LOUISE OLSEN

The co-founder and CREATIVEDIRECTOR of DINOSAUR DESIGNS, and daughter of artist JOHN OLSEN, talks ADVENTURES in nature. 1. As a child, our family holidays were always... full of adventure. Both my parents were artists, so they loved packing up the car with paints and drawing materials and heading into the Australian landscape. My mum loved painting wild Australian native flowers and my dad, the Australian landscape. Our travels would take us from the coastline of Victoria up to Alice Springs. Lake Eyre ( Lake Eyre – The Desert Sea II, 2011, pictured below right) was a huge inspiration to my father so we travelled there a few times to see the changing of the season, particularly when it was full of water. 2. Now if I have time for a short break, I head straight to... qualia – Hamilton Island or Daintree EcoLodge & Spa. To be in incredible nature is always the best retreat. My local’s tip for home town Sydney is... breakfast at Bills 3. followed by a walk and a swim at Bondi; I love being by the sea. If you haven’t been to Sydney before you must go to the Opera House and dine at Bennelong: it gives you a real sense of Sydney’s amazing harbour. My souvenir of choice is... something handmade from the 4. community of the area we are visiting. My last holiday read was... Alain de Botton’s The News. 5. My travel wardrobe always consists of... Dinosaur Designs 6. jewellery, and I love bassike, Jac + Jack and Lee Mathews – clothes that are comfortable to travel in. If money was no barrier, send me off to... Longitude 131º at 7. Uluru, to sleep under the stars in the quiet stillness of the landscape. The most adventurous thing I’ve ever done on holiday is... 8. visit Lake Eyre. The highlight of Lake Eyre is when it is full of water and becomes teeming with life, with pelicans and many other Australian native birds, fish and flowers. It is wonderful to see so much life in the middle of the Australian desert. The best bed I’ve ever slept in was... qualia – Hamilton Island. 9. Not only the most comfortable bed, with the most amazing view of the sea, it also feels like you’re floating on water. My favourite restaurant is... Sean’s Panaroma in Bondi. I love 10. the produce-driven plates that use ingredients grown in Sean’s garden in the Blue Mountains. The food is always full of flavour. It’s unpretentious and its views, which look out over Bondi Beach, are so magical at dusk. The last place I visited was... I just got back from London and 11. New York because we have stores there. But for our last holiday, we went to COMO Maalifushi in the Maldives. and the next place I am booked to go is… Milan for the annual 12. Design Week. Turn to page 62 for a special Dinosaur Designs offer.