The verdict on Hilton's first property in Tasmania
Food + drink
Under the watch of Nathan Chilcott, former executive chef at Hobart's waterfront Mures, the light-filled Leatherwood is the hotel's most attractive space. The menu is staunchly Tasmanian, from local abalone and scallops to Clover lamb and Cape Grim beef. It's worth pulling up a stool at the attached bar, with its wide selection of local beer and wines, to watch city life roll past through the slit windows.
Out + about
It's a distinctive feature of Hobart and the DoubleTree's location that you can be on the fringe of the city and yet still at its heart. My room stares down into St David's Park, the green gateway into Salamanca's restaurants, bars and market, with the boat-filled waterfront just beyond. A trio of Hobart's finest restaurants – Fico, Dier Makr, Pitzi – are within a two-block radius of the hotel.
The verdict
While adding nothing distinctly unique to Hobart's hotel scene, the DoubleTree is well positioned and strong on the city's star quality: views.
Essentials
Rooms from $205 a night. Ten accessible rooms, including five connected to an adjacent room for guests travelling with a support person. 179 Macquarie Street, Hobart. See hilton.com/en/hotels/hbamadi-doubletree-hobart.
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Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
One of the world's most isolated places is the ultimate cruise destination
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The Age
6 days ago
- The Age
One of the world's most isolated places is the ultimate cruise destination
It isn't just wildlife numbers that have an impact on visitors to South Georgia. You get closer to animals here than almost anywhere else in the world. Close enough to admire the sheen on penguins' feathers, to be alarmed by the fierce beaks of giant petrels, and to look into seals' watery black eyes. South Georgia beats the Arctic and Svalbard, where you're lucky to see only a few walrus or polar bears at a distance. It's even harder to get to, however. The British Overseas Territory is 1300 kilometres from the nearest permanent habitation in the Falkland Islands, and 2000 kilometres east of the South American mainland. South Georgia has no airport. Unless you join the British Antarctic Survey, the only way to get here is on an expedition cruise in summer. I'm here with Aurora Expeditions, a top choice for this remote and rugged destination. The inverted bow of Greg Mortimer provides increased stability in rough waters, and abundant decks a grandstand onto icebergs and drifting seabirds if you can stand the cold. Two well-placed hot tubs are terrific if you can't. Wind and waves set the agenda in this volatile environment, so you need an experienced company and expedition team that knows the best places to sail and land. I'm lucky to have Aurora's founder Greg Mortimer himself on board. The legendary adventurer – the first Australian (with Tim Macartney-Snape) to climb Mount Everest and various other big peaks, including Antarctica's highest – has led more than 80 expeditions to Antarctica. Every excursion brings something different. Hercules Bay has macaroni penguins with jaunty yellow head feathers, and a laziness of elephant seals as big as boulders. Fortuna Bay is encrusted with glaciers and bands of buckled rock, and jammed with fur seals and their newly born pups. The sun is bright on a silvery sea as we sail into Stromness Bay, illuminating alpine peaks. The ship's Observation Lounge, with coffee in hand, is my box onto the grand opera of scenery. By the time we anchor, clouds are low and the wind furious. What looked beautiful now seems desolate and grey, but going ashore is just as wonderful. By far the biggest pleasure of expedition cruising is the chance to tap into expert knowledge, and I soon find myself fascinated by lichen, cloud patterns and the penguin life cycle. Twice-daily talks by the expedition team add informative and entertaining detail to South Georgia's natural history. One afternoon, we land at St Andrew's Bay. Dozens of elephant seals are slumped on the beach. Fur seals are everywhere. The king penguin rookery is the biggest in South Georgia, with perhaps well over half a million animals. When I see Linda, I have to admit that my amazement at the wildlife all those days ago was indeed premature. The numbers are difficult to fathom. The island is home to most of the world's Antarctic fur seals and half its elephant seals, plus some 60 million seabirds. Returning to the ship seems surreal. The mudroom, where we strip off Aurora-supplied boots and polar jackets, is its portal between wilderness and the ship's comfort. A quick treatment for chilled bones in the sauna and pre-dinner cocktails are followed by pappardelle alla norma and an Argentine malbec. On our final morning in South Georgia, we're out in Zodiacs at Right Whale Bay. Peaks stab the background and waterfalls gush into a churning sea. The beaches are strewn with so many fur seals that we can't find spare sand on which to land. Bull seals agitated by the mating season grunt and huff. The water around the Zodiac plops with penguins, yellow beaks and throats flashing as they surface for air. They're as soon underwater again, sleek as synchronised swimmers. Once more, South Georgia provides a constant state of wildlife overstimulation. By late morning the wind has whipped up to 70 knots, forcing us to abandon our final excursion. South Georgian weather is capricious. 