Seachange in Byron

Karen Halabi reports from idyllic Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. She's been checking out the surf, the best eating spots, the best spots to stay and the burgeoning coffee plantations which are making Byron one of Australia's premier coffee growing regions.

Former Sydneysiders Tristan Grier and Kassia Picone are the enthusiastic new owners of the famed Harvest Café at Newrybar in the hills outside Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. The dynamic duo have just taken over at this must-stop eatery on the northern NSW coast.

They are just two of the people for whom life in Byron has become a “seachange”, joining the throngs of Southerners from colder climes in Australia who are moving north from cities such as Sydney and Melbourne to find their own little place in paradise.

GTW-er Karen Halabi met them when she was compiling a story for the website on The Best of Byron.

Byron Bay may once have been Australia’s alternative capital but these days its gone very much mainstream, probably a sign of our new found environmental and global warming consciousness.

Byron has also attracted such people as Gregg Cave, co-owner (along with singer Olivia Newton-John) of Gaia retreat and Spa in the Byron hinterland just a short drive from Harvest. Everyone’s here for the same reason – lifestyle; they’re escaping the urban rat race for a simpler more idyllic life in the If you’re interested in a story on Byron, Australia’s answer to …., contact Karen (karen@globaltravelwriters.com) or check out the website at www.globaltravelwriters.com

Podcast: Seduced by the Islands of Love

Powered by Podbean.com

Read the latest story at News.com.au's Escape

Postcard from South Georgia

From Rod's journey to Antarctica.
See the images || Read the story

Where are they/where are they going?

The peregrinations of the Global Travel Writers: July 2007

• Tricia Welsh is just back from Libya, and found this formerly renegade nation a total surprise. She will shortly be reporting on Libya, and also on a new, luxury Nile cruise in Egypt
  


• Roderick Eime tramps the streets of Beijing in search of Maoist memorabilia


• Philip Game takes in some fresh-air fun in Brisbane and goes road-tripping in Western
  Scotland


• Karen Halabi goes kayaking on the mighty Katherine River, and meets colourful local characters in Australia's Northern Territory


• Glenn A Baker finds Calming luxury in Lisbon


• Graham Simmons goes on an unlikely search: Finding Green in Taiwan, and will shortly be reporting on preparations for the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung


• Sheriden Rhodes finds an unknown gem, Woodwark Bay, in the Whitsunday Passage of Queensland, Australia


• Thomas E King tees off in India, Hitting Hyderabad Greens, and explores the hidden Gems of Gibraltar, and


• Sally Hammond takes an in-depth look at the Paris Metro

We'll have more lavish and glorious details on their travels for you shortly.

Pardon My French

Shortly before leaving Australia, committed Francophile and Global Travel Writer, Sally Hammond, tempted fate when telling friends about her planned trip to France.

“I’ve never had a bad meal there,” she asserted with apparent confidence. Fortunately they couldn’t see her fingers crossed behind her back.

So is this going to be the trip to prove her wrong?

With her husband Gordon, the tireless ‘Mad Photographer’ at the wheel, Sally zips off on another adventure – firstly south to Burgundy and Provence then heading west across the country, swiftly dipping into Spain and even more swiftly out again, and then dawdling up the west coast via Gascony, the Dordogne and the Loire.

Among many other things Sally and Gordon trace mineral waters to their sources, learn of donkeys in PJs, tour champagne cellars, a famous cognac house and an underground chateau, and sleep in an 800 year old castle.

Then one lunchtime Sally samples a mystery ingredient which turns out to be a little more than she’d planned on.

So here’s the invitation: “Please come along for the ride,” she says. “Think of it as a ‘tour de France’ – without the bikes.”

Paperback | 2007| New Holland | Cookery, French – France – Description and Travel |ISBN 9781741103960 | $24.95

Summer in Siam by John Borthwick

"I walked out the door, a bit dazed. I had ten dollars and two not-quite diamonds, and it was summer in Siam." John Borthwick's first day in Thailand seemed far from auspicious — but it has been uphill from then on. Dropping him in the middle of everything from three-day tribal weddings, elephant polo follies and pristine islands to Pattaya's bacchanalian nightlife, Thailand has kept John and his pen constantly on the move.

One of Australia's leading travel authors, John Borthwick has gathered here the best of his years of Thailand adventures, plus a swag of vivid tales from his wanderings in India, Xinjiang, the Himalayas, Borneo, Bali, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Paperback
Bangkok Books
Bangkok 2006
232 pages
ISBN 974-85129-2-4

The Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for June 2007

• Philip Game reports from Green Spain
• Tricia Welsh has the latest news from the Americas Cup 2007 city of Valencia
  
• Rod Eime stares death in the face in the vaults of the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Sicily
• Glenn A Baker goes behind the casino façade and visits Hidden Macau
• Sally Hammond explores the mysteries of Flinders Island, in Australia's Bass Strait
• Tom King goes Golfing in Shellharbour, just south of Sydney, and explores the World of Mosques
• Karen Halabi reports from Budapest, the City of Spas
• Graham Simmons finds that ghosts and opium dens are just a part of the colourful history of Maryborough, Queensland
• Sheriden Rhodes chills out on the superb Beaches of the Maldives
• John Borthwick finds himself Dogless in Dalmatia
  

For more, visit: Global Travel Writers