December, 2010

For many Australians and international visitors, Queensland’s Gold Coast is a magical place where beautiful men and women do nothing but tan their perfectly sculpted bodies, and children run amok the beaches, happily chasing each other and collaboratively building sparkling sandcastles.

Towering transvestites in immaculate dresses with pin-point stilettos; the ‘queer nuns’ of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an order armed with Christmas glitter set to banish rather than farm guilt; Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka, a survivor of the atom bomb; a comedian Marga Gomez, and a jazz rendition by Veronica Klaus.

Rebecca Arnold writes: “Chicken heart! Chicken heart! You eating chicken heart!” The two girls next to us giggled and pointed to a picture depicting a person and the various cuts of meat one could have. My boyfriend and I looked at each other and then back at the meat on the plate suspiciously. Surely not? [...]

The first song on the CD my husband puts on happens to be Paul Kelly’s Leaps and Bounds. “I’m high on the bridge, looking over the hill, to the MCG…”, he sings the opening line. And I’m surprised to find tears pricking my eyes.

I’m pretty sure it was just a straight scam. But when there is a violent sectarian militant group involved, it is hard to be sure. To begin with, I should have been tipped off by the fact that he knew people in Wangaratta. Not that there is anything wrong with Wangaratta as such, but making [...]

Nicola Heath writes: We arrived in St Jean de Luz at the same time as a blustery squall. It was the afternoon and all we could do was find a place to stay and literally batten down the hatches. The following morning the storm persisted and the furthest we ventured was to one of the [...]

Crikey intern Alison Drew-Forster writes: The December Australian Traveller issue has been released and features the “The hottest destinations for 2011“ as well as the top 10 “Warming Up” destinations for the coming year. Predicably many of the winning destinations are in Queensland, with the Sunshine State scoring one of the top 10 destinations, and three [...]

In this post-GFC world, rumours abound that South Yarra has fallen from its once untarnished reputation as one of Melbourne’s most exclusive inner suburbs. KR skipped to the other side of the Yarra to find out.

Dr Terry Cutler writes: For the serious traveller the only time to go to the island of Mallorca off the Spanish Mediterranean coast is in the off season when all the tourists and temporary residents have disappeared. The scale of the annual summer migration to Mallorca is reflected in the size of its airport. Approaching the [...]