'You'll have some blue-sky days and bad days and some filthy days but get up and out anyway, because you'll always see things that are unique,' Mortimer advised us at the start of our journey. Loading Indeed. Now the snow is falling, or rather stabbing horizontally across the slush-slippery deck. But no matter. I huddle by the railing, peering through frozen eyelashes at my last glimpse of South Georgia, which disappears into the fog like a magical kingdom, leaving only albatross wandering in a milky sky. The details Cruise Aurora Expeditions visits South Georgia on several different itineraries that also take in the Antarctic Peninsula and Falkland Islands. For example, a 23-day Antarctica Complete journey, which next departs on December 20, 2025 and December 17, 2026, costs from $US29,756 a person ($46,640) including all shore excursions and Zodiac expedition. See
Sky News AU
6 days ago
- Sky News AU
'I know that my mother always wanted me to visit Australia': HRH Prince Leka II of Albania exclusively opens up about royal duties
My interview with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Leka II of Albania has been over a year in the works. It all began about 18 months ago, when the proclamation of Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson as Queen of Denmark revived interest in her fairytale meet-cute with Prince Frederik in that Sydney pub all those years ago. Few journalists bothered to mention that decades earlier, another Aussie girl met a Crown Prince in Sydney. Their love story did not end in a proclamation ceremony or fireworks, but decades of exile and upheaval that saw them perpetually moving around the world. The couple had one son, who today serves as the head of the House of Zogu after finally being allowed to return to Albania. On the evening of our Zoom call, I half expect to hear word from the royal household that the call is off and the Crown Prince would need to reschedule or cancel altogether. But five minutes before the scheduled start of our interview, I receive a notification confirming the Crown Prince has already logged on and is in the virtual waiting room. 'I hope that the hour is not inconvenient for you,' he said. The sandy-haired Crown Prince, 43, is speaking from his bright and well-appointed home office inside the royal residence in Tirana. Our interview coincides with high season for tourism in Albania, which is currently one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in Europe. This year alone, thousands of Aussies will visit Albania as part of their European getaways for the first time, most likely unaware of the Crown Prince's family link to Australia. 'Five years ago before the pandemic, we had three million tourists and I think the Ministry of Culture foresees 11 million tourists this year,' Leka II said. 'Albania is a country which is in a transition. 'We're a country which has beautiful beaches - we share the Ionian sea with Greece - and we have the ancient history of all the empires, from the Romans, the Persians, and the Ottomans, to our own dynasties in history.' The history of the monarchy in Albania is a relatively short but tragic tale of a country caught in the crossroads of ideology - first fascism, then communism. Albania was officially proclaimed a monarchy in 1928, at which time Leka II's grandfather acceded to the throne as Zog I, King of the Albanians. In 1939, Zog I and his wife Queen Geraldine were forced into exile with their newborn son Leka I (Leka II's father) after Italy invaded the country and Benito Mussolini barred the King from returning to Albania. After the war, a communist regime was installed and Albania was largely sealed off to the outside world, leaving the royal family effectively stateless. Decades of harsh communist rule under dictator Enver Hoxha followed before the country transitioned to a democracy in 1991. In 2003, the Albanian Parliament passed a law recognising the royal family and granting them a special status, which enabled the family to come home without restoring them in an official capacity. 