My bad trip – I gave my wife a tropical island holiday, complete with cyclone
I never know what to buy my wife for her birthday, but the year I gave her a week on Hamilton Island will be hard to top
December 2022
A local's guide
A local’s guide to the Gold Coast: ‘There’s a great grassroots art scene’
Forever an Australian go-to for simple, sunny holidays, this sandy stretch of beach suburbs has matured into a thrumming metropolis. Still, nature is never far away, says local artist Dion Parker
A local's guide
A local’s guide to Brisbane: ‘what do you want? Because it’s all here’
Brisbane may be a medium-sized city but thanks to a multicultural food, arts and nightlife scene, it’s also a world tour, says star chef Louis Tikaram
A day at the beach
A day at the beach: ‘I’m screaming through my snorkel … I didn’t think I’d ever get to see one’
Marine biologist Jacinta Shackleton was snorkelling on holiday when she had the sighting of a lifetime, a rare and beautiful blanket octopus
July 2022
Taking stock: how has 10 years of Airbnb changed Australia?
It has been a decade since the online marketplace turned ordinary Australian homes into potential tourist accommodation. How has it changed how we travel and the communities we travel to?
June 2022
Queensland considers new tax on tourists to be imposed by local governments
‘A reason to get up … and it’s free’: a volunteering holiday in the Whitsundays
Rum reborn: how Queenslanders are swapping their beloved Bundy for sophisticated sips
Eager to leave? Advice for Australians facing sky-high travel costs
April 2022
Seeds of destruction: amid Lady Musgrave Island’s wonders lies a brutal killing field
Australia’s 20 best travel experiences, ranked by Lonely Planet
February 2022
The secret life of bats: vital workers of the night
At the Tolga bat hospital in Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, orphaned bat babies are nursed to health, ready to fulfil their role in our forest ecosystems
Cellar doors and sunsets: romantic Australian mini-breaks under $500
Getaways in every state and territory to deliver honeymoon feelings, without the luxury price tag
Life aquatic
‘Never, ever look down’: a middle-aged guide to catching waves
Braving board burn and wipeouts, Alison Rourke fulfilled a lifelong dream and learned to surf – between two cyclones and the remnants of a tsunami
January 2022
Most beautiful mammal? Tailing tree-kangaroos in Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands
An evolutionary marvel, tree-roos can be elusive. But seeking them out will put you in the way of rainforests, waterfalls, cathedral-like trees and remarkable beauty
December 2021
How to holiday across Australia this summer without an exorbitant rental car
No vehicle? No worries – it shouldn’t mean you have to hit the brakes on your getaway plans
November 2021
‘Towns like this attract a lot of quirky souls’: a visitor’s guide to Queensland’s Scenic Rim
Named by Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 regions in the world to visit in 2022, the Scenic Rim is an unassuming character in the state’s tourism tale
October 2021
‘The normalest Saturday night’: on the Gold Coast a $10m pool club opens in strange times
At Cali Beach, Ben McLeay finds rooftop jet-skis, fire twirlers and neon sea creatures folded into the perfectly ordinary social dynamics of a night out
June 2021
‘Too cold for crocs’: freshwater snorkelling in the Daintree rainforest
On the road again
Fossil fever: driving and digging in a long lost sea on Australia’s dinosaur trail
