Editor. Writer. Traveller. Keeping tabs on all things fab. susan@excessallareas.com.au
A New York hotel celebrates the skill and romance of Britain’s old-time basketweavers One thing the Firmdale Hotels have in common is the intoxicating collision of contemporary art, patterns and textiles. But you can always count on hotelier Kit Kemp to imbue each member of her 10-strong portfolio with a cheeky point of difference. In…
Explosions, shipwrecks, inventions, spirited redheads, duplicitous sea creatures and buried treasure … discover the Canadian Maritimes’ magnetic attractions via a unique museum trail On Canada’s Atlantic flank sit the three provinces that comprise what’s called the Canadian Maritimes: Nova Scotia with its umbilical cord to Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. As well…
Australian travellers are tapping into luxury travel trends that marry risk and reward. From a tented camp in Rajasthan to a riad in Morocco, from a river-front lodge in South Africa’s Sabi Sand Game Reserve to an adora-bubble on a Maldivian beach … unique and authentic places to stay are hot. Monastery, igloo, or treehouse?…
In Johannesburg the past becomes the present in architecture, design and degustation… If Jo’burg had a mantra right now it would be “restore, recycle, revamp”. The City of Gold, settled in 1886, is a shapeshifter whose centre doesn’t always hold. Epitomising the urban renewal push is Victoria Yards, in Lorentzville, a very cool enclave reimagined…
Edgy art, irresistible desserts and a bunch of nice neighbours make the Adelphi Hotel the pit-stop of choice They had me at the upholstered stools that looked like oversized licorice allsorts. And the bowls with all the Chupa Chups, Red Skins, Fantales, Sherbies, and Minties that a sweet-tooth’s heart could desire. The refurbished 34-room Adelphi …
A longtail boat ride along the canals of Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River is a reward for the culturally curious The experience travellers have in Bangkok is very much determined by where they stay. Sky bars, glitzy malls, floating markets, royal palaces, ornate temples, sitting or reclining buddhas, award-winning restaurants – chances are you’ll go places…
From the vibrant medinas of Marrakech to the riads of Fes and the ochre sands of Erg Chebbi, Morocco’s colour palette is the gift with purchase Colour plays a starring role in the architecture, craftsmanship, food and culture of Morocco. Even taxis play the colour card in this strategically located North African country with the…
Indigenous Australian artists have forged one of the most globally significant art movements. So, asks Susan Skelly, where does a collector start? At Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art this past spring, the work of Kuninjku artist John Mawurndjul had viewers criss-crossing its galleries as each new wall spied diverted attention from the last. The artist from…
A public garden, two museums, cultural spaces … Yves Saint Laurent says thanks for the memories. Rarely does a guest say “Thank you for having me” quite so generously as Yves Saint Laurent did to Morocco. The French couturier and his long-time partner, Pierre Bergé, bequeathed to Marrakech a public garden (Jardin Majorelle), and two…
The luxury French perfume house, Creed, has opened a boutique in Sydney’s Double Bay. On a November evening in chic Double Bay, the bold and the beautiful are milling about on the footpath outside 36 Cross Street, clinking glasses of Perrier-Jouet to celebrate the opening of the first Sydney stand-alone boutique from the enduring luxury…