The Saturday Age, Melbourne 31 Mar 2012 Good Weekend Magazine, page 1 - 11,035.47 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 265,704 (-----S-) Media Monitors Client Service Centre 1300 880 082 Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) licenced copy ID 140138583 BRIEF DILMAH INDEX 1 PAGE1 of 41 EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES THE ULTIMATE WORLDWIDE WISH-LIST THE TRAVEL ISSUE COVER STORY COMPILED EN ANTHONY DENNIS OUR TOP NATURE LOVER, HEDONIST, ADRENALIN JUNKIE. CULTURE VULTURE, OR ALL OF THE ABOVE - WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU'LL FIND PLENTY OF BUCKET-LIST IDEAS HERE. SOME OF OUR MOST TOURIST-TRAPAVOIDING. GLOBE- TROTTING WRITERS SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE DESTINATIONS. TRAVEL ADVEIL RFS EY HELEN ANDERSON, MARK CHiPPERFIELD. ANTHONY DENNIS KENDALL HILL, KATRINA LOBLEY. EMMA VENTURA The Saturday Age, Melbourne 31 Mar 2012 Good Weekend Magazine, page 1 - 11,035.47 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 265,704 (-----S-) Media Monitors Client Service Centre 1300 880 082 Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) licenced copy ID 140138583 BRIEF DILMAH INDEX 1 PAGE2 of 41 1 AFRICA The only identifiable downside of dining WILDLIFE halfway up the Eiffel Tower at the posh Le Jules Verne Restaurant (aside from the hefty THE EXPERIENCE Sleep with hippos and bill) is that you're effectively denied a full- bathe with mongooses in Kenya's Masai Mara. frontal look at the famed structure itself. But A long, theatrical snigger hangs in the air, the view of Paris, delightfully interrupted by followed by a snort and a sharp riposte. All the milk-chocolate-coloured girders of the night this hippo banter continues, metres tower, is to dine for. A reservation here includes away, echoing off the banks of a horseshoe not just the master chef's renowned killer bend in the Talek River. The Masai Mara cuisine, albeit in a slightly more touristic vein, National Reserve is famous for the reliable but some welcome queue-jumping: the abundance and diversity of wildlife seen restaurant's own dedicated elevator, which goes on safari drives, and staying in an unfenced straight up one of the tower's shapely legs, camp in the heart of the park means, conveys diners directly to the second level. AD thrillingly, there is only well-zippered canvas between you and the beasts. HA DREAM TO REALITY Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com) flies from Australia to Paris DREAM TO REALITY Emirates (emirates.com/au)via Singapore. Le Jules Verne Restaurant: flies from Australia to Nairobi via Dubai. Wildlife restaurants-toureiffel.com. Safari (www.wildlifesafari.com.au) includes the Mara Explorer Camp on its customised luxury safari itineraries. 4 PACIFIC JOURNEY 2 MIDDLE EAST THE EXPERIENCE Drive the coast roads of OUTDOORS the Big Island, Hawaii. There are two sensational driving routes out THE EXPERIENCE Sail a dhow on the of Hilo, the sleepy main settlement on the Musandam Peninsula, Oman. Big Island. Highway 130 leads to the World In all the turmoil of the Arab Spring, one Heritage-listed Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Middle Eastern sultanate has maintained its where visitors can witness Earth's creation as cool. Peaceful, breathtaking Oman moves at red-hot lava from the active Kilauea volcano the sort of relaxed pace you'd expect from a adds an extra 16 hectares to the island's country blessed with generous oil and natural surface area each year. Alternatively, take the gas reserves and a desolate, captivating beauty. Hamakua Coast road north-west for cinematic Channel Oman's laid-back rhythm with a dhow seafronts, farmers' markets, bohemian villages trip on the sunbaked Musandam Peninsula, and the cowboy town of Waimea. KH where the stark Hajar Mountains fall sheer into the Arabian Sea and stunning submarine DREAM TO REALITY Hawaiian Airlines worlds unfold beneath the surface. KH (hawaiianair.com) flies from Sydney to Honolulu and on to Hilo. More information: gohawaii.com. DREAM TO REALITY Emirates (emirates.com/au) and Etihad (etihadairways.com) fly from Australia to the United Arab Emirates with connections to 5 ASIA Oman. More information: omantourism.gov.om. CULTURE THE EXPERIENCE Climb the startling rock 3 EUROPE fortress of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. INDULGENCE Most of the island's eight UNESCO World THE EXPERIENCE Splurge on a meal at Heritage sites are clustered in this dry central Alain Ducasse's Eiffel Tower restaurant. zone, where wild elephants roam and ancient kings built marvellous cities. Among the most The Saturday Age, Melbourne 31 Mar 2012 Good Weekend Magazine, page 1 - 11,035.47 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 265,704 (-----S-) Media Monitors Client Service Centre 1300 880 082 Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) licenced copy ID 140138583 BRIEF DILMAH INDEX 1 PAGE3 of 41 66 Staying in an unfenced camp in the heart of the park means. thrillingly, there is only wel-- zippered canvas between you and the beasts.91 (above) a Masai warrior surveys his starkly beautiful homeland. The Saturday Age, Melbourne 31 Mar 2012 Good