The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
Where does your wanderlust lead you?
To Melbourne’s cafes or the vast deserts of the Empty Quarter, a New Zealand vineyard or the pavements of New York… what’s your neighbourhood?
Join travel journalists and editors Kirstie Bedford and Belinda Jackson for inspiring stories and inside information from across the world.
Website https://theworldawaits.au
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The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
EP 121 Walking, wine and wombats: the Tasmanian lake lodge you need to visit; Australia's best cellar doors & save on Swiss rail passes
We're celebrating this week as co-host Belle Jackson is once again named Travel Writer of the Year by the Australian Society of Travel Writers! See https://globalsalsa.com
Belle takes us to Tasmania's Central Highlands, where wine, wombats and walking are all on the menu at the beautiful Pumphouse Point. Set in the glacial Lake St Claire, the lake lodge has recently opened its new Retreats, which look to the pumphouse. It's also a hub for walkers, wine and wombats; https://www.pumphousepoint.com.au/
Also, leading wine reviewer the Halliday Wine Companion reveals Australia's top cellar door to put on your travel list https://winecompanion.com.au/ and we're sharing some great tips to save when travelling around Switzerland on its Swiss Rail Pass, https://www.swissrailways.com/en
And a spot of trivia; what do you think is the most expensive thing left in Brisbane Airport's Lost & Found? Lloyds Auctions recently put all the items under the hammer, including one pretty surprising, pretty pricey item that would be hard to forget...
A shout out to Trapper & Smiggins gin from Lake St Clair https://www.trapperandmiggins.com/
And if you'd like to read Belle's three stories that won her the title of TWOTY:
Why AlUla is the hottest place to be now, Saudi Arabia https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/why-this-hidden-oasis-is-the-coolest-luxury-destination-right-now-20230905-p5e22i.html
Flamenco & fino with Inntravel, Spain https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/this-southern-spain-train-odyssey-is-ruled-by-two-f-words-20240822-p5k4cs.html
Rose Harvest in Oman https://luxuryescapes.com/inspiration/a-journey-through-oman/?srsltid=AfmBOoo6azH50gGVmPuFV-B0Ktoq1fgru_Vfe_-9WgKjncPHagxQBOL8
and you can see more on her website https://globalsalsa.com
Visit us at https://theworldawaits.au
Welcome to the World Aways. Travel tales to inspire your wanderlust. Welcome back to the World Aways. How are you all?
SPEAKER_01:How's your week been, Val? Well, I've got to say the past couple of weeks have been pretty fabulous, actually, Kirsty. I am actually recording this issue, uh, this edition from Niyama Private Island in the Maldives, which I'm happy to report is deeply, deeply fabulous. I'm not going to tell you any more about it because I'm saving it all up. Um, we're going to do a pod in a couple of in a week or so, and I'm going to tell you all about the Maldives. And oh God, I love it. I love it so much.
SPEAKER_02:But hang on, you need to tell us the real reason why you're so fabulous. Because I am sitting here like a little proud, I don't know what I am, work wife, sister, friend, my um, but I am just like literally bursting with pride about your news. So please do tell.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yes, that is the other one. I have actually been named Travel Writer of the Year by the Australian Society of Travel Writers. I'm just, you know, I'm I'm I'm really sure um I'm really shocked by it because um the two other journalists I was up against are phenomenally good writers. So and I completely respect them. So I just, yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm in shock. I won it a couple of years ago, um, but it does not get old. So um the thing is to to enter the award, you've you've got to submit three pieces of published work from the past year. So I I'm putting two cover stories that I'd written for the traveler section of the Sydney Morning Herald and the AH. Um, and one of them was on the Alula, which is a northern oasis in Saudi Arabia and why it's currently the hottest place to be right now. It's hot, not just because it's hot, but also because it's just incredibly beautiful, especially if, like me, you're a bit of a desert rat. And the next story was a trip I'd done with a fabulous British travel company called In Travel, it's INN Travel. And they specialize in self-guided walking tours. It's right up your alley, Kirsty. Um, but then they've also branched out into cycling and rail journeys. And their whole ethos is um is sustainable travel, so that you're using public uh rail networks, not you know, private trains and stuff like that. So I traveled from Seville to Cadiz down the sea in southern southern Andalusia by train, and it was an exploration of flamenco and Fino Sherry, and it was so good. Like I just had the best time. And I was on my own, you know, it was a it was amazing. I was traveling up solo on that one. And the third was a feature I wrote for Luxury Escapes Dream magazine, which was about visiting Oman during its rose harvest scene. So I did actually chat about this on the podcast. If you'd like to take a listen, but you've got to dial way back to episode 40. So that is my fabulous news. I'm really feeling the love. And I'm just gonna send out a special thanks to the Australian Society of Travel Writers for conducting the awards to the editors of those travel sections and also to in-travel emirates, you know, the Shangri-Lara and the Anantara Jebalel actor in Oman and also Experience Alula, because um, you know, without them, there wouldn't be the stories, right?
