Air quality in the Australian capital the worst in the world

Despite being more than 60 kilometres from the nearest active fire front, the Australian capital city of Canberra has consistently woken to dark orange skies and some of the worst air quality in the world.

The national airline Qantas cancelled all flights in and out of Canberra Airport on Sunday as the capital was blanketed in an orange haze from bush fires. Some flights were diverted to Sydney.

Images: DailyMail.co.uk

Dozens of businesses closed over the weekend along with landmarks and attractions including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery.

Even the department which oversees Australia's response to disasters and emergencies temporarily closed its Canberra headquarters as the capital was blanketed by smoke on Monday. 

The Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force (ABF) advised staff to stay home. 

The Department of Home Affairs sent an email to ACT-based staff instructing them to stay away from their offices for the next 48 hours — although "critical and operational front-line personnel" continued to work from alternative locations.

The air quality index in the CBD was close to 3,000. Anything above 200 is considered a health hazard. 

Canberra's air quality was the worst of any major city in the world at midday on Sunday.
The Bureau of Meteorology has reported it expects the heavy smoke-filled air to stay for several days.

Chief minister Andrew Barr said 100,000 face masks were being handed out to residents.

The Australian National University and the University of Canberra both closed their campuses, citing hazardous air concerns, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The Brumbies rugby union team, which trains at the University of Canberra, temporarily relocated to Newcastle.

As parliament is not sitting many politicians missed out on the air quality their policies have created. 

At least 21 people have died across several states in one the worst Australian bush fire seasons on record.  

Discover the US safely - by boat

I personally would not choose to vacation in the United States right now. Too much poisonous politics, and that all too real chance of being shot by some random lunatic. 

For for those who do want to go exploring, a cruise would seem to be a safe option. 

The world’s most famous waterfall - Niagara Falls, the motor city of Detroit, bustling Chicago and the Great Lakes all feature on a new, 10-night cruise package offered by boutique American cruise company, Victory Cruise Lines, and Australian small ship specialists, Cruise Traveller.

Australians can save up to US$800 per couple if they book the package by March 31, 2020.

The largest group of freshwater lakes on the planet, North America’s Great Lakes hold 20% of the Earth’s freshwater. 

Covering an area of 244,000 square kilometres - roughly the size of the UK - they also boast fishing ports, surfing beaches, indigenous communities, car-free islands, the largest freshwater sand dunes in the world and a ghost town.

Australians can visit this fascinating region and sail on each of the five major lakes on Victory Cruises’ ‘Splendour of the Great Lakes’ cruise from Toronto to Chicago in July, 2020. The route traces the US-Canadian border for much of the journey - and Canada is a lot safer and more sane than the US.

The adventure begins with a complimentary hotel stay in Toronto on July 4, 2020, before guests board the 202-passenger Victory I - a ship that easily navigates canals, locks, bays and hidden ports where larger ships cannot go.

Guests will cruise across Lake Ontario and via a network of locks to Niagara Falls before entering Lake Erie and visiting Cleveland and the world’s car capital of Detroit.

From there, the ship will make its way through Lake Huron to Manitoulin Island. 

Victory I then charts a course through the Soo Locks – the world’s busiest canal in terms of tonnage – to the historic Canadian lake port of Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior – the largest of the great lakes. 

Next on the itinerary is Mackinac Island, where passengers can disconnect from the modern world and enjoy a horse-drawn carriage tour of the car-free island. 

The cruise then enters Lake Michigan and the final destination of Chicago, one of the US's greatest cities. 

Including all on-board meals, free-flowing drinks, shore excursions with local guides at every port, shipboard wifi, on-board gratuities and port taxes, the 10-night ‘Splendour of the Great Lakes’ cruise package is available from US$5907 per person, twin-share, (in a category C oceanview stateroom) including the US$400 discount per person if booked by March 31, 2020. 

Alternative departure dates are available between May and October, 2020.

To book, call Cruise Traveller on 1800 507 777 or visit www.cruisetraveller.com.au

Direct link to packages: www.cruisetraveller.com.au/Great-Lakes-2020

The ideal companion for the health-conscious traveller

Packing for a trip - no matter how short - can be a stressful business.

With weight restrictions and liquid limits to bear in mind, choosing which medicines and balms to pack, and which to leave behind, can be difficult.

Meet Cannabella Hemp Jelly - the all-in-one balm that can be used as a lip balm, overnight face mask or cleanser, massage balm for tired muscles, hydrating lotion, sunburn and windburn aid and to help treat skin rashes, mosquito and bug bites and more.

Hemp Jelly comes in very handy 15-gram or 60-gram tubs; smells good and can do you good.

It is hand-crafted using raw unfiltered hemp seed oil combined with a selection of botanicals recognised to be beneficial to the health and healing of the skin.

It is a multi-purpose skin repair balm that is easily transportable and can be applied on the go, to any part of the body. I used a sample I was sent  this morning to east some aching muscles in my calves. It did the job.

Each jelly includes antioxidants, vitamins E and A, unfiltered hemp seed oil and botanicals including apricot oil, jojoba oil and chlorophyll. 

The makers - based in Byron Bay - promise their product is 100% organic, cruelty free and vegan friendly. 

For more on plant-based skincare and the healing power of hemp see www.cannabella.com.au |

Australia produces the worst-timed tourism campaign ever

Australia's new Matesong campaign to entice British tourists Down Under might well go down in history as the most ill-conceived, poorly-timed advertising promotion of all time.

No less than $15 million of taxpayers' money was spent on the Kylie Minogue-fronted campaign, launched over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.



