From the Editor

iN prepariNg this issue – an ode to Australia – I’ve been thinking about our country and the diversity of experiences it offers. Yes, discovering other cultures and overseas destinations is an unqualified thrill but how I love to come home.

It’s always risky to rank favourites – and I’m aware there are many, many holes in the list that follows. Camping? Maybe next year. Australia’s stunning west coast? Can’t wait to explore it further. With those obvious omissions declared, here’s my personal, oh-so-Australian top 10:

1. Meandering through a cotton field in Theodore, west of Bundaberg in Queensland, and squishing the crop’s furry buds between my fingers. (I have similarly fond memories of running through the sugarcane fields in Cairns as a child.)

2. Travelling by ferry on glorious Sydney Harbour. It never gets old.

3. Living among the wildlife on Tassie’s Bruny Island: wallabies flashing by in front of our window, a lone wombat trudging along the path and dolphins frolicking at sea.

4. Walking the circumference of Uluru and experiencing its majesty from all angles. It’s such an iconic image of Australia that you think you know it – and know what to expect. I never imagined I would feel so emotional when I saw it for the first time.

5. Watching a green turtle struggle up the beach on the Great Barrier Reef’s Wilson Island, dig methodically in the sand and then, trance-like, lay her eggs. 6. Biting into a Bowen mango. In Bowen. 7. Digging for pipis with my feet on a Gold Coast beach. (No pipis? Plenty of bluebottles to pop. It’s a Queensland thing...)

8. Sitting in the Bennelong kitchen (the kitchen!) at the Sydney Opera House while the one-and-only Peter Gilmore explained each dish to me.

9. Hooning around Hamilton Island in a golf buggy, the wind in my hair and the vista blue, blue, blue.

10.Travelling from Queensland’s Hervey Bay to Perisher in NSW as a child. My first snow was a thrill but it’s the daily roadkill count that has stayed with me.

Uniquely Australian, no?