sure you’re connected to the “Qantas Free Wi-Fi” network and go to wifi.qantas.com in your preferred browser to start the connection process. To ensure an enjoyable flight for everyone, keep flight mode activated, switch your device to silent and refrain from voice and video calls.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work, live and fly. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and are committed to honouring Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual relationship to the land and water.

THIS IS FOR ALL SENSES.

The stunning design delights the eye. Luxurious finishes invite your touch. 3D acoustic soundscapes entice the ear. And with its impressive range and convenient charging options, the all-electric EQE opens new possibilities as it appeals to all your senses.

Mercedes EQE

I just got back from… Los Angeles

Three Qantas travellers share highlights from their trips to the City of Angels.

James Pratt

FREQUENT FLYER STATUS Silver

“I visit Los Angeles a lot, often for work, but I always squeeze in time for exploring when I’m there. I usually start my day with a hike in Runyon Canyon Park. For beginners or if you’re pressed for time, go to the north entrance for an easier hike because you’ll be starting at the top of the hill. Keep your eyes peeled for celebrities, too. I had a great chat with actress Denise Richards one morning! A hidden secret that you must visit is El Matador State Beach in Malibu; it looks like the kind of beach you’d see in an old Hollywood movie. From the car park, you walk down the side of the cliff and come across archways in the rocks and the water is crystal clear. It’s stunning.”

Ellisa Kimura

FREQUENT FLYER STATUS Silver

“When my family and I visited LA, we did all the touristy things like seeing a Lakers basketball game (we got pretzels and a giant foam finger!) and visiting the Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory and Walt Disney Concert Hall. I loved walking from Venice Beach to Santa Monica and seeing the famous skate park. Friends had told me to visit The Cheesecake Factory (thecheesecakefactory.com) in Beverly Hills and it didn’t disappoint. We ordered crispy chicken, Long Island iced teas and four different flavours of cheesecake – it was all delicious. We flew Qantas both ways and the food, service and the whole experience were just great. There were so many movies I wanted to watch but I was so busy chatting with my mum and my sister that I didn’t get to see any of them!”

Pete Harrison

FREQUENT FLYER STATUS ......................... Silver

“LA is my second city; my family live over there so I know it well. On my recent trip, I visited all my regular go-to spots like Blue Bottle Coffee (bluebottlecoffee.com) for an iced long black to kickstart the day and SoulCycle (soul-cycle.com) in West Hollywood for a spin class. I always make time to drive out to Nobu Malibu (noburestaurants.com) – make sure you book a few months out. The restaurant is on the beach and when you’re sitting out on the deck, the waves roll in beneath you. Go in the afternoon for an early dinner to watch the sunset. It’s so beautiful.”

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YOU COME FIRST. ALWAYS.

Join

Qantas magazine and Travel Insider welcome you to Think. , a thought-leadership reader event in association with LSH Auto Australia and supporting partner Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which is hosted by Editor-in-Chief Kirsten Galliott. You’ll enjoy dinner as Australia’s top business leaders tackle the night’s theme in a live panel discussion.

The topic

What makes a leader truly memorable?

The panellists

Pip Marlow, CEO, Salesforce ANZ & ASEAN

Pip Marlow has held two of Australia’s biggest tech roles – as CEO of Salesforce for five years and previously as MD of Microsoft Australia.

David Knoff, Antarctic expedition leader

The former army officer learnt what leadership is all about when he spent 537 days in Antarctica during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Margie Hartley, founder, Gram Consulting Group

An in-demand executive coach and former host of the Fast Track podcast, Margie Hartley helps leaders of ASX-20 companies create positive, purposeful change.

Location SK Steak & Oyster G.12/48 James Street, Fortitude Valley, Queensland

Date and time

Monday, 24 July 2023 at 6.30pm

Places are limited

$200 per person, which includes a four-course menu with matching wine

Reserve your seat before the event sells out. Book now at thinkbyqantasmagazine.eventbrite.com.au or enquire at rsvp@mediumrarecontent.com

the brightest minds in Australian business as you enjoy an exclusive experience at one of Brisbane’s hottest restaurants, SK Steak & Oyster.

OR CONTACT YOUR TRAVEL ADVISOR

PROUDLY SUPPORTING

Restaurants

THE WAITLIST

VIC Maha North

Celebrated chef Shane Delia doesn’t like to sit still for long. Forever rethinking and reinventing, his latest bit of restaurant alchemy sees him reposition his Collingwood wine bar, Maha Wine, as Maha North (mahanorth.com.au). Head chef Niko Pasieka keeps things interesting with a menu that changes constantly; there might be diamond clams and scallops cooked in a spicy sujuk cream sauce with pickled fennel, tomatoes and dill one day or zucchini flowers with anchovy and almond tarator the next. But if you were a fan of the venue in its former incarnation, don’t fret – you can still drop in for a cocktail and a mezze snack or two if that’s what you feel like. “Of course!” says Delia. “We consider ourselves a neighbourhood Middle Eastern brasserie and a good brasserie is there to serve the community.” So while the chef likes to do things his way, he wants you to do things your way, too.

STORY BY ALEXANDRA CARLTON

A Melbourne favourite gets a fresh look, while Sydney and Brisbane welcome new Italian joints.

Chef Niko Pasieka (above) and diamond clams and scallops with sujuk cream sauce (top) at Maha North brasserie in Collingwood, Melbourne; Pilloni restaurant in Brisbane’s West End (opposite)

Take a seat

Clarence Street in the CBD presents hand-shaped pasta, perfectly grilled proteins and a bold 500-bottle wine list.

NSW Palazzo Salato

Love Tilly Devine? Then expect to be swept off your feet by Palazzo Salato (palazzosalato. com), the 120-seat trattoria from the same group that brought you that dearly beloved Sydney small bar. Much grander in scale than the diminutive Tilly or its siblings, Fabbrica and Dear Sainte Eloise, this stunner in

VIC Yan

There’s nowhere quite like Yan in Sydney’s Wolli Creek, with its mashup of Chinese and Japanese flavours tied together under the umbrella of a smokehouse (yanrestaurant.com.au). Sounds convoluted but it actually works. Now the unique offering has landed in South Yarra, giving

Melburnians a chance to try the eatery’s smoked chicken katsu with Chinese barbecue sauce and renowned coconut dessert.

NSW Armorica Grande Brasserie

With a Josper grill at its heart and the flavours of northern France in its soul, this 150-seat Surry Hills brasserie (armorica. com.au) from the team behind Franca does the French classics but with a contemporary edge. There’s a lavish seafood tower

and a menu section devoted to interpretations of steak frites.

QLD Pilloni

Sardinia is the north star at this West End, Brisbane, bistro (pilloni.com.au), represented by the menu’s standout dish: a generous square of cracklingcrisp suckling pig that’s spitroasted for five hours. Seafood is also a big player, with luscious braises of octopus, grilled lobster and a rich spaghetti alle vongole topped with a scoop of bottarga.

MAKING THE CUT

Movie

Director Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel ) turns his ultra-stylised French-dollhousemeets-National-Geographic aesthetic to the final frontier – space – in Asteroid City (above). A tribute to the real-life spooky space town of Roswell, New Mexico, where alien debris allegedly landed in 1947, the film was co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola. It’s set in 1955 and basically stars every actor you’ve ever heard of –including Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Carell, Tilda Swinton, Maya Hawke, Margot Robbie, Hong Chau, Jason Schwartzman and Bryan Cranston – who all deliver low-key hilarious lines with deadpan aplomb. Beaming into cinemas on 22 June.

Style

Fashion Philistines will blame Succession but the rise of the waistcoat as a viable piece in women’s wardrobes pre-dates Shiv Roy’s sartorial decisions in Season 4. Whether it’s a work option from Proenzer Shouler, a twill sleeveless blazer from Max Mara , the knitted variety for cooler weather from Lee Matthews or a statement on its own from Acler, vests have emerged from Janet Jackson’s music videos in the ’90s to land in the front row of runway shows and boardrooms alike.

Beauty

Need to freshen up before a long haul? Want to get your glow on before a business flight? La Prairie has you covered with its Art of Beauty treatments at its welcome lounge and

two private rooms in Departures, Terminal 1 at Sydney Airport. Choose one of its luxury signature facials from the Platinum Rare, Pure Gold, Skin Caviar or White Caviar collections, designed to hydrate and revive skin. If you don’t have 45 minutes to spare, try an instant eye revive or arm and hand massage. To book, visit laprairie.com.

Streaming

Imagine that The Sopranos wasn’t located in suburban New Jersey but River North in Chicago and not centred on the Mafia but a restaurant’s frantic kitchen (and, okay, a little bit of the Mafia) and you have The Bear. A chaotic, fiery series about family, cooking and work culture, its star, Jeremy Allen White, won a Golden Globe this year for his raw performance as

chef Carmy Berzatto. Season 2 promises to be just as salty as the first, with Bob Odenkirk joining the cast. Plating up in June on Disney+.

Book

A vibrant compendium of notable First Nations people, This Book Thinks Ya Deadly! A Celebration of Blak Excellence, written by Corey Tutt and illustrated by Molly Hunt, is the first of its kind. Celebrating the strides made by Professor Marcia Langton, actor Miranda Tapsell, broadcaster Tony Armstrong, author Dr Anita Heiss, former AFL star Adam Goodes, award-winning artist Blak Douglas and a host of others, Tutt describes his book as “a First Nations version of the Nobel Laureates”. It’ll be in bookstores on 21 June.

We’ve scanned the zeitgeist for what to read, watch, wear and listen to now.

DARK MOFO, HOBART

“This year’s festival will be a reflection of the past decade and while much has changed, our desire to celebrate the longest nights and embrace winter in Tasmania hasn’t wavered,” he says. “We can’t wait to light the fires again.”

At more than a dozen Hobart (nipaluna) venues, the two-week celebration of public art, live music, performance and nocturnal revelry will transform the state capital after dark from 8 to 22 June.

Late-night favourite Night Mass: Exstasia returns bigger than ever, with three city blocks transformed into a sprawling

The 2023 incarnation of Dark Mofo (darkmofo.net.au) – an event creative director Leigh Carmichael has shaped into one that turns first-timers into annual pilgrims – will be the founder’s 10th and last at the helm.

Max Richter performs Sleep (above); masked guests at The Blue Rose Ball

Embrace the coming of the winter solstice in the Tasmanian capital at the festival of dark arts.

sensory metropolis of junkyard raves, cabarets and cocktail lounges. The Blue Rose Ball – the infamously hedonistic masquerade soirée – will start in a mystery location and conclude at The Blue Velvet Lounge, a live music performance space and home to the Ogoh-Ogoh, a massive sacrificial sculptural totem in the shape of a duck-billed platypus. The totem will be set alight after patrons have fed it scraps of paper on which they’ve scrawled their deepest fears.

Installations by Martu artist Curtis Taylor, performances by German-born English composer Max Richter and a oneoff exclusive Australian show by legendary American punk band Black Flag are just the tip of the iceberg.

In the culinary world, sibling rivalry can be a good thing. It’s certainly the case for diners at Lucinda (lucindawine.com), sister wine bar to Hobart institution Dier Makr, where a by-the-glass list changes just as rapidly as chef-owner Kobi Ruzicka’s impeccable daily menu. One night’s glossy raw garfish punctuated by crescents of purple daikon might vanish, only to be replaced by pillowy cavatelli with braised pig’s head and pangrattato beneath a creamy orb of egg yolk. Best enjoyed at the bar beneath the heritage pressed-tin ceiling, the food and wine at this vibey eatery is worthy of the buzz. And if you’re hoping to rest your head right in the heart of the Dark Mofo action, MACq 01 (hotel.qantas.com.au/macq01), occupying the city’s most historic wharf, is the luxury contender. Rich timber interiors and a circular fireplace in the lobby add cosiness to the former shipping shed but it’s the 114-room hotel’s ever-changing waterfront views –with Mount Wellington (kunanyi) as a backdrop – that will have you captivated.

Make it a weekend…

(From top) Night Mass: Exstasia ; Black Flag; Martu artist Curtis Taylor

Beau Brummell Introductions founders Vinko Anthony and Andrea Zaza, photo by Sealeybrandt.com

Rebecca Vallance

City you visit most? I travel to New York at least four times a year for “market”, which is when I’m selling our range to global retailers. I also meet with our US and UK sales teams and editors and stylists. What do you love most about it? The energy and the people. You can go out for dinner any night of the week to a beautiful restaurant and it’ll be packed with people all dressed up. Are you a pre-planner or last-minute packer? Before I leave, I plan out what I’m going to wear to everything in my diary but I bring a few extras to account for the weather and my mood. And if you could only fit one pair of shoes, they’d be… Fendi’s double-band slides – they’re comfortable and work with a suit or dress in summer. Saint Laurent’s over-theknee Diane boots are a classic for winter. What about at the airport – anything you always grab? My sons, Matthias, eight, and Rafael, six, adore I Heart NY shirts and NYPD caps. We have many Qantas toy planes, too. Speaking of planes, what’s your take-off ritual? I order a glass of champagne, put on La Prairie Pure Gold eye cream and listen to music. Sleep is so important – I try to get into the time zone of my destination the second I get on the plane. Then I get out my laptop and work. Where do you head once you land? I like The Dominick and Baccarat hotels. I always stay at the same places and request the same rooms. I unpack immediately, even if it’s 2am. What’s your garment care tip? I travel with knit dresses – get them out of the suitcase, hang them up and they’re all good. Itinerary or wing it? I’m very scheduled. I love to have everything organised. Okay. So what’s your must-book? Casa Cruz on East 61st Street for steak, salads and Margaritas. And your wellness go-to? I do a Soul Cycle session as soon as I can – spinning is great for jet lag. And I’m obsessed with Tracy Anderson’s Pilates in Tribeca. Sounds busy. How do you stay in touch? I FaceTime with my husband and children every day. And I communicate with my team across the world via WhatsApp. First thing you do when you get home? I kiss my family, go into our garden and walk barefoot in the grass to ground myself.

The ultra-organised fashion designer spends her sky time in style – and hits the ground spinning.

(From top) Rebecca Vallance in New York; Fendi double-band slides; The Dominick hotel; La Prairie Pure Gold Radiance Eye Cream

MCLAREN VALE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Wild beaches, lush fields, cosy eateries and fine wine. What’s keeping you?

Fleurieu Peninsula

Less than an hour south of Adelaide, the city’s industrial outskirts give way to country roads lined with gum trees and rolling, grapevine-stitched hills that stretch to the horizon. With award-winning wineries and acclaimed restaurants at your doorstep, drop your bags, relax your shoulders and practise the following words: “Yes, please.”

Stay

Beresford Estate (beresfordestate.com.au), an almost 30-hectare working vineyard, opened a series of contemporary suites and luxury villas last year to complement historic Beresford House, the estate’s super-pretty wedding venue. The Grand Reserve Suites (with a separate bedroom, kitchenette, Italian freestanding bath and outdoor plunge pool) sit on one side of the Beresford Tasting Pavilion and studio-style Reserve Suites on the other. All rooms look out over vineyards lush with grenache, shiraz, cab sav and chardonnay wine grapes, with the odd kangaroo ducking under the vines. Enjoy a continental breakfast in your villa or pre-order a cooked one for an extra cost but don’t spend too long in your Grand Reserve digs trying to figure out the electronic blinds and learning to drive the coffee machine. There’s wine to be tasted (Beresford’s Estate Shiraz is a must), fabulous food up the hill (see below) and plenty more to explore.

Eat

The region is home to two of the most talked about restaurants in South Australia. At The Salopian Inn (salopian. com.au), chef and co-owner Karena Armstrong plates up local, ethically sourced food as warm and welcoming as the 19th-century farmhouse it’s

prepared in. The menu is seasonal so Armstrong’s delectable pork, ginger, roasted chilli and coriander dumplings may no longer be on offer but order the replacement with confidence. The chef knows her dumplings. For lunch, there are few more delightful venues than the Star of Greece (starofgreece.com.au), a repurposed seaman’s cottage on the clifftop at Port Willunga with dazzling views over St Vincent Gulf (the fins you see are almost always playful dolphins). With those boxes ticked, end the day back at Beresford Estate with sundowners (the region is producing some stellar gins and craft beer) and dinner at Vale Taphouse, Restaurant and Bar (valebrewing.com.au) – Coffin Bay oysters followed by smoked monkfish lasagne, perhaps? And relax, a comfy bed awaits at the bottom of the hill.

Do

Explore at least some of the area’s 80 cellar doors on an electric bike from SA eBikes (they’ll deliver to your accommodation for a fee; sa-ebikes. com.au) or leave the driving to someone else on a bespoke, all-day Over The Top private tour of McLaren Vale and the Fleurieu Peninsula with Off Piste 4WD Tours (offpistetours.com.au). If walking’s more your thing, you can check out the peninsula’s spectacular beaches or be captivated by ancient stories of the Ngarrindjeri people on a stroll along the biodiverse Gemtree Eco Trail (gemtreewines.com) with Elder Mark Koolmatrie. His tour ends with a native tasting plate and an optional flight of Gemtree’s biodynamic wines. And no visit to McLaren Vale would be complete without venturing into the madcap, what-on-earth-is-this-doinghere d’Arenberg Cube (darenberg.com. au) because, apart from anything else, it’s the first question you’ll be asked when you get home.

MERCEDES-AMG C 43 4MATIC

This new-generation muscle sedan from the German marque boasts technology straight out of Formula 1.

So the new C-Class is no longer a V6? That’s right. One of Australia’s favourite performance cars has had a bit of a downsize. Out with the old V6, in with a highly efficient, new-generation 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine derived from the technology used by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. How much power does it produce? 300kW of power and 500Nm of torque. It also boasts the world’s first electric exhaust gas turbocharger, operated by a 48-volt electrical system, which helps with better acceleration, agility, responsiveness and all-round efficiency, especially when the car is idle in traffic. Is it still fast? It can jump 0-100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds and the top speed is 250 km/h but remember, that’s just straight line speed, if you get our drift. Any other performance enhancements? Plenty – this is one highly advanced sedan. But one to note is the new rear-axle steering, which sees the rear steer in the opposite direction to the front (2.5 degrees max), at speeds of up to 100km/h (depending on the dynamic setting). Why is that good? In short, better control but also more agility and turn-in, enhanced stability, less steering effort and tighter turning circle – it makes the car nimbler and more fun (and safer) to drive. How much? From $134,900, plus on-road costs. mercedes-benz.com.au

A piece of you since 1972.

A NEW ERA

You don’t need to be familiar with Mad Men’s Don Draper to know that alliteration in a name lends anyone in possession of it more than a touch of style. Gērald Genta is no different. The legendary watch designer unveiled his greatest triumphs in the 1970s –most memorably, the Patek Philippe Nautilus and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. But a less heralded Genta classic was the IWC Ingenieur. With its rounded tonneau case and five-screw bezel, the Ingenieur Automatic 40 tribute piece channels the spirit of that 1976 model for a new era. The power of those initials endures.

Stargazing

That heavenly symbol of wish-fulfilment –the starburst – is taken to new heights by Ole Lynggaard, the jewellery house that’s celebrating 60 years in the business. These wholly original earrings dial up that dynamism and celestial charm with layers of tiny diamonds in a pavé setting backlit by 18-carat gold.

Ole Lynggaard Funky Star pavé diamond and 18-carat gold earrings / $11,700 / olelynggaard.com

The case

Water-resistant to 100 metres, the stainlesssteel case is defined by the five screws attaching the bezel. A 40-millimetre diameter and lugto-lug measurement of 45.7 millimetres mean ergonomic wearability even on slender wrists.

The dial

Enlivened by a grid pattern, the dial comes in silver, black or aqua. Hour-markers and hands are coated with lume for easy legibility.

The movement

Housed in a soft-iron inner case for antimagnetic protection, the mechanical

automatic movement is made in-house. It offers a commendable power reserve of 120 hours and propels a date display, too.

The band

Slim, tapering and well-executed with a combination of polished and satinfinished surfaces, the watch’s H-link integrated bracelet fastens via a butterfly folding clasp. The overall feel is sporty but elegant.

The price

IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 watch in stainless steel / $17,300 / iwc.com

Spicers Peak Lodge, Scenic Rim QLD

WELL READ

From the latest novels to classic books worth discovering, these are the page-turning picks for the month.

The book you should be reading

In Kylie Needham’s stunning debut, Girl in a Pink Dress, Frances is an artist struggling to find the balance between her art and her carefully guarded solitude. But the glamour of old associates and all the pressures and rewards of the world of high arts is hard to escape – and the past has a way of reasserting itself. Needham’s experience as an awardwinning screenwriter is obvious as she expertly guides this story through two different timelines.

The book everyone is reading

Don Winslow has been delivering propulsive crime novels and thrillers for years but the buzz around City of Dreams is stratospheric. Following on from City on Fire, it’s the second book in a trilogy, a multi-generational American crime epic that’s drawing comparisons to The Godfather. In the latest book, young Mob boss Danny Ryan is trying to rein in the excesses of his crew and protect his family, all against the backdrop of a gangland war threatening to tear New England apart. A big, fat airport novel full of thrills and delights.

The non-fiction book to know about Melbourne-born Peter Singer is one of the world’s most influential philosophers: at times, he’s controversial, at others, divisive, but he’s always thoughtful and deeply humane. His classic title Ethics in the Real World has been fully updated and expanded for the unethical world we find ourselves in now. Clear and incisive on everything from assisted dying to the poverty gap, the climate crisis to fake news, this is nothing short of an essential primer on how we could be living.

The

Australian book to read now

It was published in 2022 so The Jaguar, a book of poetry by Sarah Holland Batt, may not feel timely. But this year she won the prestigious Stella Prize for this volume written before and after the death of her father. It’s a beautiful, powerful collection and Holland Batt should be a household name.

The book to revisit

There’s a reason Cloudstreet by Tim Winton is often cited as a modern Australian classic. There’s no writer quite like Winton. The story of the Lamb and the Pickle families in the warmth of the West Australian sun remains a singular pleasure to read. Last year marked 40 years of Winton as a published writer and it’s always the perfect time to read his books.

STORY BY MICHAEL WILLIAMS

Photo by Steve McCurry

Clothing The Gaps

Gunditjmara woman Laura Thompson isn’t afraid to walk away from a deal. “We’ve stepped away from some great opportunities,” says the CEO of ethical apparel brand Clothing The Gaps (clothingthe gaps.com.au). “They usually fall down on one simple thing: values.”

Co-founder Sarah Sheridan agrees. “Buying a T-shirt is just the beginning,” she says of the social enterprise’s designs, emblazoned with slogans such as “Aboriginal Land, Tread Lightly” and “Always Was, Always Will Be”. “It’s always been important to us to back that up with education, to enable allies to have those hard discussions and reduce the burden on mob.”

Originally created as a merch line to support the pair’s health promotion work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the label (its profits are channelled into the Clothing The Gaps Foundation’s mission to add years to First Nation peoples’ lives) officially launched in March 2020. The meteoric rise of the B-corp certified brand that’s now a mainstay in progressive closets around the country is due entirely to organic growth and not a single external investment. “When we launched we had three employees, including Laura and me,” explains Sheridan. “Today we have 77 employees, with 92 per cent of them Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.”

A recent collaboration with youth homelessness non-profit HoMie saw excess clothing stock from both organisations cut in half and remade for a limited line. And as well as a commitment to hyperlocal production – three-quarters of its procurement spend is within an 80-kilometre radius of two bricks-and-mortar stores in Naarm (Melbourne) – Thompson and Sheridan aim to reduce the label’s environmental footprint further, with all offcuts and factory waste upcycled and used in furnishings by textile recycler UPPAREL.

“We spend a lot of time on thoughtful design and quality,” says Thompson. “Hopefully, people hold onto our products forever because they mean something to them.”

Co-founders Laura Thompson (left) and Sarah Sheridan

This First Nations-led social enterprise is changing the face of Australia, one T-shirt at a time.

Back to the future

Don’t expect shag-pile carpets and instant coffee. The new crop of retro motels comes with all the mod cons and a keen focus on design. Here are four of the best in NSW.

Motel Molly

Cloaked in bougainvillea and surrounded by olive trees, Motel Molly (motelmolly. com.au), about three hours south of Sydney, has a pastel, shuttered façade that conjures up Barbie’s Dreamhouse by way of the Amalfi Coast. Just metres from the sea in the town of Mollymook, the refurbished property – a collaboration between Knox Developments and interior design and architecture practice Richards Stanisich – is a 16-room homage to playful Mediterranean style.

Bio-Pelle leather bedheads, imported Moroccan tiles and Le Labo shower amenities provide high-end accents, while surfboard and cruiser hire, communal barbecue facilities and a pool edged with scalloped beach umbrellas set the tone for laidback luxuriating.

But you’ll want to get out, too. Nearby Narrawallee Beach is a crowdpleasing stretch of sand that offers good conditions for beginner surfers at its southern end. A playground and sheltered bay to the north – complete with excellent coffee from pop-up van Hello Huey (hellohueycaravan.com) – is also a favourite for families.

Mollymook Beach Hut café (destinationmollymookmiltonulladulla. com), across from the beach on Ocean Street, delivers delicious fish and chips fresh off the morning’s trawlers. Or you could take a seven-minute drive inland to picturesque Milton. There, Altar Wine Bar (altarwinebarmilton.com.au), a trendy garden oasis set on the grounds of The Old Church, serves local wines, cheeses and live music on weekends.

The Chalet

It’s been called “the new Byron” but truth be told, Brunswick Heads – a holiday haven perched on the point where the Brunswick River yawns out into the Coral Sea – has an energy all its own.

This 12-room coastal escape (hotel. qantas.com.au/thechalet), decked out in navy and white, brings a slice of ’60s LA to the North Coast of NSW, with a few luxe touches (Malin+Goetz bath products, free guest bikes and Heyday Harry’s, a pink vintage caravan that serves cocktails and boutique beers out the back).

Rooms range from snug doubles to a host of family-friendly options, including a three-bedroom sunset loft, with a private deck and sunloungers, and the freestanding sunset bungalow,

a three-bedroom cottage for guests requiring a little extra room to roam. Adding to its relaxed bonhomie is the fact that furry family members are welcome, too.

And if the décor doesn’t transport you straight back to the ’60s, the simplicity of a weekend in “Bruns” will. Rent fishing gear from Bruns Beach Bait & Tackle (0432 394 869) on the corner of Fingal and Park streets (you’ll need a NSW fishing licence but they can also sort that for you) and head down to the Marshalls Creek rock wall. If the flathead are biting, grill up a hyper-local feast at The Chalet’s communal barbecue area that evening while the kids splash about in the palm-fringed saltwater pool.

The Isla

“We wanted to create somewhere that friends and families can congregate that reminds them of childhood holidays but with modern sophistication,” says Yanna Dascarolis, co-founder of The Isla (hotel.qantas.com.au/theisla) in Batehaven, near Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast.

Dascarolis says the decision to reimagine the property came about partly because the motel – which is right across the road from picturesque Corrigans Beach – had such “great bones” and partly due to a gap in the local accommodation landscape.

An intriguing mix of ’80s Australiana and Mediterranean glamour, The Isla is as reminiscent of childhood beach holidays as a Bubble O’Bill ice-cream,

with the understated luxe of a boutique hotel. A bright white paint job has erased all evidence of the former office-block brown, while the ochre-accented colour palette and Daniel Tucker-designed chairs round out the 18-room haven’s upscale transformation.

Cantina, a communal pool house where guests can socialise outside, has sparkling water on tap, TV and Jenga for the kids and a custom vending machine stocked with everything you might need (or want), including wines from nearby Canberra vineyards, beer from Milton’s Dangerous Ales brewery and travel essentials such as toothpaste.

It’s sometimes been overlooked in favour of its northern counterparts, such as Mollymook and Jervis Bay, but the

sleepy stretch of coast on which The Isla is located is having a moment. For the best coffee, drop into The Mossy café (themossy.com.au) in Mossy Point, about 15 minutes further south. “Order the Turkish eggs with Aleppo butter and roasted chickpeas while you’re at it,” says Dascarolis. From there, a sandy track a 10-minute drive up the road (between North and South Broulee) leads to Shark Bay, a family swimming spot as flat and safe as a kiddy pool.

Later, Mami’s Bar (mamisbar.com.au) in Batemans Bay ties dumplings, ramen, cocktails and ’90s trivia nights together in a kitsch bow and the newly renovated Club Catalina (clubcatalina.com.au) is just the spot to watch roos amble onto the golf course at twilight.

The Berry View

The Berry View Motel (theberryview. com.au), 145 kilometres south of Sydney in the coast-meets-hinterland hamlet of Berry, certainly ticks all the boxes. Its 1950s-style exterior – white concrete breezeblocks, burnt-orange doors and rows of mother-in-law’s tongue in pebbled garden beds – is enough to make you wish you’d pulled up in an FJ Holden to complete the vibe.

“I love the inclusive pricing of the motel model,” says David Stubbs, who together with business partner Matt Hall bought the former Bangalee Motel in 2021. “I love that groups of mates can still come away together without having to decide who gets the big room in a holiday house or who has an ensuite.”