SPEAKER_02:Well, then without them, there wouldn't be the stories, but without your beautiful storytelling and words, there wouldn't be a win. So, I mean, you are just a remarkable storyteller, and um, and and I've always said, and I say this to everyone I talk to, that you're one of the best writers, travel writers in Australia, and obviously now the best. So, um officially. So, yeah, so you absolutely deserve every success. And I'm just so, so proud. I was like just bursting like a popping like a bottle of bubbly um yeah, at this news. Just so excited. So yeah, I'm so happy and proud of proud of you. So yeah, well done. Um and as this goes to air while Belle is basking in her glory in the tropical Maldives, um, I will be wandering around split in Croatia after doing a hike in Greece and another one in Montenegro. Let's hope I uh drop this cold by then, which I probably won't have. Um and yes, because I am actually currently time traveling too, and I'm also um already on board the adults only Viking. So um I am super excited about that. And again, we'll tell we'll tell you all about that later. Um, but yes, moving on.
SPEAKER_01:From away from our glamorous lives. Sometimes the glamour is real, other times we're just trapped in our rooms writing like maniacs meeting deadline. So um, yeah, what a great, what great lives. Okay, we better get this podcast recorded before the next seaplane pulls into the resort. So let's go. I am going to share some glamorous travel trivia, which comes from Brisbane Airport. So stay with me here. Um, it recently held the largest, its largest ever lost property auction. And Kirsty, can you guess what the most expensive thing was that they were auctioning off, which had been left in the airport? I know you know, you're gonna tell us.
SPEAKER_02:It was a Bulgari 18k gold diamond necklace valued at, wait for it,$11,000.$11,000.
SPEAKER_01:That's where I left an Eddie Carrot gold diamond necklace. Somebody left it in the airport, so they auctioned it off. I think that's just astonishing. Um so um that was my little bit of trivia, but from lost diamond necklaces to Australia's top drops. The also um happening lately is the Holiday Wine Companion, which has named its top wineries for 2025. Halliday has been issuing this definitive guide to Australian wines for almost 40 years, and it I like the wine tasters are incredible. They review around 8,000 wines a year. So um it's like a little it's a lot of wine, don't you think, Kirsty?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, that is, and that's my Sunday night right there. Um there were 1,100 wineries in the list, which they whittled down to 100. And the best winery, according to Halliday, was Vass Felix in the Margaret River region in Western Australia. So Margaret River is best known for its cab serves as well as its Stella Chardonnays, and Vass Felix Heightsbury Chardonnay was named Chardonnay of the Year. Gosh, Chardonnay's come a long way, hasn't it? It's not lighter now than it used to be. Not that I'm a big shardy drinker. Um, and white wine of the year. And so the wine maker Virginia Wilcock was also named Winemaker of the Year.
