Australian Gourmet Traveller - (07)July 2020 (1)

How I travel

thechildwhowasafraidof

everything.I wasthatbook-

wormkidwhoplayedthe

pianoandtheviolinand

wasneverintotheoutdoors

ortakinganysortofrisk.

I remembergoingtoa farm

andbeingtooscaredtowalk

upa hillbecausetherewere

cows in the distance.

Thefearoftheunknownwas

pulledawayfrommeonthat

triptoHungary.I discovered

a senseofindependence

andmyveryyoungeyeswere

openedtoallthedifferentways of living

and being in the world.

Hungarywasoneofthosetripswhere

wedidn’treallyhavemuchofa plan.

Asidefromthefactthatweknewwe

wantedto visita towncalledSzékesfehérvár,

wheremygrandmotherwasfrom.My

mumhadtheaddressofthehousemy

grandmotherlivedinbeforeshefled

duringthewar.Sowewenttothishouse

andit wasverygrand.It wasincredible

for me to see because I had always known

mygrandparentstoliveina tinyflat

inSydney.It wasquiteamazingtosee

where theyhadcomefrom.Youcould

still see the bullet holes in the walls, too.

I feellikeI’mworkingwheneverI travel.

UltimatelyeverytripI takethesedays

endsupbeinga story.I remembergoing

toVanuatua fewyearsagopurposelynot

toworkand,ofcourse,whenI gotthere

I thought“thiswouldmakea beautiful

story”.I thinka lotofpeopleglamorise

beinga travelwriterandassumeit’s

justcocktailsonthebeachoronelong

holiday, butit’ssortoftheopposite.

Holidaysceasetoexistasyou’realways

thinking about story angles.

I thinkCovid-19is goingtodrastically

changethewaywetravel.I thinkwe’re

goingtoseepeopleconsideringtheirtrips

a lotmorethantheywere.It’ssoeasyand

sotemptingtojustflitaroundtheworld

thesedaysbutnowwe’rereallygoingto

havetothinktwiceaboutwherewe’re

goingbeforewejumpona plane.We’re

goingtoseea lotmoretripsa lotcloser

tohomeandthat’ssomethingthat

I personally neglected for a long time.

I’vehadCapeLevequeinWAonmymind

fora longtime.Thelandscapetherejust

lookssobeautiful.AlsotheKimberley

regioningeneral.I’veneverseenUluru

either.Thoseplacesclosetohomearetoo

easyforus,butthatshouldchangenow,

whichis exciting.I thinkthatif thistime

hastaughtusanything,it’sthatwe’ve

realisedthepowerofthepause.We’ve

realisedwedon’tneedtotakesixtrips

a year.Maybeonea year,closetohome

willbeenough– andwe’llreally value

those trips a lot more.●

Nina’sbookMakea LivingLiving:BeSuccessful

DoingWhatYouLoveis available now from

thamesandhudson.com.au

Lasttrip...

Heartwood

cabinsin

Burringbar,

NSW.

Nextup...

I wasmeantto

gotoBhutan.I’m

stillkeentovisit

asit’sa carbon-

negative country.

Nina

Karnikowski

TRAVELLING WITH

Thetravelwriteronovercoming

herfears, familytiesandthe

future of sustainable travel.

Asa childI didn’tgooverseas.Instead

wetookroadtripsalongtheeastcoast,

visitingplaceslikeBarringtonTops– where

we’dswiminrockpoolsandwatchrosellas

inthetrees– ByronBay,Noosa,orthe

GoldCoast.I havesomanymemories

ofCatStevensandTheGypsyKings

playingonthetapedeck,andmysister

and I in the back of the station wagon.

WhenI was16,I wenttoHungarywithmy

mum,whichwasreallyspecialbecauseher

parents are from there. Until then, I was

GOURMET TRAVELLER 27

INTERVIEW GEORGIE MEREDITH. PHOTOGRAPHY PETER WINDRIM.