Is your next girls trip fly-fishing?

Fly-fishing and luxury go hand in hand on this exclusively female 6-night, 5-day stay on New Zealand’s South Island. You will spend your days angling for the best catch in Kahurangi National Park with professional fly-fishing guides and relax in the evenings with a soak in the jacuzzi, massage or glass of house wine. Owen River Lodge is a five-star fishing lodge that holds New Zealand’s highest accreditation for luxury and environmental responsibility. The bright and spacious guest accommodation gives the options to share a room with a fishing friend, a new friend, or keep the space to yourself. The trip runs from April 8th – 14th  2021 and prices start from NZ $5,990 per person, twin share.

Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens are inBLOOM

Explore the inBLOOM world of floral vibrancy and perfume inside the Calyx. The new exhibition is a bright display of every colour along the spectrum reaching and blooming across one of the largest flower walls in the Southern Hemisphere. The flowers have been arranged to form an impressionistic painting that will grow and change the display between now and winter 2021. It is worth more than just one visit.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am – 4pm at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Just a donation is needed for entry. It will run until July 1 2021.

The Ghan is back on track

The legendary Australian rail trips by Journey Beyond Rail aboard the Ghan will resume services tomorrow, Sunday August 30th. The train recently celebrated 90 years of outback adventures before it came to a pause due to the pandemic. In its early days as the Afghan Express, the train would transport cameleers to the top end, nowadays it is a luxury travel experience travelling through the heart of Australia. There are three trips launching this weekend aboard the Ghan; Alice Springs to Darwin, Adelaide to Alice Springs and Adelaide to Darwin.

Journey Beyond Rail is hoping to see the resumption of the Great Southern this December and The Indian Pacific as soon as border officials allow it.

Room with a view

Camping on the edge of a cliff, just for the hill of it. UK company Honier offers a very unique camping experience, a night on a portaledge sitting on a cliff face. Not for the faint of heart, you will need to abseil down the side of the cliff face before settling on a suspended portaledge 150m in the air. Snuggle in for the night in Honiers luxury sleeping bags.

If you are not patient quite enough to wait out the international travel ban, Victoria-based company Unleashed Unlimited offers a similar experience in Mount Buffalo National Park with camping options from November through to May.