The thinking was that chilled-to-the-bone Brits shivering in the middle of winter would be enticed to Australia's sunny beaches rather than the much-closer options of Spain, Portugal and other European destinations.

What the Tourism Australia team failed to take into account is that for the past four or five years different parts of Australia have been ablaze with bush fires over the Christmas-New Year holidays.

As I write, parts of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are in flames. There have been 19 deaths, 27 people are unaccounted for and several thousand people have fled their homes.

Millions of cuddly koalas, wombats and wallabies have also perished.

A mass evacuation effort is underway at Mallacoota in East Gippsland, where military personnel are escorting 963 people onto a navy ship that will take them on a 20-hour sea voyage to Western Port outside Melbourne.

The air quality in several Australian cities is among the worst in the world as a result of the bushfires.

The fire-ravaged town of Cobargo. Pic: Niki Hutteman

The Australian fires, and the ham-fisted response of reptilian skank prime minister Scott Morrison - whose first thought was to go on holiday to Hawaii with his family - have been all over the media in not only Britain, but other tourist markets including the United States.

Morrison earlier this year refused to meet with fire service chiefs and has been slow to react to public outrage.

Today's New York Post says: "Australia’s hapless prime minister was forced to retreat from a fire-ravaged rural village when residents — one of them holding a goat on a leash — jeered him out of town over his response to the natural disaster.

"Footage of Scott Morrison’s abysmal reception in the New South Wales village of Cobargo went viral Thursday after residents refused to shake his hand — telling their leader to “piss off” and slamming him as a “scumbag” and “idiot.”

Initial criticism of the campaign centred on the fact that it did not "portray a modern and multicultural Australia" and its cringe-worthy cliches.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said: "I understand that frolicking on the beach and playing with cute marsupials is something that some Australians may think is not projecting ourselves in a way that shows the full sophistication of the nation.

"But tourism advertising campaigns aren't targeted at Australian audiences, they're targeted at the audience where the campaign runs and in this case, that's the UK."

The major complication was that the advertising blitz rolled out at the same time British media was saturated with coverage of the bush fires, which had been predicted after drought conditions.

The Australian state of New South Wales - in which Sydney is situated - has declared a week-long state of emergency starting on Friday as the bush fires continue to spread.

Holidaymakers are being told to leave before Saturday because dangerous conditions will be "the same or worse than New Year's Eve".

Since September, 18 people have died in the bush fires and more than 1,200 homes have been destroyed. At least 17 people remain missing.

Supplies of fuel and essentials in shops are running low in some towns.

Birmingham said the campaign was scheduled many months in advance and the clash could not be avoided. It is, however, looming as money wasted.

The $15 million spent on Matesong is the largest investment Tourism Australia has made in the UK in more than a decade.

Instead, the world watched as leaders in the states of New South Wales and Victoria both declared a state of emergency - and as Prime Minister Morrison was booed and jeered when he visited towns affected by the blazes, which local fire departments, manned almost entirely by volunteers, were under-equipped to counter.

Pacific ahoy! Great travel deals to the Cook Islands

Most Australians have visited Fiji, Bali and Thailand but the Cook Islands remain off he beaten track.

Now Air New Zealand is opening up the Pacific Island nation with return flights from $529 per person return, or flights plus six night's accommodation from $1049 per person.

The deals are on sale for selected dates between January and September 2020.

Flights on the direct service from Sydney to Rarotonga start from $529 return in economy class, available for sale up to January 29, 2020, or until seats on set departures are sold out.

Sale fares are also available for Brisbane and Melbourne connected with departures via Sydney’s direct service.

Premium economy fares during the sale period start from $1089 per person and business fares from $1569 return.

Air New Zealand’s direct service to the Cook Islands departs Sydney weekly on Friday evenings and returns on a Friday evening, allowing for a six-night holiday on the Cook Islands. 

Guests cross the international date line when flying to the Cook Islands, seeing them arrive on the day they leave Australia while losing a day on the return from Rarotonga.

Rarogonta is the hub of the Cook Islands, featuring crystal clear turquoise lagoons, no buildings higher than a coconut tree, and adventures from hiking to the island’s volcanic peak to snorkelling, lagoon tours, cultural markets, fishing, biking and culinary tourism experiences.

See www.cookislands.travel for more information.

Many properties on Rarotonga are also on sale up to January 29 through Spacifica Travel. Six-night packages including flights, daily breakfast and transfers start from $1049 at Club Raro Resort or $1299 at The Edgewater Resort & Spa.

For combined flight and accommodation deals see https://spacificatravel.com/packages/destination/the-cook-islands.

For flights only see www.airnewzealand.com.au/cheap-flights-to-cook-islands

A stress-free way to explore the gourmet delights of the Mornington Peninsula

Newly-launched Mornington Peninsula Food Holidays aims to connect enthusiastic gourmets to one of Australia's finest food and wine destinations.

Offering food holiday packages for three, five or seven days, Mornington Peninsula Food Holidays caters for couples up to groups of eight.

The accommodation base throughout the holiday is centrally located and award-winning George's Boutique Hotel, which offers luxury accommodation and stunning views. 

The Mornington Peninsula is home to hatted cellar door restaurants from Montalto Vineyard and Ten Minutes by Tractor to Laura at Point Leo and Paringa Estate - and guests can choose their dining destinations.

Included in holiday packages is a personal driver service provided by Ridge Rider Tours and Transfers. 

All guests are guided and driven to each of their food and wine destinations - allowing for a stress-free break. 

A raft of inclusions for each holiday package add up to great value while a healthy range of optional extras aim to ensure that the full Mornington Peninsula experience is achieved.

For full details and choices go to www.mpfoodholidays.com.au