SPEAKER_01:Um I don't mind a little Chardonnay, um, oats, preferably because that's like, you know, shoulder pads of the 80s. Um coming in at number two is the Hunter Valley storewood, broken wood. Um, best known for its graveyard Sheraz. And the judges say its cellador is one of the finest in the country. So put that on your travel plans. If you are going up that way in the hunter, you can pop in for a quick tasting or do the full immersion at the cellar door, which is three hours north of Sydney.
SPEAKER_02:And in third was Oak Ridge and Victoria's Yarra Valley region, which did really well because it was also the home to the fourth on the list, Mount Mary, which whose Pinot Noir also hit the top note, Pinot Noir of the Year in 2026. I love Pinot Noir, actually. It's probably my favourite drop. And six, which was Yarra Yearing and Giant Steps. Also, Giant Steps do a lovely, um, some lovely reds. I do particularly like those. Um, so yeah, if you're planning on sort of going around um the best wineries in Australia, you'd be on solid ground by heading up to Yarrow Valley. And it's only an hour or so, depending on traffic, northeast of Melbourne.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're so lucky we've got some of the greatest um vineyards of wine regions just outside Melbourne. So fifth, and the list goes back to the Hunter Valley, um to one of Australia's most recognizable labels, and that is Tyrrell's Wine, which was home to Australia's oldest continually produced Chardonnay. I reckon a few people probably cut their teeth on that little baby. And there's uh Yangara Estate in McLarenvale and Giacomba in Beechworth as well.
SPEAKER_02:And special mention for number 10 because neither of us mine's a little sparkling, and that goes to House of Arras in northern Tasmania. 30 years of creating fabulous sparklings and a great reason to visit our most southerly state.
SPEAKER_01:And we'll put a link to the show notes uh to Halliday's top 100 wineries for 26. So take a look and plan your driving tours preferably without somebody with somebody else driving.
SPEAKER_02:This week we're going to our own lovely island, Stave Tassie, because Belle was back there recently and we're chatting about what's new in the Central Highlands.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you, Kirsty. Yes, look, love Tassie. Can I just put in a full disclosure? My dad comes from Tasmania, so I do have a vested interest in this destination.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, so great. There's so much to do on Tassie. I love it, love it, love it. Um, and so where were you on this visit, pal?
SPEAKER_01:Um, I was in the Central Highlands, so at Lake St. Clair. So um it but fun fact, Lake St. Clair is Australia's deepest freshwater lake. Um, and this is at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair National Park. Um so it's it's uh it's actually halfway between um it's it's equidistant to Launceston and to Hobart as well. So um if you are it's about two and a half hours west of Hobart on the Lyle Highway. And um if you're coming from Lonnie, you're going via Longford as well.
SPEAKER_02:And where did you stay while you were there?
SPEAKER_01:Well, this was the whole reason I was there at the moment. I visited Pump House Point, which is um this incredible hotel in the wilderness. I have wanted to go here for years. It is set so so the setting is mountains, glacial lakes, ancient myrtle forests. It's just the most dramatic scenery. The thing about I mean, I mean, it's a strange name for a hotel, right? Pumphouse Point, because the whole thing is it's hinged it's hinged around an old pump house, um, which was built in the 1940s by the Tasmanian Hydro Electricity Commission, because of course Tassie um runs its electricity on hydro. And um the the pump house was built. The sole reason for it is this Art Deco building for housing a giant pump. And then on the shore house, it had um all of the other machinations for for the um for the hydro commission. And then it was actually converted into an 18-room property um about uh about 10 years ago uh by a fantastic architectural firm, Cumulus Studio. So what it is, I mean it's it's it's incredible because you've got this absolute industrial heritage, this, you know, this this um uh machinery of building. And then inside it, you've got these absolutely beautiful, quite paired back rooms that are built into the into the into what was the pump house. So they barely change the exterior and the buildings are just weathered, uh, you know, they're 70-year-old buildings in this really harsh environment. But when you go inside, it is absolute simple luxury, it's comfort, and it does not make any apology that um you know the origins of it was was a pump house. Yeah, and and the rooms, the rooms in it, and and the rooms in it are just looking out on these um these glacial peaks of the Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair National Park. And it's such a distinctive property because to reach the pump house, it's actually set in the lake, and you have to walk this 250-meter flume, which is a a long walkway that takes you out into the lake to get to the rooms, and then there's also more rooms on shore.
