Saint Augustine once famously wrote that the world is a book, and those who don’t travel read merely a page. However, with the right books in your hands, whether you’re travelling on a plane or simply in an armchair, the world can open up a little more before your very eyes. Travel through the pages with six glossy beauties we love.
Great Hiking Trails of the World
By Karen Berger
Lovingly compiled by prolific hiking specialist Berger, in association with the American Hiking Society, here is a walker’s dream bucket list, embodied in a lavishly illustrated celebration of 80 of the world’s most iconic trails. From our own amazing Australian walks through to the subarctic reaches of Norway and the ultimate Himalayan odysseys, each trail has its own gorgeous photo gallery to really get your feet itching for the trail.
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders
By Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton
The wondrous, the curious and the downright strange – detailed in this beautifully bound, red debossed and gold-foiled tome, the 700-odd, well, oddities and marvels within are enough to make you fall in love with this funny old world all over again. A fire that’s been burning in the desert for 40 years; the self-mummifying monks of Japan; and so many more wonderful gems complete with GPS coordinates for the intrepid? Wanderlust, meet world.
Dreamscapes
By Claire Takacs
A city may lie at the heart of a country, but green spaces and gardens define its soul. Erstwhile International Garden Photographer of the Year, Claire Takacs has compiled a kind of photographic love story dedicated to more than 50 of the world’s most astounding gardens. Drink in Japan’s Kenrokuen, Australia’s own Cloudehill and take a peek at Martha Stewart’s private garden too, through stunning imagery that captures each garden at that rare moment when it is at its beauteous peak.
Made to Last: A Compendium of Artisans, Trades & Projects
By Vanessa Murray
Inspiring tales of 50 artisans around the globe, leathersmithing, beekeeping, fermenting or just making a mean bathtub gin, are heartening news indeed in a world sometimes seemingly ruled by the mass-produced and disposable. There are plenty of DIY projects included, so you can try your own hand at building a bamboo bicycle too. Lasting projects to make a lasting impression on you.
Homecamp
By Doron & Stephanie Francis
You know that dream you have, to cast off the everyday and run away to the mountains-slash-beach-slash-anywhere without a wifi connection? These are the people who’ve done it. Homecamp brings you the stories of ‘normal’ people turned adventurers, living their dream in a van, a shipping container, even a house made of hemp, or simply on a bicycle as they explore the world. There are how-tos on wild food foraging and brewing your campfire coffee too; what you do next with all this inspiration is up to you.
Burn City: Melbourne’s Painted Streets
By Lou Chamberlin
The street art of this southern capital has taken on a life of its own: tourist attraction, art school excursion, even wedding photo backdrop. This subculture gone mainstream is great, tangible evidence of Melbourne’s eclectic vibrance, and it is fabulously laid out in these pages according to theme, so you can take it as a guide for your own travels, or simply enjoy the ephemeral, evocative imagery lifted straight from the streets of the laneways and architecture of Melbourne city life.
Makers, bakers, artists, chefs, crafters – Ballarat and its surrounds are overflowing with creative spirits. All dedicated to keeping traditional skills alive for a city that is humming with artful energy.
Modern makers: a new generation of artists and artisans
“Keeping craft alive is a noble cause,” says Jess Cameron-Wootten, a charming and passionate master leathercrafter and cordwainer, who handmakes traditional leather boots and shoes in Ballarat’s old Gun Cotton Goods Store.
Ballarat was recognised in 2019 as a UNESCO Creative City of Craft and Folk Art, and today it’s a place where craft traditions converge with contemporary needs. Nothing quite captures this convergence as a visit to Wootten , the workshop and store of Jess Cameron-Wootten and his partner Krystina Menegazzo.
Ballarat’s streets are lined with heritage buildings. (Image: Matt Dunne)
Jess’s father was an artisan bootmaker, or cordwainer. Now Jess and Krys and their small team of artisans continue the tradition, but with a modern spin. The company’s boots and shoes, made completely from scratch, are renowned for their quality and longevity. Wootten also craft shoes, bags, belts, leather aprons, wallets and more.
Cosy beanies, gloves, alpaca socks, “unbreakable” shoelaces and various other goods – many from local craftspeople and small-scale makers – fill the shop’s shelves. “We’re always happy to support a mate,” says Jess. “People love to see the workshop and where things are made. Our clients care about quality and sustainability,” Krys comments. The company slogan ‘Made for generations’ says it all.
Ruby Pilven’s ceramics at Ross Creek Gallery. (Image: Tara Moore)
For Ruby Pilven, craft is also in the DNA – both her parents were potters and with her latest porcelain ceramics, Ruby’s young daughter has been helping add colour to the glazes. “I grew up watching my parents in the workshop – I’ve always been doing ceramics,” she says, although her Visual Arts degree was in printmaking. That printmaking training comes through particularly in the rich layering of pattern. Her audacious colour, unexpected shapes and sudden pops of 12-carat gold are contemporary, quirky – and joyful.
