Tripping with...

The award-winning actor, writer and director loves to get off the beaten track – just don’t ask him to navigate in Greece.

Driving in Crete was all Greek to actor Richard Roxburgh

Where are you right now?

I’m in my house at Bungan Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

And where did you go on your last trip?

We took a family holiday to Ballina [in northern NSW]. I have a brother who lives there and it has so many of the best elements of Byron Bay, without the craziness.

What was your typical childhood holiday?

My aunt had a beach house on Phillip Island [off the southern coast of Victoria] so we often used to go down there. The area was largely untouched at the time; there were colonies of fairy penguins and seals roaming around. It was like being immersed in an extraordinary David Attenborough wonderland.

Are you a wander-the-streets kind of person or do you follow a map?

Most certainly wander-the-streets. Our favourite place to do that is Italy. My wife [actor, cookbook author and TV presenter Silvia Colloca] is Italian and now so am I – I have the Italian passport to prove it! Some of the best memories we’ve made have been from going off-piste, either on foot or in a car.

Need to know...

He has a role in the new Australian film about the Vietnam War, Danger Close, which will be released later this year, and is an ambassador for the Van Heusen Spring/Summer 2018 menswear campaign.

Is there a destination you keep returning to?

For a little family holiday, Silvia and I really love Fiji. The people are beautiful and it’s close to home [in Australia], which is good when we’re travelling with our kids [sons Raphael, 11, and Miro, eight, and daughter, Luna, 20 months].

Have you ever taken a great road trip?

Yes, I love being behind the wheel. And it’s an opportunity to get away from places on the tourist trail, which I value more and more as I get older. We’ve done fabulous road trips in America, in particular up the whole of the West Coast, from Los Angeles all the way to Canada.

What’s the worst place you’ve been lost?

Silvia and I had a beautiful honeymoon in Crete but neither of us had spent a lot of time in Greece or its islands so we didn’t know it very well. But, as is my wont, I went off the beaten track in our little car, driving down increasingly narrow roads that