SPEAKER_02:Gotta love a property with a story like that. Like it's just so it's it's so um it's so nice to say somewhere that's a little bit unique, you know. You get sick of staying on the same old same old places, and it's great when it's got a such an interesting history. Um so why should why should people go there now? Sort of what makes it what makes it a great place to visit now?
SPEAKER_01:Well, they've they've just opened two new retreats, which are back on shore because you can't build more onto a pump house. Um, and these are part of a more than a$2 million refurbishment and a development by the pumphouse owners, which is the NRM8. Um so keep hold that thought for that one. So these two new retreats are just just take the whole thing up a notch. They are separate buildings and they're new, but they're they're built from timbers and stone um from around the region and they're hidden into the landscape and they are just so dramatic. They've got these incredible views over the lakes, over the mountains. Um, in them in the rooms in the pump house and the rooms in the shore house, they've got an element of communal living to them. So while you have your beautiful room with these full-length windows looking out onto the mountains, um, then you have a communal, it's kind of got almost like a walker, you know, a walker's retreat feel about it. You've got communal kitchens and stuff. You go down, that's where you have your cup of tea sitting in front of big fires looking at the view. Um but the retreats are just that bit more secluded as well. So um they're fully self-contained. Incredible beds that uh from the bed, of course, you've got these views, your wood wood-fired stove. Um, I don't think I've ever been on a press trip where we just spent an afternoon playing Scrabble. I just saw it was one of those places where you just rug up with your gorgeous knits and your beanies and things like that, um, and and and walk around the area. You have deep baths, you wake up early to watch the sun rising over the mountains. Um, you know, you sit in front of your fire and you just really are in the moment. And and I I just um and and these retreats, this is uh also what kind of blew my mind a little bit, and this is make gonna make me sound like an absolute raging food-obsessed tragic, which is possibly true, but um but they're absolutely they're stocked with everything in them. You wouldn't have to leave. Um, you know, from and everything is so Tasmanian, from the coffee that's supplied, from the the wine. And I counted seven bottles of wine in there red, white, and sparkling. It was like from just from really unusual. Well, the frightening thing is that they refresh everything daily, so you could get yourself in a little trouble if you didn't plan it right. So um, yeah, they just got uh, you know, these incredible picnic packs, Tasmanian wines. It really is an exercise in Tasmaniana. That's I just made that word up. Does that work? Tasmaniana. There you go. Yeah, there you go.
SPEAKER_02:Um your Australian travel ride of the year. You can make up any word you like. Um so what do the what do they actually include? Like what if I go if I want to go down and stay there and I'm not part of a famile hosted group, what am I gonna get?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right. Well, I mean, you could you could just go down there and and lock in because when you stay at the when you stay at Pump House and it's not open to it's open only to guests, so you can't even just wander through and have dinner or something. So it is fully catered for breakfast and dinner are in a communal restaurant, and they actually encourage people to share tables and you'd see you'd see people just making connections, um, you know, and talking about why they were there and uh, you know, maybe they were celebrating an event. There was um, you know, people just were sharing their stories. You know, there was a guy who'd been uh working in paramedics and was there decompressing and stuff like that, you know, and and people are talking about how they they you know lived in Sydney but they were from the US and missed the mountains and things. So it's just really it's got a it's got a curious um communal vibe that I think is is is really unique. Often in you know, particularly in hotels, you you cocoon yourself away from from other people. And and that is that is not like it. And again, you know, I said, you know, the the everything that's in the retreats is totally Tasmanian, and that is the same on the menu. It is things like you know, Tasmanian, blue-eyed Trevelyan, local lamb, um and um which you at which you you experience at breakfast and dinner in the Shore House dining room. And um so uh and and just hot and I think one of the biggest delicious things there is actually they were making hot sourdough every day, all through the day. So if at one moment you