You can see Ruby’s handcrafted ceramics, and work by other local and regional artists, at Ross Creek Gallery , a light-filled space surrounded by serene bushland, across from the mudbrick house her parents built in the 1980s. A 10-minute drive from Ballarat, it’s a tangible link to the region’s well-established craft traditions.
How Ballarat is preserving the past
The Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades holds workshops to preserve crafts and skills.
While tradition is ongoing, there’s a danger that many of these specific type of skills and knowledge are fading as an older generation passes on. Step forward the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades .
The seven purpose-built studios occupy a fabulous modern building adjacent to Sovereign Hill, with state-of-the-art facilities, enormous windows and landscape views across to Warrenheip and Wadawurrung Country.
Check out artisanal works at the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.
Practising artisans run hands-on workshops. Fancy making your own medieval armour? Or trying your hand at blacksmithing, spinning wool, plaiting leather, weaving cane or craft a knife? Book a class and learn how. “It’s about creating awareness and also sharing knowledge and skills before they are lost,” explains Deborah Klein, the centre manager.
A city steeped in food and flavours
Chef José Fernandez creates vibrant South American street food at Pancho. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
One skill that hasn’t been lost is that of cooking. Ballarat’s burgeoning gastronomy scene runs the gamut from an artisan bakery (the atmospheric 1816 Bakehouse) to cool coffee shops, speakeasy cocktail bars and distilleries to fine-dining venues. But I’m still surprised to find Pancho , José Fernandez’s South American street food restaurant, serving fried cheese tequeños, fiery fish tacos, Argentinian grilled chicken.
The room is as lively as the food – a whirl of colour filled with gifted and thrifted paintings, photos, tchotchkes (trinkets), plants. There’s a Mexican abuela aesthetic going on here. Even before the music and mezcal kick in, it’s fun. Heads up on the drinks menu – an authentic selection of mezcal, tequila, South American wines and Mexican cerveza.
Enjoy a cocktail at Itinerant Spirits. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
The spirit is willing, so after lunch we head towards the gold rush-era Ballarat train station and across the line to the old 1860s Goods Shed for Itinerant Spirits . At one end, a massive German copper still looms behind a wall of glass. The fit-out embraces deep olive-green tones, original bluestone walls, steamer trunks as coffee tables, heritage timber floors, oversized lamp shades and cognac-hued modernist leather seating.
The distillery operates from an old goods shed. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
Gallivanter Gin, Vansetter Vodka and Wayfarer Whiskey – the key spirits distilled – star at the bar. The spirits are crafted using grains from the Wimmera Mallee region, and native botanicals foraged in the Grampians. Seasonal cocktails are inspired by local people and places (I loved The Headland, inspired by Sovereign Hill and flavoured with old-fashioned raspberry drops). Sample the spirits, and join a cocktail masterclass or a distillery tour. It’s a seductive setting – you’ll likely find yourself ordering a charcuterie platter or pizza as the evening progresses.
The Ballarat stay combining history and luxury
The rooms at Hotel Vera have a contemporary style. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
New lives for old buildings keeps history alive. Vera, Ballarat’s boutique five-star hotel, has taken it to the next level: it’s a palimpsest, a subtle layering of early 1900s and 1930s Art Deco architecture with a sleek new wing. There are seven spacious suites, each a dramatically different colour, with designer chairs, blissful bathrooms. High-end pottery and hand-picked artworks imbue the spaces with personality.
Vera’s intimate, award-winning restaurant, Babae, is subtly theatrical with sheer drapes and gallery lighting, its bespoke timber furniture and brass-edged marble bench setting the stage for food with a sharp regional focus. “We have goat’s cheese from a local supplier, handmade granola from local Vegas & Rose, truffles from nearby Black Cat Truffles, fresh food from our garden, and regional wines,” says joint owner David Cook-Doulton.
Celebrating the local makers, bakers, growers and producers, and the master chefs who work their magic is all part of the rich tapestry that links Ballarat’s history to its vibrant present.
A traveller’s checklist
Getting there
It’s 90 minutes from Melbourne, either on the Western Freeway, or hop on a V/Line train from Southern Cross Station.
Staying there
Hotel Vera is a centrally located Art Deco boutique hotel. Consider Hotel Provincial , which feels like a sleek country house, but with its own restaurant, Lola.
Hotel Provincial has country house vibes.
Eating there
The table is set at Mr Jones. (Image: Tony Evans/ Visit Victoria)
Culinary whiz Damien Jones helms Chef’s Hat winner Mr Jones Dining with quiet assurance. His modern Asian food is deceptively simple with deep, intense flavours. Low-key, laid-back ambience, lovely staff, thoughtful wine list.
Cocktails are definitely a thing in Ballarat. Reynard (fox in French) is foxy indeed, a clubby space with top-notch cocktails and small bites. Grainery Lane is extravagantly OTT with its massive 1880s bar, myriad chandeliers, brass gin still, Asian-inspired food and lavish cocktails.
Dining at Grainery Lane.
Playing there
An artful laneway in the city. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)
Don’t forget the giant bluestone Kryal Castle , ‘the land of adventure’, for a little medieval magic, and not just for the kids: get ready for Highland-style feasting, jousting, even overnight stays.
