This year I have decided to think outside the box for X. So I have come up with a list of ideas that give a tourist destination that something special.
For me, the X-factor can be many things. possibilities include:
Welcoming to travelers
A special story attached to the town
Interesting scenery or connection to nature
Make use of available resources
Friendly people
Sell their uniqueness
Encourage travelers by making a special feature of the area to draw crowds e.g. Parkes Elvis festival
Well maintained parks and open spaces
Family friendly facilities
Including anything that is different to home
National Parks
Ability to see local animals
Good quality food, reasonably priced
Museums and places of history
Tourist information centres with knowledgeable staff
Local walking tours both self guided and with knowledgeable local identities
The Gloucester Region is home to platypus so this park made a feature to celebrate them.
There is only one problem with spending time thinking about holidays. Now I have to go and plan my next Xtraordinaire adventure.
On our trip to Kyneton we decided to follow many of the second hand book trails it the area. We had a great time and came home with many second hand books for our library.
My favourite was the first that we visited – Woodend Bookshop. An old fashioned second hand bookshop that is filled with 20,000 books. As well as modern fiction from popular writers, the bookstore keeps signed first editions, rare and collectible books as well as valuable first editions.
The owner was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about books. He was available to answer all our questions when needed and loved having people browsing in his shop even if they didn’t buy. We were also pleased to hear that if we were looking for a book even if it was difficult he would do what he could to procure it for us.
“You can’t buy happiness but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.”
Vivid Sydney commenced in May 2009. It is a festival of light, music and ideas. Each year it has grown and now is the largest festival in Australia. The festival runs for 23 days from late May to middle of June and begins at 1800 every night when the lights are turned on.
The first building to be lit is the sails of the Sydney Opera House. In 2017 when we last attended Vivid, we planned our trip to see the Opera House light up. It was a real ‘ah’ moment.
Lighting of the Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Harbour Bridge also takes centre stage every year with its changing displays of colour.
These projections top and bottom are on Cadman’s cottage, one of Australia’s oldest buildings. It was built in 1816 at The Rocks.
Projections Onto Cadman’s Cottage
The Museum of Contemporary Art displays each year are one of my favourites. It is one the original buildings to join the festival and can easily be seen across the harbour.
The Museum Of Contemporary Art
Walking Through The Botanic Gardens
Each year as the festival has increased in popularity, more areas around Sydney are lit up. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic Vivid 2020 has been cancelled but it promises to make Vivid 2021 an even bigger and brighter festival.
When we lived in Sydney I loved spending the day exploring Sydney Harbour by the ferries. We would get on at Sydney Olympic Park Ferry Wharf on the Parramatta River and travel into Circular Quay. This trip is about 50 minutes and takes you under Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge.
We would have something to eat at one of the amazing restaurants or cafes around the Rocks. Then, we would go back to the Circular Quay Ferry wharf. We would then decide where our next ferry trip would take us. Our favourite trip being across Sydney Harbour to Manly. To finish off the perfect day, we would catch ferries all the way back home away, often into the setting sun.
Sydney Harbour is the world’s deepest natural harbour. It is a beautiful busy harbour the holds over 500 gigalitres of water. 1 gigalitre is 1,000,000,000 or 1 billion litres. As Sydney Harbour contains 240 kilometres of shoreline, it is easy to see why there is always something new to see, notice and admire.
‘The best bakery in the world.  This is all about heart, passion and a love for making great bread.’ ​George Calombaris, MasterChef
​​​​‘I had RedBeard sourdough for breakfast and it was absolutely delicious. RedBeard is doing a wonderful job to promote the resurgence of authentic sourdough and artisan woodfired baking.’
Maggie Beer, legendary cook and restaurateur
Thes two quotes were taken directly from RedBeard Historic Bakery’s website and written by famous Australian chefs. Personally, I agree.
RedBeard Historic Bakery is in Trentham, Victoria. It makes the most amazing sourdough bread, cooked in a rare scotch oven. A scotch oven is a traditional, wood-fired commercial baker’s oven. Originally all bread was made in a scotch oven, however as bread began being made in factories the old ovens were destroyed and replaced by gas or electric ovens to eliminate competition.
RedBeard’s scotch oven is approximately 140 years old. It was used continuously from 1891 to 1987. After this time it lay dormant for nearly 20 years until the property was renovated and the scotch oven repaired.
The scotch oven has a floor area of 16 square metres, weighs 75 tonnes and has a massive domed roof. On one side of the floor area is the firebox which is put out before the bread is cooked. On the opposite side of the floor is a flu. Between all these elements enough heat is created to cook 600 loaves or equivalent.
RedBeard’s sourdough bread is leavened with a natural wild culture of yeast and healthy bacteria. They also use organic flours and their bread is shaped by hand.
The day we visited Trentham, we didn’t realise that RedBeard’s Historic Bakery would be as amazing as it was. The whole cafe was full and that didn’t include the number of people who came in for takeaway. I ordered the vanilla slice as I had been craving a cake for me birthday and not found one. But let me tell you this vanilla slice melted in my mouth. It was different to any I had ever had before. Sorry no photos.
We bought some bread to take home for lunch and again we loved it. In fact, we loved it so much that when we were coming home to Newcastle we drove 20 minutes each way extra on top of a 10+ hour trip just to buy more. The only problem was we were a day early, as the bakery isn’t open every day.