A focus on communal entertainment features heavily in the property’s future – plans are underway to open an infinity pool and entertaining deck by early 2024, as well as a new 18-room dwelling, the top floor of which will feature marquee rooms with fireplaces and full baths.

Until then, there’s plenty in the region to keep you busy. Bundanon (bundanon.com.au) is less than half an hour away by car – the gallery and homestead on 1000 hectares of land was donated to the Australian people by artist Arthur Boyd in 1993. There’s also The Famous Berry Donut Van (@berrydonutvan) on the main street, which coerces a stop out of every second vehicle passing through town. And don’t miss Berry’s delicious baked goods. Milkwood Bakery (milkwoodbakery.com.au) turns out organic sourdough from 6am every morning and makes an ideal place for provisions. Our pick? The brandysoaked prune and custard tart.

Chris Jallard

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Where

little things mean

Bondi Icebergs Pool

DINE

54 Less formal, more fun: new casual venues by top chefs

58 The dish that wowed Elvis star Austin Butler

62 Meet your new favourite red wine

Lennox Hastie’s Gildas in Sydney’s Surry Hills

STORY BY ALEXANDRA CARLTON

DOUBLE DOWN

Big-name restaurants are spawning small-scale offshoots that offer a more accessible taste of high-end dining.

Petrina Tinslay

For Melbourne chef and restaurateur Andrew McConnell, one of the most exciting things about the space he found for his new cocktail bar was that it had no kitchen. At Apollo Inn (apolloinn.bar), which opens this month a few doors down from his blockbuster CBD restaurant, Gimlet at Cavendish House (gimlet.melbourne), there’s room behind the bar for the team to shuck oysters, open sea urchin and slice jamón but there’ll be no cooking. “We’ve intentionally done this so we don’t turn into a restaurant,” says McConnell. “After the roar of Gimlet we wanted to create something more intimate. Something that’s a bit of a retreat.”

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants-listed Gimlet often books out weeks ahead (as anyone who’s tried for a last-minute reservation knows) while, in contrast, Apollo Inn will focus on a fabulous cocktail service and McConnell hopes he can keep the 28 seats reserved for walk-ins only. “The jury’s still out on that but I really want it to be a spontaneous place where you can come in before a show or after dinner.”

Overseas, heavy-hitter restaurateurs have been opening smaller-scale venues for some time, foils to the highly awarded fine-diners that put them on the map. (It’s not McConnell’s first

foray into the concept, either; he opened neighbourhood wine bar Marion next to his flagship Cutler & Co. in 2015.)

A dégustation at Chicago’s three-Michelin-star Alinea will cost you between US$305 and $485 but from 2016, diners could try a low-key version of chef Grant Achatz’s cooking at Roister, which serves lunch, brunch, burgers, snacks and dinner. In Bangkok, Le Du – which topped the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 list – is a destination for chef Thitid Tassanakajohn’s refined, Thai-inspired cooking but when you want to eat homestyle, go to sister restaurant Baan. And of course, there’s the big one: chef René Redzepi announced this year that he’d be closing his Copenhagen gamechanger Noma from 2024 and reinventing it as a “food lab”. Though there’s no word yet if Redzepi will open a more casual eatery, Noma’s demise has led many to wonder if fine dining is on the wane altogether.

In Australia, at least, there still seems to be a solid appetite at both ends of the restaurant spectrum. When Ben Wallace and Rachael Boon last year opened Jungle Fowl (junglefowl.com.au) in Tropical North Queensland’s Port Douglas, the motivation was to appeal to a new customer while retaining their loyal base.

Chrissie Cosgrove

Beau Bar in Sydney (opposite); banquet-style dining at Jungle Fowl, Port Douglas (above left); Rachael Boon (above)

The eatery is a casual alternative to their destination diner, Oaks Kitchen & Garden (oakskitchenandgarden.com), about 15 minutes south at Oak Beach.

“Oaks attracts a certain kind of clientele and a lot of people would find it on the pricier side,” says Wallace. “The idea with Jungle Fowl was to create something that’s more approachable.” At Oaks, diners are served an elegant, South-East Asian-style chef’s table lunch (and bookings are essential); at Jungle Fowl, there’s the option of ordering Thai snacks and share plates to go with the lively cocktail menu and it’s much more of a breeze-in, breezeout situation. “Oaks still attracts enough people to be busy,” adds Wallace. “This is just another way for people – especially locals – to try what we’re doing.”

Rebecca Yazbek, co-founder and director of Nomad Group, says opening different restaurant styles is also about giving her staff options. This factored into her thinking when she and her team this year launched the seafood and share plates-focused Beau Bar (beau.sydney), a short walk from 10-year-old Surry Hills favourite Nomad (nomad.sydney). “In order to retain good talent, you need to give them a challenge,” she says. “Nomad has this really great core group of people but they don’t necessarily always want to grind out big services in a really big restaurant. Sometimes they want to do small services and form more intimate connections with locals. They want to gain a breadth of experience and not do the same thing every day.”

Beau gives them a chance to mix things up, while her customers – old and new – can experience the Nomad ethos of beautiful produce and excellent service in a scaled-back setting. “After 10 years, people tend to expect what they expect,” she says. “There’s a wonderful freedom in trying something else.”

Go small or go home: top chefs’ mini-me eateries

Sydney Next Door

This aptly named spot (margaretdoublebay.com) sits right next to Neil Perry’s superb Double Bay diner, Margaret. It’s so laid-back that it doesn’t even get its own website. Wander in, grab wine or a cocktail and get stuck into one of Perry’s famous cheeseburgers.

Melbourne Smith + Deli

Shannon Martinez’s Collingwood dining hall is like Disneyland for vegetarians. Go to the flagship Smith + Daughters for plated fine-dining, including an optional chef’s table dégustation, or pop into the cheerful Smith + Deli (smithanddaughters.com) to munch on toasties, plant-based schnitzel and indulgent vego big brekkies, plus take-home treats for later.

Adelaide Africola Canteen

It’s Africola but it goes home with you. Baby sibling to Adelaide’s beloved South African-driven eatery, Africola Canteen in Norwood (africola canteen.com) dishes up a plantforward takeaway selection of salads, Cuban sandwiches and the original restaurant’s cult peri-peri chicken.

Melbourne Moon Mart

It felt like the moon had fallen from the sky when Sydney lost beloved Korean fusion

Rebecca Newman

restaurant Moon Park in 2016. Now chef/owner Eun Hee An has reappeared in West Melbourne with convenience store and café Moon Mart (moonmart.com.au), which serves coffee, pastries and Korean/Japanese comfort foods, including chilled soba, bibimbap and okonomiyaki hash browns.

Sydney Gildas

Its starring role in Netflix’s Chef’s Table: BBQ means getting a booking at Lennox Hastie’s flame-fuelled Firedoor is an exercise in time and patience. His Basque-style wine bar Gildas (gildas.com.au) in Surry Hills is a different concept: the focus is tapas and drinks but the expertise and attention to detail is unchanged. And walk-ins are accepted.

Canberra Such and Such

The seven-course set menu at Pilot in Ainslie is otherworldly but it’s not exactly a meal you’d drop by for every week. For that, head to the team’s new, lighthearted eatery Such and Such (andsuchandsuch.com). The à la carte menu includes deliciousness such as school prawns with 666 spice and strawberry with shards of white chocolate and rice cream, matched with a lo-fi wine list.

Melbourne March

When your fine-dining restaurant is called Ides, what do you call the more casual spin-off? March, of course. Chef and owner Peter Gunn opened this pared-back wine bar (marchmelbourne.com.au) in Collingwood in late 2022 and while it shares plenty of

similarities to its grown-up sibling, you’ll likely walk away spending less.

Melbourne

Stokehouse Pasta & Bar

St Kilda’s Stokehouse is an institution in Melbourne, having been operated in several incarnations by the Van Haandel family for more than 30 years. The white-tablecloth-style service remains upstairs but downstairs is now Pasta & Bar (stokepastaandbar.com.au), a Mediterranean-leaning beach club space where patrons can pop in for a plate of crab and chilli spaghetti with a bottle from the well-priced wine list.

Tokyo

Sushi Ginza Onodera Toryumon

Standing sushi restaurants are a fast-growing trend in Japan – a way to try the same food served at top sushi restaurants with an accessible price tag. The original Sushi Ginza Onodera (onodera-group.com) – which has outposts in China and America – serves high-end dinner omakase with prices to match, while at this standing-only venue you’ll spend less than half as much.

Singapore Meatsmith

Singapore fully embraced Australian-style barbecue with Burnt Ends, which earned its first Michelin star in 2018 and reached number 24 this year on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Chef Dave Pynt followed up with two new local eateries (meatsmith.com.sg), one in Chinatown dishing up American-style smokehouse barbecue, the other in Little India serving modern Indian barbecue. There is also a third outlet in Jakarta.

Arianna Harry, Nikki

(Clockwise from left) Chef Peter Gunn at March in Collingwood; Gildas in Surry Hills; express lunch at Stokehouse Pasta & Bar, St Kilda

MORETON BAY BUG ROLL AT RICK SHORES

This deceptively simple-looking seafood sandwich from the Gold Coast fine-diner has some tricks up its sleeve.

Deep-fried seafood. Mayo. Brioche roll. It’s not rocket science. In fact, you’ll find a version of this Aussie classic in virtually every seaside town or city in the country. That’s why it requires something special to take it to another level. Enter the famous Moreton Bay bug roll from Rick Shores at Burleigh Heads (rickshores.com.au).

At first glance, the fist-sized sandwich looks unassuming. But take a bite and you’ll soon realise why actor Austin Butler, who developed a low-grade obsession with them while filming the Elvis biopic on the Gold Coast in 2020, calls them “amazing”.

“Quite a lot of people were doing brioche rolls but there was an appetite for someone to do one that was more punchy and spicy,”

says the restaurant’s executive chef, James Brady, of the genesis of the Rick Shores bug roll about seven years ago.

The secret to that punch is layers. The process starts with whole fresh Moreton Bay bugs. (“We never compromise our quality by buying bug meat or half bugs,” says Brady. “That means everyone gets a turn peeling bugs – even me!”) Small pieces of the meat are poached in coconut milk and cream, ginger, lemongrass and makrut lime leaf before being roughly chopped and mixed with togarashi spice, lime powder and juice, salt and Kewpie mayo. The “meat” in the sandwich, bug tails, are fried in beer batter made from local Stone & Wood brews.

“We cook the bun itself almost like a croque monsieur-style with caramelised butter then we line the base with the bug mayo, add a bit of baby gem lettuce, top with the crisp bug, sriracha mayo on top of that and the lid.”

The end result is simple but it performs several tastebud tricks all at once. “The combination of Kewpie mayo and brioche has this really moreish quality to it. The sriracha mayo is almost too spicy but then it’s cooled by the bug mayonnaise. You get the crunch of the batter and then the spiciness that reminds you of the first time you tried Tabasco. In the end everyone just has this big smile on their face.”

The Crowd-pleaser STORY BY ALEXANDRA CARLTON

A taste of home

The idea for Sammy Jeon’s restaurant, Diana, was born in South Korea, honed in regional Australia and is now taking shape in Sydney’s Potts Point.

When South Korean-born Sammy Jeon landed in Australia 14 years ago “as a young man with no skills”, he set off to the town of Orange – a 255kilometre drive west of Sydney – doorknocking in the hopes of finding work as a fruit picker.

“After the third day of knocking on Philip Shaw’s door, he gave me some groundskeeping work to do in the vineyard,” says Jeon. “I worked so hard in the sun that I fainted and I think I endeared myself to him.”

It was while working for Philip Shaw – one of Australia’s most esteemed wine producers – that Jeon was exposed to Australian culture and the food and wine scene.

Following his time on the vineyard, Jeon went on to open a number of restaurants in Mudgee and Orange, including Avido Ristorante Italiano, Mr Sushi King (one in each town) and the trailblazing Korean diner Mr Lim, before making the leap to Sydney. His latest venture, Diana (named after the Shaw family matriarch), is located in Potts Point and is inspired by his time in Australia.

Jeon’s vision for Diana is a KoreanChinese eatery that serves refined versions of recipes you’d see in the home and is best reflected in the banquet-style menus. Dishes include Hwae moochim (sashimi salad), which is made up of thinly cut pieces of salmon,

kingfish, tuna and abalone and mixed with julienned apple, nashi pear, carrot and wild sesame leaves. It’s topped with a sesame oil and gochujang dressing, which creates a balanced, textural and spicy eating experience.

There is similar attention to detail paid to the duck pancakes, which arrive with sliced pieces of the bird’s breast that’s been washed with Chinese five-spice, dried for three days and smoked to deliver a perfectly crisp skin. It’s paired with cucumbers, spring onion and an in-house sauce that is “made with Sammy’s love”.

Wine is naturally a focus of the restaurant, with Jeon drawing on his knowledge to champion Australian drops. “There are wines from everywhere on the menu but I really think that Orange wines are beautiful and set for a bigger stage.”

The interior of the 150-seat restaurant is a playful mixture of brightly coloured Korean art, Chinese vases, a karaoke machine (for Friday and Saturday nights) and a portrait of Diana Shaw. The jovial vibe is a reflection of Jeon, who is the type of owner that hugs his regulars and isn’t afraid to jump on the microphone to belt out a tune. The restaurateur says the last thing he wanted was an atmosphere of pretension. “I want it to be fun.”

To reserve your table, visit dianapottspoint.com 1/28 Macleay Street, Potts Point

Presented by Diana Potts Point

YARRA VALLEY, VICTORIA

STORY BY LARISSA DUBECKI

Just an hour by car from Melbourne, this cool-climate region has the dining scene to match its celebrated wines.

Best vine dining Oakridge

The sleek, glass-walled dining room enjoys dazzling vineyard views but the equally impressive kitchen gardens are the fire in the engine room of Aaron Brodie’s menus at Oakridge. Salted kohlrabi and lovage with Murray cod and gently spiced emu mortadella make a delicious case for sustainability, while stopping by the cellar door for a pre-lunch tasting will help decide your favourites from the gold medal-studded estate list.

864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream; (03) 9738 9900; oakridgewines.com.au

Best winery restaurant TarraWarra Estate

There are grand designs behind this rammedearth winery, restaurant and gallery nestled against a jewel-green hill. The subterranean cellar door is a memorable setting for a tasting of the estate’s acclaimed wines, while dining options extend from a weekend picnic box on the lawn to lunch in the luxe dining room, where chef Joel Alderdice’s three- or four-course menus range from “dirty Martini” olives to macadamia tart with a lick of koji caramel.

311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Yarra Glen; (03) 5962 3311; tarrawarra.com.au

Best cellar bar Jayden Ong Winery & Cellar Bar

The cool kid of Yarra Valley vignerons, Jayden Ong welcomes visitors with excellent service and an easygoing ethos. The barrel-lined room with extravagant floral displays is an evocative setting for a glass (or two) with snacks such as salami and pickled peppers, though the hungry should beeline for local rainbow trout with sorrel and butter sauce. Book ahead for a relaxed tasting with an expert.

8 Hunter Road, Healesville; 0487 888 866; jaydenong.com

Best gin distillery

Four Pillars

Offering mini-G&T paddles, guided tastings and the chance to play distiller, this is a gin lover’s extravaganza. A stunning $7 million renovation of the Healesville HQ has added a thermo-friendly copper “veil” to the exterior and an indoor-outdoor garden, where a range of G&Ts are poured from the tap and snacks – such as gin-cured salmon bagels and hot chips with gin salt – are made using spent botanicals from the distilling process.

2 Lilydale Road, Healesville; 1800 374 446; fourpillarsgin.com

Best cheese Yarra Valley Dairy

A century-old former milking shed is an atmospheric setting to try this artisan dairy’s award-winning cheeses, made next door. Crafted in the farmhouse styles of France and Italy, the range includes a stunning creamy marinated Persian fetta. A selection of local produce, including preserves and crackers, aid the take-home proposition but stay a while and enjoy a cheese platter and a glass of local wine overlooking the farm.

70 McMeikans Road, Yering; (03) 9739 1222; yvd.com.au

Best pizza Innocent Bystander

This local gastronomic hero inhabits a huge warehouse on the edge of Healesville, where the eponymous wine label’s crowd-pleasing mission delivers on every front. Easy-drinking vinos on tap and thin-based, charry-crusted pizzas from the wood oven – choose from toppings that swing from hot salami to prawn with rocket and pesto – are matched by mighty fire-licked paellas.

316-334 Maroondah Highway, Healesville; (03) 5999 9222; innocentbystander.com.au

Best breakfast Round Bird Can’t Fly

Cafés don’t come more proudly local than this sprawling beauty on Lilydale’s main street. Start your day with the indulgence of potato, ham and cheese croquettes topped with poached eggs and hollandaise or go virtuous with vibrant breakfast greens, mushroom and hummus. Valley produce is at the core of Laura Webb-James’s menu, which sees her make almost everything from scratch, including granola and smoked salmon.

170 Main Street, Lilydale; (03) 9735 9724; roundbird.com.au

Best Argentinian The Independent Gembrook

This motor garage turned South American pit stop is popular with locals and families piling off the Puffing Billy steam train. Mauro Callegari’s Argentinian heritage shines through in bites such as beef empañadas and sizzling provolone cheese slathered with chimichurri, while the elegance of lime-cured scallops with green chilli and spiced salt show off his high-end credentials. A kid-friendly beer garden with a playground makes it an all-ages affair.

79 Main Street, Gembrook; (03) 5968 1110; theindependentgembrook.com.au

Best cider Napoleone Cider Orchard Bar

The apple-loving offshoot of renowned Punt Road Wines has staked its claim to the Valley’s affections with its hip Orchard Bar. Pouring the estate’s pear and apple ciders from a styled-up shipping container in the pink lady orchard, it also serves calvados, cocktails and guest ciders. Shady tables and a shoes-off attitude prevail, while the weekend garden party is fuelled by a rotating roster of food trucks.

10 St Huberts Road, Coldstream; (03) 9739 0666; napoleone.com.au

(Clockwise from above left) Jayden Ong Winery & Cellar Bar; raw beef rump cap with beetroot, tarragon and potato at TarraWarra Estate; Four Pillars

STORY BY PETER BOURNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY CRAIG WALL

MALBEC

Do we grow the malbec grape here? Yes, malbec vines arrived in Australia in 1844 and they found their way to Argentina from France at about the same time. Now, Argentina has about 46,000 hectares of malbec and Australia less than 600. So it’s a minor grape in Australia? In quantity but it’s still important in blends and as a single varietal. Old-school reds were often shiraz malbec or cabernet malbec – Clare Valley cult winery Wendouree makes both. Key Margaret River winegrowers, such as Vasse Felix, Cullen, Woodlands and Higher Plane, think malbec adds richness and depth to their cabernets. Langhorne Creek in South Australia is the epicentre for malbec in this country and Wolf Blass champions the region and variety. Where does malbec grow in France? It’s the dominant grape in the south-west appellation of Cahors and has a supporting role to merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot in Bordeaux. How does it taste? Lush, plush and full-fruited, with dark plum, mulberry, blueberry and black fruits. It has bold skin tannins; chewy, chalky but rarely bitter. Newer oak has a role in top drops, while everyday malbecs are aged in older barrels. What food does it pair best with? Take the Argentineans’ lead and go for beef. Or follow the French, who pair Cahors reds with cassoulet. Is it expensive? $20 to $50 will get you local and Argentinean wines. Imports can head over $100, with the best single-vineyard bottlings from Catena Zapata costing more than $450 a bottle.

Mitolo Jester Malbec

Italian-born Frank Mitolo has the vision; star winemaker Ben Glaetzer has the skills. Their partnership yielded this modestly priced, generously flavoured malbec, with blueberry and boysenberry to the fore, plus licorice and cinnamon bark.

McLaren Vale, SA / 2019 / $27

Bleasdale Generations Malbec

The name is a reminder that Frank Potts planted his first vines in the 1850s, with his family still involved today. Mulberry abounds, with star anise and blackberry in support. The punchy flavours call for steak.

Langhorne Creek, SA / 2021 / $35

Château du Cèdre Cahors AOC

Brothers Pascal and Jean-Marc Verhaeghe take malbec seriously, with international acclaim for their efforts. Blackcurrant and dark plum aromas join clove and wild herbs. Graphite-like tannins frame the deep, savoury flavours.

Cahors, France / 2020 / $56

Catena Zapata Catena Alta Historic Rows Malbec

A benchmark Mendoza malbec (above) sourced from old vines planted between 920 and 1450 metres. Intense and dense, with concentrated blue and black fruits and a swathe of sinewy tannins on the finish.

Mendoza, Argentina / 2018 / $97

The cooler weather calls for this lush, full-fruited red.

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CENTRAL TABLELANDS, NSW

Carcoar might be a small town of just under 300 people but it has a big drawcard: Antica Australis restaurant. Its owners, Paolo and Kelly Picarazzi, share their picks in the village and beyond.

“We started in Orange but that was too big for Paolo. He was looking for a village,” says Kelly Picarazzi (right, with her husband), explaining how the duo decided on Carcoar in their search for the perfect place to open restaurant Antica Australis (anticacarcoar.com). The town, a 40-minute drive south of Orange and south-west of Bathurst, proved just right for their 24-seat diner. Paolo, who grew up in Italy’s Ciociaria region and emigrated to Australia 10 years ago, was keen to open a dining establishment like he’d find back home – a locanda, where dishes come with a backstory. “It feels like you’re in someone’s home,” says Kelly. And Paolo’s favourite thing to make? The millennia-old agnello alla Romana (lamb with anchovy sauce). “Once a year, the shepherds from Ciociaria would walk their flocks to Rome to sell at the markets and they’d meet the fishermen there,” explains Paolo. “We believe this dish was created from the two groups saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got some lamb, we’ve got some fish; let’s mix it together.’” When the duo aren’t stepping back in time, they’re exploring the region. Kelly shares their favourite haunts.

Royal Hotel Mandurama

For the burgers

“This is the first place we go to either before our weekend starts or at the end of it (royalhotel mandurama.com). Mandurama is the next village, five minutes up the road. It’s smaller than Carcoar but it has The Mando, a country pub with a beautiful beer garden. We go for the burgers – they use Black Angus beef straight from the farm. The quality blows you away.”

Mr Lim

For the chilli mud crab

“We love Mr. Lim (mrlimorange. com) in Orange, which does contemporary Korean cuisine; it makes us happy every time we go there. Because we’re cooking Italian food, when we go to Mr Lim we’re looking for something spicy. The chilli mud crab and duck breast pancakes are our top picks. Plus, it has a wine list supporting local vignerons.”

Matthew Atallah Wines

For a unique drop

“Matthew Atallah is a local vigneron but he doesn’t have his own vineyard and he doesn’t have a cellar door; you can buy his wine online (atallahwines.com.au). Matthew uses grapes from select parcels of land on a series of different vineyards in the Orange region, which is a really elegant concept. He only has chardonnay, rosé, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and syrah and his wines are top class.”

Jannei Goat Dairy

For the artisanal cheeses

“Okay, this is about two hours away in Lidsdale, between Bathurst and Lithgow (jannei. com). But the longer drive is

worth it. They’ve won many awards and have been running for nearly 20 years. And the cheese is out of this world but not punch-you-in-the-face goat-flavoured. We usually pair it with local honey or handmade fig jam.”

(Clockwise from opposite)

The Old Chronicle building in Carcoar; Hargans Cottage, Carcoar; the Royal Hotel Mandurama

Blayney Hi Grade Meats

For the steak and lamb

“We didn’t realise when we opened a restaurant how important your butcher is. And we’re so lucky to have one of the region’s leading butchers 15 minutes down the road (fb.com/blayneyhigrade meats). Cameron Cassel is the head butcher and owner and he sources directly from local farmers and hand-selects produce for us so everyone at Antica gets the best.”

Hargans Cottage

For a stay

“We’ve got an amazing homewares store in the village called Tomolly. The owner, Belinda Satterthwaite, is a pioneer – she came to Carcoar five years ago when there was very little else open. And she also created accommodation, Hargans Cottage (tomolly.com. au), which is for two. It’s elegant and thoughtful. Belinda is one of the best interior stylists in Australia.”

The clear road ahead

Presented by TAG Heuer

Swiss brand TAG Heuer is celebrating 60 years of the Carrera – a timepiece inspired by keeping the pedal to the metal.

Ryan Gosling in The Chase for Carrera

The short-lived Carrera Panamericana was a race that took place in the early 1950s and had a notorious reputation thanks to its exotic location and danger. The cars would hurtle down the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway from the northern to southern border over five days. While the race only ran for five years, it left a lasting impact. Stories of deathdefying speed and bravery captured the imagination of a young Jack Heuer, who, at 28 years old, had just taken the helm of what would become the famed watchmaker TAG Heuer.

Inspired by the Mexican rally, Heuer decided to make a timepiece for gentlemen racers called the Heuer Carrera. The watch was a chronograph: a timepiece with additional sub-dials on the face that measured the number of elapsed seconds, minutes and hours. Heuer’s version was designed so that drivers could check their lap times at a glance when travelling at high speeds and prioritised clarity through its minimalist design and baton markers.

The reference was an instant success in motoring circles, favoured by Formula One champions James Hunt and Niki Lauda. But its appeal wasn’t limited to revheads – the watch captured the design-conscious through its uncluttered dial, industrial-inspired pushers and utilitarian indexing. This was due to Heuer’s adoration of architects, including Oscar Niemeyer and Eero Saarinen, as well

as designers like Herman Miller. “Jack was obsessed with Mid-century Modern designers and brought some of those iconic style codes into watchmaking with the Carrera,” says Nicholas Biebuyck, TAG Heuer’s Heritage Director.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the Carrera hasn’t slowed down yet. In fact, it remains TAG Heuer’s biggest-selling watch range in Australia. “It’s a true design icon that’s really focused on absolute legibility,” says Biebuyck. “Its connection to motorsport is indelible; it’s the perfect distillation of a watch designed for racing.”

A forward-thinking ethos continues to inform the Carrera’s evolution. Over the years, the collection has introduced a number of developments, from skeletonised pieces, tourbillons and carbon hairsprings to recent experiments with lab-grown diamonds. “The timepiece has been a platform for innovation since the beginning of the collection.”

Now TAG Heuer is being championed by its new leading man, Ryan Gosling, who has recently starred in a short film, The Chase For Carrera, based on his character’s determination to escape from a film set with the watch on his wrist. The hi-octane action comedy honours the motoring legacy of TAG Heuer’s products and is further testament to how the Carrera continues to enjoy one hell of a ride.

Glass acts

In 2015, TAG Heuer unveiled a new style of domed sapphire crystal for the Carrera chronograph. The “glass box” case innovation was a tribute to the look and feel of the original 1960s Carreras. Predictably, collectors loved the glass box case for the way it reframed and enhanced the watch’s familiar details of the tachymeter with a palpable heritage vibe.

Now the glass box is back with two new limited-edition watches. The first is a blue number (pictured left) with the colour extending to both the circularly brushed dial and calfskin strap. The second features a sporty “reverse panda” dial with silver registers on a black background. Both cases are made of stainless-steel and compactly sized at 39mm in keeping with their retro spirit. Tachymeters come printed on the dials that are then sealed in the sapphire glass box that’s coated with double anti-reflective treatment for easy readability.

While the stylistic cues may be vintage, they’re housed in a modern package. Inside, the chronographs are powered by TAG Heuer’s in-house Calibre TH20-00, a highly durable movement with an 80-hour power reserve. The style may be of a vintage sports car but there’s a supercar engine humming underneath.

To find out more, visit tagheuer.com

The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph “Glassbox” 39mm, $9350

RIVERS OF THE WORLD CRUISE 2024

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Experience this once-in-a-lifetime world cruise, with unparalleled, all-inclusive luxury onboard four Uniworld river ships and spectacular land tours over 55 days, staying at some of the world’s finest hotels, culminating with a Grand Finale at Ho Chi Minh City’s breathtaking skyline.

This is a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with iconic destinations such as Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls, Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, historic wineries in Provence, private classical music concerts in Vienna, Halong Bay and Angkor Wat in Cambodia - all in one trip - and everything is taken care of in a small group of only 68 guests.

• Exquisite five-star cuisine & unlimited premium beverages

• Carefully curated excursions & exclusive private experiences

• Dedicated Travelling Concierge for your entire journey

• All internal flights, porterage and transfers throughout

EPIC STAYS

Wander on Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Paris

[STORY BY] Hannah-Rose Yee

01 Paris is a very sexy city but even the most laissez-faire of Parisiennes might clutch a pearl or two upon entering Château Voltaire (chateauvoltaire.com).

The intimate 31-room and one-apartment hotel – owned by fashion maverick Thierry Gillier of Zadig & Voltaire fame – is a fabulous den of iniquity in the chic and central 1st arrondissement. It was made for misbehaving, from the seductive little onyx-wood-panelled bar La Coquille d’Or (open into the early hours) down to its sensuous cream-stone indoor pool and sauna (where guests can reserve an hour just for themselves).

