From the Editor

Our writers are not armchair travellers.

Rest assured any assistance we accept from the travel industry in the course of preparing our stories does not compromise the integrity of our coverage.

THERE IS a running joke in our office. When the team is pitching story ideas to me, they know that if they mention there is an incredible animal encounter as part of the experience, it becomes a very easy sell. I haven’t had a pet for 10 years but when it comes to travel, I am all about the animals.

There’s something exhilarating about interacting with animals in the wild. I find the thrill hard to articulate. All I know is that time seems to stop when I’m swimming with sharks, crouched behind a turtle as she lays her eggs, marvelling at a cheetah and her cubs or studying the scaly skin of a marine iguana. There is no blink-blink-blink of email. The daily stresses seem to melt away and all that matters is what is right in front of me.

So when we decided to do a special adventure issue, you know what my first question was. Fortunately, the team was one step ahead and Max Veenhuyzen, one of our regular contributors, got to experience a trip I have long dreamed of: visiting Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia to swim with whale sharks (page 54). And from June to November, you can swim with migrating humpback whales, too. That’s my kind of adventure.

Your preference may be for gentler travel pursuits (hitting the perfect ball on a worldclass golf course; page 82) or mixing a dash of adrenaline with a whole lot of luxury (hiking on Kangaroo Island and bedding down at Southern Ocean Lodge; page 74). Perhaps you’re planning your next ski trip (page 62) or surfing break (page 90).

There’s no denying travel has changed. Tourists were once passive sightseers; now our holidays are heightened by getting amongst it. The buzz term is “experiential travel”, which means different things to different people. But in an era when life’s demands feel so relentless, there’s something comforting about walking for hours with no interruptions, finding the perfect wave with friends or concentrating on one thing only: skiing down that mountain.

As for me, I’m heading to the Maldives for manta ray season. I’m predicting great joy. And isn’t that the purpose of travel?