Quokkas are said to be the happiest animals in the world. They are a unique marsupial only found in a few isolated places in Western Australia. Rottnest Island, a short ferry trip from Perth is home to approximately 10,000 of them. Quokkas thrive on Rottnest because there are no foxes to prey on them.
Quokkas seem to know instinctively how cute they are. They love a good selfie. Quokkas are not afraid of humans and move around freely on the island. They are even in the pub.
Quokka’s are everywhere on Rottnest Island, even on the food.
If you get the chance put a trip to Rottnest Island on your bucket list.
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a novel by Joan Lindsay that I studied in high school. It tells the story of 3 school girls and their teacher from a private boarding school that disappeared on a picnic at Hanging Rock on Valentine’s Day 1900.
The hanging rock that named the site – Hanging Rock
Joan Lindsay is said to have dreamed up the story and for decades no-one knew if it was based on real events or totally fictional. This was how the author wanted it. A true mystery.
We recently visited Hanging Rock in Victoria. It is a special place.
Originally formed out of a volcano. This amazing rock formation is eerie in places and filled with mystery. If the story had been based on true events it is easy to see how it was possible.
The walk to the summit is about 1.5 kilometres, although in many places it is quite steep and involves rock scrambles. We spent several hours exploring all aspects of Hanging Rock, not to mention enjoying the amazing views in all directions.
I was born and bred in Newcastle during the 60’s and 70’s. Back then it was an industrial city, BHP was the biggest employer, smog was everywhere and many places were covered in a layer of black grim. Today, Newcastle is a beautiful, clean, modern city with everything you could want and a relaxed way of life. The biggest employers are Hunter New England Area Health Service and the University of Newcastle. Newcastle has a modern working harbour and in summer many cruise ships visit.
Newcastle is located at the mouth of the Hunter River and has always been known for its coal. Today, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world. It was first discovered by John Shortland in 1797 when he traveled north from Sydney looking for some escaped convicts. As a result Newcastle was the second city of the new colony and is steeped in history.
Sport is huge in Newcastle. We have the Newcastle Knights in the NRL (National Rugby league), and the Newcastle Jets in the A-League soccer. Newcastle is also home to Surfest on the world professional surfing tour. Our son recently had his wedding overlooking Merwether Beach and at the time, Surfest heats were going on in the background. At present, Newcastle is also home to the final round of the Supercars championships, Coats Hire Newcastle 500. After this final race the Virgin Australia Supercars Champion is announced.
My favourite thing about growing up in Newcastle is its amazing beaches and the two ocean baths. There is something special about being able to quickly go to the beach for a swim after work on a hot summers day.
The surrounding Newcastle region is home to the Hunter Valley, Australia’s oldest wine region, beautiful Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and national park and state forest areas. Lake Macquarie is the largest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere and is twice the size of Sydney harbour. It is the home to many water sports and outdoor activities.
If your ever in the area come for a visit, whatever your taste we’ll have something to interest you.
We took a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last December. It was something that I was looking forward to as every year it hosts the AFL (Australian Football League) grand final. My team the GWS Giants had played in their first grand final 2 months before.
The MCG was built at it’s current location in 1853 after it was forced to move from its prior home as Australia’s first steam train was to go through its oval.
Touring the MCG the history is palpable. Many of the guides have been members of the MCG for decades and are very knowledgeable.
As well as the home of the AFL grand final, the MCG is the birthplace of Test and One Day Cricket, It was also the main stadium for the 1956 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Up until recently the MCG was the world’s largest cricket stadium with seating capacity of 100,024. It now takes second place to Motera Stadium in India.
Australia’s National Sports Museum housed in the MCG is full of history and memorabilia for many sports. It also includes the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
The artwork throughout the MCG captures many amazing moments in our sporting history.
During our tour we were taken to the spot just outside the MCG where the first game of AFL was played. The game was between Scott’s College and Melbourne Grammar School in 1858. Apparently initially the cricketers didn’t think much of the new game being played outside, however as the crowds gathered weekly the MCG saw a need. So they found away to reverse their grandstands to support cricket in summer and AFL in winter. Overtime, as AFL grew in popularity they moved into the MCG.
Walking around the MCG is just as fascinating as the inside tour. It is lined with a ring of statues dedicated to famous athletes important to the MCG’s history.
Last year for my birthday holiday we spent a week in Kyneton, 1 hour north-west of Melbourne. It is a country town in the Macedon ranges region of Victoria, Australia.
We stayed at the Kyneton Bush Resort, which is set on 50 acres of natural Australian bushland. To make it educational and fun, the resort has created bush walks with information maps the describes the sites, flora and fauna in the area.
The resort also has fun ways to play games outdoors. Here we have wildflower chess, snakes and ladders and hop scotch.
Today there are two sections of the Kyneton township – the commercial and the historic. One of my favourite places was the Kyneton museum. It is housed in the original the Bank of New South Wales building built in 1856. The downstairs old bank area holds changing special exhibitions. When we were there this was a creative display of young peoples fashion design. Upstairs, which was the bank managers residence is a permanent display of what daily life was like for him and his family. Outside there are also displays in each room and the stables. The displays were fun and full of information and I enjoyed seeing the past come alive and going down memory lane.