Room 53 isn’t the property’s largest offering – that would be the Voltaire Suite (right), with its rooftop terrace and a Picasso on the wall – but it has its own unique charm: accessed by a separate flight of stairs from the fifth floor, the space sits

snugly beneath the rafters and has an enticing view of the city’s rooftops.

The design by art director Franck Durand and interior architects Festen is pure decadent elegance. Durand is best known for his work with quintessentially French label Isabel Marant, among other brands. Château Voltaire is his first hotel and it shows, given the property feels more like a stylishly appointed pied-à-terre. It’s the kind of place where you’d spy a supermodel late in the evening, having one last drink in the bar before skipping off to bed.

And oh, the beds! They’re like a river of the softest ivory cotton and big enough for three in the more generous guestrooms. But really, you only need one alluring partner for the night: a room service delivery of chocolate mousse. It comes fresh from the hotel’s restaurant, Brasserie l’Emil, in a glass bowl the size of a soup tureen, ready for an indulgent evening under the covers.

Château Voltaire

02 In a city like New York there’s always another level of exclusivity. But Aman New York (hotel.qantas.com.au/aman newyork), the newest hotel by the iconic resort brand, is like the VIP room off the VIP room. With facilities so rarefied that non-guests pay a club membership fee of US$200,000 (with ongoing annual costs) for the privilege of accessing them, this is the equivalent of a palace on the moon.

Located on Fifth Avenue at 57th Street (also known as Billionaires’ Row), Aman

occupies most of the historic Crown Building, so named because its copperand-gold roof looks like something a royal might wear. The property is billed as an urban retreat, which feels appropriate; once you enter the lobby it’s easy to forget you’re in the middle of Manhattan.

The 83 sumptuous suites are cocoons of marble and bronze, complete with ricepaper and ink murals (above) modelled on Pine Trees (Shōrin-zu byōbu) by Hasegawa Tōhaku. The three-storey Aman Spa comes equipped with its own Harvardtrained physician, not to mention the cryotherapy chambers that dip to -110°C.

Two on-site restaurants – Arva, offering classic Italian fare, and Nama for Japanese – are exclusive to guests and Aman Club members and obviate the need to leave the premises for a world-class meal. There’s even Volzhenka caviar through room service at US$3700 for 500 grams.

If you do leave the hotel, perhaps to go jogging in Central Park two blocks to the north, the staff will notice and prepare for your return, tidying your room or placing a bottle of water where you’ll see it. This is the real luxury of a place like Aman New York: unfailing attention to detail, your every need and desire anticipated.

[STORY BY] Lance Richardson

United Kingdom

Heckfield Place

[STORY BY] Alexandra Carlton

03 Can nature restore you? At Heckfield Place (heckfieldplace. com) in Hampshire, 75 kilometres south-west of London and a 40-minute drive from Heathrow Airport, there’s a good chance it will. Every detail in this restored 18th-century English manor home is designed to weave you seamlessly into the countryside, from the tumbles of tulips and poppies gathered on each table to the delicate fern imprints pressed into the limestone surfaces in the brand-new Bothy wellness space.

Most days you’ll find yourself drawn outside for a brisk walk or a wander in one of the manicured walled flower gardens or untamed woodlands – the work of the exquisitely named 19thcentury horticulturalist William Walker Wildsmith. After wrestling out of your wellies, sink into a plush sofa for a warming bowl of chef Skye Gyngell’s spinach and crème fraîche soup that tastes like a garden distilled to its purest form.

A massage at the Bothy will begin not with the usual spa snack of sliced fruits but the offer to nibble on a nasturtium leaf picked straight from a seedling and will likely end with a sauna infused with clouds of essential oils. Before bed, a hedgerow digestif distilled from brambles makes for easy sleep in one of the 45 spacious, well-appointed guestrooms. Filled with flowers, books, curios and natural light, each space is delightfully, classically English (without a trace of stuffiness).

“There’s a polished wildness to Heckfield Place that makes it totally unique,” says one regular guest, who seems to have found the answer to how restorative nature can be here. “Once a year, when I’m close to exhaustion I take myself off to sit, to watch and to swim in the lake.”

Helen Cathcart

04 Chef Michael Greenlaw, an avid free diver and spearfisher, points into the distance. From here, 80 storeys up, it’s easy to spot his hunting haunts of Port Phillip Bay, Brighton and St Kilda. From one cove, it’s abalone. See that pylon? Past it, there’s grass whiting and wakame seaweed. It’s this view that greets guests in the lobby of The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne (hotel. qantas.com.au/theritzcarltonmelbourne) and its sky-high restaurant, Atria, which Greenlaw now oversees as executive chef. Thanks to the opening flurry (the first guests were welcomed in March), his

contact with the local spoils has been relegated to the refined, seafood-focused fare he prepares at work. “I haven’t had much time for hobbies,” he says, laughing.

Towering over the CBD’s western end, the hotel brand’s newest outpost redefines luxury. There’s a cold-therapy ice fountain endlessly spitting icicles next to the sauna. There’s a sandstone-wrapped spa that uses rose otto essential oil in treatments. Amid this grandeur, it’s the approachable and genuine staff that keep the towering 257-room property grounded (no mean feat for the tallest hotel in Australia).

At Atria (above), there’s discussion of the eatery’s heart. Surely it’s the communal Victorian ash dining bar perched over the

incredible view. Or the wine list, sourced from regions that can be glimpsed from the windows. But for manager Gianmarco Turini, the restaurant’s heartbeat changes at every service: “It’s the guest.”

There are rumblings about “The RitzCarlton Rule” – a policy that allows staff to assist guests up to the value of $2000 without managerial approval if a situation demands. Rumours of replaced teddy bears for distraught toddlers and thoughtful gifts for special occasions are rife. “It’s true,” confirms bell boy George on the rocket-launch trip 280 metres up to the Sky Lobby, although out of discretion he doesn’t discuss dollar amounts. You can’t put a price on vistas like this, after all.

The Ritz-Carlton

[STORY BY] Bridget de Maine

Mexico

Paradero Todos Santos

[STORY BY] Brittany Henderson

05 In Baja California Sur’s cactusstudded desert, down a dusty road flanked by fields of poblano chillies and fragrant basil and framed by the rugged Sierra de la Laguna mountains, Paradero Todos Santos (paraderohotels.com) is a hidden oasis.

Nestled within a 65-hectare farming community an hour north of Cabo San Lucas, behind a lush grove of 5000 palm trees, it’s no accident that this adults-only retreat blends into the sunbaked landscape. Constructed from rough-hewn concrete, a series of Brutalist-inspired structures centres around a sprawling botanical

amphitheatre where hummingbirds dart between prickly pear, Mojave yucca and hibiscus. Rows of herbs supply the on-site restaurant and the Ojo De Agua (waterhole) Spa draws on Mayan healing traditions. (The temazcal sweat lodge ceremony, led by a local shaman, is the real deal.)

Cast in sandy shades, the 41 luxuriously minimalist suites – some with private gardens and soaking tubs, others with a panoramic rooftop and two-person “star net” hammock for constellation spotting – encourage laid-back introspection and outdoor exploration.

From here, it’s up to you. Learn to surf at near-deserted Las Palmas Beach. See a blue whale up close aboard Paradero’s

sleek 46-foot catamaran. Take a taco tour of arty town Todos Santos, 10 minutes down the road. Lounge on the half-moonshaped pool terrace sipping a Negroni Mezcale. There are also daily guided hikes, bike rides, yoga and sustainable farming lessons included in your stay.

Come dusk, head to the bar encircling the open-air kitchen to chat with chef Eduardo Ríos’ team as they prepare justcaught yellowtail ceviche, bone marrow tamales and juicy wood-fired shrimp served with hand-pressed tortillas warmed in a traditional Oaxacan clay oven. If it’s just the two of you, choose a table beneath the stars to hear waves crashing in the distance and watch the moon rise high above the craggy mountain peaks.

Rafael Gamo

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay

It’s only mildly hyperbolic to say that Kaua’i, a 25-minute flight from Honolulu, is one of the most exquisite places on earth. And Hanalei Bay on the island’s North Shore, undiluted with such concerns as traffic lights and chain stores, is the setting for the 1 Hotels group’s latest and greenest outpost (hotel.qantas. com.au/1hotelhanaleibay).

According to the group’s founder, Barry Sternlicht, “nature is the CEO” of this resort. One look at the cliff-lined coast, forested mountains and jade-coloured taro fields and it’s not hard to see why.

1 Hotels’ raison d’etre is the melding of luxury and sustainability. Here in Hanalei Bay, the low-impact structures with green roofs that provide produce to the resort’s restaurants are surrounded by hibiscus and gardenia. Total carbon-neutral status is imminent. Across the 252 guestrooms, including the 51 suites, the Hawaiian environment is expressed in the use of tactile local materials: walls lined with lava stone, black basalt floors and hand-woven fibre ceilings. Our pick? The Napali House Suite, with its private terrace where glittering ocean and velvety mountains form the backdrop.

This isn’t just a luxe retreat. It has serious facilities such as the Bamford Wellness Spa

with cryotherapy chamber, plus a fitness studio serving up barre and Acroyoga, and a beachfront jungle gym. There’s also the Within collection of rooms and suites, which have in-room features such as sleep enrichment lighting, vitamin C showers and temperature-controlled mattresses. Mix your high-tech wellness with some low-fi kayaking, scenic hikes and surfing. Napping, reading and sipping cocktails in a poolside cabana are also encouraged. The town of Hanalei remains satisfyingly sleepy so be sure to grab a shave ice and wander at leisure. But however you spend your time here, it’s conceivable to check in at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay as one person and depart another.

[STORY BY] Alex Greig

Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi

07 The views hit you as soon as you walk into reception at Tokyo’s newest Four Seasons hotel (hotel.qantas. com.au/fourseasonsotemachitokyo) because even the lobby is in the sky – on the 39th floor to be exact. In fact, the whole of this serene 190-room property sits on high, taking up floors 34 to 38 of a skyscraper in the central finance district of Otemachi. And that means panoramas from every window of the Tokyo Skytree, the Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace and even, 100 kilometres away to the southwest, Mt Fuji.

But turn your gaze inwards and there’s just as much to see within its walls. The top floor is home to Virtù (above), a brooding, clubby Parisian-style bar serving cocktails that shapeshift with the seasons – Kyoho grapes might feature one month, apples the next. It’s also where you’ll find the 20-metre heated lap pool, spa and Japanese hot baths.

On the same level is Est, the hotel’s Michelin-starred French/Japanese restaurant helmed by chef Guillaume Bracaval, whose MO is showcasing the pick of the country’s regional producers. At The Lounge, a talented team of pastry chefs create intricate delicacies that are served as part of an afternoon tea,

drawing sweet tooths from all over the city, and there’s live music seven nights a week.

Take the lift all the way to the ground and you’re footsteps away from Otemachi Station, one of the city’s busiest, which puts all of Tokyo within easy reach. Or make your way over to the Imperial Palace gardens, a favourite walking and jogging spot for locals, which blush pink with sakura in spring.

Later, return to the soft tones of your room or suite, accented with discreet Japanese touches such as delicate foliage in ceramic vases, draw a bath and drift off while the metropolis rushes beneath. Those views will still be there tomorrow.

[STORY BY] Alexandra Carlton

08 Australia’s third-largest island isn’t shy about revealing its charms. The 40-minute drive from Kingscote airport to Wander (wander.com.au) sweeps past Kangaroo Island’s lush farmland, dense bush and turquoise waters that shimmer in the sun. But a stay here is an invitation to peek beneath the glittering veil.

A half-hour walk leads to a 120-year-old fig tree that transforms into a restaurant when its canopy fills out each summer. The chefs at the whimsically named

Enchanted Fig Tree translate the landscape into a hyperlocal feast where ravioli is stuffed with prawn and topped with lemon myrtle pangrattato and the island’s sweet bounty becomes gently spiced scorched fig and honey liqueur. A little further along the coast at Stokes Bay Beach, a hidden path leads through a field of fallen boulders to a serene cove with a sheltered rock pool.

Or you can simply sink into the freestanding black stone bathtub outside each of Wander’s four hilltop pods and listen to the crashing waves. They serve as both a soothing backdrop and constant

enticement to swim at a beach bounded by red-stained rock and broad fields that tumble down to the coast.

Inside, the sleek, minimalist fit-out puts emphasis on the natural surroundings, while broad windows mean you don’t need to get out of bed to appreciate them. Watch pastel tones dance across a dawn sky the colour of a ballerina’s slipper and train your gaze to see the hazy outline of Yorke Peninsula on the horizon. It’s a gentle reminder that the outside world remains close enough for convenience, yet far enough away so as not to disturb this singular retreat.

[STORY BY] Alexis Buxton-Collins

Palihouse West Hollywood

[STORY BY] Tanvi Chheda

09 The kind of place where Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg would have canoodled in a dimly lit corner, the reincarnated Palihouse West Hollywood (hotel.qantas.com.au/palihousewest hollywood) is a mood. Vintage wallpaper and hunter-green latticework adorn walls; hexagon and checkerboard floor tiles run in tessellations; wicker scallop lamps and canine statues perch on shelves and tables; and sparkling rosé arrives in a coupe glass. Design-obsessed Palisociety founder Avi Brosh (who operates 14 properties,

with more on the way) may well have had Birkin and Gainsbourg in mind, as even the street-facing outdoor patio, complete with striped umbrellas and rattan chairs, feels like a French bistro. And yes, steak frites and salad Niçoise are on the menu. But make no mistake, this is very much an LA address. The 95-room property sits on West 3rd Street, a walkable stretch lined with boutiques and restaurants such as Son of a Gun, Joan’s on Third and Winston Pies. The Los Angeles Museum of Art (lacma.org) is also nearby for that requisite photo with Chris Burden’s installation of 202 antique lampposts. Or hike and explore in 65-hectare Runyon

Canyon Park, where celebrities are known to walk their fur babies.

Return to nurse the grapefruit-infused Gin & Jaune at the hotel’s curved bar while a curated playlist of indie music and French-Afro beats plays in the background. If specialty sake and sushi sound more appealing, head to 55-seat Mezzanine Sushi, which occupies the property’s upper floor.

Retire to your room to find pendant chandeliers, velvet corduroy bed frames and lounge chairs, framed photos and a retro-style Smeg minibar. All that’s left to do is cue Gainsbourg and Birkin’s Je T’aime Moi Non Plus on Spotify.

Turks and Caicos Islands

COMO Parrot Cay

[STORY BY] Alexandra Carlton

10 Every surface is tinted with soft and soothing white-and-wood tones that cut a mesmerising contrast next to the paint-splash blues of the Caribbean Sea. You awake to the wind whispering through gauzy drapes, sink into comfy furnishings and marshmallow-white sand and hear almost nothing except birdsong and the sea lapping gently over the edges of the reef, about two kilometres from the shoreline. An exceptional resort should make you feel special from the moment you arrive. COMO Parrot Cay (hotel.qantas. com.au/comoparrotcay), which occupies

400 hectares of a private island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a two-hour flight south-east of Miami, has special in spades.

The property was built as one of COMO’s first wellness-focused retreats, which means the cuisine is light but luxurious, with regular global tasting nights that reference flavours from other COMO locations, such as Bhutan, the Maldives, Bali and beyond. The Shambhala spa and low-key fitness activities, including yoga, Pilates, Qi Gong and Tai Chi, are complimentary. The spa’s treatment pavilions face waterways so a massage or acupuncture session soothes your mind as much as your body. The water is even more rejuvenating when you’re

snorkelling, diving or out on the resort’s watercraft. “Our kayaking excursion is so serene and peaceful, with large egrets flying or taking rest and turtles swimming in the water below,” says COMO’s Jessica Sarkin.

Guests can choose to stay in individual rooms and suites or standalone beach houses for families and groups, all of which are absolute beachfront. Several are privately owned by celebrities, including Donna Karan and Keith Richards. But the attention to detail and personalised service – every home with more than two bedrooms comes with a butler in attendance – means that anyone feels like a celebrity here.

11 This sprawling 3.5-hectare property (linnaeuscollection.com), just outside Berry village, might only be two hours south of Sydney but it feels a little like going back in time. This isn’t a slight on the five minimalist-style bedrooms in the Scandi-influenced two-storey home or the two kitchens (one on each floor).

But if you rise before, say, 7am and wander across the dew-damp grass, past the pear trees hemmed in by jasmine, you might fancy yourself in some 19thcentury pastoral retreat. Especially when

a thick morning mist rolls in over Berry Mountain, sliced through by sun rays, and blankets the two lakes where a family of ducks live.

Among all this unrestrained nature it’s hard to believe the property was only renovated in 2020, the first of a number of projects owner Peter Yannopoulos has built in the Shoalhaven area. This one was named for Carl Linnaeus, the 18th-century Swedish botanist famed for creating a system of naming plants and animals.

And though you may be tempted to role-play a scene from Pride and Prejudice by enjoying a game of bocce or wandering in the orchard, by the afternoon, the smell

of sausages sizzling on the barbecue and a kookaburra circling above the secondstorey veranda is enough to remind you that you’re in present-day Australia.

Tiptoe out to the glass-and-timber tiny house in the middle of the lake for a moment of meditation or spend some restorative time in the sauna, inside the barn that’s big enough to also play pingpong. From the pool you can see bees working their magic in the flowering shrubs nearby, while keeping an eye on the kids in the treehouse. Or watch in hushed delight as one of a dozen monarch butterflies come to rest on your hand. Linnaeus himself would no doubt approve.

Linnaeus Farm

[STORY BY] Natalie Reilly

Hong Kong

The St. Regis

[STORY BY] Hannah-Rose Yee

12 “You just missed the sabring!” says Angel on the front desk at The St. Regis Hong Kong (marriott.com), her face crestfallen. Every afternoon at 5.30pm in The Great Room – that’s St. Regis-speak for “the lobby” – a bottle of bubbles is cut open with a Christofle sabre. Later, the champagne will find its way into a Canto Mary, the hotel’s riff on the classic Bloody Mary, spiked with Chinese five-spice. The St. Regis knows how to put on a show.

There’s a sense of ceremony here and as one of the city’s newest hotels – its 129 rooms and suites opened in Wan Chai in April 2019 – it has a bright, shiny quality, too. As if the pristine rooftop pool has never been swum in and the enormous leather beds never slept in. The understated, chic rooms, outfitted in shades of slategrey and chocolate-brown, are apartmentsized by Hong Kong standards and the best are on the corners of the building. A press of a button and the blinds open to reveal near-surround views: from one window, Hong Kong Harbour, and from another, a peek through the city.

Bolstering all this quiet elegance is impeccable service. A personal butler is only a phone call away. If you think you might miss your lunch reservation at Rùn, the hotel’s one-Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, staff will offer to open the doors early for you.

There, you’ll dine on the signature juicy barbecued Iberico pork – impossibly soft and sweet – and a selection of prawn, beef and lobster dumplings, while Kezia Chan, the restaurant’s manager and tea master, pours cup after cup of chrysanthemum tea. No sabre required but no less memorable.

Michael Weber

Pipinui Point

13 Steam rises from the deep bathtub that’s surrounded by native bush and set atop a cliff. The blue waters of the Cook Strait lap at the shore 250 metres below. And apart from the chirping birds and rustling of leaves in the wind, the waves are the only sound you can hear.

At Pipinui Point (pipinuipoint.co.nz), half an hour north of Wellington (or just six minutes by helicopter from the city’s waterfront), fluffy white sheep dot the grassy hills, while wind turbines spin in the distance, providing the retreat’s power.

Though located in the bush, it’s a far cry from roughing it. There’s a wood stove in the light-filled lounge, a TV and wi-fi. You can fill that outside tub with the flick of a button behind the TV. Each of the two bedrooms has a king bed piled with pillows and warm blankets. Down the timber-walled hall is the bathroom, with a large window looking out across the sea to the mountainous South Island. In the evening the sun sinking behind the peaks makes the water look like melted gold. Co-owner Tom Eastwick says dolphins and whales often play in the strait, too. Eastwick’s goal for guests staying here is decompression. Visitors can cook

in the fully stocked kitchen but to truly unwind, why not go for a dinner of Wakanui beef with potato, baby carrot, onion soubise and hazelnut crumb, preprepared by chef Warren Maddox. The meal feels even more special eaten on the large outdoor deck that looks down over the strait, a steady breeze keeping things cool.

There are other ways to relax. Guests staying two nights or more can book activities including a farm tour, clay pigeon shooting and driving around a racetrack on the property in a MercedesAMG A45 S.

Or you could just soak in the tub.

[STORY BY] Ben Mack

Spoil your pal

Spend the night at a five-star hotel or zen out at a day spa. The guest of honour? Your four-legged friend. These are the best experiences to enjoy with your pet, right around the country.

Experience luxury living with your furry friend on your next staycation thanks to Petstock. To enter, visit qantas.com/petstaycation and tell us in 25 words or less how you like to spoil your pet, for your chance to win one of six stays.

T&Cs apply.*

Go on a puppy pub crawl

Take your pooch and join other paw parents for a stroll through a revolving itinerary of watering holes across Melbourne’s inner city. While you sip local brews, the pups will get their own tasty treats, such as peanut butter-bacon “Martinis” or “Barkaritas” (don’t worry, they’re alcohol-free, of course) and doggie arepas or tacos at each stop. Visit puppypubcrawl.com.au to find out more.

Feel like royalty at a five-star hotel

Treat your pet to the ultimate staycation at The Langham, Melbourne (hotel.qantas.com.au/langhammelbourne), where they’ll sleep in a velvet pet bed decorated in The Langham’s signature pink. While you enjoy daily breakfast in bed, they’ll be served freshly cooked meals from the “pets’ private dining menu”, with highlights including beef fillet and vegetables mixed with braised barley. Naturally, it’s served to them in a silver dog bowl.

Presented by Petstock and Qantas Frequent Flyer

See the city in style

Sydney’s glistening harbour will be on your doorstep when you and your pet book a V.I.Pooch stay at Ovolo Woolloomooloo (hotel.qantas.com.au/ovolowoolloomooloo).

Head off together on a morning walk visiting the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge before returning to your luxe suite. Your pup will have a speciality eating and drinking mat and food bowl set-up inside the room as well as a comfy bed and a doggy bag filled with toys and treats. For more pet-friendly stays, visit qantas.com/hotelpetstays

LOVE YOUR PETS, LOVE YOUR POINTS

Care for your furry, feathered and finned friends and watch your Qantas Points grow when you shop in-store or online with Petstock.

To get started, join Petstock Rewards and choose Qantas Points as your reward preference. You will earn 1 Qantas Point per $1 spent on everyday pet supplies and services and 5 bonus Qantas Points per $1 spent on repeat purchases of participating brands.

Recharge at a spa retreat

Escape to the forest for a weekend of wellness when you stay in the Pet Suite at Western Australia’s Yallingup Lodge & Spa Retreat (yallinguplodge.com.au).

Bliss out with a 60-minute crystal massage at the onsite Om Day Spa while your pup explores the surrounding three hectares of bushland or soaks in a jacuzzi (yes, really) with their pet sitter.

In the morning, head to the treetop balcony to enjoy a breakfast filled with seasonal South-West produce and your furry friend will be served a pet-friendly treat. If you can drag yourself away, visit neighbouring pet-friendly Marq Wines (marqwines.com.au) for charcuterie boards, rare varietals (try the white Gros Manseng) and doggie bandanas.

To get started, join Petstock Rewards and choose to earn Qantas Points. Visit qantas.com/petstock today.

The Hoxton, Poblenou

14 “Spaniards don’t usually hang out in hotels,” explains receptionist Alba Lopez. “But when we opened the rooftop, we had lines out the door.”

The Hoxton, Poblenou (hotel.qantas. com.au/thehoxtonpoblenou) in Barcelona offers the same attractive prospect to both visitors and locals: a very cool place to pass some time. Inspired by the work of Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, a champion of colour and geometric forms, this 240room property is practically a Postmodern Revivalist shrine to his flamboyance. It’s a clash of vintage furniture, with clusters

of locally sourced art hanging ever-soslightly off-centre over bulbous couches. The palette is a mix of muted salmon, softened seafoam and subdued orange, as though everything has been left in the sun a little too long. In a decorative tip-ofthe-hat to the host city, concrete, terracotta and glazed ceramic tiles are a celebration of traditional construction materials.

Forget stuffy lobbies, overly formal welcomes and the idea that every little extra should cost triple what it does down the road. Here, 15 minutes east of the Gothic Quarter by metro, the friendly staff wear olive-coloured sweatshirts, crack open an eco-friendly can of water to toast your arrival and greet everyone with ‘Hola!’

There’s a “bodega” on the ground floor next to deep-dish pizza joint Four Corners, where you can buy (non-extortionate) bottles of lo-fi wine and tinned sardines to snack on in your room. Or pinch some of the free postcards in the lobby that are designed to guide you to nearby coffee roasteries and furniture stores. Hovering above it all is the incredible Tope, a rooftop bar and Mexican eatery with plunge pool and 360-degree views of the city. These public spaces welcome both guests and passers-by; this way, the city and the hotel merge seamlessly.

“I never ask, ‘Are you a guest?’” Lopez says of visitors. “I just put a water in front of them and that’s it.”

[STORY BY] Bridget de Maine

Sea Breeze III

15 If you’re wandering around the deck of the Sea Breeze III, the 105-foot luxury offering from Boutique Superyachts (boutiquesuperyachts.com.nz), there’s one thing to look out for: rare Hector’s dolphins – the world’s smallest, found only in New Zealand – with their black facial markings, curved dorsal fin and short, stocky bodies. “There are secret locations where we know we can see them,” says Charlotte Devereux, who co-owns the yacht.

Berthed in Auckland’s vibrant Viaduct Harbour, the five-level, three-bedroom vessel sleeps six guests and five crew and

recently had an extensive refurbishment. “It was meant to be a six-month refit but it turned into two years thanks to COVID. We took this 1976 boat with beautiful bones and classic lines and went for a MidCentury Modern aesthetic.”

The interiors put a 1970s spin on the Hollywood Regency style. Key to the revamp was reviving much of the original furniture, such as a smoky-pink onyx coffee table and gold tree-trunk side tables. New additions include Matouk bedlinen, carpets made from recycled fishing nets and amenities by local family-owned bodycare brand Matakana Botanicals.

“We’re very much about the New Zealand experience,” says Devereux. “Our

chef works with local produce – a favourite is Te Matuku oysters from Waiheke Island.”

The chef also leads foraging tours and guests can fish for snapper or sip chardonnay by the bay at Man O’ War winery on Waiheke. “There are many lessvisited places we can go within a threehour radius of Auckland, from the Bay of Islands to Great Barrier Island, where we do a beautiful walk to a natural hot spring.”

Devereux recommends the wellbeing experience. In addition to treatments in the on-board spa, guests visit Ponui Island. “We take a short hike up a cliff, through a forest to a clearing with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. Then we do a yoga or meditation session there. It’s magic.”

[STORY BY] Rachel Lees

Singapore

16 An Olympic-level synchronised swimmer, a reformed Triad gangster with tattoos from head to toe and a retired C-suite executive. If the team at Mondrian Singapore Duxton (hotel.qantas.com.au/ mondriansingapore) looks different to staff at other hotels, it’s because they are. “There are lots of hotels in Singapore but they’re relatively conservative. We bring a new energy,” says general manager Robert C. Hauck. “As with most Mondrians, our hotel sits in a vibrant cultural area.”

The 302-room property is located in Duxton Hill, a former nutmeg plantation

now known for its eclectic nightlife, where Michelin-starred restaurants coexist with Scandinavian-Asian hot dog joints.

The property also embraces the area’s heritage architecture. Los Angeles-based designers Studio Carter reimagined a row of shophouses to create luxurious suites.

“Rather than a direct translation of the classic shophouse, we deconstructed it into contemporary forms,” says founder Robbyn Carter. Arched doors and windows and slimline shutters nod to the past, while blonde wood and cream-coloured curtains provide a neutral backdrop for black marble tables and metallic in-room bars.

The reinvention doesn’t end there. “We are a hotel with no lobby,” says Hauck.

A tiny check-in station is on the third floor so when you arrive, you’re drawn into Christina’s – coffee shop by day, wine and cocktail bar at night – on the ground floor. It’s one of four bars and restaurants; the flagship is Bottega Di Carna, a Tuscan-style eatery led by Italian chef Dario Cecchine, who critics call the world’s best butcher.

But we’ve barely scratched the surface. There’s the 1970s-Hollywood-inspired rooftop pool and the Jungle Ballroom, a tropical cocktail bar accessed via a secret tunnel. And then there’s the diverse art collection of local and international artists, such as US installation gurus SOFTlab. “Hotels became a little boring,” says Hauck. “We want to bring the pleasure back.”

Mondrian Singapore Duxton

[STORY BY] Rachel Lees

Let there be light

Blinds you can walk through? This new innovation in window treatments ditches the cords for a softer interior.

Trends in window furnishings may come and go but the popularity of floor-to-ceiling sheer curtains shows no sign of losing momentum. They soften a space, add texture and movement as well as diffuse and filter natural light while providing a level of privacy. The end result elevates a room.

