Inspiring Travel Writing from Belinda Jackson
How much decoration can you bring to a hiking tent? Belinda Jackson is an Australian journalist specialising in travel and design, at times two contrasting disciplines. She can bear the five-star treatment, but has lived in a hiking tent for up to four months at a time. Using Ireland as a base, she explored eastern and western Europe for many years, from French B&Bs to camping on the Russian-Georgian border at the foot of Mt Elbrus. She has visited all continents, but is now back home and based in Melbourne, where she is rediscovering and finding new favourite locations, particularly in remote central Australia. She speaks Spanish badly, rides horses badly and is currently having a love affair with South America in a bid to rectify both shortcomings. She shoots her own photography but is herself unphotogenic.
Articles by Belinda Jackson
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Tales from the Dead
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Belinda Jackson
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Australia
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Queensland
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Fraser Island
Yankee Jack Pigott was found buried head first in the sand with his feet sticking out. He was as dead as a dodo. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be telling you this,” says ranger Alan Souter as we trudge up the massive Hammerstone Sandblow, one of Fraser...
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Before You Die: Adele Penguin Guano
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Belinda Jackson
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France
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Provence
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Antarctica: Smell the guano and hear the roar of 100,000 Adele penguins at a breeding colony.
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Love of a Cold Climate: A Journey into Antarctica
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Belinda Jackson
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France
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Provence
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In Antarctica, it’s not cold, the seas are calm and it’s a nice place for a swim. There’s even a little shop to buy stamps and send your postcards. Really. In short, my experience of Antarctica is nothing like that of the pioneers of the white...
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City Chic, Buenos Aires
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Belinda Jackson
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Argentina
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Buenos Aires and the Pampas
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Buenos Aires
There’s a man in a van following me. Which is a bit difficult, really, as I’m on foot, walking along Buenos Aires’ jagged footpaths. He’s just driving alongside me, at walking pace. “What’s your name? Where do you live? Are you married?” he asks in...
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Before You Die: Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel
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Belinda Jackson
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Thailand
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Bangkok Region
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Bangkok
Thailand, Bangkok: Have a cocktail in the rooftop Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree hotel. Belinda Jackson
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Trainathon Australia
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Belinda Jackson
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Australia
The little hook is begging to be pulled. So I do. And suddenly a fold-up toilet drops out from the wall and almost into my lap. The sleepers on the Indian Pacific are fantastic places to explore. They're stuffed full of seemingly meaningless hooks...
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Male Order
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Belinda Jackson
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Maldives
Blood washes across the floor, splattering the tiled walls and columns as it is mixed with water and washed down a drain. As night falls upon this isolated island in the Indian Ocean, a man hunches over a flayed corpse, peeling meaty hunks from the...
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Northern Territory: Crocs of Gold
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Belinda Jackson
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Australia
The chopper swoops over the virulent green swamp, the powerful blades forcing the tall grass to bow into submission. We’ve taken the doors off to get better photos and the wind is whipping our hair about our faces: it’s all so M*A*S*H....
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Melbourne’s Seven Hottest New CBD Bars
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Belinda Jackson
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Australia
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Victoria
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Melbourne
As the adage goes, Sydney loves a glitzy knees-up, but Melbourne does great bars. And while Sydney’s now fast on track to emulate its southern cousin’s success at alcoholic alcoves, there’s no harm in visiting Melbourne to see the masters at work....
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Shanghai Raises the Bar
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Belinda Jackson
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China
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Shanghai Region
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Shanghai
High heels, check. Summer frock, check. Fat wallet, check. While you can hang out in bland Shanghai restaurants knocking back 30-cent Tsing Tao beer and budget dumplings, there’s another show going on in town, and it’s glittering with Shanghai style...