South Seas mountain biking in the snow

by Brett Atkinson on

If you sign up for a morning’s mountain biking on a South Seas island, the last thing you expect is a rogue snowfall, right? Well if you’re on Australia’s southernmost (and only island) state you’d better be ready to literally experience four seasons in one day. Especially if you journey to the summit of Mt Wellington, huddled above the Tasmanian capital of Hobart in spring.

A few weeks back we left downtown Hobart – well worth a look with its collection of raffish harbourside pubs and a great weekend market – in complete sunshine . By the time we’d reached the 1270m summit of Mt Wellington there was a full on snowstorm – probably the first and last time I’ll experience snow in the Land of Oz.

Fifteen minutes later the clouds had parted and Hobart was before us in sunshine. And half an hour later – after a few semi-technical offroad stages – the rain and wind had come rolling back in.

But when a bike ride finishes up at one of the world’s most picturesque old breweries, changeable weather is the last thing you really care about.

Thanks to to Island Cycle Tours for the pic.

One for the Road: Red, White and Drunk All Over

by Kelly Amabile on

Until I spent a month in Spain, red wine was something I generally steered clear of. I stuck to pinot grigio and the occasional chardonnay, even though I often didn’t enjoy them. But extended travel through Spain, and then Italy, and then Slovenia and Croatia too — and I was hooked on both colors of the wine rainbow. I attribute my growing amateur love of wine to the experience of tasting while traveling — besides meeting local folks, there seems no better way to discover a place than through the wine (and food) that defines it.

Natalie McLean’s book details her own wine love affair and how traveling played a part: Red White and Drunk All Over – A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is a wonderful introduction to the world of wine, from a journalist and sommelier who started out simply as a curious fan. She writes with experience, but also with honest passion and an engaging interest in all aspects of the industry that is as addictive as the wines she samples. McLean visits France to uncork Burgundy and celebrate Champagne, lingers in wine shops with global appeal in both New York and San Francisco, works as a sommelier in Canada and explores California’s Sonoma Valley. I gathered countless tips and useful insight from her investigative travels, but what sticks with me most is a renewed appreciation for the role that location plays in wine production. The French word terroir refers to the characteristics of geography that make individual wines so unique — it can be loosely translated as a “sense of place”. As a traveler, I’m drawn to what this word stands for — it entices me to set out on fantastic vineyard voyages of my own.

Is there another wine-soaked journey in Natalie McLean’s future? The only disappointment I had with her book was that McLean’s travels did not include visits to Mediterranean countries, or further afar, to places like South Africa, South America or Australia. I’ll be sure to check in at her impressive wine website, Nat Decants, to see if she’ll be embarking on future journeys. In the meantime, consider kicking back with a bottle of red and this truly enjoyable read — it’s a nice gift for all your wine-lovin’ pals…or to quench your own thirst for global grape goodness.

One for the Road: Colour – Travels Through the Paintbox

by Kelly Amabile on

This book beckoned me from a front table at Artisan Books on Gertrude St. in Melbourne’s Fitzroy neighborhood. The 2006 paperback version I bought has the bold cover shown here, although I’ve seen several other versions of this book that was originally released in 2002. Regardless of what it looks like, Victoria Finlay’s Colour: Travels Through The Paintbox is a masterpiece. Just as I enjoy looking at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers again and again, so too will I delight in returning to passages from this multicolored exploration of our world.

From ochre to violet, Findlay unearths every possible facet of the rainbow. Her research takes her to Spain, for Consuegra’s Saffron Festival (yellow), to lapis lazuli mines in Sar-e-sang, Afghanistan (blue), and to Mexico, in search of the purple of the Mixtecs (violet). Finlay takes the reader along on this magical journey as she creates a spectacular canvas loaded with pigments, dyes, gems and stones. Her quest to uncover the history and origins of color reveals a rich palette that stretches to every corner of our planet. It would be wonderful to see a map painted to match the discoveries from her color expeditions.

Australia: Expert nature manipulators?

by Abha Malpani on

Australia is one of the most naturally beautiful places I have been to, specifically because I see it as nature in its most untainted form.

The country has the largest and most diverse national park systems in the world, that covers over 24 million hectares of land.

I lived in Australia for 3-years and what I noted more than anything was how most Australians love being one with nature: traveling, diving, the wilderness, being outside, camping, and generally have enormous respect for the environment.

This is why I find it partly ingenious and partly scandalous that the Australian government has invested AU$10 million to work on a technology to form new rain clouds from blue skies by generating ions in the atmosphere.

This new ionization system uses a ground-based device to attract water molecules that then condense and generate heat; this apparently gives rise to an atmospheric condition where clouds are formed naturally.

Sure, many parts of are in dire need of rain, and a different form of rainmaking technology has been in use in Tasmania and the Snowy Mountains for years. Although the system seems natural, and is for no other reason but to provide water where deficient for obvious reasons, it disturbs me to see expertise in manipulating nature.
Australia tops the list of naturally beautiful destinations, but if they mess with nature and “create” environments for whatever reason, surely that would tamper with the fundamental reason as to why they are beautiful in the first place, no?

One for the Road: Vroom By the Sea

by Kelly Amabile on

Australian travel writer Peter Moore, author of memorable titles such as No Shitting in the Toilet and The Full Montezuma has a new book out that was just released downunder: Following on the success of Vroom with a View, comes Vroom by the Sea: the sunny parts of Italy on a bright orange Vespa.

Tough gig, huh? Ride around coastal Italy on a sporty bike, whose color is described as “the same shade of Donatella Versace”, and write stories about travels through Sardinia, Sicily and the Amalfi Coast. All this while your wife is back at home, pregnant with your first child. Very lucky man indeed. It’s “another laugh-out-loud whilst grinding your teeth with jealousy travel memoir.”

If you’re in OZ this week, you can meet Moore and grab the book — Tonight he’ll be at Gleebooks in Sydney, tomorrow at the Malt Cafe in Beaumaris (Melbourne) and on Thursday, he’ll be at the famous Espy in St. Kilda in support of fellow travel writer Brian Thacker’s band, which will be playing that evening. He’ll also be making an appearance in Brisbane in December.