But as enduringly popular as they are, there’s still one problem with sheers. “Everyone loves the softness and style of sheer curtains but they are always open or closed,” says Gavin Taylor, Veri Shades’ national sales and marketing manager. “Veri Shades allows you to have the best of both, plus more control over how much light is let into a room.”

This innovative product is designed specifically “for Australian homes and the people who live in them, combining the elegant flowing appearance of sheer curtains with the versatility and control of blinds”.

Particularly suited to oversized windows and sliding or bi-fold doors, these next-gen clever sheers – which feature curved fabric vanes

(pieces of curtain) – add height and a touch of drama to a space.

“With a range of subtly different fabrics to choose from, plus a variety of neutral colours selected by our interior design specialists, there are myriad ways you can personalise your space.”

But Veri Shades don’t just look good. Made from easy-care fabric with an ultraviolet protection factor of 50+, they can be steamed clean while the curved folds hang without weights. And free from noisy connecting chains and cords (also adding an extra level of child safety), they quietly and softly settle back into position after being moved.

They also use a space-saving single track, which comes in a choice of profiles, including decorative, cube and standard options, as well as a motorised version. “We’ve introduced our new Veri Shades S Range, which still has all of our signature functionality and versatility but has a smaller profile for each fold, creating a minimalist S Fold finish.”

Veri versatile

Veri Shades® are an innovative concept in window furnishings, combining the elegant softness of sheer curtains with the versatility of blinds.

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Seamless indoor/outdoor living, with the ability to walk through the individual, translucent fabric vanes at any point.

Clever sheers that can be fully opened or closed by turning a wand for privacy and light blocking or to allow more light to enter.

A cohesive interior look by co-ordinating the track shape and finish with a range of subtly different fabrics and neutral colours.

To find out more about Veri Shades®, visit verishades.com

Presented by Veri Shades®

South Africa

Grootbos [STORY BY] Kirsten Galliott

17 There are two words you’ll need to get your tongue around if you want to make the most of your time on the west coast of South Africa. The first is Grootbos, the name of the luxury retreat you should stay at (grootbos.com). In Afrikaans, groot means big, while bos means bush thicket. The second? Fynbos (fine). “This is one of the six floral kingdoms in the world and the only one that’s contained in one country,” says guide Marna Kritzinger. “It’s also one of the most diverse.”

When amateur botanist Michael Lutzeyer and his family bought the property – just over two hours south of Cape Town – in 1991, he dreamed of creating a green corridor and his 3500hectare conservancy is now home to honey badgers and porcupines, cape leopards and mongoose. But it’s the flora that truly sets this land apart.

You experience the magic of this ecoenvironment on a two-hour flower safari and you don’t have to be a horticulturist to appreciate hurtling along dirt tracks in the shadow of the 400-million-year-old Cape Fold mountain range, learning about sour-fig succulents that act as fire blankets for tortoises or native geraniums with bright purple “nectar guides” that show honey bees where to land.

For a little more fauna with your flora, Grootbos has 20 horses in its stables and offers complimentary rides. In the right conditions, a marine tour in Walker Bay promises the chance to see the Big Five – dolphins, African penguins, Cape fur seals, the great white shark and the real star of this region, the Southern right whale.

There are creatures and then there are creature comforts (Grootbos is five-star all the way). Every meal is included and the eggs that accompany your pork-belly bacon and the Fynbos single-blossom honey in your ice-cream support local farmers. You’ll return to your private suite – one of 27, plus two private lodges on the property – to astonishing views of Walker Bay and the ripple of the bush. Fine indeed.

Bedarra Island Resort

18 Your time at Bedarra Island Resort (bedarra.com.au) – an adults-only sanctuary amid 45 hectares of rainforest on Bedarra Island in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – might begin with tropical fruit and breakfast nasi goreng overlooking a 300-year-old Calophyllum tree on the sun-dappled terrace. Later, you might find yourself on a stand-up paddleboard on the crystalline waters of Hernandia Bay, where visibility is so good you won’t need a snorkel to spot manta rays.

“We based the whole concept on our version of the perfect holiday,” says

Kerri-Ann Charlton, who with her husband, Sam, purchased the secluded resort, which is two hours south of Cairns and accessible only by boat or helicopter, 12 years ago.

“As soon as guests arrive, we escort them to lunch, a welcome Pimms in hand,” she says. “Their shoulders drop, their faces soften and we just look at each other and grin, knowing that Bedarra is working its spell.”

There are 12 bespoke villas, all with unique features, across the coconut palmdotted island. Some have private plunge pools and outdoor showers; others house floor-to-ceiling windows with custommade “floating” beds that appear to hover

over the floor. While there’s no wrong villa, Sam says that The Point, with its split-level design and views of the Coral Sea, “still takes my breath away every time”.

An afternoon tree-gazing on your private deck or exploring the island’s many hiking trails are sure to enchant but Sam’s tip is to take a motorised dinghy on a self-guided adventure out to one of the nearby deserted islands. Staff will pack a picnic hamper overflowing with local prawns, fresh ham off the bone and a bottle or two of excellent champagne.

“We’ll send you off with a cabana, an esky and a map and you can spend the day in complete seclusion. Just make sure you’re back for cocktail hour at 6pm.”

James Vodicka

[STORY BY] Bek Day

Rome

Ready, set, go!

Stay at an artfully hip hotel

Find cool refuge from Rome’s bustling streets when you step into the light-filled lobby of the W Hotel (hotel.qantas.com.au/wrome), just a 10-minute walk to the Spanish Steps and 15 minutes to the Trevi Fountain. Spanning two adjacent 19th-century palazzos on Via Liguria and designed by boutique firm Meyer Davis, the property opened in late 2021 with 147 rooms and 15 suites, each featuring espresso makers (this is Italy after all). An eclectic mix of jewel-toned furniture and striking artwork sets the W tone with a mural by Costanza Alvarez de Castro in reception sure to catch your eye. Nab a cabana at rooftop eatery Seu Pizza Con Vista and with a cocktail in hand, let the sunset work its magic.

Sample fine Italian fare with a star

Since opening last year, Prati-based Pulejo (pulejo.it) has already earned a Michelin star, thanks to the work of chef Davide Puleio, formerly of Noma in Copenhagen and L’Alchimia in Milan. Expect dishes that range from the classics, such as ravioli with tomato and roasted red pepper with parmesan, capers and oregano, to the more edgy – grilled eel with apple and watercress oil, for instance. Pack your appetite for the five- or seven-course dégustation and savour each bite.

Get stuck into perfect pasta like a pro

Book in for Handmade Pasta With Grandma (airbnb.com.au) and Nonna Nerina (or a substitute nonna if Nerina is unavailable for the day), aided by her granddaughter, Chiara, will guide you through traditional methods to produce ravioli, fettuccine and farfalle in her kitchen, located in their family’s old winepress. Their village, Palombara Sabina, is just under an hour’s drive north-east from Rome but more than worth it for the carb overload and sense of satisfaction.

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Dine at the hottest new restaurant, make your own pasta in a nonna’s kitchen and sleep in modern elegance in the Eternal City.

Sydney Capella

[STORY BY] Alexandra Carlton

19 There’s something almost sylvan about the entryway of Capella Sydney (capellahotels.com), the 192-room luxury hotel housed inside the sandstone neo-Baroque former Department of Education building in the city’s CBD. The walls of the central atrium are planted with greenery and natural light shines from its ceiling. Overhead, a series of hanging pastel “flowers” open and close in synchronicity – an art installation by Dutch designers Studio Drift, coloured in the tones of Australian wildflowers. If you listen closely you can hear the chirp of

a family of crickets who’ve taken up residence in one of the green walls. “We didn’t put them there, we promise!” insists Jonathan Fambart, the hotel’s chief culturist, responsible for coordinating guest experiences.

It’s a curious contrast to the many highend hotels that focus on glass, marble and a hard-edged heroing of luxury. “We want Capella to feel more like a home.”

The softness continues in The Living Room, the property’s relaxed take on an executive space. Shelves and surfaces are filled with art and books and cocktails are prepared via a drip filter emblazoned with the word “Eternity” – a tribute to Arthur Stace, who famously graffitied the

word on streets in Sydney, country NSW and Melbourne from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Once you reach the rooms and suites, however, you soon realise you’ve left home behind. Each is equipped with state-ofthe-art amenities, including touchpad heating, Frette linens and deep-set baths. The premium Prestige Suites have a bar and butler’s pantry but few would skip dining at Brasserie 1930, the ground-floor restaurant operated by the team behind Bentley and Monopole. There’s also a spa, lap pool and speakeasy-style cocktail bar.

The contrast works: Capella is at once comforting and homelike, yet luxurious and refined. No wonder the crickets moved in.

Timothy Kaye

Maldives

[STORY BY] Dilvin Yasa

20 Most Maldivian resorts work hard to make sure their guests unwind but Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa (hotel.qantas.com.au/hiltonamingiri maldives) takes it to another level. Team members so seamlessly refill glasses, unfurl towels and book activities (courtesy of your GEM – a Guest Experience Manager always within reach via WhatsApp) that it can feel as though they’re even doing the hard work of thinking for you. In a corner of the globe where luxury overwater villas are as ever-present as island time, this is the property’s major point of difference.

And the differences don’t end there. The resort has all the trappings you’d expect of Hilton’s fourth Maldivian outpost, including 109 contemporary oneand two-bedroom beach and overwater bungalows (each with a private pool and uninterrupted ocean views). There’s the all-important kids’ club, dive centre and day spa, plus eight restaurants and bars (including Eden, an overwater champagne and gin bar) that make it a challenge getting from A to B without stopping for yet another bite of freshly caught tuna.

But there’s also Re:Fuel, a rooftop lounge – complete with non-alcoholic bar for teens – and an art studio where local creative Rappe and his team encourage

you to paint the vistas (you could also try coffee art) or you can head back out to the dive centre for a conservation-led snorkel with a marine biologist. Another major selling point is the property’s convenient location: a 20-minute speedboat ride from the airport in Malé does away with the expense of a seaplane transfer.

In the end, it’s the staff who steal the show. Whether it’s organising a signature experience (floating breakfasts, private cinema screenings), locating your scuba equipment or glass kayak, or telling you about the sustainability ethos of seafoodfocused fine-diner Origin, every effort is made to ensure your only concern is how much island time you have left.

Hilton Maldives Amingiri Resort & Spa

Jodhpur

21 The relentless life of India’s streets – the manic traffic, the wandering livestock, the vendors’ cries – fades to stillness as you pass under the archway into the neem-shaded sanctuary of RAAS Jodhpur (hotel.qantas.com.au/raasjodhpur). Chilled towels and sweet tea await. Take a moment before staff lead you behind a wall of hand-carved jaali screens to the hotel’s jasmine-scented pleasure gardens.

This is the big, breathtaking reveal. At eye level, an impeccably restored 18thcentury haveli (mansion). Above it, the blue-washed Cubism of Jodhpur’s Old City

architecture. Higher still, 120 metres up, the glory of Mehrangarh, the magnificent 15th-century Fortress of the Sun.

The outlook is equally stunning from the hotel’s two restaurants, from shaded poolside lounges and the rooftop bar when the fort’s ramparts, towers and crenellations are spotlit for added drama.

Many of the property’s 40 rooms frame this same princely panorama, most spectacularly in the four Duplex Suites on level three of RAAS’s modern extension and the four Heritage Suites in the scalloped and pillared haveli buildings. Room interiors are contemporary and spacious, with king-sized beds, stone balconies and filigreed screens to shield the

sun without blocking the scenery. Temple music drifts across from the walled city.

In-house comforts include a four-room spa offering Ayurvedic and Western treatments, and refined Rajasthani and international dining in the curtained Baradari restaurant or lamplit dinners on the fort-facing terrace of alfresco Darikhana, set above the original stables.

Just beyond the hotel’s doorstep lie all the Old City treasures, including the 18thcentury stepwell next door, in an area now graced with designer stores and eateries. Also within easy reach, the bustling bazaars of central Clock Tower Market and the fort itself, most magical on after-hours tours exclusive for hotel guests.

RAAS Jodhpur

[STORY BY] Kendall Hill

Easter Island

Explora Rapa Nui

[STORY BY] Mark Johanson

22 It’s clear from the beginning that you’ll spend very little time at Explora Rapa Nui (explora.com) on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) off Chile’s coast in the South Pacific. Put simply: they don’t want you around. Instead, you’re encouraged to devote each day to epic adventures with the hotel’s guides: snorkelling with turtles in the ocean, hiking past ancient ruins to the tops of dormant volcanoes or coming face-to-face with the island’s famous monolithic stone human figures, known as moai, which give this tiny Chilean territory its mysterious appeal.

Yet who would want to forgo chef Marco Guzmán Catin’s three-course lunches, featuring island staples such as seared mahi-mahi or tuna ceviche – all paired with top-flight Chilean wine? Or how about downtime at the all-inclusive property’s pool and spa, which overlook a swathe of the Pacific so remote that the empty horizon seems to curve?

The building itself is full of curved walls, calling to mind the stone homes at the nearby archaeological site, Orongo, a ceremonial village brimming with rock art, while the stacked stones that form the hotel’s base evoke the ahu platforms on which the remarkable moai stand. It seems you don’t have to go

anywhere to feel enraptured by the Rapa Nui spirit.

Of course, if you do as you’re meant to, you might wake up at dawn for a sprawling breakfast spread (including the neighbour’s pineapples), followed by an encyclopaedic briefing, with topographical maps, about upcoming activities.

Set out on adventures with Rapa Nuiborn guides you’d swear were off-duty archaeology professors and return in time for happy hour at the Explorer’s Bar to swap tales and share photos. Later, tropical drink in hand, it’s back to the maps to plan the next day’s quest. You’re not meant to linger here but Explora sure makes it hard to leave.

Tasmania The Granary

[STORY BY] Kirsten Galliott

23 What stories lie within these walls? The Granary (granaryrichmondhill. com), a grand Georgian homestead in the Midlands, has worn many guises since convicts hand-built it from sandstone some 200 years ago. Sheep and horses had the run of the place when it was a shearing shed and stable. Farmhands would doss down in it after a long day’s labour. And yes, millers used it to store grain that became rough-hewn loaves.

And now? Owners Fiona and Nick Moses have transformed it into a luxurious, three-bedroom retreat that’s situated in

rural Tasmania but promises to transport you to the English countryside.

The bulk of the 60-hectare property is a working sheep farm but the manicured gardens are the real drawcard. Gargantuan bumblebees seem to defy gravity as they weave between the blue hues of lavender, delphiniums and peonies. “It’s where I go to seek peace and quiet,” says Fiona, who manages the garden herself and offers guests a complimentary tour. “I adore that we live in Tassie and get all the seasons. I always say spring and summer are the most spectacular but then autumn comes around and I change my mind.”

The Granary’s location in the town of Cressy (population 668) is a gift. Just

a 30-minute drive south of Launceston, there’s plenty to do, from hitting up the vineyards of Relbia to browsing for treasures at the Sunday market in Evandale (followed by lunch in the beer garden of the historic Clarendon Arms pub).

But there’s joy in settling in and indulging in everything this beautifully curated manor has to offer. The perfect end to a day here? Convince your other half to cook in the vast kitchen while you open a bottle of pinot noir and nab a seat on the balcony. Take in the meditative views of Macquarie River and the peaks of Ben Lomond. Listen to the ka-kow of the peahens who wander the lawns below. Your Granary story is delightfully simple.

Six Senses Rome

[STORY

Alexandra Carlton

24 Perhaps no room better tells the story of Six Senses Rome (hotel. qantas.com.au/sixsensesrome) than Suite 102. Set on a corner, with views of the 17th-century Church of San Marcello al Corso, it’s filled with the same modern, sustainable details as every one of the 96 guestrooms in this sanctuary: organic mattresses, cocciopesto wall surfaces made from aggregate marble and brick offcuts, potted green plants and zeroplastic minibar treats and amenities. But look up and this suite has a secret that reminds you that you’re deep in

the Eternal City: on the ceiling is an original 15th-century fresco, swirled with cream and gold.

Not that you need to be staying in 102 to see evidence of the old-meets-new juxtaposition in this urban oasis. The entire hotel effortlessly blends eras: grand 15th-century rose-pink marble pillars in the foyer, 1980s stained-glass windows in the staircase and, most astonishing of all, the remains of a 4th-century immersive baptismal font that is visible through a sheer pane in the lobby floor (ask for a tour and your hosts will lead you down a secret stairwell to see it up close).

The menu in the all-day dining space, Bivium, is nearly 50 per cent plant-based

in a contemporary spin on Roman eating, while the spa is an updated take on the classic Roman baths, with a series of hot and cold pools and saunas carved into travertine. It’s as if someone distilled the essence of the Italian capital then removed the crowds and the chaos to leave only its beauty.

That wonderful cacophony is right there when you want it, of course: the property is mere blocks from the Trevi Fountain and Il Vittoriano, the city’s extravagant “wedding cake” palace. But when you’re done traipsing the sites and are ready to wrap yourself in calm again, there’s a slower-paced Rome waiting for your return.

BY]

Lawrenny Estate was given new life when its owner, the Mace family, took the former cattle farm in Tasmania’s Central Highlands – an hour’s drive north-west of Hobart – and turned it into a whisky distillery in 2017. “I knew the family and when they told me their idea, I had to be involved,” says the co-founder and general manager of Lawrenny Estate Distillery, Jensen Farley, who had experience in the wine and spirits industry.

The property is a complete paddock-tobottle operation. The team grows its own barley, malts it and then uses local water from the Derwent River to distil whisky on site. As Farley explains, Lawrenny Estate would “be one of the very few properties of its kind in the world”.

Whisky is a long game, with barrels of the spirit needing years to age before they hit the market. In order to keep cash flowing, Lawrenny Estate Distillery expanded its offering in the early years to include “white”

spirits, like gin and vodka, which could land on shelves sooner.

With a new product line came new suppliers and costs so the distillery turned to the American Express® Qantas Business Rewards Card. Having access to a dynamic line of unsecured funding1 and up to 51 days to pay for purchases on the Card2 allowed the distillery to stay on top of its expenses – then and now. “We use the Card to manage the business’s cash flow by paying many of our suppliers and to attend and host events both here and internationally,” says Farley.

The strategy to diversify the distillery’s offering was a success and in just six years the business now sells more than 20,000 cases of spirits annually, boasts a 10,000-strong database and was recently awarded gold at the 2023 London Spirits Competition for its Cellar Collection Port Cask Single Malt Whisky.

The number of sales are set to increase exponentially with the distillery sitting on

stores of about 200,000 litres of whisky ageing in barrels. The label’s core range of whisky will be available to take to the world from July.

“Earning Qantas Points was another draw of the Card,” says Farley, who earns up to 1.25 Qantas Points per $1 spent on everyday business expenses and 2 Qantas Points per $1 spent on Qantas products and services. 3 “It helps us to travel more comfortably through upgrades for the team when we’re flying in Australia or overseas, going to trade shows to take our products to the people or meeting with new distributors in places like Japan. Being based in Tasmania, we’re on planes a lot.”

With the core-range whiskies nearly ready for the market, Farley is excited about a new era for the label. “I think small businesses need a really clear five-year vision. For us, we want our distillery to be recognised globally as a leading producer of Tasmanian single malt whisky. And we’re on our way.”

Presented by American Express

25 Step inside the starry, golden-lit lobby of Ace Hotel Kyoto (hotel. qantas.com.au/acehotelkyoto), where vibey electronic beats ease out of the speakers and it feels like you’re entering the epicentre of cool. We’re talking turntables and vintage vinyl in the guestrooms, local creatives wearing Yohji Yamamoto monochrome tapping away at laptops in the lobby and artisanal everything – right down to the hand-wrought ceramic soap dishes. Behind the doughnut-shaped reception desk, a helpful guy with pink

hair, blue sideburns and leopard-print sneakers points out the local sights on a map, his fingers adorned with 3D nail art.

Part new build, part renovation of the century-old Kyoto Central Telephone Office, this 213-room property is the East-meetsWest creation of acclaimed architect Kengo Kuma and Los Angeles-based Commune Design, with most of the premium rooms located in the high-ceilinged historic section. Downtown in Japan’s cultural capital – a 10-minute cab ride from Kyoto Station, close to tea houses and temples – Ace celebrates contemporary Japanese craft and the arty hotel chain’s American roots. So you’ll find paper lantern lights in

the guestrooms but also Gibson guitars (and absurdly comfortable bespoke mattresses).

Once night falls, grab a rooftop terrace table at Mr. Maurice’s Italian and order the signature tonnarelli cacio e pepe. Slide into a velvet banquette at buzzy, Art Decoinspired Piopiko Bar & Taco Lounge and try the scallop ceviche with uni. Better still, order a Wonder Mojito with lime sherbet and white choc chips and get chatting to a fellow traveller. The goal here is good times and fortuitous encounters.

Not just a design-lover’s delight, this hotel does seem “a friendly place” (as promised on the jacket in the gift shop), which means the Ace is cool but kind of warm-cool.

Ace Hotel Kyoto

[STORY BY] Susan Horsburgh

Western Australia

Stillwood

[STORY BY] Bek Day

26 The first thing Kimberley Swinyard does when she wakes up at Stillwood (stillwood.com.au), the two-hectare property she and husband Jeff have renovated into a boutique, adults-only bush haven, is wander down to one of the two wooden jetties with a cuppa. “I brew myself a Margaret River tea blend and head to the dam,” she says. “The water is so still at that time of the morning. You feel like you’re the only person in the world.”

This slow unwinding is at the core of Stillwood Retreat, just outside Denmark, four-and-a-half hours south of Perth.

The black cladding of the hideaway, which sleeps two, melts into the scrub. Inside, 5.5 metre timber-lined ceilings, a forest mural by Fremantle artist Desmond Sweeney and a mezzanine-level picture window framing eucalypts and red dirt offset a Scandi aesthetic.

Although the temptation to hibernate, particularly in the cooler months, is strong (marshmallows and roasting sticks are provided), the region deserves investigation. Less than 20 minutes out of town in William Bay, Greens Pool – a lagoon protected by granite boulders – is arguably one of WA’s most idyllic beaches.

The excellent wineries also offer an afternoon of indulgence. Swinyard

recommends ordering a picnic hamper from The Lake House Denmark (lakehousedenmark.com.au) then laying a rug among the vines at Singlefile Wines (singlefilewines.com) – a short drive away – where you can enjoy a glass of Great Southern fiano with your fare.

In the evening, head to Forest Hill winery’s Pepper + Salt (pepperandsalt. com.au), where chef Silas Masih infuses modern Australian ingredients with flavours from his Fijian-Indian heritage. Later, a glass of wine enjoyed in the steamy outdoor bath under the stars will send you to bed with a deeper understanding of Stillwood’s restorative power – and a plan to return.

Susan Mariani

[STORY BY] Bek Day

27 When Marie-Louise Sciò, the ultra-connected CEO and creative director of the Pellicano Hotel Group, offers her advice on what to do on the island of Ischia, you listen. The maestra of the Italian social scene, whose reimagining of the Mezzatorre hotel (hotel.qantas.com.au/mezzatorreitaly) has played a large part in making Ischia the new pozione desiderabile for the superyacht-owning set, suggests lounging by the saltwater pool to “feel the real dolce far niente” (the “sweetness of doing nothing”).

“The Beach Club and pool is my favourite part of the whole property,” says Sciò, who studied architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design and oversaw the whirlwind transformation of the hotel, an hour’s ferry ride from Naples, from 2018. “Our guests always rave about the sensation of unicity, exclusivity and complete privacy they feel when they see it for the first time.”

Laying eyes on any part of Mezzatorre is enchanting, from the dark-salmon-coloured 16th-century watchtower perched atop the rugged cliffs to the pops of colour along the shoreline, where the teal ocean meets sunloungers and scalloped umbrellas. It’s enough to make you feel as if you’ve stepped into a Slim Aarons photograph.

The hotel’s 57 rooms are an exercise in Italianate glamour –heavy drapes frame glittering Tyrrhenian Sea views and soft linens are layered in Pellicano’s signature creamy interior palette. The thermal spa – fed by volcanic hot springs and featuring matcha-green tiles and coral-ticked wicker lounges – is the emerald in this hideaway’s crown. “It’s all about guiding our guests towards their personal version of holistic wellbeing,” says Sciò.

Once your treatment has ended, dinner at executive chef Giuseppe D’Abundo’s Ristorante La Torre is a must. “You cannot leave the hotel without trying his scialatielli ai quattro pomodori (pasta with tomato sauce).”

Also unmissable: a sunset aperitivo at Bar La Torre as you watch the Mediterranean twilight paint San Montano Bay the same shade of amber as your Negroni, wondering what in the name of White Lotus you did to deserve such a decadent moment in time.

28 Kokomo Private Island Fiji (hotel. qantas.com.au/kokomofiji) has had plenty of column inches dedicated to it since opening its doors in 2017. After all, few can fault the 21 beachfront villas and five luxury residences, each with open-plan living areas spilling out onto a private deck with pool. But it’s the elasticity of time that may be Kokomo’s strongest attribute: do as many activities as you like and watch as the hours, days and weeks pass slowly yet, somehow, in no time at all.

Situated a 45-minute seaplane or helicopter flight from Nadi, the 57-hectare island is encircled by the Great Astrolabe Reef – essentially a playground for manta rays, reef sharks, angelfish and many more gilled friends. Grab a snorkel and follow them around until the sound of squealing children bouncing on an ocean trampoline alerts you to the fact that minutes have become hours, thanks to the mesmerising underwater show.

Kokomo staff, however, have no such time for lazy contemplation and used the pandemic shutdown to add a wealth of new features to the resort. Chef Ross Lusted, from Sydney’s Woodcut, is now

on board as consultant and there’s a new sunken bar for sunset cocktails, as well as an extension of Walker d’Plank, the casual treehouse-style eatery that focuses on Pan-Asian flavours and share plates. There’s also a timber-panelled cellar heavy on the Château Margaux and menus created in conjunction with sommelier Seamus Brandt.

Then there’s the vast new fleet of fishing vessels available for charter and excursions. “We have more than 30 of the world’s greatest dive spots on our doorstep, plus some of the best fishing spots for marlin, tuna and wahoo,” says the resort’s Sean Flakelar.

Kokomo Private Island Fiji

[STORY BY] Dilvin Yasa

Weaving dreams

Indi McCullough was a sleep-deprived New York executive before she created Shleep, a luxury bedding and sleep products range that harnesses the breathable, featherlight softness of Australian merino wool.

When Indi McCullough was introduced to then CEO of Woolmark, Stuart McCullough, in New York City in 2007, she was running on very little energy. “I had my own advertising and marketing agency and I was dealing with a lot of high-stress situations,” she says. “I was burnt out, sleep deprived and needed a change of scenery.”

So the chance to relocate to Australia with Stuart not only kickstarted her education in the benefits of wool, it also changed the trajectory of her life. “I began researching sleep health when I got here – I’m originally from Canada – as I’d always struggled with insomnia and I wanted to find a solution. This coincided with my obsession with wool and I quickly realised that fine Australian merino was the secret ingredient to better sleep. When you sleep on top of and under it, it not only helps you get to sleep faster but also deeper and for longer.”

The benefits kept stacking up. “With wool, you’re never too hot or too cold so it’s good for all seasons. Plus, it allows for thermal regulation, it detracts dust mites so it’s anti-allergy, highly breathable, supremely soft, naturally resistant to stains and odour and machine washable.”

The more she researched, the harder it became for Indi to switch off her inner entrepreneur and in 2016, she launched Shleep. The collection – which comprises naturally weighted blankets, pillowcases, sheets and duvet covers – are all made from ShleepHalo™, a luxury fine Australian merino wool fabric on par with high-quality silk and cashmere, that was developed by the brand.

Earn 3 Qantas Points per $1 spent* or use your points to shop Shleep at qantas.com/marketplace

“I’m now looking to introduce Shleep sleepwear, loungewear and curtains that block out sound. I’m even working on yoga mats.”

So, how does Indi sleep these days?

“I look forward to climbing into bed at night and I wake up early every morning feeling totally refreshed, motivated and ready to take on the day.”

Calming Blanket in Tropical Sand

must be a Qantas Frequent Flyer member to earn and use points.

[STORY BY] Jenny Hewett

29 An unexpected cluster of neon signs says something’s afoot in the small village of Pekutatan in undeveloped West Bali, less than two hours drive from Canggu. Framed by thick, unruly jungle, the visual noise – as if plucked from the old Vegas strip – is at odds in this environment and intentionally so. Your first reaction might be to turn back. But follow the soft footsteps of staff through the bright-green door and into the tranquil utopia of Lost Lindenberg (thelindenberg.com) and you’ll start to understand why German artist Tobias Rehberger’s installation serves as the portal to this well-hidden surf stay.

The large-scale artwork is a metaphor for escaping the chaos of modern life but the real inspiration comes once you settle in. With just eight timber-clad suites, communal lounging and dining and a breaking wave on your doorstep, letting go is easy. You’ll find those suites spread out over four towers, elevated high above landscaped gardens and accessed via a spiral staircase. The jungle canopy is ever-present, seen through floor-to-ceiling glass and reaching through the wooden louvres of the bathroom.

