Tourism Australia showcases a wonder of Bungle Bungle Ranges
If you’ve seen the latest Tourism Australia campaign, you may be wondering about that astonishing cave.
If you’ve seen the latest Tourism Australia campaign advertisement featuring Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake, you may be wondering about that astonishing cave that finally silences their “big” exhortations. The landmark that causes their hushed awe is Cathedral Gorge in Purnululu National Park in the Bungle Bungle Ranges, Western Australia.
This extraordinary place, with its instantly recognisable beehive-shaped mounds, was formed over hundreds of millions of years, with tumultuous rains carving out deep gorges. To reach the cavern, visitors walk about 2km from Piccaninny carpark, hemmed in by gorge walls, until the trail enters a huge amphitheatre of red rock, a tranquil pool at its heart. There’s evidence of 20,000 years of Indigenous habitation in the region. The Gija and Jaru people are the traditional custodians of the park, and they conduct cultural tours.
Helicopter is the only way to access Cathedral Gorge in the wet season. Even during the dry, when roads across the arid savanna are more manageable, getting to Purnululu takes some effort; it’s about 12 hours’ drive from Darwin, nine hours from Broome, or 3 ½ hours south from Kununurra. The last 50km takes two to three hours and is 4WD only.
The new TA campaign urges Australians to embark on an epic trip across the country. Cathedral Gorge sounds like a perfect match.
PENNY HUNTER
Book club
A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women
Robyn Lea
It’s unusual to feature non-fiction in this column but exceptions can be made when a shiny new publication is all about special spaces, many filled with books, that are the uniquely configured salons, sitting rooms and studios of creative women.
I’m excited that my Italy-based friend Amber Guinness, a chef who runs a painting school at her family’s Tuscan villa, and her mother Camilla and sister Claudia are included, but equally charmed by other stylish women in this 20-strong mix, some of whom have forged lives outside their birth countries.
In that category is Sue Townsend. Hailed as a “creative entrepreneur”, she was involved in the foundation of the English garden-themed Crabtree & Evelyn brand and a director of Prince Charles’s Duchy Originals organic produce line. Now she’s based in Florence but her home away from home is Piazza del Duomo on the Sicilian island of Ortigia. Its rooms are richly coloured and textured, replete with antiques and art. Also in Italy (the book’s most-featured destination) is fashion designer Marta Ferri’s atelier in Milan, a wonderland of fabrics, velvet sofas, wicker chairs and salvaged timber floors. This feels more approachable, with ideas to copy, a pinboard messy with notes and cards, and workroom shelves stuffed with remnants of textiles and ribbons.
In New York’s Tribeca, artist and ex-fashion model Lisbeth McCoy’s studio is filled with light through high, arched windows and seemingly simple at first glance. But turn the pages to discover Scandinavian sculptures and furniture, evoking her early childhood on the Danish island of Funen, followed by a glimpse of her holiday cottage in upstate New York.
These are accomplished women, assured in their taste but, as with all beautiful books about design, jealousy is inevitable and voyeurism irresistible.
Australia? Fiorina and Francesca Golotta, Melbourne-based jewellery designer and photographer respectively, are captured in work and home scenarios full of art, assemblies of beads and bilum bags, all harking to a passion for collectables from exotic cultures.
In Sydney, fashion designer and artist Heidi Middelton reveals her sparkling Palm Beach pad.
Thames & Hudson, $65
SUSAN KUROSAWA
Spend it
Australia’s skincare and beauty brand Aesop has partnered with British “responsible fashion pioneer” company Raeburn to produce a recycled cotton hold-all in response to the rise in demand for easy-to-carry hand cleansers, sanitisers and creams. The navy blue Adventurer Roll Up is fastened with a smart grey cotton tie and segmented into three individual slots for 75ml Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm; 50ml Resurrection Rinse-Free Hand Mist; and 50ml Resurrection Rinse-Free Hand Wash. It’s a durable, handbag or glovebox-ready pouch that can easily be refilled with replacement items. Think of it as a COVID-era first-aid kit with benefits. $70.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
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