Category: travelogue
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Dark Mofo 2026: The fire this time
This year’s Dark Mofo was a fleeting visit, a day and a half lifted from a longer trip to Tasmania’s north-west coast, where I’ve been spending time with my mother, who is approaching her 90th year. She lives near Ulverstone, and something is grounding about being there, in the flat grey light of a Tasmanian…
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Thailand Diary: nine days on Koh Phangan
I arrived in Bangkok on a beautiful morning, checked into my “suite”, a small, boxy room with no design logic and felt immediately at ease. This is the paradox of Thailand. The comfort factor is extraordinarily high even when the physical circumstances are modest. No matter how ugly Thai modernism may be, there are always…
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Source to Sea: tracking the Snowy River from Kosciuszko to Marlo
Australia’s Snowy River springs from the alpine snowmelt on Mt Kosciuszko, carving a 352-kilometre route through gorges, plains and forests before meeting Bass Strait at Marlo, Victoria. Our multi-day journey followed this legendary waterway, tracing its heartbeat. From Gippsland dairy flats to Kosciuszko’s rocky headwaters, every bend revealed a version of the Snowy, wild and…
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Southern tracks: Slow journeys through Sri Lanka’s hill country and Colombo 2/2
Rattly train to Nuwara Eliya Leaving the faded colonial robes of the Queen’s Hotel behind, we made our way on foot through Kandy’s early-morning bustle to the train station. Distances in Sri Lanka can be deceiving; on the map, towns appear close, but the reality is otherwise. Of all transport options, trains set the gold…
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Travels in Sri Lanka, Negombo, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, and Kandy 1/2
Sri Lanka sits off the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, an island marked by natural beauty and cavernous complexity. Its story is tangled with colonial exploits—first by the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, and then the British, whose influence still permeates the island’s railways, legal systems, and architecture. After independence in 1948, Sri Lanka’s…
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Dark Mofo: Finding Light in Hobart’s Winter
Every year, in the depth of winter, Hobart shrugs off its sleepy charm and embraces a darker, more primal energy. This is Dark Mofo, the Museum of Old and New Art’s (MONA) annual winter festival, a phenomenon that has become a pilgrimage for those seeking art, music, and ritual in the longest nights of the…