Designed by architect Alexis Dornier and Studio Jencquel, this Bali outpost of the hip Frankfurt-based Lindenberg brand is inviting and thoughtful, with weekly beach clean-ups facilitated by the hotel. Connection here is encouraged – that might mean catching a wave with local instructor Rifqi or storytelling with other guests over wine and plant-based meals of tempeh, jackfruit and sambal at long-table dinners. And don’t be surprised if a good-natured dog or two pops into the poolside area at breakfast. “They’ve been here since construction,” smiles the Lindenberg’s Christine Fiebiger. “Their paws are printed in the concrete and we decided to keep it.”

Lost Lindenberg

Robert Rieger

Morocco

[STORY BY] Alexandra Carlton

Take everything you think you know about Morocco – the pattern-clash tiles and textiles, the clamouring souks, the sprawling cities – and set it aside. Think instead of the still, ancient desert and an inviting sense of calm. This is the soul of Caravan Agafay by Habitas (hotelqantas.com.au/caravanagafay), 40 tents and lodges about 30 minutes from all the colour and chaos of Marrakech.

30

The property lies like a languid jackal on 12 hectares, facing the vast Atlas Mountains. As you approach, the air is filled with rhythmic drumbeats and the spiced aroma of copal and jaoui incense.

Welcoming hosts invite you to set intentions for your stay. These might be to relax, to become more invigorated, to connect deeply with the history of the region. Or more exoteric concerns such as visiting a local Berber family home and exploring the sunbaked landscape on camelback. All of it is possible.

Sunset is when the desert seems to come alive and it’s best spent gathered with other guests at a traditional Moroccan tea ceremony at Agafay’s bar or by one of its two pools. “As the sun dips to the horizon, vast skies change through rich purple, orange and red, to be replaced with a striking starlight desert sky,” says Oliver Ripley, who co-founded Habitas, the group behind Agafay. Fragrant mint tea is passed around by a djellaba-clad tea man, who shares stories of Morocco while mesmeric beats composed specially for Agafay pulse softly in the background. Later, feast on mechoui, a heritage Moroccan dish of whole-roasted lamb packed with fresh herbs and vegetables sourced from the property’s garden.

When your time here is done, wind your way back past the green farms, red walls, shepherds and camels of the countryside – back to the whirlwind of Marrakech.

Kleinjan Groenewald

Caravan Agafay

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Life aquatic

Once you’ve spotted the first lotus in Cambodia, you see them everywhere: painted in gold on pink and turquoise walls, gathered in baskets on temple stairs and in the gardens of Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace. The lotus springs from murky waters; it thrives in mud. “It doesn’t matter about the source, it flowers,” says my guide, a farmer from the north-west who grows purple-skinned bananas. “Like people.”

He’s one of 40 staff on the Aqua Mekong, part of Aqua Expeditions’ fleet of five-star yacht and river vessels, on which I’m cruising the Tonle Sap and Mekong River (aquaexpeditions.com). Some guests, like me, will leave after four nights, arriving and departing from Phnom Penh, while others continue on to Siem Reap (by plane in the dry season) and then sail to Vietnam.

Given there are just 20 suites onboard, the ship’s crew-to-guest ratio works out at a luxurious 1:1 (at least). On this trip there are 15 passengers – mostly couples, mostly from the United States – and along

On the Mekong River, Alison Boleyn glimpses Cambodian traditions close to lost and gets to party with an eclectic mix of travellers.

with the excursions to shore, they are the journey’s unexpected gifts. Like the lotus, they open up spectacularly.

Twice a day, those of us ready for an outing buckle up our life jackets and load into aluminium skiffs to head ashore. The itinerary packs a lot of Cambodia into a short time and if someone’s not at the gang at 8am or 3pm, the staff will leave them be, assuming they’re sitting by the pool or snoozing (which absent guests later confirm is true).

All excursions are optional and there are options within options. We choose on the day (and when it’s possible, on a whim) from itineraries posted the evening before. A group of friends from Santa Cruz cycle

at any opportunity: “May as well get credit,” says one, who works for a Silicon Valley software giant, as he activates his fitness app. The rest pile into tuktuks. On two or three wheels, we travel bumpy roads past rice paddies, water buffalo and villages where jackfruit hang from the trees, big as footballs. One traveller, a Filipino MD from Hong Kong, stops his tuktuk driver when he spots the choicest fruits.

Early in the trip, our guide says he understands that those who’ve been to South-East Asia before might be “templed out”. Many opt to browse among salted ants and tarantulas in an outdoor market but I climb the 509 stairs up Oudong Mountain. After we remove our shoes and offer a lotus

flower in the Room of 1000 Buddhas, my guide indicates the view: a lush green sprawl of rice paddies and farms on one side and factories on the other.

About half of Cambodia is forest. Onboard, I can see the subtle beauty of shifting landscapes from my daybed (some suites have balconies), from the top-level observation deck and even from the gym.

The ship is quietly elegant, with polished floors, window-walls and moody, lamp-lit rooms. The exterior deck is made from Resysta, a material of recycled rice husk and oil that looks like hardwood and has been awarded for its sustainability. Inside, the tones are earthy, with lacquer, rattan wallpaper, silk upholstery in the

A floating village on the Tonle Sap

spa and a scattering of Vietnamese and Cambodian antiques. The food, too, with menus by Australian chef David Thompson, looks to those countries, plus neighbouring Laos and Thailand, while pastries are in the French-Vietnamese tradition. The chef tells me, “You need four colours to make the food beautiful”, although nothing beats the tiny, vibrant chek pong moin (“chicken egg”) bananas.

I almost always choose to kayak and spend an hour or so paddling through the floating village near our mooring. It is mostly ethnic Vietnamese occupying these stilted houses on the Mekong waterways, where they’ve lived since the Vietnam War. The children call out “Hello!” and my

guide paddles his kayak over to talk with a woman as she washes clothes. She tells him she expects to move to land next year. The Cambodian government is relocating the villages for humanitarian reasons (once documented, adults can legally work and their children can attend school) as well as environmental.

There are at least 1200 species of fish in the Mekong. The riel, small and white, is so significant to Cambodians it gives its name to their unit of currency. During one excursion on the Tonle Sap, we approach a circle of men and women – with an audience of enthusiastic children – fishing with a net from the bank. One man throws us a fish, earning big laughs from his group.

The Aqua team is eager to show us barang (foreigners) the rural areas and we’re encouraged to support local businesses via the silversmiths we visit in the village of Koh Chen, where a single ornate box takes 20 days to pound; the co-op of silk weavers in Koh Oknha Tey; and the artisans in Kampong Chhnang (chhnang meaning “clay pot”). These communities are rebuilding the traditional arts that were ravaged during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s.

When we visit the Vipassana Dhura Mandala meditation centre in Oudong –where anyone, including foreigners, can come for contemplation or even food and medicine – our guide explains

Cambodia’s temple monks can join from the age of six

the fundamentals of his country’s Buddhist beliefs. “Don’t kill, lie, steal or commit adultery. And also, be flexible.” At the temple in Preah Prosop, we meet a group of five young monks and are invited to ask questions, translated by our guide. Boys as young as six can enter the monastery but usually join at 10 or 11. The youngest we meet is 13 and tiny in his orange robes. He has lived at the monastery for just three months and says he came for “knowledge”. It was his mother’s idea; to have a son become a monk is an honour in Cambodia.

The day before I disembark, the guides promise a surprise and after racing the others to shore in kayaks, I see it on the riverbank. Some of the crew are throwing a frisbee around and those passengers already on the beach are sipping Negroni spritzes while reclining on deckchairs and blankets. When the old disco hit Shake Your Groove Thing comes on, a German music company founder, the widow of a 1970s rock star, starts dancing – and she’s amazing. One of the Santa Cruz gang, a regular at Nevada’s Burning Man festival, gets up, too, and a retired football coach from San Diego calls out, “I see you! I see you!” It feels too soon to ride back to the ship but the sky is darkening.

The next morning at 6am, as with every day, there’s yoga and meditation on the pool deck, followed by cucumber-infused water and espresso. With the intolerance that characterises so many early risers, I don’t understand why anyone would miss this. Lizards click, the breezes are light and longboats drift past. At some point during the class, the anchor’s pulled and the Aqua Mekong starts moving. The sun rises orange-red.

Kayaking on the Mekong River

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By Dilvin Yasa

The Douro for local food and wine

You get the feeling that Travelmarvel (travelmarvel.com.au) doesn’t have to work hard to sell its eight-day Douro Discovery trip. After all, it’s difficult to go past a cruise that takes place in one of the sunniest countries in Europe on a river flanked by a patchwork landscape of ancient wine estates and charming hilltop villages. It isn’t all about keeneyed observation, of course. The cruise – embarking and disembarking in Porto, Portugal (left) – embraces the best of the region so that guests can take in the cultural and historical highlights (not to mention the odd quinta) of 11 towns, villages and cities, including Pinhão, Castelo Rodrigo, Barca d’Alva, Lamego and Entre-os-Rios.

Itinerary highlights: Enjoy a dinner of local dishes at a quinta (country estate) in Pinhão, explore the ruins and castle of Castelo Rodrigo, gain insider knowledge of the Lamego port industry and take Portuguese lessons onboard. Life on board: Current vessel MS Douro Serenity hosts 126 in a relaxed atmosphere but a new ship (with a maximum of 122 guests) will be unveiled in 2024. It will maintain the cabins on the upper and main decks, which feature floor-to-ceiling windows that slide down to create a French balcony, a spa, gym, restaurant and a sundeck with pool. Most meals are included, plus a selection of beer, wine and soft drinks with lunch and dinner, while local touring, a cooking demonstration, wine tasting, language lessons, transfers and gratuities are covered by the cruise fare. On the menu: Portuguese and Mediterraneanfocused meals are taken in the dining lounge with a four-course dinner (plus a special Portuguese barbecue dinner), buffet breakfast and lunch daily.

The signature experience: A flamenco performance in the Spanish city of Salamanca. Time to go: April to May, before the summer heat arrives.

You’ll love it if: You’re into wine and good food but would like to avoid the summer crowds.

The Rhine for a little bit of magic

Having all of your Christmases come at once doesn’t have to be a dream. Emerald Cruises (emeraldcruises.com. au) serves up more Yuletide hits than a supermarket radio station thanks to its Rhine-based itineraries across the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Its eight-day Christmas Markets of the Rhine cruise shows off a mix of UNESCO World Heritage sites and terraced vineyards interwoven with fairy-light-trimmed squares doing a brisk trade in mulled wine and sizzling bratwurst. Following the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel, the itinerary has stops at Cologne, Koblenz, Ludwigshafen, Kehl, Strasbourg and Breisach.

Itinerary highlights: Christmas markets at each stop aside (there are seven in Cologne alone), guests can take a canal cruise of Amsterdam, go wine tasting in Heidelberg and join a scenic Black Forest Highlands drive. Life on board: Accommodating 180 passengers, Emerald Cruises’ Star-Ships feature a heated pool (essential for winter voyages), golf putting green, a wellness space with spa treatments, aqua aerobics and stretch classes, plus a choice of daily excursions. Meals, as well as complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks (at lunch and dinner), are included, as are excursions, transfers and gratuities. The suites, which are decorated in a muted palette of crisp white and taupe, have a configuration for every kind of traveller, including a single stateroom for solo passengers.

On the menu: Expect regional festive fare at the ship’s two dining venues: Restaurant for buffet breakfast and lunch and four-course á la carte menu for dinner and the more casual Horizon Bar & Lounge for alcoholic drinks and coffee and tea.

The signature experience: A tour of France’s Alsace Wine Route (at additional cost).

Time to go: December

You’ll love it if: You’re dreaming of a white Christmas with all the trimmings.

1.

2.

Daniel Sessler

Visit

Innovative, transformative, original. Avalon Waterways has redefined river cruising by going against the current and away from the ordinary.

Onboard our suite fleet of ships, you’ll enjoy the perfect blend of elegance and ease – where little touches are bold, gestures are grand and the views even grander. Our boutique-hotel-inspired Panorama SuitesSM feature the industry’s only Open-Air BalconiesSM with the widest-opening windows in cruising and decadent Comfort Collection bedsSM that face the ever-changing scenery.

Award-winning accommodations, exceptional shore excursions, flexible dining options and a unique relaxed luxury atmosphere. It’s the Avalon difference and doesn’t get much better than that!

10 RIVERS 70 CRUISES 24 COUNTRIES

The Seine for making family memories

The zinc-blue tiles of the rooftops in Paris, the vibrant colours of the gardens in Giverny and a few famous landmarks in between – is it any wonder that generations of artists have been inspired by the landscape along the 780-kilometre River Seine? Tauck (tauck.com.au) invites the youngest of travellers to become the next Monet with its eight-day Family Fun Along the Seine: Paris to Normandy itinerary, beginning with a tour of the French capital before taking in the gilded

treasures of Versailles, the gardens of Giverny, Les Andelys, Caudebec-en-Caux and the beaches of Normandy.

Itinerary highlights: Kids will love the scavenger hunt in the Louvre and playing at being a royal at the Palace of Versailles but not as much as you’ll love cycling around Marie Antoinette’s farm or learning about War World II artefacts in Normandy.

Life on board: Accommodating a maximum of 98 guests, the MS Sapphire (above) is invested in creating a sense of exclusivity – thanks largely to the spaciousness of its unpretentious cabins (70 per cent of the cabins measure 21 square metres or larger).

A sun deck with jacuzzi, putting green, gym and the Panorama Lounge & Bar will keep everyone busy onboard. And all facets of

family sailings (the menus, activities, etc) are adjusted to accommodate kids. The fare includes all meals, shore excursions, tours, transfers and gratuities.

On the menu: The Compass Rose is the main dining room, serving both three courses and a buffet for lunch and a four-course meal for dinner, while the more casual Arthur’s does a mean burger.

The signature experience: Time travel back to 1944 with an insightful tour of the beaches of Normandy, the American Cemetery and a visit to the D-Day Academy, where kids can hold World War II artefacts (everything from walkie-talkies to a wireless radio) and ride in a Willys Jeep.

Time to go: June and July

You’ll love it if: You’re after a river cruise that captivates junior travellers.

3.

The Nile for epic adventure

If the Middle East had a “greatest hits” compilation of destinations, this APT (aptouring.com.au) package would certainly cover it. Featuring four nights aboard the MS Sun Goddess and 19 nights of luxury accommodation on land, the Epic Egypt, Jordan and Israel journey takes you from Cairo, through East Bank, Esna, Kom Ombo, Aswan, Amman, Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, Capernaum, Nazareth and Jerusalum before finishing up in Tel Aviv.

Itinerary highlights: Marvel at the pyramids of Saqqara with an Egyptologist, experience a Bedouin camp in the sands of Wadi Rum, dine at Château Golan Winery in Israel and float in the Dead Sea.

The Ganges for enlightenment

Whether you’re aiming to lose yourself in India’s historic heritage and religious diversity or to find yourself through the ancient practice of yoga, India’s Golden Triangle & the Sacred Ganges voyage by Uniworld (uniworld.com) delivers with a 13-day New Delhi to Kolkata adventure along the mighty River Ganges (above). The itinerary is packed with lively markets, majestic palaces, including the Taj Mahal and the Amber Palace of Jaipur, village visits and Hindu temples. Balancing the colour and bustling energy of New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Kalna, Murshidabad, Matiari, Baranagar, Mayapur and Kolkata is the opportunity to bed down in three different award-winning Oberoi hotels before the cruise component (for seven nights) begins.

Itinerary highlights: A visit to Raj Ghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi, will stir the soul, while meeting Calcutta Rescue, an NGO that provides meals for children, will inspire.

Life on board: Offering old-world charm with a mod-con twist, Ganges Voyager II accommodates 56 guests in riverview suites and has a fitness centre with a wellness coach, a yogi and daily yoga practices, a spa, bicycles for onshore use and 10 days of excursions. Most meals are included and spirits, house wines, beer and beverages are complimentary. Flights between Jaipur and Kolkata are included, along with transfers and gratuities.

On the menu: East India Restaurant (the only eatery onboard) strikes a balance between regional fare and European classics, while afternoon tea is served daily in the Governor’s Lounge. Flavours may be dialled down to cater to Western palates but you can ask for extra spice.

The signature experience: Visiting Mother Teresa’s house and tomb in Kolkata gives an insight into her life of service.

Time to go: September to November

You’ll love it if: You’d like a stress-free way to take in India’s top sights.

Life on board: Accommodating 66 guests, the MS Sun Goddes s has spacious suites – each with a full-sized bathtub and private terrace – a pool, fitness centre, spa, sauna, lounge and bar. Meals and unlimited local wine and beer for the duration of the Nile cruise are included, while many meals for the remainder of the tour are also covered. Where the food is not included, APT staff will assist the passengers with helpful recommendations and reservations at eateries nearby.

On the menu: Flavoursome Egyptian cuisine – think braised or stuffed vegetables and delicious shawarma – is served in the onboard restaurant, which offers buffet as well as the occasional à la carte breakfasts and lunches and a four-course à la carte menu for dinner. Two bars (one of them rooftop) make the ideal setting to relax with a drink and reflect on the day’s adventures.

The signature experience: Learning to prepare local dishes such as maaloubeh, mutabel and muhallebi in a private home in Amman, Jordan.

Time to go: September and October, before the weather cools.

You’ll love it if: You want to see a number of cultural and historic sites in one go.

4.

5.

Take me to the river

In 1925, travelling salesman Arthur C. Tauck loaded six people into his Studebaker for a 1600-kilometre road trip through New York and New England. For an outlay of US$69 each (all-inclusive), the passengers were shown the sites that Tauck enjoyed on his sales trips. He had one requirement for the passengers, “no grouches and no pessimists”, and one rule for himself, “do the right thing”.

Arthur could not have imagined that 98 years later, clients of the travel company he

founded would be cruising Europe’s most picturesque rivers in luxury, enjoying private dining and exclusive opera recitals in historic palaces and visiting landmarks in a style most tourists could only dream of. Tauck’s 2024 river-cruise itineraries, for instance, include early entry admission to the home and gardens of Impressionist painter Claude Monet in Giverny, France; a reception at a 14th-century castle on a private island (open only to Tauck guests) in the Netherlands;

and dinner and opera at Vienna’s chandelieradorned Palais Pallavicini.

Throughout its near-century of operation, the touring company has built a loyal following. David Clark, managing director of Tauck Australia, says half the guests on any tour have travelled with the company before and even though it has flown slightly under the radar here, Australia is its second-biggest market. Key to Tauck’s success, says Clark, is the relationships it has formed, “whether it’s with a small walking-tour company or the family who owns the palace in Vienna we go to”.

It organises land, river and rail tours across seven continents and more than 70 countries but the ethos of the company – still run by the Tauck family – has not changed. “They have these amazing morals and ethics,” says Clark. “And a really old-fashioned pricing policy.” Once a ticket is bought, there are no surprises, no surcharges and no last-minute sales. “All our guests pay the same. It’s about leaving your worries at home so you can fully immerse yourself in the joy of travelling.”

To find out more, call your local expert travel advisor or visit tauck.com.au

Presented by Tauck

Almost a century after it was founded, acclaimed family-run tour operator Tauck has unveiled a raft of exciting new European river-cruise itineraries.

Tauck riverboat in Dürnstein, Austria

Douro Valley

The Mississippi for authentic Americana

Iconic journeys are nothing new for the United States-bound traveller (Route 66 and Pacific Coast Highway, we see you) but Viking’s (vikingrivercruises.com.au) America’s Great River cruise along the magnificent Mississippi might just trump the lot. On paper it’s a straightforward 15-day sailing through the country’s heartland, bookended by St Paul, Minnesota, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In reality, the voyage (which also sails past the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi)

is better described as a cultural showcase of Americana. From the farmlands of the Midwest to bar stool appreciation of the Delta blues, the question must be asked: is there room for a love of Elvis? There sure is.

Itinerary highlights: Graceland is a given but guests can also skim across Atchafalaya swamp by airboat, take in a classical music concert in a stately home in Natchez and get a glimpse of farm life at Stonefield Historic Site. Life on board: The purpose-built Viking Mississippi (above) hosts 386 guests in spacious, all-outside suites (with balcony) that have a clean, Scandi aesthetic. There’s also a sun terrace with an infinity plunge pool, a library and sports deck. Viking river cruises are all-inclusive, with one complimentary shore

excursion in each port and premium drinks served with lunch and dinner. Guest lectures, as well as performances that feature the music of the region, are included.

On the menu: Cajun cuisine, American barbecue and Norwegian specialities are solid favourites across the ship. Order the poached Norwegian salmon at The Restaurant, try American classics at alfresco Aquavit Terrace and knock back a sundowner at Explorers’ Lounge, a twostorey space with panoramic river views. The signature experience: Discovering seminal moments of the civil rights movement on a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum and Mason Temple in Memphis.

Time to go: June to October

You’ll love it if: You’re looking for a deeper understanding of what makes America tick.

6.

GREAT STORIES ARE BORN OF UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS.

STORIES for lif e

The Danube for history done differently

Is it Europe’s second-largest river or a 2850-kilometre trail through fairytale towns and villages? Scenic (scenic.com. au) offers the opportunity to ponder this with its selection of “slow-pace” Danube itineraries designed for more on-shore exploration and after-dark activities. Kicking off with a three-day immersion in the Gothic architecture and culture of the Czech Republic, the 13-day Danube in Depth with Prague Extension voyage is a standout, weaving its way along the castledotted riverbanks of Nuremberg, Regensburg, Passau, Linz, Melk, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.

Itinerary highlights: A focus on World War II history is balanced with a photography tour of Passau, Germany, an e-bike ride through

the rolling vineyards between Austria’s Melk and Dürnstein and a Slovak dumplings cooking class in Bratislava.

Life on board: Accommodating 163 guests, the Scenic Space-Ship (above) exemplifies all-inclusive luxury – right down to the premium spirits that flow 24/7. Butler service is available for all guests, who are free to make good use of the ship’s wellness area and spa (complete with salt therapy lounge), sundeck pool and 27 Scenic Freechoice activities.

On the menu: Embrace local flavours at the five onboard dining venues, from the six-course dégustation at Table La Rive to á la carte at Crystal Dining. Feeling inspired? The Scenic Freechoice activities include a Hungarian goulash cooking lesson in Budapest and a food shopping excursion with a chef in Linz.

The signature experience: Be spoiled with a private concert at the Palais Liechtenstein in Vienna, featuring the music of Strauss and Mozart.

Time to go: April to October

You’ll love it if: You want to delve into the historic and gastronomic heart of eastern Europe.

8.

The Amazon for nature like nowhere else

When you’re navigating the greatest river on earth, you need a suitably grand name for your voyage and Avalon Waterways (avalonwaterways.com.au) delivers: From the Inca Empire to the Peruvian Amazon with Nazca Lines, Ecuador and its Galápagos Islands. More a 20-day expedition than a cruise, the trip begins with a guided look at Lima, Peru, and ends in Quito, Ecuador. Along the way, you’ll go on an aerial tour of Nazca Lines, descending into the Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu, cruise the untamed wilderness and see the wildlife of the Galápagos Islands.

Itinerary highlights: A scenic flight above the Nazca Lines (a group of geoglyphs etched in the sands of the Nazca Desert) sets the bar high but is easily matched by an overnight stay at the foot of Machu Picchu, jaunts by panga (inflatable dinghy) along Amazon tributaries and snorkelling the waters of the Galápagos. Life on board: Accommodating 44 guests, Delfin III captures premium Amazon vistas from the indoor and outdoor lounge, plunge pool, dining room, exercise room and Rainforest Spa. Guests can choose from 36 included excursions categorised as Classic, Discovery and Active. Five days aboard Treasure of Galápagos follows – a mega-catamaran that has nine outside suites with private balconies, a sundeck with jacuzzi and shaded lounge, indoor lounge, bar and dining area. Most meals, free-flowing wine (at dinner), local beer and pisco-based cocktails on the Delfin III leg are included, as are domestic flights and excursions. On the menu: Expect multi-course lunches and dinners that hero Peruvian flavours, plus the chance to master local dishes during onboard cooking classes and mixology lessons. Treasure of Galápagos has a buffet for all meals. The signature experience: Swimming in part of the Amazon known for its pink dolphins. Time to go: May, when wildlife congregates on the riverbanks.

You’ll love it if: You’re keen to have bucket-list nature encounters.

7.

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M15 R7 15.6" FHD 165Hz Gaming Laptop (RTX 3060) WAS 608,530

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Let the games begin with a laptop that doubles as a tablet, a curved monitor that will envelop you in graphics and a heavy-duty backpack to keep gear safe in between sessions.

DELL Inspiron 7425 14" Full HD 2-in-1 Laptop (512GB) WAS 330,270

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PHILIPS 8000 Series All-in-One Garment Steamer Grey WAS 104,180

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ANOLON Endurance+ 26cm Skillet and 28cm Sauteuse 2 Piece Set WAS 69,400

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Choose appliances that are always one step ahead, including a food processor that weighs ingredients as you go and a WiFi-connected coffee machine you can control from bed.

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SHARP Air Purifier with Plasmacluster Technology WAS 78,090

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9,000

QANTAS POINTS

MYGENIE H20 PRO Wet Mop 2-IN-1 Cordless Stick Vacuum WAS 25,920

18,140

QANTAS POINTS

KITCHEN COUTURE Dual View 2 x 5 Litre (10 Litre) Stainless Steel Air Fryer WAS 38,090

26,660

QANTAS POINTS

Shop smarter this EOFY by using Qantas Points on your favourite brands at qantasmarketplace.com

BISSELL 1558H SpotClean ProHeat Professional WAS 78,090

54,660

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL 2908F CleanView Connect Robot WAS 86,790

60,750

QANTAS POINTS

30% OFF

The WiFi-connected CleanView Connect Robot will vacuum for up to 100 minutes, while The SpotClean will remove stains from fibres in carpets, rugs and upholstery.

BISSELL 3175F Icon Pet Turbo WAS 104,180

72,920

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL 3636P New Revolution Max Professional WAS 130,270

91,180

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL 3639H CrossWave HF3 Professional WAS 95,480

66,830

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL 3646H CrossWave Max Turbo WAS 130,270

91,180

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL 3475F SpinWave R5 Robot WAS 138,960

97,270

QANTAS POINTS

BISSELL SpotClean Professional Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner WAS 46,790

32,750

QANTAS POINTS

Salon-quality blow-dries at home and a toothbrush that comes with its own app to deliver personalised progress reports. These high-tech heroes will make you look and feel great.

POINTS

3 PTS PER $1 SPENT

Buy the Dyson Airwrap everyone is talking about (hint: it can create curls without extreme heat). Plus, the hair dryer that’s been engineered to increase shine and decrease frizz.

30% OFF

DYSON Corrale Cordless Straightener Copper/Nickel WAS 121,570

85,090

QANTAS POINTS

DYSON V10 WAS 191,140

133,790

QANTAS POINTS

DYSON Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde WAS 210,440

147,300

QANTAS POINTS

DYSON Gen5detect Absolute WAS 260,700

182,490

QANTAS POINTS

DYSON Supersonic Hair Dryer Nickel/Copper WAS 118,870

83,200

QANTAS POINTS

DYSON Airwrap Multi Styler Complete Long Nickel/Copper WAS 173,810

121,660

QANTAS POINTS

Earn or use Qantas Points on over 20,000 products when you shop at qantasmarketplace.com

DYSON Purifier Hot+Cool WAS 182,970

128,070

QANTAS POINTS

Dyson’s fan and purifier traps 99.95 per cent * of dust, allergen and pollutant particles, while its vacuums use laser technology to hunt down dirt particles you can’t see.

Choose between a shaver equipped with SkinIQ technology to reduce irritation and an ultra-slim massage gun that provides 10 kilograms of thrust power at 8 millimetres massage depth.

A monitor that measures your blood pressure and pulse, a machine-washable heated throw and a massage gun that increases to 3000 pulses per minute.

30% OFF

PHILIPS Sports Mini Massage Gun Dark Grey WAS 69,400

48,580

QANTAS POINTS

BEURER MG99 Compact Massage Gun WAS 27,660

22,120

QANTAS POINTS

PHILIPS Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 Electric Toothbrush, with A3 Brush Head, Black WAS 69,400

48,580

QANTAS POINTS

BEURER

BM27LE Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor WAS 18,960

15,160

QANTAS POINTS

PHILIPS Shaver Series 7000 SkinIQ WAS 60,700

42,490

QANTAS POINTS

20-40% OFF

BEURER Nordic Super Cosy Heated Throw WAS 25,920

20,730

QANTAS POINTS

Earn up to 3 Qantas Points per $1 spent when you shop with cash at qantasmarketplace.com

Chic luggage for a first-class state of mind and watches and jewellery to buy now and love forever. Invest in these pieces for long-haul sophistication.

PTS PER $1 SPENT

KINNON Ginni Tote Bag in Tide WAS 86,090

51,650 QANTAS POINTS

BABYZEN YOYO² Frame in Black WAS 125,220

93,910

QANTAS POINTS

BABYZEN YOYO² 0+ Newborn Pack in Olive WAS 72,870

54,650

QANTAS POINTS

25% OFF

A Scandinavian highchair that’s also a design classic and a lightweight stroller you can take anywhere. These finds are perfect for your new arrival.

