News from the world of travel

Darwin set for 18-day festival

NEXT month’s Darwin Festival features hundreds of local and international performers in a range of shows covering music, theatre, comedy, dance, cabaret and visual arts.

The festival runs from August 10-27 across 28 venues, opening at the newly-expanded Festival Park precinct with a host of free events.

Darwin Festival artistic director Kate Fell said: “Darwin Festival 2023 is an invitation to immerse in a unique, tropical winter play-space, rich with magical moments and deep Territory narratives.

“The festival offers a spectrum of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture, thrilling performances and intriguing discussions, taking place across the cityscape of Darwin, and transforming familiar places into sites of discovery.”

Among the festival’s premieres are The Farm’s Stunt Double, an interactive experience exploring the power dynamics of the film industry, and The Other Side of Me, a UK and NT Dance Company collaboration.

The festival this year opens a new space, Festival Lawn, with the return of Darwin favourite Blanc de Blanc Encore in The Spiegeltent, and a new venue, Maho Magic Bar, featuring Japanese magic.

History of House is a musical journey through disco and pop featuring Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir and ARIA-nominated DJ Groove Terminator, reimagining and reigniting dance music through the decades.

Robyn Archer: An Australian Songbook sees stage legend Robyn Archer celebrate 150 years of Australian music accompanied by top Australian musicians.

There’s free live music every night at the Power and Water Bamboo Bandstand in Festival Park.

For more information: darwinfestival.org.au

Circus thrills at sea on Cunard’s luxury liner

CONTEMPORARY circus Circa has performed around the world for the past 20 years, but next year will tackle a new frontier when it entertains guests aboard Cunard’s luxury cruise liner Queen Elizabeth on Australian and New Zealand cruises. Circa is renowned for combining dance, theatre and movement with its physical style of contemporary circus.

Queen Elizabeth carries 2069 passengers and its West End-style stage shows are performed at its Royal Court Theatre.

The 10 acrobats from Circa will perform in the theatre during cruises from February 1 to March 10.

Yaron Lifschitz, who has been CEO and artistic director of Circa since 1999, will accompany the troupe in the early stages of the six-week cruise season to supervise the new shows.

“Cunard is curating some special productions for its cruises and we are very excited about bringing the circus to it,” Lifschitz told The AJN.

“We are working on three different shows in repertoire and plan to also hold some workshops and improv performances.”

Lifschitz and the team are currently working on the productions at Circa’s Brisbane base. The performances aboard the Queen Elizabeth will range from cabaret and burlesque to dance and drama.

“We aim to give the audience a range of the Circa repertoire.”

Circa has been touring the world since 2004, performing in more than 40 countries to about 1.5 million people.

For more information: cunard.com

New luxury retreat in Byron Bay

THE Brooklet is a new luxury accommodation, wellness and hospitality retreat in Byron Bay’s hinterland near Bangalow that has just opened.

Set on a 125-acre property, guests can choose from one-bedroom and two-bedroom luxury villas, designed to blend into the sweeping landscape.

Each bedroom has an ensuite with handmade ceramic tiles, filtered rainwater showers and a free-standing bath overlooking the rolling countryside.

There’s an indoor gas fireplace and outdoor wood fire for winter warmth, while the villa is air-conditioned for summer.

The Bails is a restored 100-year-old milking shed that sleeps six in three king bedrooms.

The Brooklet has a 25-metre tiled mineral pool, tennis court, hot tub, gymnasium, sauna and spa.

The Bar is ideal for a long lunch overlooking the pool and rolling hills, with a range of wines available from the cellar.

The Kitchen, built outdoors on the field near The Bar, allows guests to see their orders being created by Executive Chef Simon Favorito.

For more information: www.thebrooklet.com.au

Veteran travel doctor receives international honour

Established in 1991, ISTM has more than 4000 members from almost 100 countries. Its conference is held every two years, but this year’s event in the city of Basel was the first in-person conference since COVID and attracted 1100 delegates, including about 80 from Australia.

The three-day conference was attended by more than 1100 experts from around the world including doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health professionals.

Since 2016, each conference has honoured a small group of members who demonstrate professional excellence by inducting them as fellows, with Cohen among this year’s group.

“I was very honoured to receive the nomination as a fellow,” Cohen told The AJN.

“It honours the work you do as a clinician plus the work you do for training and education. It also recognises my involvement through Travel Clinics Australia with the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society, which covers countries in the region including Israel.

“It’s a life-long honour.”

Cohen has been a member of the ISTM for more than 20 years.

“The conference is valuable because you receive a lot of up-to-date information and learn how your peers in other parts of the world are dealing with the same problems that you face,” he said.

After the three-day conference Cohen travelled to Israel for a family holiday.