said, I think I need a bit of hot sourdough, then they would just whip it out of the oven and and you you could go there and just lock yourself in and eat yourself into a coma. When you're staying at the retreats, it all it also includes well, I gave it a go, I gave it a hard, I gave it a hard shot. And then when you're staying, when you're staying at the retreats, it also has a couple of hosted experiences. So um there was a whiskey tasting with Sullivan's Cove, which is based down in um, which is based uh down in Hobart, and that is one of the um absolute um incredibly expensive um whiskies, you know, these single cask whiskeys that they only produce a couple hundred bottles. So, you know, some of those bottles sell for thousands of dollars when they're at auction and are very rare. And another one that we did was a chocolate tasting from the House of Anvers, which was just fascinating because you kind of go, oh yeah, you know, chocolate and stuff like that. I can I can take it or leave it. But we were eating these single estate, single origin chocolates and learning how to taste them. They were pairing them with things like um Tasmanian um stouts and you know, so you're drinking beer and chocolate, champagne and chocolate, uh, sparkling wine and chocolate. And and because everything is so Tasmanian, you really feel like you've just had this little um gourmet adventure without, you know, without leaving your very beautiful space. It's around you.
SPEAKER_02:It's all gonna it's it's all gonna help you float better in Maldives, right? I've seen that photo of you floating on your back.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not sharing that ocean. That one doesn't need to be shared out in public. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:No, you look gorgeous. So who's it best suited to?
SPEAKER_01:Uh well it is actually an adults-only retreat. So um, so no kids, and I'm kind of okay with I'm kind of okay with that. Um the retreats, the um Pumphouse says that it's ideal for couples, honeymooners, and invent and adventurers seeking a bit of indulgence after a day of bushwalking. I would say if you had ever thought of doing the overland track, which is to my mind Australia's best multi-day walk, this would be my last night stay. So, I mean, it is a luxury resort, and the retreats are priced um uh actually about double the price of the of the regular rooms. So you're looking at about um$2,000 a night, and that but that is with everything. That is with all dining, baby, food, drinks, experiences, which are replenished daily, cannot push everyone enough. So if you drunk everything, it just turns up again the next day.
SPEAKER_02:And then that's if you buy if your partner finds it in your suitcase when you get home.
SPEAKER_01:I may have travelled home with a little bit of um extra chocolate, extra hand luggage. Yes, definitely. Um, and and can I look hot tip on this one? It is because Pump House is now owned by NRMA Resorts, if you are an NRMA member, you actually get an automatic discount of about 10%. And they will even let you join on the spot when you turn up at the property to get that discount. So great little insider tip.
SPEAKER_02:So what if you don't do the overland track and um and just go there just to eat all the food and drink all the wine, what what are you doing when you're there?
SPEAKER_01:Well, they do have short walks around the property. Um, and and all of those walks, you know, you're following the shore of Lake St. Clair, you know, tiny little walks, stuff we're talking like half an hour trots around the place because you just ate yourself a second backside at dinner and you think I've only got to get out and do something. I think that walking is really the best thing to do there. You've also got history, you know. I I I took a book with me, you know, and you just read and just be in the moment or playing Scrabble and things like that. That area, around that area, you know, you've got fishing in St. Clair Lagoon, which is um, if you are totally, if you are up for fly fishing for brown trout or rainbow trout, I've got this weird fascination um with fly fishing. Um they also have massage services there as well. And um, and if you go to the Lake St. Clair National Park Office, which is only about um five minutes' drive away, you it it is the trailhead. So I'm sorry, it is very walky. Um it is the trailhead, it is the end of the overland track, which is that 65 kilometer six-day trek coming down from Cradle Mountain to Lake St. Clair. But then it's got a whole series of fabulous walks from one hour to um to a day walk. There's an Aboriginal cultural heritage walk, which is which is absolutely brilliant. Um, a really gorgeous little walk called the Waters Meet Trail, which I like because it's also wheelchair and if you've got kids, pram friendly as well. So it's completely accessible. You've got a wide, mostly