STOKKE® Tripp Trapp® Chair WAS 74,610

55,950 QANTAS POINTS

STOKKE® CloudSleeper™ Jetkids™ by Stokke® Inflatable Kids’ Bed WAS 34,610

25,950

QANTAS POINTS

Jet to the airport or the office with Kinnon’s stylish offerings. The brand’s bags are made from sustainably sourced Italian pebble leather.

KINNON Armstrong Business Bag WAS 86,090

51,650

40% OFF

KINNON Magellan Business Backpack WAS 103,480

62,080

QANTAS POINTS

Shop smarter this EOFY by using Qantas Points on your favourite brands at qantasmarketplace.com

Bassike

Upgrade your luggage with a hard-shell suitcase that features additional zip compartments and expands a further five centimetres. Travelling for business? The Softshell Mobile Office will keep your laptop safe and its 360-degree-movement wheels will see you glide through the airport with ease.

50% OFF

31,650

QANTAS POINTS

10,350

QANTAS POINTS

23,390

QANTAS POINTS

24,700 QANTAS POINTS

16,030

QANTAS POINTS

18,610

QANTAS POINTS

16,430

QANTAS POINTS

22,960

QANTAS POINTS

8. PIERRE CARDIN Rustic Leather Business Computer Bag WAS 45,920

2. PIERRE CARDIN Hard-shell 4-Wheel 80cm Large Case WAS 49,570

6. PIERRE CARDIN Vintage Leather Laptop Backpack WAS 37,220

4. PIERRE CARDIN Leather Crossbody Bag WAS 20,700

5. PIERRE CARDIN Leather Ladies Tote Bag (PC 3660 Rose) WAS 46,790

3. PIERRE CARDIN Softshell 4-Wheel Mobile Office WAS 32,070

7. GAP Hard-shell 4-Wheel 67cm Medium Suitcase WAS 32,870

1. PIERRE CARDIN Burnished Leather Overnight Bag WAS 63,310

PANDORA Murano Glass Sea Turtle Dangle Charm Multi Coloured WAS 13,740

8,930 QANTAS POINTS

ISADORA 14ct

Grown Diamond Earrings WAS 165,210

82,600 QANTAS POINTS

SEIKO Coutura Men’s Chronograph Black Watch WAS 138,270

62,220 QANTAS POINTS

Fourteen-carat yellow-gold earrings and sparkling hoops for everyday wear: these forever finds will mark any milestone.

35% OFF

PANDORA Hearts of PANDORA Small Hoops with CZ Silver WAS 15,480

10,060 QANTAS POINTS

SEIKO Presage Men’s Automatic Sharp Edge Kuritobi Multi-Hand Watch WAS 295,660

147,830 QANTAS POINTS

35% OFF 50% OFF

Take the Prospex Men’s Diver’s watch 200 metres underwater. Staying on dry land? The dial on the Presage, with its sharply edged geometric pattern, will be sure to impress.

SEIKO Prospex Men’s Divers Automatic King Turtle Watch WAS 173,740

78,180 QANTAS POINTS

55% OFF

EARN 3 PTS PER $1 SPENT

John Brogden, president, Lifeline International

GIVE WAYS

THESE DAYS, GIVING IS MUCH MORE THAN WRITING A CHEQUE – STAFF, SUPPLIERS, CUSTOMERS AND COMMUNITIES EXPECT AN ORGANISATION’S

PHILANTHROPIC ACTIVITIES TO CONNECT TO ITS WIDER PURPOSE. BY JANE NICHOLLS

P H I L A N T H R O P Y

The top end of town is the apex of corporate philanthropy. That might seem obvious but it wasn’t always so.

“For the Giving Australia study in 2006, we tallied up where the money was coming from and it was a lot of small businesses doing the bulk of the giving,” says Associate Professor Wendy Scaife, who leads the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Future Enterprise. “We did the same study in 2016 and there’d been quite a change – most money was coming from large businesses. They’re getting into philanthropy in a determined, planned and strategic way.”

Last year, Australia’s top 50 corporate philanthropists made $1.22 billion worth of donations to a broad range of causes, according to Strive Philanthropy’s 2022 Giving Large report, which found that this community investment was up by 4 per cent – or $50 million – to reach the record total.

Philanthropy Australia CEO Jack Heath says the aspiration is for 1 per cent of a company’s profits to be directed to the community. In 2021, the organisation released its Blueprint to Grow Structured Giving, with a national goal to double philanthropic giving by 2030.

“We’re well-positioned, with a palpable and unprecedented level of empathy, kindness and compassion sitting in

the community,” says Heath, adding that despite cost-of-living pressures, people say they’ll continue to give and expect the companies they work for to do it, too.

There are some inspirational examples to point to. Last July, Australian digital design unicorn Canva set up a charitable foundation, with co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht pledging, over time, to give away most of their personal 30 per cent shareholding in the company, which is valued at about $11 billion.

When Atlassian co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes were starting out, they pledged 1 per cent of equity, profit, time and/or product to make a difference in the world. They said they were following the example of American software giant Salesforce. Both these companies are among the co-founders of Pledge 1%, a movement to accelerate corporate philanthropy.

“People learn how to give and get involved in giving through their peers,” says Scaife. “Companies like Atlassian have influenced others – even before they made money, they were pledging to give away 1 per cent.

“If you’re a startup, you have no money but you hope to make millions and that’s very motivating for the team as you grow.” Like salary sacrificing for superannuation, if you never see it, you don’t miss it.

Scaife is the judging panel chair of the annual Australian Workplace Giving

Awards run by One Million Donors, which is aiming to get that many Australians donating through the organisations they work for. Regular workplace giving taken out of employees’ pre-tax pay – perhaps a painless monthly deduction the equivalent of a takeaway coffee – adds up quickly when it’s matched by company contributions. It’s a fast-growing part of philanthropy in this country.

“Giving is now much more sophisticated, authentic and driven by employees,” she says. “Back in my early days, big companies had a scattergun approach – 1000 cheques of $300. Now it’s about what people want to see their organisation achieve for their community.” Employee surveys and ensuring staff members from all levels are on the giving committee are essential.

On the receiving side, charities need to be able to demonstrate the impact of the donations. “You set realistic goals, you measure them to see what’s working and what’s not,” says Scaife. “Donating companies should also assess programs and decide whether to rejig, exit or find more resources to replicate something that’s working really well.

“It’s not about the numbers – it’s about the impact in the community. The flow-on comes to the company and the employees. There’s the warm glow that you get from doing something good but also that intangible thing of being part of a good company.”

Glencore is a leader in mine rehabilitation in Australia.

We’ve returned over 23,000 hectares of previously mined land back to farmland or native forests in Australia. That’s equivalent to more than 36,000 football fields.

Advancing everyday life.

ANZ SEEDS OF RENEWAL WHEN BIG BUSINESS SUPPORTS COMMUNITY

ANZ Seeds of Renewal, one of the bank’s four employee-led community grant programs, has awarded more than $5.5 million to about 900 projects in 23 years. Administered by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), a not-for-profit that’s focused on delivering a range of support for those communities in Australia, it’s an example of corporate philanthropy with sustained impact that engages both staff and those it assists. “Regional communities face unique challenges in terms of access to services and facilities,” says Jenefer Stewart, general manager, business banking at ANZ. From the start, she says, this program had the objective of “finding ways to be more connected to local communities and businesses” beyond just banking services.

Seeds of Renewal began in 2000, a time of drought, and has endured through floods, fires, plagues and every other challenge thrown at rural and regional Australia since. Stewart says that it’s both “practical and tangible… the staff in those communities can walk past and see the projects they’ve helped support”.

The partnership with FRRR has been essential for success. “These communities can face extra hurdles in accessing philanthropy so we’re a conduit between the goodwill of many to the good purposes of rural communities,” says Sarah Matthee, the foundation’s general manager, partnerships and services.

Ahead of the annual grant assessment, FRRR does due diligence on the applications and presents the ANZ staff committee with a shortlist. Stewart says when they ask for internal volunteers, they’re “always oversubscribed”. Bank employees also give successful applicants the good news.

“Those phone calls are such a joyous thing,” says Matthee.

The grants are up to $15,000 and a mix of dollars and sense. “We want to get grants to organisations in the most tax-effective and responsible way and FRRR helps us to do that,” says Stewart. “We want grants to genuinely do good and hit the mark on that purpose. The due diligence FRRR does makes sure of that.”

Seeds of Renewal grants are given to communities across the nation. The last round, announced in December 2022, included $15,000 to install solar panels on the community radio station at Narrabri, NSW; $15,000 for First Nations rangers to preserve endemic rainforest in West Arnhem in the Northern Territory; and $12,600 to a program developing arts projects to engage youth and people with a disability in Castlemaine, Victoria.

ANZ staff are often inspired to get more involved with the projects Seeds of Renewal is supporting and beyond. “Employees provide skilled volunteering for some of our other programs as well,” says Matthee. “We have such a good relationship that we’ll talk to ANZ about things we have on our plate where they might be able to provide assistance.”

Stewart says these staff-led programs are core to company culture – ANZ won a Workplace Giving Excellence award in 2022. “You can have a great corporate statement of purpose but if you don’t have clear evidence connected to that, which people can be involved in and see the impact of, you don’t get genuine buy-in. In regional areas, everybody knows everybody and they know if an organisation is true to the words on its billboards.”

Applications for the next round of Seeds of Renewal grants open in July.

Local artist Ned Middleton, with his painting KLF: Justified and Ancient , participated in the Art Windows Trail in Castlemaine, Victoria, which was funded by ANZ Seeds of Renewal

CASE STUDY 2 QUEST FOR A CAUSE WHEN INITIATIVE ALIGNS WITH ACTIVITY

As the affordable housing crisis in Australia escalates, one hotel chain is working on creative solutions to assist people and the environment.

“We recognised early on the impact of homelessness in our local communities, where our properties are,” says Anthea Dimitrakopoulos, general manager, brand and ESG, at The Ascott Limited, which includes Quest Apartment Hotels. Since 2019, Quest has partnered with Housing All Australians (HAA) and its Quest for a Cause initiative encourages staff at its 160 properties to partner with local charities and social organisations.

Quest works with HAA to help furnish temporary “pop-up” residences for vulnerable Australians, as well as those who’ve been displaced suddenly.

“It’s about utilising our resources as the largest serviced apartment provider in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,” she says. “We draw on our relationships with our builders and furniture companies to do fit-outs and set-ups to accommodate people in need. We also sponsored Under Cover, a documentary shining a light on women over the age of 50, who are the most rapidly growing demographic of homelessness in our country. It’s a hidden pandemic.”

Hoping to make refuges for women in need feel more like a hotel, Quest staff have donated time and expertise to fitting out women’s shelters. “We donated more than $330,000 in fit-out, furnishings and staff time to make comfortable rooms in one particular shelter.”

Generally, hotels are refurbished every couple of years and that might include new beds, couches and armchairs. “That’s across the whole industry and the old furniture usually ends up in landfill.” Quest is working to check out of that cycle. “We donate furniture to HAA for shelters and our local business owners work with their communities to find people in need and give furniture to them.”

Another initiative Quest supports is the Sony Foundation’s You Can Stay program, which offers accommodation for regional teens and young adults who are cancer patients receiving treatment at metropolitan hospitals. Both schemes are prime examples of how a company’s business activities can align with its philanthropic endeavours.

CASE STUDY 3 THANKYOU. WHEN PURPOSE IS THE MISSION

In 2008, a group of teenage uni students from Melbourne started a social enterprise, beginning with selling bottled water to fund safe-water projects in developing nations. They began with no money, a sense of indignation that Australians were buying water in bottles to the tune of $600 million a year and lots of chutzpah. They called it Thankyou.

Since then, Thankyou. has given away $18 million to a range of projects around the world, all aimed at helping people living in extreme poverty. “We’re owned 100 per cent by one shareholder – our charitable trust,” says Peter Yao, Thankyou.’s chief impact officer, who joined the company as a sales and marketing intern in 2010 when he was studying commerce and arts, majoring in international studies and management, at Monash University. “I hardly saw any examples of combining business acumen with a for-purpose structure,” he says of applying for the internship.

“Like a company, we operate with profits and expenses, and our 25 staff are paid in line with charitable wages. But while a company posts dividends to its shareholders, ours go to the charitable trust, which distributes all of the dividends to fund our amazing partners in the field.”

Thankyou.’s objective is to close the gap in funding needed to end extreme poverty, which Yao says is an estimated $100 billion shortfall each year. “Yet we consume $53 trillion of goods and services annually – this is our ‘why’,” says Yao, who completed an executive education course in evidence and impact measurement at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2018.

We look at the evidence – we don’t just look at things like how many wells are filled or how many people are reached. We look at true, long-lasting impacts.

He says critical thinking about choosing partners to support is vital to ensure the “dividends” from the sales of Thankyou.’s range of products in Australia – mostly personal care (left) –are actually making a difference. The company is currently funding six partners, including One Heart Worldwide, which works to make pregnancy and childbirth safer in Nepal. “We look at the evidence – we don’t just look at things like how many wells are filled or how many people are reached. We look at true, long-lasting impacts.”

Thankyou. has made changes along the way, exiting from its original water business in 2020. While it had been a successful launching pad for its mission, the organisation wanted to move away from the excess plastic waste it generated. “Social enterprises need to make these hard calls –we probably couldn’t have done it at the start,” says Yao. “We’re a more mature business, with other revenues, so we could take the short-term hit, knowing we’re making the ethical decision. But we could also use our resources and focus to expand our range to things we feel proud of, with high growth potential.”

He says defining purpose is key for startups, legacy businesses and social enterprises. “When companies grow rapidly but you’re clear about your ‘why’ and your impact, it stops mission drift.”

Anthea Dimitrakopoulos , general manager, brand and ESG, at The Ascott Limited

PETER YAO, CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER, THANKYOU.

Digging deeper for the future

Specialist tunnelling engineer Andrew Robbins has helped create the underground networks for some of Australia’s most significant city projects, including the Cross River Rail in Brisbane and Melbourne Metro.

Now, he’s turned his sights to Snowy 2.0 – the largest committed renewable energy project in Australia. Robbins talks about his work as a senior project engineer for Future Generation Joint Venture (FGJV) and how he fits his job around travel adventures, hobbies and home life.

What drew you to the Snowy 2.0 project?

From an underground construction perspective, there’s no bigger project than Snowy 2.0. Deep in the Snowy Mountains is a special place to build a tunnel – it’s not your average city job.

What’s coming up for you and your team?

We’ll be excavating the power station complex caverns comprising the machine and transformer hall, which is where my drill and blast speciality comes in. The power station complex will be located about 800 metres below ground. Intake and outlet structures will be built at both Tantangara and Talbingo Reservoirs, which are between Cooma and Tumut. Approximately 27 kilometres of concrete-lined tunnels will be constructed to link the two reservoirs and further tunnels will be required to support the facility – it’s massive.

You’re fly-in fly-out (FIFO) from Brisbane. What do you do during your time off?

I love travelling and the fact that we work a 14/7 roster means I get seven days off in a row. I’m trying to get to 35 countries before I’m 35. For my last break I landed in Brisbane at 6pm, went straight to the international terminal and flew to Fiji to dive with sharks for a week. I’ve got a trip to South Korea coming up next.

EXPLORE OUR NATION-BUILDING

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Snowy 2.0 is an internationally recognised project using engineering innovation to enhance the iconic Snowy Scheme. Future Generation JV provides work-life balance, FIFO rosters and charter flights from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Now hiring Drill and Blast personnel, Technical staff, Engineers, Supervisors, Superintendents and more.

How do you relax after work when you’re living onsite?

I’m a competitive powerlifter in the 105-kilogram weight class and I keep up my training for competitions at the gym here at Lobs Hole. I’m on day shift so I train in the evening. I’ve managed to schedule my next competition – USAPL Strength Fortress Open in Melbourne in early December – around some time off.

Scan the QR code to learn more. Or visit

futuregenerationjv.com.au

Presented by Snowy 2.0 Principal Contractor, Future Generation Joint Venture

Andrew Robbins

Most of the work for Snowy 2.0 is happening underground – an irresistible challenge for many skilled workers.

Why staying local makes smarter business sense

Having the support of a local CommBank relationship manager allows Premise, an urban planning and infrastructure consultancy, to provide the expertise of a top-tier firm with the authentic approach and knowledge of a mid-market operator.

Premise is a full-service consultancy that provides tailored solutions in engineering, planning, surveying, project management, architecture, and agricultural and environmental science. The business has been built on strategic mergers and acquisitions, bringing together several specialised firms from around Australia to form one cohesive consultancy. Currently, it employs more than 200 engineers, surveyors and town planners, with 70 per cent of its business based in the regions spanning the east coast from Townsville to Wagga Wagga.

Trusting CommBank’s local expertise

Placing a high value on its regional profile, Premise seeks that local touch from its business partners, too.

“We’ve worked with advisers like banks, law firms and accountants out of metro areas before and it just hasn’t fitted our business –they don’t get it,” says Pat Brady, Executive Director and Chairman of Premise.

“We need someone local who can understand how local businesses operate. Dealing with someone who understands regional perspectives makes the relationship better and more successful.”

Brady and his team have been working with CommBank for almost two years, centring the

business banking relationship in Townsville where one of the main Premise offices is located. Brady says this has been a game changer for its banking relationship. “CommBank understands our local issues because they’re in the area. They understand what we need to do to help get resources into the town to grow our business and the local industry, or what challenges we need to mitigate at a local level. Plus, we know our teams nationally – whether in Mackay or Dubbo – will be supported by CommBank with the same care across the board.”

He adds that the relationship works in both directions. “CommBank is constantly looking at ways to value-add to our relationship with ideas or insights they’ve seen or heard other clients do that we might be able to implement.”

Presented by Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Pat Brady (left), Executive Director and Chairman of Premise, and Donna Astbury, Executive Manager Business Banking, North and South East Queensland, at Federation Place, 42-50 Sturt Street, Townsville

Thriving outside the city limits

Brady says having CommBank’s support on Premise’s mergers and acquisitions strategy has meant the business has been able to expand its footprint yet retain a connection to local communities.

“We’ve always had our heart in regional Australia, with the first of our businesses opening in Orange in 1907. Now, with 13 different consultancies under the Premise banner, connection to our regional communities is strong.”

There are core differences between regional and urban locations, he says. “Regional centres operate quite differently than metro; there are nuances and connections that you just wouldn’t see if operating out of a capital city. CommBank understands these nuances and we find that having a base in the regions is incredibly important as we support our local infrastructure or planning projects.”

Making local leaders

Part of Premise’s difference is its shareholder strategy: in every acquisition, the leaders of the acquired business become shareholders in Premise. It’s this structure that’s crucial in retaining local connectedness.

“We aim to support staff through the whole acquisition process and give those leading the business at a local level a strong say in how we operate moving forward. It also helps with succession of the local consultancies –supporting those up-and-coming engineers to be business leaders and have a stake in Premise at the same time.”

Trusted relationship with CommBank

Everyone can do the basics well, says Brady, but it’s the systems and relationships that Premise has developed that’s made its work with CommBank successful.

“We’ve found CommBank’s systems easier and better to use, and we’ve built a relationship with the team that revolves around open discussions. We chat through challenges and opportunities and everyone has input.”

100+ years CommBank has proudly been supporting regional businesses to thrive

700 CommBank specialist regional and agribusiness bankers dedicated to supporting local businesses

70 regional locations across Australia with dedicated business bankers offering tailored banking solutions

Business banking expertise that’s closer to your business. To find out how CommBank can support your regional business, visit commbank.com.au/regionalbusiness

Townsville

“ CommBank understands our local issues because they’re in the area. They understand what we need to do to help get resources into the town to grow our business and the local industry. ”

Rachel Noble

The director-general of the Australian Signals Directorate – and the first woman to lead an intelligence agency –deals with the worst of humanity but sleeps just fine at night.

How do you define good leadership?

In national security and intelligence, we do tend to be a rather direct and no-nonsense lot. We understand we’re at A but we need to get to B so we have very direct conversations about what’s required to do that. Beyond that very goal-oriented mission focus, I’m a big believer in building a team where all of us have different strengths and we genuinely try to value those strengths. I try to create an environment in which people feel safe and confident to come forward and say, “Hey, I’m having trouble.” That’s really important to me.

You’ve described the ASD as both poacher and gamekeeper. What do you mean by that?

We’re charged by the government to collect intelligence against foreign entities. The Australian Secret Intelligence Service does that by collecting intelligence from humans; we collect intelligence by accessing electronics – emails and things like that. When you get very good at that and you know how to exploit or spy on a network, it gives you a deep understanding about what organisations such as ourselves are capable of and therefore what we might need to do to defend ourselves against highly resourced intelligence agencies across the world.

You’re dealing with threats on a daily basis. How does that inform you as a person and as a leader?

As a leader, it’s a gift. The one thing I’ve never had to concern myself about is trying to mobilise my people behind a mission.

PREVIOUS ROLES Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre; deputy secretary executive group, Department of Home Affairs; national director intelligence and chief information officer, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service

View From The Top INTERVIEW BY KIRSTEN GALLIOTT ILLUSTRATION BY MARC N É MORIN

People work here because they genuinely want to make a contribution to our nation’s security. I think it’s hard for all of us as individuals. We see some pretty horrifying and scary things. But we need to have the grit and resilience to be able to cope with and know about those threats. We see a lot more of the darker side of humanity than the average person might encounter but my belief is that’s okay because it’s our job.

Beyond seeing the dark side, what’s the hardest part of your role? I sometimes joke about this but I’m not really joking. Senate estimates [laughs]. It’s the thing I most dread. I spend a lot of time preparing with my team but you can get questions you just haven’t anticipated. There’s a lot of pressure – you’re representing your organisation and other agencies and departments are watching to see if you accidentally make a problem for them. And in the intelligence community, we have an added challenge of constantly sifting and filtering. How do I know that? Is that classified? Can I say that?

For a long time, spying was kept in the shadows but do you need to be more open now?

I think so. I’ve been in the ASD on and off for more than 25 years. This is my third go. When I first worked here, there was only one talking point that we ever wrote for public release and it said, “It is the longstanding practice of successive Australian governments not to comment on matters of intelligence and security.” Now any Australian can call us and talk to a friendly spy [laughs] about how they can secure their device or get advice on what to do.

And presumably it’s a recruiting tool. I know the ASD is growing rapidly. You have more than 2500 employees now? That’s right. And we’ll grow to nearly 5000 in the next four years so we’re on a big recruitment drive.

So how is the skills shortage impacting your organisation?

We’re very privileged that we don’t experience it. As an employer, we offer something that no-one else can offer and that is when you come into the ASD, you can legally hack computers. Tell me who doesn’t want to do that legitimately. Jokes aside, we put a lot of effort and energy into partnering with institutes of technology and investing in training people. We’re trying to create our own skilled workforce.

What are the greatest misconceptions about cyber attacks?

That “it won’t happen to me” and “I’m savvy and if somebody sends me a scam link or a scam email, I’ll be able to detect that.” Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way that they can target organisations or individuals and will do their own body of research before they launch the email or the attack. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of cybercriminals had a very good understanding of the Australian ecosystem. They closely watched how the government was communicating with Australians… and were able to insert their SMS with a malicious link in it into your SMS chain from myGov. It looked legit because it was sitting in the chain you were expecting. Fortunately, we were onto that very quickly with Services Australia and were able to thwart that effort and take down those criminals.

And what about from a board level?

We’re seeing a real shift. I think what happened to some of our big companies towards the end of last year was really impactful on other leaders. It’s such an enormous credit to David Koczkar [CEO of Medibank] and Kelly Bayer Rosmarin [CEO of Optus] that they have courageously spoken publicly about what happened to their companies and shared those experiences. Abi Bradshaw [head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the ASD] and I have never had so many invitations to speak to boards, which we do regularly.

Are cybercriminals focusing on telcos and health? Is this a trend? Unfortunately, we do see the health sector targeted by criminals. Also private schools. Our theory is that the criminals are banking on the fact that people who own health data or data about children are going to be much more sensitive to any threats of exposure and are therefore more likely to pay ransoms. Our critical infrastructure is more likely to be the business of states and they’re more interested in espionage. They’ll put a great deal of energy into not being found, whereas cybercriminals will eventually reveal themselves. These are the two big bad guys I talk about being out there and they pose very different threats.

Does that keep you up at night?

No, because my people are excellent at what they do and we will continue to mature and get better and better. My people will ring me if they need to. I’ll sleep until the phone rings but my phone is always by my bed.

How much is AI impacting your work?

We’re using artificial intelligence to help our analysts get through large amounts of data. It’s an enabler to support them to prioritise their work every day but we don’t use it to make decisions and that’s an important differentiator for us. We have to stay on top of every cutting-edge technology so we put a lot of effort and resources into understanding how AI and machine learning can be used for good, how it could be used against us and what we can do to defend in that regard.

Your father and sister have both worked at the ASD. You’re its first female leader. What was in the water in your family?

I don’t know. I met my husband at ASD, too, and my sister’s husband also worked here. We’re a family who is passionate about our country and motivated about doing things in our careers and our lives that are about defending and protecting our nation. When my sister and I were younger, people would ask my father what he did and he would say that he was an electronics engineer. It wasn’t until I was much older that I went, “Oh, my god, my dad is a spy!”

What advice would you give a brand-new CEO?

Come and talk to me! I’m happy to meet you. I’d really encourage you to treat cybersecurity risk at the same level of importance as you would treat financial risk and other risks in your business. Understand where your networks are, what is the most valuable data to your business, how it’s being stored and how it’s resilient. Exercising and practising for a bad event can help an organisation learn a great deal about what it needs to do now to prepare.

JOHN BROGDEN

INTERVIEW BY DI WEBSTER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY SIMONS

The former leader of the NSW Opposition left politics for the corporate world and realised that trust – in himself and those around him – is fundamental.

Relationships are vital

2021-present

President, Lifeline International

2012-2021

Chairman, Lifeline Australia

“Ahead of the 2003 NSW state election, one of my election promises was to provide a million dollars in new funding to Lifeline. We didn’t win the election and it didn’t get the money but it opened the door to me to the incredible work Lifeline does. By 2005, I was out of politics, having had a very high-profile suicide attempt [Brogden resigned as leader after inappropriate behaviour at a drinks function was reported]. I wanted to take the opportunities I’d had, to use the profile I’d established and put it towards suicide prevention. In 2009, I joined the board of Lifeline and at my first board meeting ran for chairman. I got one vote – mine. They weren’t ready for my firebrand approach. I felt we needed to move quickly on issues like funding and the call-answer rate. Three years later, I was elected chairman unopposed. During COVID, the [crisis] calls were going through the roof and I thought, ‘Shit, we need more money and quickly.’ So I texted my friend [then NSW Premier] Gladys Berejiklian. She replied, ‘Don’t worry, John, we’ve just put $6 million aside for Lifeline.’ When you need government support, you want to have established relationships and be sure they understand what you do.”

2017-2022

CEO, Landcom

2012–2017

Chairman, UrbanGrowth NSW/Landcom Avoid

2015-2017

Managing director and CEO, Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Not

2006-2008

CEO, Manchester Unity Australia

“One of the things I learnt as a CEO in my late 40s, early 50s, is when you’re employing somebody at a level of seniority, at a high salary, it’s not whether they can do the job – it’s all about culture and fit. All of a sudden you read a CV completely differently. The most telling questions I ask candidates are: ‘What mistakes have you made in your career, what have you learnt and how have you changed? And what would you do differently?’ How a candidate answers provides a very telling self-assessment of their culture and character. If they said they’d never made a mistake in their career, they didn’t get the job. Part of our direction from government at Landcom was providing affordable housing in Sydney. It’s my greatest career disappointment that I wasn’t able to do more. It’s a challenge that needs radical policy change.”

“When I arrived, the chair told me the organisation needed urgent internal transformation. My mistake was to become a micromanager to achieve this. When I realised that the staff didn’t share the assessment, I didn’t communicate the ‘why’ well enough. I broke all my rules. I moved too quickly and I didn’t bring people with me. I micromanaged as a way of trying to reform and it ended with me having a breakdown. I overdid it. When you’re a CEO or a leader, you need to tell people what the destination is, rather than, ‘I’d like you to do this, followed by that, followed by that.’ We ended up with the wrong outcomes and that was stressful. In roles that followed, I’ve tried to have better judgement to know when to trust, when to leave things alone and when to intervene.”

“Manchester Unity was my first business CEO role and my first job after politics. I was aware that the last time many people had seen me was as a politician who’d tried to kill himself after a scandal. I was worried they might make a judgement that I couldn’t handle a high-pressure job. However, in the course of endless cups of coffee and lunches and dinners with people who I really respected and trusted, whose advice I sought after my suicide attempt, only one person said, ‘You won’t get a job.’ In one sense, I was happy for his frankness but it was devastating to my mental health. When I was approached [by Manchester Unity], I said, ‘I don’t know anything about health insurance.’ But they said, ‘We want a leader, not an expert.’ Getting that job was a transformative experience.”

