Australia
Marie Barbieri is an award-winning travel writer and photographer who contributes to newsstand travel and health magazines, inflight publications, newspapers, blogs and award-winning websites. She is a member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers, and is passionate about wildlife conservation, bushwalking, cycling, snorkelling, dancing, yoga, and holistic health and wellbeing.
Within Marie’s publishing portfolio, Australasian clients include: The CEO Magazine, Signature Luxury Travel & Style, Luxury Escapes, Vacations & travel, Travel Ideas, Inspirations, Holidays for Couples, Slow Living, RoyalAuto, Avalon Inbound | Outbound, Out & About with Kids, and Great Walks. UK clients include: Australia & New Zealand magazine, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Abroad, Good Things, Wild Travel, Wanderlust and Bespoke International.
Inflight magazines include: Virgin Australia, Jetstar, True Blue, Tiger Tales, Going Places, Islands, Paradise, Baltic Outlook and Yeahbaby. Newspapers and supplements include: The New Zealand Herald, The Advertiser, The Vancouver Sun, Dallas Morning News, SA Weekend and Escape.
Marie's work has also featured on the websites: nzherald.co.nz, adelaidenow.com.au, futureadl.com.au, escape.com.au, trulyaus.com, travelassociates.com, flightcentre.com.au, worldtravelguide.net, tellmewhere2go.com and ourplanettravel.com.au.
WORDS & IMAGES: MARIE BARBIERI For a luxury lodge that is also a world leader in sustainable ecotourism, head to Grootbos Private Nature Reserve in the heart of South Africa's Cape Floral Region. The sage-infused bathwater rises and falls with my breath as I watch a cape sugarbird from my bathtub.
Chaos Ridge... Devil's Cornfield... Breakneck Canyon... Poison Spring... Coffin Canyon... Funeral Mountain... With names like that, would you want to visit such a place? Oh yes you would. Death Valley is a 3.4-million-acre wilderness of unspeakable beauty in the heart of California's southeast. It is the ...
The sun bakes the ancient stone beneath my feet, as my breath is sucked dry by the searing heat. Dust hitchhikes on the breeze, destined for the haze beyond. A chameleon skirts across steps once trudged by civilisations gone - steps that just decades ago lay buried beneath seismic rubble.
At first, shadows sway beneath the ripples. The tip of a head breaches the waterline, followed by a forehead, then eyes-closed and calm. Standing alongside, at various heights, are other hybrid human forms happily tethered by their stone banyan tree roots, algae and coral.
I first saw Uluru from England after running to catch a bus in the rain. Beneath the heavy lid of a London sky, I turned the pages of my glossy brochure fresh from the travel agent, only to discover this bizarre red rock in the middle of nowhere.
The car is sardined with our holdalls, a picnic rug and an Esky filled with cheeses as chilled and mature as my Irish mother, who is currently humming along to the radio from the passenger seat on the first day of her Australian holiday.
The scream woke me up. My unblinking stare searched the ashen haze of dawn. Silence. I slipped back into my slumber, until another siren-like yowl propelled me from my pillow. I staggered towards the window, eyes squinting between the crack of the curtains, wondering what on earth was going on.
There's a shoe in my room. A single bright pink shoe stands poised on the coffee table next to a portrait. My personal butler - all kitted out in pristine finery - looks on modestly, amused by my attempt to detangle my brain cells.
When the world's famous cultural festival gathers on the slopes of Adelaide's Botanic Park, you learn what lies beneath it. As we prepare for this year's WOMADelaide festival, let's revisit the last one to whet your appetite for all things arty, cultural, and environmental.
"This is incredible! I was only here last week, and I almost don't recognise where I am. It has completely changed. Basal growth is so much thicker. I'm so excited to bring you here today!" The words spill at speed from my wide-eyed guide.