Weekend Magazine, page 1 - 11,035.47 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 265,704 (-----S-) Media Monitors Client Service Centre 1300 880 082 Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) licenced copy ID 140138583 BRIEF DILMAH INDEX 1 PAGE4 of 41 startling of these ruins is Sigiriya, a pleasure palace built improbably atop a volcanic plug. 8 AFRICA It's best known for its 1500-year-old cliff-face ADVENTURE frescoes of spectacularly well-endowed, THE EXPERIENCE Explore Morocco's wasp-waisted women, thought to be a rebel spectacular Atlas Mountains. king's concubines or celestial goddesses. After an eyeful, pass between the monumental The snow-capped Atlas Mountains loom over stone paws of a lion and climb another 1682 Marrakech and the harsh, khaki-coloured steps to a throne with views of a long-gone desert that surrounds this colourful medieval kingdom. HA city. Rising to a height of 4167 metres, the magnificent mountains separate the Atlantic DREAM TO REALITY Singapore Airlines coast from the Sahara Desert. While most (singaporeaircom) flies from Australia to visitors are content to spend their time Colombo via Singapore. Banyan Lanka Tours exploring the souks and crumbling palaces of (banyanlanka.com) arranges customised Marrakech, a hiking trip through the Atlas luxury itineraries. Mountains is a special joy - especially if you are lucky enough to walk with a local Berber 6 SOUTH AMERICA guide who takes you to his aunt's house for ADVENTURE mint tea and flatbread dipped in wild honey. Despite their proximity to Marrakech, the THE EXPERIENCE Get face to face with mountain villages seem to belong to another Easter Island's stone sentinels. age as bearded men haggle in colourful Famed for its towering stone sculptures, Berber markets and ancient mud-walled towns Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a place of mystery cling to the sides of high, treeless ravines. and rare physical beauty that's also a magnet There are few roads - old women carry huge for hikers and scuba divers. Successive waves stacks of firewood on their shoulders, village of colonisers have each left their mark on boys drive sheep across fast-flowing mountain this remote Pacific island, but it is the giant streams. But even in this harsh wilderness, it's sculptures, or moth, that dominate the still possible to find a French-style auberge visitor's imagination. Mc where you can enjoy a dish of grilled lamb, a fresh salad and a glass of chilled Moroccan DREAM TO REALITY Qantas (qantas.com) and rose on the terrace. Multi-day treks with local LAN (lan.com) fly from Australia to Santiago, guides, cooks and mules are available, as Chile. Easter Island, a special territory of are expeditions on horseback. Overnight Chile, is 3700km from South America and can accommodation is in Berber-style tents or local be reached via LAN, which flies direct from guesthouses. Mc Santiago. Stay at Posada de Mike Rapu (see explora.com), a contemporary lodge with DREAM TO REALITY Etihad (etihadairways. a good program of guided excursions. corn) and Emirates (emirates.com/au) fly from Australia, via Abu Dhabi and Dubai 7 EUROPE respectively, to Casablanca, with connections to Marrakech. Morocco By Prior Arrangement CULTURE (moroccobypriorarrangement.net) can arrange THE EXPERIENCE Take in some of the Atlas Mountains guided walking trips. finest ballet you'll ever see at Moscow's magnificently restored Bolshoi Theatre. 10 AFRICA It boasts the world's most bolshie, inept HERITAGE ushers and crankiest, most curt cloakroom THE EXPERIENCE Be amazed by the historic attendants, and it's wickedly expensive. rock churches of Ethiopia. Fortunately, it's the famed troupe's dancers who are the stellar attraction, and a visit to Local legend has it that the ii marvellous Moscow is positively incomplete without monolith churches of Lalibela in northern attending a performance of the Bolshoi Ballet. Ethiopia were carved from bedrock by humans This is especially the case since late last year, during the day and by angels at night. Laid out when the company reopened its stupendous in the 12th century as a "New Jerusalem", the 1720-seat grand theatre - a 19th-century masterpiece of this holy assembly is Bete Moscow landmark in its own right, and Giyorgis, which was hewn from stone in the now Putin's new pride and joy - after an shape of the St George's cross and built in a interminable and controversial restoration. AD single day, apparently, because on this occasion man and angel worked side by side. The stories DREAM TO REALITY Singapore Airlines can seem far-fetched but the experience is (singaporeaircom) flies from Australia to genuine; inside these World Heritage-listed Moscow via Singapore. Bolshoi Ballet: bolshoi.ru/en. The Saturday Age, Melbourne 31 Mar 2012 Good Weekend Magazine, page 1 - 11,035.47 cm² Capital City Daily - circulation 265,704 (-----S-) Media Monitors Client Service Centre 1300 880 082 Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL) licenced copy ID 140138583 BRIEF DILMAH INDEX 1 PAGE5 of 41 churches, Coptic Christians still worship as they did in the first millennium - clad in white robes, prostrate in prayer and shrouded in incense.