Employ for your weaknesses

2002-2005

Leader of the Opposition, Parliament of NSW

“I challenged for the Opposition leadership in late March 2002, a year out from the NSW election, and I won by one vote on my 33rd birthday. I was the youngest person in my party room. I felt like I was walking on top of a sharp mountain on the edge of enormous self-confidence, self-belief and breathtaking arrogance. I look back now and think part of the reason I ran is that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Would I have been a good premier? The enthusiasm would have been there. Did I have enough experience for some of the complexities of the job? Probably not. Would I have had the brains to surround myself with very competent people with skills? I think so. You employ to your own weaknesses. Nobody is perfect at everything. If you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

To err is human

1989-1994

Ministerial adviser, NSW Government

“At 21, I was a staffer for the then minister for police, Ted Pickering, and part of my job was to decide which replies to letters from the public Ted needed to read before signing and which just needed his signature. A bloke who lived in Penrith [in Sydney’s outer west] wrote and asked, ‘Why is crime higher out here and why aren’t there more police?’ The department’s response basically read, ‘You live in a low-income area so you should expect to have high crime.’ I put it in the file to be signed and not read. It ended up on the front page of the Penrith newspaper. When Ted called me in, he calmly said, ‘John, I haven’t slept all week. I’ve been distraught. Please don’t do that again.’ That was it. No yelling, no sacking. What a lesson in leadership. I would die for that man.”

Trust is usually rewarded

1984-1989

Pizza boy, Marilynas Pizza and Pasta

“I had a job at Marilynas from the age of 15, when I was in Year 10 at high school. I had to take two buses from school to get there by 5pm on Fridays and I worked on Saturdays from midday until 2am. On the first night, the boss said to me, ‘Take a pizza home, eat as much as you want, drink as many drinks as you’d like.’ It was an extraordinary act of trust on the first shift that was instantly returned tenfold. Instead of rules about how much I could eat, just trust. I worked hard and was so proud of the money I earned – this was in the days of paper money and at a food joint it’s all scrunched up and a bit dirty – that I would come home at 2.30 in the morning, open up the ironing board, iron the money flat and arrange all the notes in order of their denomination.”

04:00

Wake up, write down five or six tasks on Asana and Slack then have a snooze.

05:00

Long walk [in Sydney’s Peakhurst] and feed the animals: two cats, four ducks and a human [Robinson is six months pregnant at the time of the interview].

07:00

I can fit in three calls with Los Angeles. A client might say: we need a website.

But we find they actually need an interactive PDF. Sometimes it’s putting aside what’s financially best or the desire to use a shiny, new technology when we know the client won’t maintain it.

The dichotomies are exciting. We built an app for Philips’ sleep division – to help those with chronic insomnia – but one of the first things the Woolcock Institute sleep therapists tell you is: put your phone in another room at night.

07:30

Drive time to Surry Hills. No news –my day is full of absorbing information. I yell out texts in the car. Siri scrambles the messages but at least my friends know I miss them.

08:30

Read emails from the London team. We often work with vulnerable cohorts: people with disabilities, mental health disorders, addictions or those who are in abusive relationships. We worked on Baby Buddy for a British charity to try to engage both partners in the pregnancy journey; unfortunately there’s a folklore in some parts that if a pregnant woman keeps smoking she’ll have a smaller baby and therefore an easier birth.

We’ve built a wearable device that listens to biometrics and heart rate and provides intervention when it detects stress. A soldier designed it; he was contemplating self-harm but then his friend texted. His watch vibrated and it stopped him.

09:00

Meet with the augmented reality and design team. How do you visually communicate so people are not just reading but participating within a story? You consider how people learn. Myself, I will not read instructions regardless of how important the cabinetry is.

09:30

Sydney team’s daily stand-up. We’ve been given a grant to build a web-based platform to help veterans return to work.

As the global CEO of digital development studio Miroma Project Factory, Kat Jade Robinson spends her day thinking about how she can change your behaviour.

The solution is gate-and-stage, like a choose-your-own-adventure book. You do a piece then another piece unlocks and guides you to another area. To learn, people need to absorb information then come back.

“Gamification” is a misleading word [see Good game, right]. One of our products, My QuitBuddy for smoking cessation, is chock-full of it. As you progress through the product, a visual of your body changes into a more positive colour. Numbers flick over, telling you things like how much money you’ve saved. When you have a craving, there are games that require both thumbs to activate. Photos from your own phone remind you why you’re doing this.

10:30

Meet with behaviour change specialist Lynette Reeves. We have to listen to what the client’s experts in the space want to achieve. When we built a product for the Stimulant Services unit at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, for people who use methamphetamines, we assumed it would be to help people resolve their use. It’s not. S-Check offers tools to self-reflect on whether the person’s usage is escalating or declining. Some people will choose to participate in that pathway and this provides safeguards and railings.

The government grant for Avow was to approach the problem of domestic violence in a radically new way. Most perpetrators don’t believe they should be punished. Usually only one breach per Apprehended Domestic Violence Order is recorded; often people go home to get a bag. NSW Police give people this tool to help them notice their triggers and understand the fundamentals, such as what happens when you get arrested? When do you go to court?

11:30

Conversation with our head of production about an automated payment system then a walking meeting with the head of culture, operations and people to talk about renovation plans.

13:20

My diary’s open – the team can get access when they need it – but I block out a large chunk of time daily for focused work: forecasting, new tenders, board documentation. I don’t check email. I clear my inbox in the morning, follow up at day’s end and get work done in between.

16:00

Catch up with sister agency Maker Lab in Singapore, which provides staffing solutions to Google and Netflix. There are 19 agencies in the Miroma Group and it’s important we share regional trends. We see differences in the way accounts need to be serviced; UK-based clients are usually more formal and the timelines are a little longer.

16:30

Review a white paper by our LA director about how content consumption is changing with the introduction of more AR/VR worlds. Much of the internet is inaccessible for those with disabilities. Seeing how that will play out in yet another space interests us.

18:00

Drive home. I always ask Siri to find a podcast using a keyword from an interesting conversation that day.

19:20

Call with our London-based financial director. We’re a global business so when something changes pricing, how does that affect pricing in the US, the

Good game Kat Jade Robinson says, at its rawest, gamification means using game-based mechanics to create a sticky product. So when something built to encourage positive behaviours nudges you to complete a task, that’s its behavioural element. “The gamification piece might be, once you tick off a goal, a sparkly unicorn jumps out,” she says. “It’s the layer on top that makes you feel rewarded as you go along.”

UK, Australia? We do a lot of skunkworks – research and development on new technologies. Sometimes we can claim R&D tax rebates.

20:30

Cook with my partner, Charlie [Ainsbury, a food and beverage creative director], who’s telling me which glassware is coming into fashion. Catch up on 45 WhatsApps on the family feed. I use all the tricks of the trade to de-escalate stress: chunking work, taking stock of the good things (a weekly task called “High and Low”) and Self-care Sunday, which is gardening.

22:00

Read three pages of Good to Great by Jim Collins. Some bosses whose companies go from “good to great” prioritise longevity and the cause of the business above their own self-propulsion. Magnesium. Eye mask. I’m asleep at 10.30. I used to be able to run on three or four hours’ sleep but definitely not in my 40s.

Someone asked me what my hobby was. I think it’s my job. I probably love it a smidge too much.

Business Passport

Human connection is Keryn Nossal’s guiding light. She revels in travelling around Australia with her award-winning production company, Fancy Films , to tell powerful stories and grow her business through the strength of relationships.

Keryn Nossal pauses a moment when asked the number of flights her company, Fancy Films, has booked through Qantas Business Rewards in the past 12 months. It’s 105. No, wait, add the recent team-building weekend in Tropical North Queensland and she gets to 110. “We’re always on the move,” she says.

Keryn and her husband, Steve, Fancy Films’ CFO, are based in Melbourne but spend more time at their home near Cairns now that their three children have finished school. “Fancy Films is like my fourth child,” says Keryn, who started the business in 2002 to make short films imbued with heart and humanity for corporates, government and not-for-profits. She’d previously worked on ABC’s 7.30 Report and at a creative agency, though she originally trained as a critical-care nurse. “Nursing made me a good interviewer because I can put people at ease without even thinking about it.”

Last year, the production company worked on more than 109 video projects for 44 clients across Australia, from Sydney to Mackay, Darwin and Adelaide. With a team of 10 and plans to grow in 2023, Fancy Films relies on the power of face-to-face connections in the pursuit of new opportunities – for both the company and the communities it works with, as Keryn explains.

MACKAY

Melbourne Mackay

“Fancy Films is a relationship-based business and we rely on word of mouth to find new clients. Relationships are key to good collaboration and successful projects. Our work with Mackay Base Hospital came about because we’d done some work for Melbourne’s Austin Hospital, which won

two of the 32 awards we’ve collected since 2014. One of the Austin team moved up to Mackay and needed to make strong, strategic recruitment videos so we flew there to pitch face-to-face and were commissioned for two campaigns and then another. We filmed the doctors and nurses last year and we’ve just shot the allied health team. It’s more like a tourism campaign than recruitment videos because we capture what a great place the region is to live in. We’ve now flown there three times, all booked through Qantas Business Rewards and paid for with our American Express Qantas Business Rewards Card, which gets us triple points on Qantas flights. The points and flight savings we receive through Qantas Business Rewards help us fund future travel, while Platinum status gives me more baggage allowance for our gear and access to Qantas Club – plus, two staff travelling with me can accompany me into the lounge.”

Presented by Qantas Business Rewards

Melbourne Cairns

BROOME

Melbourne Broome

“We’ve done quite a lot of pro bono work for the Yiramalay Studio School, which helps First Nations children access mainstream education, so last August I flew to Broome and drove into the heart of Bunuba Country in the Kimberley. With lockdowns, it had been four years since I’d visited the community. It was so important to me personally to see their faces again; the impact that has on relationships is immeasurable. The short documentaries Fancy Films has made about Yiramalay have won awards and I’ll be heading to Darwin again soon to discuss more Indigenous education projects. Flying direct from Melbourne to Broome is unique to the Qantas network and makes it possible to fit the trip into a busy schedule. I won’t let our team fly with any other airline because I know Qantas will look after us and our gear. And the more we fly, the more rewards we receive.”

Let your business fly

“While we earn Qantas Points for the business on every flight, our staff appreciate that they are earning points for their own Frequent Flyer accounts, too, when flying for work.”

Is your business missing out on Qantas Points when you fly?

Earn points twice on flights with Qantas Business Rewards –once for your business and once for the traveller. Simply add your ABN and Frequent Flyer number when you book.*

CAIRNS

“Just before Easter, we hosted a long weekend for the team at our house north of Cairns. We had a day of strategy, a day out on the reef and another taking part in a cultural experience on the beach with a local First Nations family. We’re B Corp certified – it’s all about supporting something with a higher purpose – and that’s really who we are, with a large amount of pro bono work, as well as work for government and healthcare. We’re a values-based company for our clients and our team. Spending a few days together out of the office focusing on how we approach the next year was vital. We travel a lot and Qantas Business Rewards helps us earn more Qantas Points. As a Level 3 member, we also get discounts of up to 10 per cent on flights, plus we can also nominate one staff member for a Gold Accelerator, helping fast-track them towards Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold status.”

Melbourne Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane

“Transit Systems is an Australian company that runs bus services in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne, as well as ferry services in Brisbane. Safety is their highest priority and last year they wanted new ways to engage their teams on the topic so the Fancy Films team flew to all their sites to shoot real-life stories of their people who had been affected by a safety incident. Obviously, we had to be there in person to film the interviews and capture the emotion. There were more than 10 trips for that campaign and the business was able to earn Qantas Points on our flights, hotels and car hire through Qantas Business Rewards. Travel is always well worth the investment and even if I’m not strictly needed for a shoot, I want to be there in person to build relationships.”

As a Qantas Business Rewards member, you’ll earn Qantas Points for the business every time you and your team fly for work.*

The Qantas Points your business earns are in addition to the points and Status Credits the traveller earns in their own Frequent Flyer account.#

Plus, as Frequent Flyers, you and your team also earn 250 bonus Qantas Points on every flight when your business’s ABN and the Qantas Frequent Flyer number are added.#

Discover how other members unlock more for their business at qantas.com/businesspassport

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

STORY BY NATALIE FILATOFF ILLUSTRATION BY JOHNSON ANDREW

Whether you’re marketing B2B or B2C, recognising your customers’ preferences counts.

returning clients are given a homepage that allows them to repeat their last order and try similar products. Potential Signet clients in Victoria see a homepage that mentions its sponsorship of Moorabbin junior cricket team. “Pulling levers based on customers’ geolocation allows us to show we’re not only national but also local and provides more relevant experiences.”

Motto, a Melbourne-based women’s fashion brand, has been collecting customer comments and case studies for years. Head of digital and ecommerce Leah Tu’inukuafe says the brand is so loved by its clients that “it’s like a cult”. The feedback on every aspect of the business, from in-store experiences at Motto’s six retail outlets to its online Style Talk videos, “really helps us move forward in personalising”.

Research from management consulting firm McKinsey in 2021 showed 71 per cent of customers expect companies to deliver personalised interactions and 76 per cent get frustrated when their experience falls short.

Refining the customer journey is a neverending process for both marketers and technologists. McKinsey found that “companies that excel at personalisation generate 40 per cent more revenue from those activities than average players”.

Packaging supplier Signet, whose customers range from Woolworths to The

Personalisation 101

Trent Olsen, digital growth manager at customer data platform Insider, says, “You should know who your customers are, where they are and what they want, based on experiences with your brand.” Then go on to:

Bearded Chap, is at the razor’s edge. But general manager, marketing and strategy, Matt Henry says, “It’s not about having the best technology. It starts with the customer… We focus on things that are going to make the customer’s life easier.” Google “eco-friendly packaging” then click on Signet. Its Adobe-based platform recognises you’ve come from that search topic and serves you a homepage showing its recyclable products and a case study of how another customer has combined protective packaging and shipping cartons to sustainable effect. In contrast, Signet’s

1 Build trust: Give customers the ability to easily opt out of different communications from you by setting up a preference centre.

Tu’inukuafe uses digital customer experience platform Insider to coordinate data streams and personalise customer experiences. She says its free three-month, proof-of-concept period is invaluable. Ultimately, Motto will “plug everything into the Insider platform” – its Google Ads, Meta ads, email and SMS marketing – and introduce WhatsApp, Messenger and direct mail on Instagram. “The architect part of the platform will build out how a person wants to receive communications from us.”

But this won’t happen all at once. Tu’inukuafe’s team of four will upload data streams and AB test assumptions through different channels in “three-month sprints”, which allows them to dissect impacts and gauge responses.

2 Learn by asking: Survey 20 lapsed customers with questions such as, “Why don’t you shop with us anymore? Let us know and we’ll give you a $100 voucher to come back.”

3 Throw in a wildcard: If you’re a sporting goods retailer, ask your customers, “What’s your favourite sports team?” If you gather data from enough people, you can personalise their experience in new ways.

Forward thinking

Climate change: it’s the challenge of our lifetime. And while some are still debating the best way forward, a cohort of innovative thinkers are charging ahead with action in the areas that matter. From the crucial role that business can play in tackling biodiversity loss to the creative ways in which we can transform waste, there are promising developments guaranteed to reprogram the way we live – and reasons to feel excited about the future.

The future of… BIODIVERSITY

Biodiversity is the latest sustainability hot topic – and not before time. Deborah Tarrant talks to Professor Hugh Possingham of the Biodiversity Council about why business needs to get on board, fast.

“Biodiversity is just a fancy word for nature,” says Professor Possingham, former Queensland chief scientist and a global expert on the subject. He rates biodiversity loss alongside climate change as the two biggest existential threats to humanity.

When species and habitats are both thriving they deliver the essentials of life, from clean water and air to the food we eat. “Without it, they are all a mess,” he says. While almost everyone has “got it” when it comes to climate change and its decarbonisation solution, many are still waking up to the need for urgent action on biodiversity.

Australia – among the world’s 17 “megadiverse countries” – has suffered the greatest biodiversity decline of any continent. An estimated 10 per cent of the country’s land mammals have been lost, with many more only hanging on. Almost 2000 species are now officially at risk of extinction. Many regions have far fewer types of plants and animals and in smaller numbers than they did in the past. Habitat loss, invasive species, global warming and pollution all get top billing for putting pressure on ecosystems.

The crisis is hitting crunch time. Possingham is chief councillor of the newly formed Biodiversity Council, a group of 30 Australian scientists who got together in December to push the issue. Hosted by The University of Melbourne and funded by philanthropic heavy hitters, including The Ian Potter Foundation, the council has been established as an expert voice on the biodiversity challenge, to inform the public and work with governments and businesses. In only a matter of months, it’s been run off its feet with the intense interest from organisations across sectors.

Driving awareness and demand for insights is a federal government reform agenda. Organisations are on notice that they’ll need to explain their impact on nature and their restorative actions – or face the wrath of investors, regulators and consumers. New biodiversity tools, platforms, frameworks and markets are evolving, along with a range of specialist consultancies offering to smooth the way.

Spurring action internationally is the September release of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework, which will provide cues for how to assess and respond to biodiversity risks. Locally, biodiversity credits are planned as part of a Nature Repair Market in which participating environmentnurturing landholders may be issued with tradable certificates.

So what can companies do now? “Get their biodiversity accounts in order,” says Possingham. “There’ll be big advantages for first movers.”

Some are already forging ahead. The University of Oxford is leading a Nature Positive Universities alliance. Luxury brand Louis Vuitton surprised many with the announcement earlier this year that it has partnered with conservation charity People For Wildlife to maintain and improve biodiversity on Australia’s Cape York Peninsula. Among other big corporations taking action are furniture retailer IKEA, mining giant BHP and consumer brands Blackmores, Unilever, and Nestlé.

The Biodiversity Council states that a significant funding boost of about $1.7 billion is needed to support threatened

species, pointing out that’s about seven times greater than current funding levels and less than a third of the contribution that biodiversity-related Great Barrier Reef tourism makes to the economy.

Reducing land clearing, programs to combat invasive species, such as feral cats and foxes, and creating havens for threatened species are also among the new council’s priorities.

Understanding and preparing for the massive impact of climate change on biodiversity will become an enduring focus because the threats are intertwined to a large extent. As business faces a new round of sustainability responsibilities, notes Possingham, research has revealed about one-third of the immediate solutions to climate change will also deliver positives for biodiversity. “That’s a win-win.”

The future of… RENEWABLES

Australia has the public appetite and natural assets to be a world leader in renewable energy. Alison Boleyn speaks to Shane Bartel, CEO of renewable energy project investment and management firm Climate Capital, who says money makes all the difference.

Our land abounds in nature’s gifts. In 2021 renewable energy generated almost a third of Australia’s electricity; sunshine alone delivered 12 per cent, according to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

“Australia has some of the best wind and solar resources in the world,” says Shane Bartel of Climate Capital. He says investor confidence is high and Australia will likely reach its national target of 50 per cent renewables in the electricity grid by 2025. Reaching the 82 per cent target by 2030, however – essential to shrinking carbon emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels – will take accelerated investment, both

private and public, in large- and smallscale projects across the country. It takes an organisation of means three years to set up a wind farm.

“Money moves the needle,” says Bartel. Australian businesses are getting to net zero because their overseas parent companies and trading partners demand it.

The biggest obstacle for reaching 82 per cent is transmission “because it’s ugly. Nobody likes poles and wires except for engineers, and some of them don’t.”

People rarely equate green energy with thousands of kilometres of transmission lines, “where you can comfortably spend $1,000,000 per kilometre on one line”.

Australia’s transmission networks have developed around coal-rich regions. To build a distributed network of small power plants generating green electricity, buy-in from landowners is essential. So is solving environmental issues, such as habitat disturbance, and navigating regulations set up in the 1990s to discourage new coal-fired plants. “Overseas investors get big returns in developing countries. But they look to Australia’s stability. We need to keep the momentum.”

North Queensland, for example, is a land of transmission opportunity, where the sun shines all day and strong winds come up in the afternoon.

Bartel calls hydrogen the green fuel of the future. Australia doesn’t yet have enough electrolysers (machines that produce hydrogen from solar, wind or batteries) with enough gigawatts to generate sufficient hydrogen to meet

targets. So at the same time as the technology improves and the price of hydrogen goes down, we’ll see it first used in applications where it’s cheaper or at least the same price as diesel.

Last December the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced a breakthrough in non-carbonemitting nuclear fusion. For the first time physicists achieved fusion ignition: they produced more energy than was put in. “It works against how many people think the laws of physics work,” marvels Bartel. And it has brought the idea of cold fusion power stations closer to fruition by decades.

Using organic waste – biomass – as an energy source poses challenges. Investors with pockets deep enough to back large-scale projects want security around volume, quality and the timing of supply. Still, Bartel and others are open to investing in micro-projects that will divert waste from landfill and repurpose it.

Likewise, while energy sources from the earth’s crust are far deeper in Australia than they are in Iceland or New Zealand, they are plentiful. Geothermal energy may contribute to the renewable mix.

Perhaps Bartel is most excited about a collaboration with the European Space Agency. Last year, New Zealand startup Emrod demonstrated satellites that capture solar energy in space, where the sun always shines.“It’s amazing,” he says. “I wish I was 18 again because that’s what I’d do.”

The future of… WASTE

Lateral integration is the key term when it comes to sustainability in the creative sectors. Bek Day talks to Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT) at UNSW Sydney, who says there is cause for quiet celebration.

As a nation, our collective waste rap sheet is sobering. Of the 27 kilograms of new clothing the average Australian acquires each year, 23 kilograms are thrown out – a total of 800,000 tonnes, of which more than 90 per cent ends up as landfill. Annually, Australians are responsible for 7.6 million tonnes of food waste, 140,000 tonnes of e-waste and 32.8 megatonnes of waste from the commercial and industrial sectors.

But in the face of the herculean task of decarbonisation and sustainable waste management, the case for optimism is already being made in science labs and innovation hubs across the country. In fact, says Professor Sahajwalla, “I’m really hopeful.”

The 2022 NSW Australian of the Year, whose development of a new generation of recycled materials, including “green steel” made from waste tyres, earned her a 2022 Eureka Prize, says that while her innovations are exciting, the underpinning message – a two-birds-one-stone solution to the dual problems of resource scarcity and excess landfill – is what she is most passionate about.

“I want to change the thinking around waste – it should no longer be seen as waste but as a high-value resource, waiting to come back to life in a circular economy.”

Vital to this paradigm shift is reframing the way we’ve siloed waste by industry verticals in the past, says Sahajwalla, who

Transparent carbon tracking for corporates

How Uber for Business is empowering companies with visibility into the emissions from their ground travel.

Uber for Business – the ride-sharing company’s dedicated platform for organisations – has introduced a sustainability insights dashboard. It allows companies to track their employees’ and customers’ carbon emissions whenever they take an Uber ride and then use the data for ESG reporting.

“Companies are setting very ambitious climate goals and they need or want to better understand their carbon footprints,” says Sam Brown, head of Uber for Business ANZ. “ESG reporting requirements and the accuracy of reporting is becoming more important to customers and stakeholders and the ability to have that transparency is tough.”

Users can look at these insights to see how often employees are taking trips, the percentage of low emissions and the average emissions per kilometre travelled. “It’s

effectively giving companies visibility into what’s actually happening when it comes to ground transportation.”

Brown thinks that with time, this data will continue to evolve. “There are so many other considerations like the type of trip, the gradients, the road type and how that would affect emissions. This is on the horizon from a product perspective.”

The dashboard is part of Uber’s wider sustainability goals as the company aims for net-zero carbon emissions globally by 2040. The commitment involves helping drivers get into zero-emission vehicles as fast as possible, empowering consumers to choose greener and car-free options (such as public transport), as well as being transparent about its annual emissions. The company has committed US$800 million globally, including $26 million

in Australia, to help drivers switch to electric vehicles through direct incentives.

“We are increasing electric vehicle adoption from drivers by halving service fees for all drivers of EVs on our platform. We ran a pilot version of this last year and we saw a four-fold increase in the number of EVs on the platform. It was so successful that we have extended the program for the next three years for the first 2500 drivers.”

To learn more about the new sustainability insights from Uber for Business, visit business.uber/au-sustainability

has also pioneered the establishment of micro-factories at waste disposal sites to streamline zero-waste processes. “For example, we use materials like waste textiles and waste glass in our green ceramic tiles. Instead of saying, ‘A fibre must become a fibre so the only thing we can do with waste textiles is convert them into new textiles,’ we need to think more laterally. Lateral integration can reshape the way we view the limits on what can be done and reimagine these materials.

“You can connect various partners who would normally never have thought about making those products because they never thought they had the capacity, the money or the ability to do it.”

Part of the power of the micro-factories is that they decentralise the recycling and manufacturing process, remodelling the concept of supply chains along the way. “We enable waste collectors to transform their businesses into manufacturing models, turning consumerism on its head.

We have to think about economies of purpose and economies of purpose achieve scalability in a very different way. We can solve the challenges of waste recycling and remanufacturing across the country. When waste is being processed in local micro-factories, you’re not having to cart it across the country.”

It’s proof, says Sahajwalla, that when industry and science work together, real sustainable change is possible. “We’re showing the rest of the world that it’s not just business as usual in Australia.”

The path to many of the large-scale new technologies isn’t without obstacles. “Funding is always an issue for scientific research,” she says, adding that outdated beliefs about Australia’s economic dependence on the natural resources sector also hamper progress.

“We need to design solutions and products that we can manufacture in a way in which we’re not reliant on the resources of the past.”

And in spite of Australia’s relatively low contribution to the problem of global greenhouse gas emissions, Sahajwalla believes we can be a disproportionately large part of the solution. “When we talk about decarbonisation, people say, ‘Well, Australia's a small country, how much impact can we really have?’ But we have clever science and technology and we can inspire others to come on the journey with us. To me, that’s the most important contribution we can make.”

The future of… EVS

The personal car is a cornerstone of Australian life and culture but when it comes to reducing the CO 2 in our vehicles, Australia has been on the backfoot. Noelle Faulkner speaks to Tony Weber of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) about encouraging change.

Light vehicles account for 10 per cent of all emissions in Australia. Electric vehicles, which promise to reduce emissions, are still in their infancy here – the first quarter of 2023 saw EV sales make up 6.5 per cent of the new car market. That’s almost double the transactions in 2022. Encouraging but compare it to the United Kingdom’s 22 per cent last year and it’s not great.

It comes down to adoption, availability and affordability. Australia’s huge appetite for SUVs and light commercial vehicles made up more than 75 per cent of new vehicle sales last year. This, coupled with our battery range needs and government initiatives, has prevented us from getting many of the smaller and more affordable EVs found in other markets.

“The reason why EVs are cheaper elsewhere in the world is threefold,” says Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, the peak body of the automotive industry in Australia. “For one, some governments

We enable waste collectors to transform their businesses into manufacturing models, turning consumerism on its head.

SCIENTIA PROFESSOR VEENA SAHAJWALLA (ABOVE), THE CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY, UNSW

subsidise battery costs. Another way to make cars cheaper is to have smaller batteries. But small batteries do not translate very well to the Australian market. Our major capital cities are large and regional Australia is enormous.”

We’re in a chicken-and-egg scenario. In order to introduce a variety of EVs, infrastructure investment is needed and vice-versa. Currently, there are around 3700 public chargers across the country – a fraction of what is found in similar markets, such as Canada (20,000) and the UK (more than 40,490).

“The good news is that there’s a lot of money coming in from the government, at the federal and state level, as well as the private sector,” says Weber.

NSW has committed $171 million towards building charging stations every 100 kilometres along major highways and every five kilometres on commuter corridors in metropolitan areas.

In April, the federal government offered a glimpse of its first electric vehicle strategy aimed at addressing supply, adoption and infrastructure. On top of existing EV tax cuts and various statelevel initiatives, it intends to work with the industry on initiatives such as developing a mapping tool for charging infrastructure investment (from green energy sources, ideally), offer guidance for apartment dwellers and create local recycling initiatives for EV batteries via new manufacturing possibilities. What’s currently missing are targets for EV uptake and a fuel efficiency standard, the latter of which is expected in the next year.

For now, all eyes are on that fuel efficiency standard. Australia is one of only two developed nations without one (the other is Russia). This has resulted in a lack of incentive for automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), which are already suffering from supply restraints, to bring EVs and other innovations to market in quantity.

Thankfully, the government is taking this seriously. But Weber warns of a toonarrow focus on EVs only and suggests we consider what the right low-emissions options might be for our lifestyle needs – Australia can’t simply copy and paste strategies from other markets.

“We need to have a holistic approach. The policy objective is to reduce CO 2 from the tailpipe. EVs are one solution but there’s a whole raft of other technologies out there. Whether it be battery electric, hydrogen, synthetic fuel or hybridisation, there are different potential ways that we can address the emissions problem.”

This, he says, allows competition and innovation to do the work.

“We’ll see more changes in the next 20 years in the automotive industry than we’ve seen in the past 100. We’ll have lowemissions environments, connected vehicles and much safer vehicles. Put that together and the future is very exciting.”

