The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust

• EP 88 Adventurer Laura Waters on paddling Australia's longest river; top tourism operators & best destinations for the Aussie dollar

  First, she walked the length of New Zealand and now adventurer, author and inspirational speaker Laura Waters has completed an epic journey paddling the length of Australia’s longest river, the Murray River.The 2,400-kilometre challenge saw her paddle for weeks on end. She tells us why she did it, recounts the tough challenges she faced along the way and tells us where the best spots are if you want to follow in her wake.Watch Laura here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCRARCeTKywThe Qantas Australian Tourism Awards has revealed the best in the business, from tourist attractions and festivals to five-star accommodation.And non-bank lender MONEYME has analysed Australia’s 10 most popular holiday destinations to find the best and worst value destinations for travellers.Finally, we give you a sneak peek into one of Melbourne's most anticipated luxury hotels, 1 Hotel, and explain why this hotel is gaining so much attention.Support the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.auSend us a textSupport the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.au

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• EP 87 Travels for bookworms; Aussie travel trends & which airlines are overcharging for extras

  If your dream destination is anywhere curled up with a great book in a cosy nook by the fire or by the pool, let Lucy Pearson take you on a reading retreat. Lucy is a bibliotherapist and bespoke library curator who has designed a series of upcoming reading retreats in France, Wales and Australia.  Expect silent book clubs or find a cosy nook by the fire or pool to read, as well as a bibliotherapy session and a book 'prescription'. Each retreat has a theme, stories shaped by the sea, a French-inspired reading list inspired by the allure of France, and a winter retreat where houses are the central character.Co-host Belle also asks Lucy for her travel lit hot list, which includes:Holy Cow! (India) Sarah MacDonaldWild (USA) Sheryl StrayedIn Search of Silence (India & New Zealand) Poorna Bell Eat Pray Love (India, Italy, Indonesia) Elizabeth GilbertHideous Kinky (Morocco) Esther Freud and her favourite travelogue;A Year in Provence (France) Peter Mayle.For more about Lucy's reading retreats in Provence, Wales or Daylesford here in Australia and her bibliotherapy practice, visit thelitedit.com  You can also sign up to her substack, and follow her on Instagram.And what kind of holidays are we taking? Find out what's hot right now, according to new research from experience network Big Red Group.We also hit the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival; Kirstie went to the Longest Lunch - think hundreds of meters of tables set along the lawns of Kings Domain, while Belle went to gaol. She sat down to what should have been Ned Kelly's final dinner the atmospheric Old Melbourne Gaol. There are still more free and low-cost events at the festival, or pop in the diary for the 2026 festival; https://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.auSend us a textSupport the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.au

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• EP 86 A&K's groundbreaking philanthropy; the changing habits of Aussie travellers & top five passport mistakes

  “These women are selling bikes to families who are using them to get to the river to fish, fields to farm and to get to school… we have one bike shop in Zambia that has sold over 8,000 bikes in that local community… and they are ferocious entrepreneurs and it’s so fun to hear them talk about their lives now compared to when they started nine years ago,” Keith Sproule, the Executive Director of Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy.Keith Sproule oversees 55 philanthropy projects for A&K in 24 countries, including this one that he mentions, where A&K opens bike shops for women across Africa and the Middle East who use the money to buy homes and ensure their children have access to a better education. Also, TravelInsurance.com.au research shows many Aussie travellers are choosing Asia over Europe – we explain why, and our tip is about the top five passport mistakes you need to avoid by Smartraveller.Send us a textSupport the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.au

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• EP 85 Celebrating St Patrick's Day, Marvellous Melbourne & the art exhibitions you can't miss

  Discover what fills your heart with Ireland, be it the rich culture, the legendary Irish hospitality, the stunning scenery, ancient cities or world-class food.  This episode is sponsored by our friends at Tourism Ireland. Learn more at ireland.comThis coming week sees the celebration of St Patrick's Day, one of the biggest festivals on the Emerald Isle. Walk the famous saint's waymarked way, or find your  own celebration, from the long-running Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival to the Puca Festival, marking the pagan event Samhain, the ancestor of Halloween. Ireland's most famous literary son, Oscar Wilde, died 125 years ago in 2025, and is celebrated in a new Wilde weekend, In Our Dreams.Then, we take an about-turn back to Australia. "Melbourne is a city of stories," says author, guide and Melbourne aficionado Dale Campisi, whose new book, Naarm/Melbourne Neighbourhoods is a wealth of history, walks and minutiae about the Victorian capital. We ask Dale all your burning questions; did Melbourne narrowly avoid being called Batmania? Which Melbourne skyscraper is drizzled in (symbolic) blood? And was Flinders Street Station really supposed to be built in Mumbai? He also talks about Naarm/Melbourne's indigenous history, and what the land was like before Europeans settled here. We also have a giveaway! To win a copy of Dale's book, drop us a line at [email protected] to be in the running.  And our tip this week is the art exhibitions you need to see right now. We're talking Inca gold, Japanese pumpkins and Australia's contribution to Europe's 20th-century, avant-garde art movement. Melbourne @ National Gallery of Victoria ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/yayoi-kusama/ Sydney @ Australian Museum australian.museum/exhibition/machu-picchu/ Canberra @ National Gallery nga.gov.au/exhibitions/anne-dangar/ Send us a textSupport the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.au

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• Ep 84 The Australian woman walking the length of the Earth; the best food cities & how to avoid jet lag

  “I don’t see a town any sooner than five days and now 10 to 20 days … so it’s remote, it’s very cold …and there are grizzly bears, and wolves and they travel in packs… so I start at daylight and I’ve always got a podcast playing because of predators,” says Lucy Barnard, the Australian woman walking the length of the Earth. With International Women's Day fast approaching, there couldn’t be a more fitting interview for this week as Lucy attempts to be the first woman to walk the world from Argentina to Alaska, covering 30,000 kilometres across 14 countries, with her dog Wombat in tow.  Lucy shares her favourite places to hike and explains what it’s like walking through regions so dangerous you need a police escort tanglesandtail.comAlso, the world's best food destinations according to  British online travel agency Travel Bag - which Australian city's taken the coveted prize of the global food capital and we're talking gold-covered baklava (say Dubai without saying Dubai) travelbag.co.ukNIB Travel has seven top tips to beat jet lag, nibtravelinsurance.com.au and Belle opens the doors to the Little National Hotel in Sydney’s CBD littlenationalhotel.com.au/Sydney/Drop us your thoughts on this week's episode at [email protected] - we love hearing from our listeners!Support the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.auSend us a textSupport the showVisit us at https://theworldawaits.au

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