'It's the first step in giving certain amounts of recognition and allowing us to play a role within a society while being part of the diplomatic life of the society as well,' Leka II said. Today, the southern European country of about 2.7 million people is enjoying a major economic upswing and is eyeing accession into the EU in the coming years. The country now enjoys relative political stability and a building boom is currently transforming the face of Tirana. Of all the non-reigning monarchies in Europe, the Crown Prince has arguably carved out the most compelling role for a hereditary royal living in a modern republic. He enjoys limited recognition within Albania's present political structure and works as an informal roving ambassador for the country abroad. Just weeks ago, Leka II was made an honorary ambassador to the State of Louisiana by Republican Governor Jeff Landry. In 2016, the Albanian government even gave permission for the royal family to use the former Royal Palace – now the president's official residence - for Leka II's wedding to actress Elia Zaharia. The guest list featured a Madame Tussaud's-worthy selection of reigning and non-reigning royals from across Europe, including Queen Sofia of Spain and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. The royal couple divorced last year but continue to co-parent their daughter Princess Geraldine – the presumed heir to the Albanian throne. In recent years, some of the other royal properties have been returned to the family, including the impressive Royal Villa of Durrës in Albania's second largest city. The former summer residence sits atop a hill overlooking the Adriatic Sea but has fallen into ruin after decades of neglect and earthquakes in the area. Restoring the crumbling residences is an 'incredible challenge' for Leka II. So much so that he recently opted to sell the Royal Villa to a businessman who can properly fund the restoration. 'The new owner is a very, very successful businessman, and he's taking up the incredible challenge to rehabilitate, to rebuild the villa, which unfortunately due to the earthquakes and due to mismanagement and being destroyed, really needs that TLC,' he said. While Leka II credits his father Leka I for instilling in him a drive to serve the country, he was equally influenced by his 'very loving' mother Princess Susan. Leka II says he is 'very proud' of his Australian heritage and credits his late mother's Aussie roots for instilling in him both 'openness' and an uncanny ability to 'read the room'. Born Susan Barbara Cullen-Ward in Sydney, Leka II's mother came from a good eastern suburbs family before meeting the exiled Crown Prince of Albania at a dinner party in the mid-1970s. The couple wed in a small civil ceremony in Biarritz in 1975 and lived in exile in Spain, Zimbabwe and finally South Africa, where they welcomed Leka II in 1982. 'My mother was a fourth-generation Australian,' he said. 'I believe - and I'm not certain about this so maybe some verification could be made - that she was a descendent of Banjo Paterson.' Leka II says he hopes to visit Australia soon and reconnect with cousins and relatives from the Cullen and Ward families. 'My cousins are all pushing for me to come and visit hopefully next year,' he said. 'I know that my mother always wanted me to visit Australia.' Leka II was largely raised in exile in South Africa with his parents in what one 1980s feature by The Australian Women's Weekly gently described as 'reduced circumstances'. Growing up, nobody at school knew Leka II's true identity and he only got a sense of his royal lineage when interacting with the Albanian diaspora on holidays to Europe. I ask the Crown Prince whether his relatively normal upbringing was a blessing in some ways. After all, Prince Harry's memoir Spare was a pretty damning account about the pitfalls of growing up as a royal Prince in the media's glare. 'I had a very normal youth as a child, but at the same time, meeting the diaspora I felt the pressures of position,' he said. 'When we finally came back to Albania in 2002, I was really pushed into the deep end.' Sadly, Susan died in 2004 at age 63 from cancer, just two years after the royal family finally returned to Albania. His father Leka I died in 2012 and both are buried in the Mausoleum of the Albanian Royal Family. As Crown Prince, Leka II can be commended for restoring the royal family to prominence in the country through tireless work promoting Albania abroad. It is plausible that this goodwill could lead to a more official role for the family in the future. But Leka II says he is making great effort to ensure his daughter Geraldine, 4, does not grow up fretting over the future of the House of Zogu. 'She's fluent both in English and Albanian and she's a chatterbox in all senses,' he said. 'But it's important that she is given the best education and time will define her role, you can't force someone to become a monarch.'
