‘In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…’ A city so enchanting it provided the setting for no less than three Shakespeare plays…

“Celebrity chefs are somewhat rare in France, a country that takes its food very seriously. Culinary masters should be slogging it out in the kitchen rather than gracing television screens, many would agree.”

I’m thirteen-years-old again, an eager skipper to my father’s captain aboard his beloved Bird Bath, a 24ft bilge-keeled ferro boat. We’ve set off from the western shores of Macleay Island, my childhood home, and we’re sailing around Brisbane’s Southern Moreton Bay Islands region, the salty sea breeze heavy and warm. [...]

“Loafing needs no explanation and is its own excuse,” the American writer Christopher Morley once said. Wise words Mr Morley, words I kept in mind when I booked a signature massage at the Spa Le Bristol…

“The Plaza Athénée, the Parisian palace par excellence. Pair it with one of the world’s most prestigious fashion and beauty houses and a girl’s dreams come true. Or at least mine did…”

“Boats pottering about the harbour, skirting its curves from Camp Cove to Rose Bay, meeting at Circular Quay where the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House dominate and command attention.”

“Anxiously eying the turtle soup laid out on the table before me, I was hesitant to sample my first spoonful. It was a first, let alone at breakfast time, but it was only one of many exotic entrées to pass our lips…”