Melbourne, a perennial top of the pops in the World’s Most Liveable City surveys. Well-grounded, chic, efficient and abuzz with the spark of urbane youth, its Bohemian vibe could make some of Europe’s finest blush. It may not have Sydney’s natural good looks but it addresses the imbalance with character. Sydney has the silicon but Melbourne has the substance. Melbourne also pumps its chest with a self-proclamation as “Sporting Capital of the World”. Plenty of cities might justifiably dispute that claim but there’s enough sporting armoury for this to be more than mere hyperbole. One of the premier dates on the calendar is the Australian Open Tennis, a fortnight of wham-bam-thank-you-mam action where it seems the entire city comes out to play. The Oz Open is the party everyone wants to say they’ve been to. Anyone ... read more

It’s said you take your mate to a test match but you drag your kids to a 20/20 extravaganza. There’s plenty of rationale behind the ethos. Try keeping a 10 year olds focus for 6 hours over 5 consecutive days – good luck. But, a 3 hour wham bam thank you mam slug fest festooned with fireworks, dancing girls jiving to boom boom music and you have the recipe for a sporting family night out. I’m a tad shy on offspring so I filled the void with a wife whose sporting tastes really do need a few bells and whistles thrown into the equation. Finding ourselves in Adelaide on New Year’s Eve and with 2 free tickets (thanks ever so much Rachel) to an otherwise sold out Big Bash match on the agenda at Adelaide Oval, ... read more

No doubt about it, it’s been a privilege. I’ve never been tempted to count my time spent scouring the globe or the number of countries visited. A ballpark figure would be 7 years and 80 nations. That may read global but there’s one shameful admission. Intricate knowledge of our own plot of dirt is comparatively scant. An enquiry from somewhere else on the planet such as, “So, is the Great Barrier Reef as spectacular as all the reports” was invariably met with, “I’ll let you know when I get there some time”. As a consequence, there has been an ever-increasing desire the last couple of years to address the imbalance. The current parlous state of the Oz dollar sealed the deal. WRINKLES, GREY HAIR, BACKPACKS AND ACCENTS. Ann hour or so lazy drive north of Cairns ... read more

For Penny it was "The Blue Door". For myself, Richard Flanagan's 2014 Man Booker prize winning masterpiece "The Long Road to the Deep North". It would be easy to join the long queue ready to condemn Japan after reading either of those 2 books. While both are beacons of reference, they were equally counterproductive as a prequel to visiting Japan with the mind open. The atrocities committed during WWII have been extensively documented. I recall quotes from eloquent returned POWs who could "NEVER forgive the Japanese". You can hardly blame them. So how do you equate the Japan of that period with that of today? In a few short generations contemporary Japan is now the absolute antithesis of those anecdotes. After 3 brief weeks I hardly qualify as all things erudite on this nation but if ... read more

Our record was 16. It became something of a game after a while. Riding on any of Tokyo's train systems, we would count the number of passengers on the opposite side who were engrossed in their particular device of choice. It's a modern day syndrome of the west, people strolling around with a phone permanently clasped in their palm. Tokyo has taken the concept to a new dimension with locals of all ages sporting devices that have morphed into something appearing to be surgically attached to the hand. Tokyo is a veritable Planet of the Apps. This phenomenon is a metaphor for the techno society that is Tokyo. In the streets, neon is king. The colours, flashing lights and animated, uniformed efficiency made us feel like an extra in an Astro Boy cartoon. This post 21st ... read more