“

The policy objective is to reduce CO 2 from the tailpipe. EVs are one solution but there’s a whole raft of other technologies out there.

TONY WEBER, CEO, FEDERAL CHAMBER OF AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES

FEELS LIKE HOME. AGAIN.

On board

Premiere movies, hit TV shows and absorbing audiobooks

Movies

There’s something for everyone in this selection of new films.

The writers of The Quiet Place appear to have taken the best of Predator, Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park and Alien to come up with this plot about a space pilot, Mills (Adam Driver, above, with co-star Ariana Greenblatt), crash-landing on a planet that’s eerily familiar. And in the tradition of Alien, Mills finds a small girl, Koa, to protect and emote at, while they fight off dinosaurs and try desperately to get back to present-day earth. Rated M

Magic Mike’s Last Dance

Never let it be said that the Magic Mike movie series doesn’t evolve with its fans. What began in 2012 as a rump-shaking redemptive tale of soulful strippers, almost exclusively tailored to millennial women, has, in this third instalment, become a multi-flexing dance floor buffet for those same women, now in the throes of child-rearing and, possibly, divorce.

Which is where Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek) sashays in, a soon-to-be single mother who’s ready to bankroll Mike’s (Channing Tatum, above with Hayek) dream of being a well-off, legitimate dancer – this time, on London’s West End. Yes, Madame Mendoza has the money, thanks to her estranged husband, and the result is a type of reverse Pretty Woman,

with Mike being paid by Maxandra for a month to clumsily mask his working-class roots, fiddle with posh food and hobnob with snooty types. Meanwhile, Max, firmly asserting she only hired him for work, finds herself falling in love.

Director Steven Soderbergh (The Girlfriend Experience, Erin Brockovich) has always been comfortable exploring the grey area where sensuality is monetised and sexual prowess is seen for what it is – a strange privilege that can take you places but not always keep you there. And although Last Dance is not as philosophical or layered as its first incarnation, who needs philosophy when Tatum can seduce you with nothing more than a body roll set to music? Rated M

Scream VI

Horror’s newly minted queen, Jenna Ortega (above, right, with Melissa Barrera), fresh from the smash-hit Netflix series Wednesday, leads a cast dotted with players from the original Scream, including Courteney Cox, Skeet Ulrich and, of course, that terrifying masked killer, in the sixth instalment of the franchise that began in 1996. If that year doesn’t scare you, you’re unlikely to miss the absence of Neve Campbell as Sidney. Rated MA15+

Words by Natalie Reilly

John Wick: Chapter 4

It doesn’t matter that the inscrutable Keanu Reeves (right) has starred in Shakespeare plays (Much Ado About Nothing for one) and rom-coms (Always Be My Maybe). There are dark, messianic roles he keeps returning to in action movies like The Matrix series, Constantine and yes, John Wick, that will, when the dear man hangs up his black suits for good, form a huge part of his legacy. As the title character in the fourth chapter of the to-date $860-million film series, he turns that “Noir Jesus” energy all the way up, facing off against a demonic nemesis in the desert and winning, dammit – only to find a $21-million bounty on his head. Can John Wick escape betrayal, gun violence and psychological trickery? Is the Pope a Catholic?

With Ian McShane and Bill Skarsgård.

Rated MA15+

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Paul Rudd (left, with co-star Jonathan Majors) brings his eternally youthful charm to the Marvel Universe as Scott Lang, admitting from the jump that his everyman persona doesn’t carry the alpha gravitas of Captain America. But transforming into Ant-Man is how Lang saved the world the first time. And now he’s content to live a small life along with partner Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and in-laws Hank and Janet (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer). Unfortunately, his daughter, Cassie (Big Little Lies ’ Kathryn Newton), disagrees and has been busy rebuilding the quantum universe her grandmother, Janet, once inhabited. Cue multiple CGI sets, green screens, laser sword fights and winky references to Star Wars. To be fair, Pfeiffer, with her hooded robe and mystical wisdom, makes for one hell of a Ben Kenobi. Rated M

Television

Whatever your mood, there’s a show to match.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga

This is based on the real-life story of a wildly successful hip-hop band formed in the midst of a crack cocaine epidemic in early 1990s New York. The Wu-Tang Clan would go on to be one of the most influential groups of all time. Starring Ashton Sanders (below). Rated MA15+

Mayfair Witches

Adapted from the three novels penned by the late Anne Rice about a centuries-old dynasty of witches, this film features Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario, below) discovering the true nature of her lineage. Rated M

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys (above, standing, The Americans), brings all of his brooding charisma to this origin story of the iconic defence lawyer. Set in 1930s Los Angeles, this series depicts Mason as a downtrodden detective, struggling to find out who or what is behind a child’s kidnapping – a case that just might be a conspiracy. With John Lithgow. Rated MA15+

Funny Woman

Rabbit Hole

A spiritual sibling to the fast-paced 24 TV series, in which Kiefer Sutherland (left) played federal anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer, Rabbit Hole sees Sutherland in the role of John Weir, a corporate spy who has the tables turned on him. Rated M

London in the 1960s is not as swinging as it first appears, a lesson learnt the hard way by an aspiring singer (Gemma Arterton, below) who’s determined to be more than just a pretty flash in the pan. With Rupert Everett.

Perry Mason

Audiobooks

Tune into these compelling stories.

A Human’s Guide to the Future

Overwhelmed by the lightning-fast evolution of scientific and technological advances and want to make sense of it all? In this book, Australian biomedical engineer, inventor and futurist Dr Jordan Nguyen takes us on a fascinating journey through high-tech innovations, including robotics, artificial intelligence and bionics, arguing that embracing this mind-blowing change can benefit our future rather than destroy our humanity.

The Dressmaker’s Secret

In 1950s Melbourne, Tilly Dunnage is toiling away in a down-at-heel dress salon – but she has good reason to hide her talents. Back in her fictitious outback hometown, Dungatar, the locals are keen to find her after she left the main street in flames in an act of vengeance. In Rosalie Ham’s darkly comic sequel to The Dressmaker, which was made into a film starring Kate Winslet, Tilly must face the secrets of her past.

When All is Said & Done

When he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2013, former AFL player and manager Neale Daniher had two choices: give in to the incurable condition or create hope for other sufferers. Raised in a large family in regional NSW, Daniher had an illustrious career across three clubs. Post-diagnosis, he founded FightMND, which has raised millions for research into what he calls “The Beast”. Here, Daniher reflects on his life and how to make every day count.

Connect to Qantas

Free Wi-Fi and Entertainment App

Once onboard, connect your own device to Qantas Free Wi-Fi on domestic flights in three simple steps to access the internet and Qantas Entertainment App.

STEP 1

Enable Aeroplane Mode and select the “Qantas Free Wi-Fi” network in your Wi-Fi settings.

STEP 2

Follow the prompts on the “Welcome Onboard” screen to connect.

STEP 3

Once you’re connected, you’re now ready to access the internet and the Qantas Entertainment App.

News

Enjoy unlimited access to theaustralian.com.au, and themonthly.com.au when you are connected to Qantas Wi-Fi onboard and in Qantas lounges.

Having trouble connecting?

Make sure you are connected to the “Qantas Free Wi-Fi” network and go to wifi.qantas.com in your preferred browser to start exploring. Inflight entertainment varies by route and aircraft. Voice calls are not permitted inflight.

Inflight workout

These exercises are designed to provide a safe way to stretch and enjoy movement in certain muscle groups that can become stiff as a result of long periods of sitting. They may be effective at increasing the body’s blood circulation and massaging the muscles. We recommend you do these exercises for three or four minutes every hour and occasionally leave your seat to walk down the aisles. Each exercise should be done with minimal disturbance to other passengers. None of these exercises should be performed if they cause pain or cannot be done with ease.

Foot pumps (foot motion is in three stages)

Ankle circles

Lift feet. Draw a circle with toes, moving one foot clockwise and the other counterclockwise at the same time. Reverse circles. Rotate in each direction for 15 seconds. Repeat if desired.

In the air

Knee lifts

Lift leg with knee bent while contracting your thigh muscle. Alternate legs. Repeat 20 to 30 times for each leg.

Neck roll

With shoulders relaxed, drop your ear to your shoulder and gently roll your neck forward and back, holding each position for about five seconds. Repeat five times.

01

Start with both heels on the floor and point feet upwards as high as you can.

02

Put both feet flat on the floor. Lift heels high, keeping the balls of the feet on the floor.

03

Repeat these three stages in a continuous motion and at 30-second intervals.

Knee to chest

Bend forward slightly. Clasp hands around left knee and hug it to your chest. Hold for 15 seconds. Keeping hands around the knee, slowly let it down. Alternate legs. Repeat 10 times.

Forward flex

With both feet on the floor and stomach held in, slowly bend forward and walk your hands down the front of your legs towards your ankles. Hold for 15 seconds and slowly sit back up.

Shoulder roll

Hunch shoulders forwards then upwards, backwards and downwards in a gentle circular motion.

Mobile phones and electronic equipment: All transmitting electronic devices, including mobile phones, tablets and laptop computers, must be switched to flight mode* prior to departure. Smaller devices such as mobile phones, e-readers, electronic games, MP3 players, iPads and other small tablets may be held in your hands or stowed in a seat pocket. Unless otherwise directed by the captain, these devices may remain switched on and used in flight mode during take-off, cruise and landing. Larger electronic equipment such as laptop computers may only be used from when the aircraft seatbelt sign is extinguished after take-off until the top of descent. After landing, the cabin crew will advise when flight mode may be switched off.

Headsets: Do not use a personal single-pin audio headset in the Qantas inflight entertainment system unless it is supported by a two-pin airline headset adaptor. Personal headsets that connect via a cable

to a handheld device can be used at any time from boarding until arrival. Headsets and other devices that connect via Bluetooth must be switched off for take-off and landing but can be used during cruise.

*Flight mode enables you to operate basic functions of your mobile phone or personal electronic device while its transmitting function is switched off, meaning you cannot make phone calls or send an SMS.

Fly Well

Your wellbeing is our priority. Our Fly Well program brings together a number of measures to give you peace of mind during your flight.

Cabin air: Our aircraft air conditioning systems are fitted with hospital-grade HEPA filters, which remove 99.9% of all particles including viruses. The air inside the cabin is refreshed every few minutes, ensuring the highest possible air quality.

Inflight: The aircraft configuration, including the seats and galley, act as a natural barrier, and people are not seated face to face. The direction of inflight airflow is ceiling to floor.

Enhanced cleaning: Our aircraft are cleaned with a disinfectant effective against coronaviruses, with a focus on the high contact areas of seats, seatbelts, overhead lockers, air vents and toilets. Our people are trained in the latest hygiene protocols.

Face masks: Some destinations require you to wear a mask during your flight or at the airport. Ensure you check the latest government requirements before you travel. Your face mask needs to cover your mouth and nose, fit securely and must be worn unless you’re under 12 years of age or have a medical exemption.

Your inflight health: When flying, passengers can be seated and inactive for long periods of time. The environment can be low in humidity and the

cabin pressure equivalent to an altitude of 2440 metres above sea level. The following advice helps you stay healthy during your journey.

The importance of inflight blood circulation and muscle relaxation: When walking, the leg muscle action helps return venous blood to the heart. Sitting in the same position for a long period of time can slow this process and, in some people, leads to swelling in the feet. Some studies have shown that immobility associated with travel of longer than four hours (by air, car or rail) can also lead to an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or clotting in the legs. Personal factors that increase the risk of DVT include:

Age over 40 years

Personal or family history of DVT or pulmonary embolus

Recent surgery or injury, especially to the lower limbs, pelvis or abdomen

Cancer

Inherited or other blood disorders leading to clotting tendency

Pregnancy

Oestrogen therapy (oral contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy).

There are a number of ways to help reduce the possibility of DVT, including the following:

Avoid leg-crossing while seated

Ensure adequate hydration

Minimise alcohol and caffeine intake before and during your flight

Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes

During your flight, move your legs and feet for three to four minutes per hour while seated and move about the cabin occasionally

Do the light exercises we recommend here (see above) and through the inflight entertainment system.

If you have concerns about your health and flying, or you feel that you may be at risk of DVT, Qantas recommends that you talk to your doctor before travelling. Additional measures such as well-fitted compression stockings or anti-clotting medication may be recommended for high-risk individuals.

Jet lag: Unlike other forms of transport, air travel allows for rapid movement across many time zones, which can disrupt the body’s biological clock. This is commonly known as jet lag. This disruption can affect various body rhythms such as the sleepwake cycle and the digestive system, leading to symptoms such as tiredness and lack of energy and appetite. In general, the more time zones crossed, the more disruption of the body clock and the more symptoms experienced after the journey. We recommend the following to minimise the effects of jet lag.

Before your flight:

Get a good night’s rest

During your flight:

Eat light meals

Wear loose, comfortable clothing and sleep when you can

Stay hydrated – drink plenty of water and avoid excess tea, coffee and alcohol

At your destination:

If possible, give yourself a day or two after arrival to adjust to the new time zone

Go out in the daylight and do some light exercise

Try to eat meals and do other social activities at appropriate destination times to adjust to the new time zone

Cabin humidity and hydration: Humidity levels of less than 25 per cent are common in the cabin, as the outside air that supplies the cabin is very dry. The low humidity can cause drying of the surfaces of the nose, throat and eyes and it can irritate contact lenses. If normal fluid intake is maintained during the flight, dehydration will not occur.

We recommend:

Drink water and juices frequently during the flight

Drink coffee, tea and alcohol in moderation

Remove contact lenses and wear glasses if your eyes are irritated

Use a skin moisturiser to refresh the skin

Cabin pressurisation: During flight, aircraft cabin pressure is maintained to a sufficient density for your comfort and health. As the aircraft climbs, the cabin may reach the same air pressure as at an elevation of 2440 metres above sea level. Cabin pressure does not pose a problem for most passengers. However, if you suffer from obstructive pulmonary diseases, anaemias or certain cardiovascular conditions, you could experience discomfort at these altitudes. These passengers should seek medical advice before flying, as some may require supplementary oxygen. Qantas can arrange this but requires at least seven days’ notice before travelling. The rate of change in cabin pressure during climb and descent is also carefully maintained and does not usually cause discomfort. However, children and infants, and adults who have sinus or nasal congestion, may experience some discomfort because of pressure changes during climb and particularly descent. Those suffering from nasal or sinus congestion because of a cold or allergies may need to delay travel. The following advice may assist:

To “clear” your ears, try swallowing, yawning or pinching your nose closed and gently blowing against it. These actions help open the Eustachian tubes, equalising pressure between the middle ear chamber and throat. If flying with an infant, feed or give your baby a dummy during descent. Sucking and swallowing help equalise pressure in an infant’s ears. Give children something to drink or chew during descent. Consider using medication such as nasal sprays, decongestants and antihistamines 30 minutes prior to descent to help open up your ear and sinus passages.

Motion sickness: Air travel, especially if turbulence is experienced, can cause motion sickness, as it leads to a conflict between the body’s sense of vision and its sense of equilibrium. Maintaining good visual cues (keeping your eyes fixed on a non-moving object) helps prevent motion sickness. When the weather is clear, you should look out at the ground, sea or horizon. If the horizon can’t be seen, closing your eyes and keeping your head movements to a minimum will help. While over-thecounter medications are available, we recommend

you consult your doctor about the appropriate medications. More information can be found: At qantas.com.au/info/flying/intheair/ yourhealthinflight

Through the onboard entertainment system

On our information leaflet available from Qantas or your travel agent

Smoking: Government regulations prohibit smoking on all flights operated by Australian-registered aircraft. The use and charging of all e-cigarettes and other personal vaporisers are not permitted on board an aircraft. There are smoke detectors in all toilets and penalties for regulation breaches.

Travelling with children: Please ask cabin crew for help if required. Baby food and nappies (diapers) are available on most flights, while some washrooms are fitted with baby change tables. Please dispose of nappies etc. in the waste bins.

When you land

Leaving flights: On international flights, the cabin crew will distribute the necessary Customs and Immigration forms. If you are stopping en route, you will need your boarding pass to re-board the aircraft. If you’re travelling as a domestic passenger on an international flight within Australia, retain your boarding card with the large D sticker. This will be required to clear Customs at your destination.

Transferring from Australian domestic flights numbered QF400 and above to international flights: At check-in you will be issued with your international boarding pass. Your international boarding pass and baggage will be tagged through to your final destination. There is no need to claim your baggage or attend check-in at the transfer airport. Follow the signs for international transfers passengers to the complimentary transfer bus (not necessary in Melbourne and Darwin).

Transferring from international to domestic flights numbered QF400 and above: On arrival at your Australian transfer port, go through Immigration and collect your luggage. Proceed through Customs and follow the signs to the domestic transfer area to re-check your luggage. A complimentary transfer bus (not necessary in Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin) departs at regular intervals for the domestic terminal for your connecting Qantas flight within Australia. If your connecting domestic flight is numbered QF1-QF399, there is no need to clear Customs and Immigration. These flights depart from the international terminals. Customs and Immigration clearance will be completed at your final destination.

Transferring to a Jetstar domestic flight: If your next flight is with Jetstar (JQ) or a Qantas codeshare flight operated by Jetstar (QF5400-QF5999), you will need to collect your baggage and follow the signs to the Jetstar counter to check in for your flight and re-check your baggage.

What you need to know

about

your onboard security, safety and health

Qantas security policy

The Qantas Group has a strict policy of denying boarding, or offloading any passenger who makes inappropriate comments or behaves inappropriately inflight or on the ground. Qantas will not accept any inappropriate comments as “jokes”. It will also seek to recover all costs incurred, including diversions as a result of security incidents, from those involved.

Group-wide security

Security screening is subject to the laws and regulations of the country of operation. The Qantas Group ensures that its passengers, staff and aircraft are safe and secure through an outcome-focused, risk-based approach to security management. Qantas security standards apply across the business, including QantasLink and Jetstar. A dedicated operations centre monitors global security events 24 hours a day.

Security advice

Pack your own luggage

Do not carry any items for another person Carry valuables, approved medication and keys in your carry-on baggage

All knives, sharp objects or cutting implements must be in checked baggage

Security measures can include random frisk search after consent is obtained. Passengers may request privacy and must be searched by a screener of the same gender

Important note: Security screening is subject to the laws and regulations of the country of operation.

Restrictions on powders and liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs)

On all international flights to and from Australia: Each container of LAGs in your carry-on baggage must be 100ml or less

All 100ml containers must be placed in a single transparent one-litre plastic bag

Plastic bags containing LAGs are to be screened separately from other carry-on baggage

All powders must be screened separately with restrictions on the carriage of inorganic powders over 350ml (350g)

Passengers may still carry prescription medicines or baby products sufficient for the flight

If departing, transiting or transferring on an international flight at an Australian

international gateway airport, duty-free powders and LAGs must be sealed, with receipt, in a security tamper-evident bag issued at the time of purchase

Full-body scanners

The Australian federal government has introduced full-body scanners at international gateway airports: Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Melbourne and the Gold Coast

The Australian Federal Government has commenced introducing full-body scanners at major domestic airports: Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Darwin, Gold Coast, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Sunshine Coast, Sydney and Townsville

At international gateway airports passengers refusing to pass through the scanner will be banned from entering the sterile area or boarding an aircraft for 24 hours

Exemptions apply for people with serious medical conditions, infants and small children, and people in wheelchairs

As per advice, the energy exposure is comparable to that from a mobile phone several metres away

There are no known safety concerns for people with pacemakers and metal implants or for pregnant women

Dangerous goods

Common items used every day may seem harmless but on an aircraft they may become dangerous. When the aircraft changes altitude, variations in temperature and pressure may cause items to leak, create fumes or catch fire.

Items that are forbidden on aircraft or have carriage restrictions include lithium batteries, other battery types, camping stoves, fuels, oils, compressed gases, aerosols, household cleaners, matches, lighters, paints, explosives (including flares, fireworks, sparklers and bonbons), emergency position-indicating radio beacons, radioactive material, biological and infectious substances and fuel-powered equipment. This list is not exhaustive so please carefully consider what items you pack for your next flight.

If you’re unsure about an item in your baggage, ask a member of our friendly cabin crew.

For further information, go to qantas.com or email dg@qantas.com.au.

Travel advice

Qantas is a partner in the Australian government’s Charter for Safe Travel. Travellers may obtain the latest travel advice for their destination by visiting smartraveller.gov.au.

Automated immigration clearance

Several countries are introducing automated immigration clearance procedures to cope with growing air-travel numbers. The goal is to provide a faster, smoother immigration experience to eligible passengers without compromising border security. Please note that some automated clearance options may not be available due to COVID. Countries providing facilities across our network:

Australia SmartGate: e-passport holders of Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Macau, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and US

China e-Channel: citizens of China

Hong Kong e-Channel Residents: citizens and residents of Hong Kong

Hong Kong e-Channel Visitors: frequent visitors that are visa-exempt, including Australians

Indonesia Autogate passport gates: citizens of Indonesia

Japan Speedy Immigration: citizens and foreign nationals with re-entry and special re-entry permits

New Zealand SmartGate Plus: e-passport holders of Australia, New Zealand, UK and US

Singapore enhanced-Immigration Automated Clearance System (eIACS): citizens, permanent residents, work permit holders and APEC cardholders

UAE eGate: UAE citizens and residents

UK ePassport gates: e-passport holders of UK, Switzerland and European Economic Area (EEA)

USA Global Entry system: US citizens and permanent residents, Dutch citizens, South Korean citizens and Mexican nationals. Canadian citizens and residents with NEXUS membership

USA Automated Passport Control: for US, Canadian and Visa Waiver Program passport holders

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Pre-enrolment required

Quick clues

Across

01. Indulge, ... to (6)

05. Dwells (5)

08. Appreciation (6)

11. Hoovered (carpet) (8)

12. Certainty (10)

13. Classical dancers (10)

14. Beekeeper (8)

15. Of the ear (4)

16. Fast train (7)

19. Trendiest (6)

22. Took long, quick paces (6)

24. Gorilla or monkey (7)

27. Domestic helper (4)

28. Inlets (4)

29. Germinates (7)

30. NY welcome, ... tape parade (6)

31. Fortified wine (6)

33. Detergent (7)

34. Inquisitive person, ... parker (4)

36. Mediterranean aubergine dish (8)

39. Good qualities (10)

41. Articulated puppet (10)

42. Roman carriages (8)

43. Increase altitude (6)

44. Trainee journalist (5)

45. Baby bird of prey (6)

Cryptic clues

Across

01. Cater to every whim of bamboo-eater as discussed (6)

05. Perhaps Elvis is not dead (5)

08. Shows gratitude for Mr Hanks’ signature? (6)

11. Employed a sucker to clean the floor (8)

12. Heartfelt belief in guilty verdict (10)

13. They are expected to keep on their toes (10)

14. A pianist has to make a slight change –he has hives (8)

15. In relation to hearing organ, use some narcotics (4)

16. Talk about feelings nonstop (7)

19. Most recent Los Angeles cricket match (6)

22. Marched purposefully while saint travelled on horseback (6)

24. Ape spotted pate around the edge (7)

27. Crazy about one domestic servant (4)

28. Howls at the moon where the coast curves in (4)

29. Signs of new growth in vegetables (7)

30. One who adds mark of approval shows heart (6)

31. Bashful about slip-up with Madeira (6)

33. One hundred slimmer and not as dirty (7)

34. Curious when son returns with ponytail (4)

36. Ask a sumo out for Greek meal (8)

39. Assigns distinctive properties (10)

41. Marry Annette? Heard there are strings attached! (10)

42. In ancient vehicles you have to sit backwards in weird chairs (8)

43. Go up as first climbers finish (6)

44. Army student acted out (5)

45. Symbol of The States in the early days? (6)

Down

02. Insistent (7)

03. Betrayer (6-7)

04. Merciless (11)

05. Weighed down (5)

06. Naughty pleasures (5)

07. Ice-cream treats (7)

08. Minor (detail) (7)

09. Other self, ... ego (5)

10. Is familiar with (5)

17. Stationery item (5)

18. Gastronome (7)

20. Demanding (4-9)

21. Cast pearls before ... (5)

23. Garbage (5)

25. Firebug’s offence (5)

26. Eradicate (11)

32. Deeply desired (7)

33. Utterly confused (situation) (7)

35. Retract (claw) (7)

37. Spoken tests (5)

38. Greasy mud (5)

39. Modify (rules) (5)

40. Implied (5)

Down

02. In Canada, man takes firm (7)

03. Traitor who signs off with two kisses? (6-7)

04. Showing no compassion while ruining Mr Lee’s roses (11)

05. Burdened boy with directions (5)

06. Nasty habits involving clamps (5)

07. Desserts enjoyed on days of rest, we hear (7)

08. Four appearing in trial are not worth worrying about (7)

09. Modify later (5)

10. Understands but hears more than one negative (5)

17. Father takes each document (5)

18. Food-lover needs remedy after dodgy pie (7)

20. Taking many hours to see how long eating lasts (4-9)

21. I am in the news, unfortunately, for being a pig (5)

23. Covered in heat rash? Rubbish! (5)

25. Clear sons hid crime (5)

26. Take out former spouse to reach the end (11)

32. Year little Edward longed for (7)

33. Disorganised coach worked around it, somehow (7)

35. He hates coming round to put sword away safely (7)

37. Examinations brought in by Professor Al Stewart (5)

38. Southern citrus covered in snail trail goo (5)

39. Revise brief morning closure (5)

40. Understood it after Tom turned up (5)

Sudoku

Tough puzzle, simple rules: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the numbers 1-9.

Wheel of words

Create as many words of four letters or more as you can using the given letters once only but always including the central letter. Don’t use proper nouns or plurals ending with “s”. See if you can find the nine-letter word using all letters.

22 Good

25 Very good

28+ Excellent

Match-ups –1980s singers

Fill in the missing parts of these musical names and find them in the box of letters. When you’ve crossed them all off, the letters left over will spell out somewhere you wouldn’t have heard these popular voices in the 1980s.

Spot the difference

Can you spot the seven differences between these two images? Circle what’s changed on the image below.

Quiz

By Hazel Flynn

01. What type of transport gave us the terms chockablock, taken aback and tide over?

02. What 1986 John Farnham release remains Australia’s highest-selling album?

03. The name of what figure in Gaelic myth translates as “woman of the fairies”?

04. Which of North America’s Great Lakes is entirely within the United States?

05. Sri Lanka’s flag features a lion holding what object?

06. What is the small sheath on the end of a shoelace called?

07. Which two nations competed in the final of the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup?

08. And which player scored the most goals in that overall tournament?

09. Logan, Roman and “Shiv” Roy are characters in what hit TV series?

10. What country is home to the world’s longest fence?

11. Equal amounts of what four ingredients go into a pound cake?

12. What two brothers were co-founding members of the band AC/DC?

13. About 65 per cent of the mass of a human body consists of what chemical element?

14. What is the United Kingdom’s only Formula 1 racetrack?

15. Murano in Venice is famous for what kind of products?

16. Baleen and toothed are the two types of what?

17. In finance, what does S&P stand for?

18. Gene Cernan was the last person to visit what location?

19. An animal’s vibrissae are better known as what?

20. The asterisk is above what number on a standard computer keyboard?

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Solutions

If you’ve filled in the answers, please take the magazine with you so the cabin crew know to replace it with a new copy.

Sudoku

Crossword

Wheel of words

Cave, Evil, Gave, Give, Live, Nave, Vain, Vale, Vane, Veal, Veil, Vein, Vice, Vile, Vine, Alive, Anvil, Calve, Cavil, Civil, Gavel, Given, Liven, Naïve, Navel, Vegan, Venal, Vigil, Caving, Living, Venial, Calving, Leaving, Veiling, Cleaving. Nine-letter word: VIGILANCE Spot

Match-ups

Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Belinda Carlisle, Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Chris Isaak, David Lee Roth, Dolly Parton, Elton John, Eric Clapton, George Michael, Gloria Estefan, Huey Lewis, Kate Bush, Kylie Minogue, Leo Sayer, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, Mick Jagger, Neil Diamond, Neneh Cherry, Nik

Kershaw, Paul Young, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Sheena Easton, Sinead O’Connor, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Dayne, Tina Turner, Tom Petty, Tracy

Chapman, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson

Solution: On Spotify

Quiz

01. Sailing ships 02. Whispering Jack 03. Banshee

04. Lake Michigan 05. A sword 06. An aglet

07. France and Argentina 08. Kylian Mbappe

09. Succession 10. Australia (the 5600-kilometre

Dingo Fence) 11. Flour, butter, sugar and eggs

12. Angus and Malcolm Young 13. Oxygen

14. Silverstone 15. Glassware 16. Whales

17. Standard & Poor’s 18. The moon

19. Whiskers 20. 8

“ONCE I DREAMED TO BECOME THE FASTEST DRIVER. TODAY, I AM A DRIVER OF CHANGE.”

LEWIS HAMILTON, 7 TIME FORMULA 1 TM WORLD CHAMPION

IW3894 THE REFERENCE.

IWC PILOT’S WATCH CHRONOGRAPH 41 TOP GUN