Features

Peace and serenity at Lake Maroon

“How’s the serenity” Darryl Kerrigan from the ever so famous Australian flick, The Castle, said. And he was right, I don’t know about Bonnie Doon but I do know about the peacefulness of the Australian landscape. A visit to Lake Maroon Holiday Park near Boonah was a camping trip I will never forget. It was […]


Young artist dreams of top prize

Winning an Archibald prize is a dream of young artist who made her mark at 2015’s Adelaide Fringe Festival of the Arts. The very articulate and softly-spoken Tsering Hannaford, 27, whose ultimate goal is to develop a reputation and career in portraiture, has been working as a full-time professional artist since 2013. “I guess I […]


Accident survivor couldn’t bear to look in the mirror

It was 1995 and Ellen Harper was out with a friend. They were having a coffee at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Ellen knows now she never should have driven home. On her way to Tallebudgera Valley the 18-year-old began to feel tired, so she wound down her window. Just under a kilometre from […]


Arty Melbourne

Australia’s best known cities seem to have their own signature. Sydney – the music venture. Brisbane – a business kind of vibe, where even the Apple store looks like a colonial treasury. But Melbourne – an indulgence of art. Whether it’s the graffiti walls on Hosier and Rutledge Lane across from Federation Square or the […]


Swinging into bliss at Wongi

Supported from a rather fragile-looking euclupt hangs a rope from which adults and kids alike swing into the refreshing cool water of Wongi Waterhole. The deep waterhole is in a peaceful setting as campers hang their towels from the rustic wooden rails and day-tripping families spread picnics on tables and grass. A 25km drive from […]


Brave journalist risks her life to tell the truth

Imagine what it is like to live in a corrupt country where the people are not free and the society illiberal. An unlucky country where people have bullets rained down on them for asking questions. This is what is like to be a journalist in Cambodia. Now let me introduce the remarkable young woman named […]


Fiery Khadija fights the horror of genital mutilation

“A-lo!” She shouted down the line. (A mutual friend had warned me that the Sierra Leone-born Australian was “full-on”, “fiery”.) I took the phone away from my ear and placed it on speaker so I could better hear the electric mix of loud, bouncing West African intonations and subtle Australian inflexions bubbling from the phone. […]


Electric cars generating more interest

Electric cars on Australian roads lead the charge to a zero-emission future, but how soon will they become popular? Newsbytes asked a range of people, including car experts and members of the public, to find a mixture of views. Mitsubishi released the first mass-produced electric car to Australia’s fleet and government market in late 2010, […]


John Williamson – a true blue Aussie

John Williamson is as Australian as Holden cars and Vegemite. He’s in the ARIA hall of fame, has 24 golden guitars and has sold more than four million albums. After more than 40 years in the industry he’s just released his 48th and possibly his final album. John started his career on the Melbourne talent […]


Simple tribute a testimony to Anzac Day spirit

For every major Dawn Service around the country, there are hundreds of smaller, more modest services to commemorate Anzac Day in regional Australia. Our reporter found the simple service at Springbrook, west of the Gold Coast an uplifting experience. It’s around half past four on Anzac Day and it’s pitch black on the Springbrook plateau. […]


After the flood

Of course you must stay with us, I assured my suddenly homeless son. For as long as it takes to rebuild. Which could be weeks, I thought, looking at the muddied wreck that had been home for the family of four. We’d seized as many of their possessions as we could, splashing through the rapidly […]


Tea lovers spoilt for choice

Sitting down to a good cuppa is not what it used to be.   Gone are the days of a cup of traditional black tea with a dash of milk and teaspoon of sugar.   Instead we have hibiscus, white dragon, rose and French vanilla flavours – all growing in popularity as young and old […]


How Formula One improves our cars

With Australian Mark Webber (pictured) among the leaders in the 2011 Formula One series, it gives us spur to ponder the impact this global sport has had on our ordinary road cars over the years. Webber recorded the fastest lap at Abu Dhabi this month and is fourth overall. Ever wondered why brakes work better […]


How I tried to make a meal of Megadeath

Off the Wall Diner is a humble burger joint in Wellington Point that says without hyperbole and on the authority of Guinness World Records that it makes the world’s spiciest burger. The technical measure of spice heat is a “Scoville unit”. By virtue of some secret chilli concoction, Off the Wall’s “Megadeath Burger” has a […]


Juggers play it fast and furious in New Farm

It looked like the rehearsal of a medieval battle scene. People fighting with swords and spears, wearing track pants and t-shirts, were thrown into relief against a darkening sky in New Farm park. The mystery was solved when someone handed me a green leaflet that said: Jugger. Jugger is a game based on the 1989 […]


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