flat track, um, and it rolls into the slightly longer Platypus Walk, which is an absolutely beautiful hour and a half's walk to the lake edge. But the other thing to do there is wildlife spotting. So we, I mean, it's just full of native, native wildlife in the area. So we saw wallabies, um, huddy melons, which are those gorgeous, fat-bottomed little cousins to the wallabies. They're just beautiful, sweet-faced little things. Um, we saw echidnas, um, there were quals as well, and of course, wombats. You know, if you've if you ever wanted to see a wombat in the world, the place is riddled with them. There was one that has taken up residence at Pump House Point, and it just goes there and mows the grass and and and just wanders through even as the snow pelting down, it just wanders and it's completely unconcerned. I mean, you've you've got to stay a couple of meters away from them and and not to scare them. But um, they were not, yeah, they were not easily scared. So there's wildlife crossings everywhere, and you'll see the sign saying wildlife here. And it was kind of funny because it's like e caution, wildlife crossing ahead. And we get ahead, and there's actually a wombat walking across the road. And I thought, oh, wombats can read in Tasmania. I guess it's gorgeous. They know exactly where to cross. So so that um so that trailhead at the at the national park is really um is a is a great ground zero to base yourself. So, you know, you don't have to do the overland track, although I would thoroughly recommend it because I think it's one of the best multi-day hikes that I've ever done. But Tassie also has a collection of 60 great short walks. So there, and there are three at this point: Echo Point, Shadow Lake, and the Mount Rufus Walk. And they range from like three to four hours to a full seven-day walk. And um, and actually the Echo Point one incorporates the Lake St. Clair Ferry, which takes you out to Echo Point. Um, it's a 28-kilometer round trip and it goes out three times a day. So, you know, so yes, you can do you can do walks, but then you've also got those wheelchair, um, accessible walks, and then you've got the ferry as well. That is actually, here's a little bit of a um fun fact for you, it is Australia's highest altitude ferry service. And it's a great way way to reach walks that start and finish from Narcissus Hut, which is located at the northern end of Lake St. Clair.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So Kirsty, because I was think I was thinking of you for this one, because I do know you like a good walk, a good walk. Um, I know you also don't mind a little gin tasting as well. So I did take one for the team on this one. As I was as I was leading the National Parks um head office, um, the the the parks office because all of its maps and things like that, um, I just happened to walk past a set of shelves with um gin selling a gin. And um says to me, Would you like to taste a gin? I'm like, it's 9.30 in the morning or something. Yeah, just like we'll see what see what we can do. Um these the there the the lodge at like at St. Clair Lodge um actually has been distilling its own gin, which is called Trappers and Migan's Overland Gin, sold in the restaurant that is there, looking out over the lake. Um 120 bucks a bottle, free plug for you. I will put the address in the show notes. And um, yeah, so so that was just a nice way to wrap up that very Tasmanian uh experience or that very local experience as well. But when you are driving back down to Hobart, of course, you know, in Hobart you've got all of those great things like Mona. Um, but you can also stop at New Norfolk on the way through, which is home to the award-winning agrarian kitchen, which is part restaurant, part cooking school, and part kitchen garden. And if you don't have time to do that whole restaurant thing, or you're absolutely full, it also has a kiosk. I think this is a bit of a um a bit of a sly aside that they don't necessarily tell everybody. It also has a kiosk selling these delicious pies and pastries, so you can even pack yourself a little picnic. Um and New Norfolk is yeah, I mean, New Norfolk is a it's an amazing little town. Okay, oh I full disclosure again, this may be the town where my dad comes from, so I did pop in and have a cup of tea with my auntie Molly. Um, and I've got to say, when I was a kid visiting family there, I totally didn't appreciate it. It's um New Norfolk is it's just beautiful. It is also um Tassie's fourth oldest European settlement and the 12th oldest in Australia, which is insane. Um, and speaking of insane, actually, it was also home to the Willow Court Asylum. So you can actually take a ghost tour through there now. When I was a kid, it was still functioning via um the asylum, but now it's it's turned over to tourists and ghosts.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. No, I love that. I love New Norfolk. It's so beautiful, it's such a quaint little, pretty little place. And um walks and wombacks and gin, right? You've just got me right there. So um so what was the weather like when you went, and what's the a good time of year to go?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I went in early October, which is right in the middle of spring. So I was in the 10th of October. On that day, I experienced snow, hail, high wind, temperatures temperatures of about two degrees. And the funny thing was that the um you cannot just look at what the temps are in Hobart and go, oh, that gets 12 degrees, we'll be fine. It's 10 degrees difference, you know. Like I said, wombat's mowing the ground in the snow. Um, I wasn't going to pack my hiking boots for the weekend, um, but I relented and I'm so glad that I did because I really think even just for a couple of hours walk, we need to have the right gear. And they do enforce that at the national park. Yep. So even for just an hour or two's walk, I would pack all of I I packed, you know, I packed my rain gear, um, I packed my boots and stuff because this month has seen a couple, you know, has seen several deaths in our alpine wilderness due to fast changing weather in the mountains, in Cradle Mountain and also in the Victorian High Country. So I think the moral of the story is better to be over prepared than under. And the National Parks um has also shared some tips because mobile phone coverage is spotty at best. If you are not on Telstra, forget about it. So don't rely on your phone. And the weather is spectacular and spectacularly changeable. So there you go. There's a wrap of the Central Highlands. If you'd like to visit Pump Pumphouse Point, you can check out the website, pumphousepoint.com.au. And to find out more what's in new in Tassie, you can visit discoverTasmania.com.au and we'll put all those details in the show notes.
SPEAKER_02:Amazing. Love Tassie.
SPEAKER_00:You're listening to The World Awaits. Subscribe through our website at theworldawaits.au.
SPEAKER_01:Our tip this week is about how to make your Swiss travel paths go further. And this is a great tip because it will save you pots of money. And um, this tip comes from the fabulous team at Switzerland Tourism.
SPEAKER_02:So Switzerland has a fantastic network of public transport by train, bus, and also boat, and they're all interconnecting. They've got they've just got such a good system going, and they all cross these gorgeous glacial lakes. And Swiss tourism says the best way to get around is using the Swiss travel pass.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, look, we all know that Switzerland is not a cheap country by any stretch of the imagination. So imagination. So any budget tips are most appreciated. So the travel pass has first and second class versions, which range from three days, uh, which costs about$340, up to 15 days travel in one month, which costs$670. Um, and these are the second class fares. So obviously, the you know, the per day charge of the pass gets cheaper the more days you purchase.
SPEAKER_02:The great thing about the pass is that no matter which pass you buy, it includes three additional mountain excursions at no extra cost, and the three experiences are all nearly certain.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you actually travel on Europe's oldest mountain railway. Um, there's an aerial cable way um which climbs up into the Stanzerhorn Mountains and a trip on the Stews Cranicular, which is the steepest in the world. And another great tip is that children under six travel free, and kids up to 16 years of age travel who are traveling with an adult on um the pass also travel free. And then on top of that, there's also a youth fare which gives um you a 30% discount if you are aged between 17 and 25 years. And passes also include free entry to more than 500 museums. And look, Kirsi, I just did a little research with a weirdest Swiss museum and came up with a museum of stuffed frogs and also the Swiss witchcraft museum.
SPEAKER_02:And if you'd like to know more about Swiss travel plans or traveling in Switzerland, visit the country's website, which is switzerland.com, next week we are going to the most aspirational travel destination in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it is the island nation of the Maldives. Come with me as we venture into a couple of the atolls and find. Find out why everybody's going.
SPEAKER_02:And we'd love it if you follow us on socials. You'll find us at the World Awaits Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And feel free to drop us a line at hello at the worldawaits.au. And if you're enjoying this episode, please give us a rating or review.
SPEAKER_00:That's a wrap for the World of Waits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favorite pods. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
