BUSH TELEGRAPH - PART 2
With bags packed, dogs in the car, playlists sorted and one foot out the door, here’s part 2 of the fabulous postcards and scent memories from some of the key collaborators I’ve worked with over the past 3 years.
To all our customers and our network of growers, distillers and passionate producers who are equally obsessed with Australia’s rugged landscape and its unique native botanical scent bounty, thank you for your support and friendship.
Keep cool this summer with The Raconteur’s latest playlists:
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PASSAGE PEAK
see on Google
see on Google
There is nothing quite like walking through the natural bushland of Hamilton Island to the highest vantage point, Passage Peak. I’m an early riser and this walk is perfect for watching the sunrise over the ocean and enjoying the 360 degree sweeping views of the beautiful Whitsundays. I always tell anyone doing this walk to keep their eye out for the pair of wedge-tailed eagles who call Hamilton Island home, because if you're lucky you might spot them soaring above Passage Peak in the early morning.
The smell of the Eucalyptus gum tree with warm salty air. This scent always conjures up wonderful memories of trips to Hamilton Island, which is such a big part of my life. I started traveling to the Island when I was four years old with my family and it has not only been the backdrop of so many wonderful events and important milestones, but also those simple moments with family that happen on holidays when everyone is disconnected from everyday life. - Nicky Oatley
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RICHARD MUNAO
Cult Design
WATTAMOLLA
see on Google
Wattamolla to Little Marley Beach – a stunning walk in the Royal National Park that starts off as a dense bush walk with thick canopies of trees and then gradually thins out and becomes coastal scrub - the absolute best of both worlds!
Getting off the plane in Bali. Incense, food, that smell of thick warm tropical air. - Richard Munao
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KATIE MARX
Katie Marx Flowers
WHAKATANE
see on Google
This would be in New Zealand near my parents batch (or shack in Oz) - it’s a magical spot between Whakatane and Ohope beach. The walk itself is only 2 km but its steep with incredible views overlooking ancient pohutukawa trees and secluded bays on either side. I have done this walk no less than 20 times and try to do it every time I’m home.
This is very hard as it’s like asking a florist their fav flower! There is a different couple for each season. I’m fond of quite green smells and this time of year when clipping and staking my tomato plants I’m always reminded how much I love the fragrance of the leaf. Another flower I can never walk past without smelling is citrus blossom - oh so heady! And then there’s the delicate lily of the valley, my Nana had them planted near the bedroom window and I imagined fairies living there.
Coming from a family of farmers and gardeners the sound of lawnmowers on a Saturday will always remind me of dad. As a teenager trying to sleep in, he would mow the lawns under my window first thing I’m sure as slight retribution. He would mow barefoot and all summer he would have green feet. - Katie Marx
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MARTY BOETZ
Cooks Shed
BUNDEENA
see on Google
From Bundeena into the Royal National Park, with its stunning coastal trees and shrubs that have moulded themselves into interesting shapes from the harsh winds. The walk starts with thick trees and shrubs in the cooling shade then you eventually coming out to the ocean and rolling cooling breezes of salty air thick with classic coastal bush scent.
I have many favourite scent memories, but the first time I smelt a magnolia grandiflora flower was incredibly special - there really is nothing quite like that rich complex floral scent. - Marty Boetz
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KATE SWINSON
Native Swinson Wallpaper
TOP PADDOCK, JINDERA
see on Google
We would walk up through the knee-high dry yellowed grass, a small pack of kids, aged 10 down to five.
Looking back, hands shading our eyes we lost sight of the house and the adults. We were on our own.
We would bravely hold long thin blades of straw grass almost on the electric fence wire to see if the fences were active or not.
Somehow wearing gumboots or rubber thongs, we believed, would stop the electricity from racing through our bodies into the ground. We would find a long stick and use it to hold up the wire so we could all very slowly and carefully climb through without being shocked.
Then we would clamber over enormous prehistoric grey rocks, so warm from the sun. We would sit up high looking down on to the graduating land of southern New South Wales.
Covered in a coating of dirt, scapes on knees and the palms of our hands. No hats, no sunscreen we would squint into the harsh light from the cool shade of the enormous looming rocks. We were pretty damn happy with ourselves.
Luckily for me my favourite scent memory is a continuing one. The scent of rain, petrichor. Petrichor is the name for an oil that is released from the earth into the air before rain falls. For me, it is the happiest of smells all the more poignant at the moment as it makes me think of of my big sister and her family living in Bali and I am not sure when we will be able to see them. - Kate Swinson
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SOPHIE TATLOW AND BRUCE SLORACH
Utopia Goods
OVERLAND TRACK
see on Google
Would have to be Tasmania’s Overland Track that traverses Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clare. It’s 65km’s and travels through multiple microclimates and landscape mysteries, in some parts feels quite jurassic. We experienced vast weather changes from snow, sleet and sunshine and incredibly diverse flora and fauna. We walked it in three/four days and it’s about time to do it again! Majestic in every sense.
Crushed Eucalyptus leaves in the hands feels very Australian and the ‘Streets of India’s mystical ‘scents’, are so evocative of travel and country. Sandlewood beads...... My mother’s soapy Aperge by Lanvin from the 70s/80s. It’s a dated fragrance but memorable….. so many to choose!! - Sophie Tatlow
The smell of the Eucalyptus gum tree with warm salty air. This scent always conjures up wonderful memories of trips to Hamilton Island, which is such a big part of my life. I started traveling to the Island when I was four years old with my family and it has not only been the backdrop of so many wonderful events and important milestones, but also those simple moments with family that happen on holidays when everyone is disconnected from everyday life. - Nicky Oatley
______________________________
RICHARD MUNAO
Cult Design
WATTAMOLLA
see on Google
Wattamolla to Little Marley Beach – a stunning walk in the Royal National Park that starts off as a dense bush walk with thick canopies of trees and then gradually thins out and becomes coastal scrub - the absolute best of both worlds!
Getting off the plane in Bali. Incense, food, that smell of thick warm tropical air. - Richard Munao
______________________________
KATIE MARX
Katie Marx Flowers
WHAKATANE
see on Google
This would be in New Zealand near my parents batch (or shack in Oz) - it’s a magical spot between Whakatane and Ohope beach. The walk itself is only 2 km but its steep with incredible views overlooking ancient pohutukawa trees and secluded bays on either side. I have done this walk no less than 20 times and try to do it every time I’m home.
This is very hard as it’s like asking a florist their fav flower! There is a different couple for each season. I’m fond of quite green smells and this time of year when clipping and staking my tomato plants I’m always reminded how much I love the fragrance of the leaf. Another flower I can never walk past without smelling is citrus blossom - oh so heady! And then there’s the delicate lily of the valley, my Nana had them planted near the bedroom window and I imagined fairies living there.
Coming from a family of farmers and gardeners the sound of lawnmowers on a Saturday will always remind me of dad. As a teenager trying to sleep in, he would mow the lawns under my window first thing I’m sure as slight retribution. He would mow barefoot and all summer he would have green feet. - Katie Marx
______________________________
MARTY BOETZ
Cooks Shed
BUNDEENA
see on Google
From Bundeena into the Royal National Park, with its stunning coastal trees and shrubs that have moulded themselves into interesting shapes from the harsh winds. The walk starts with thick trees and shrubs in the cooling shade then you eventually coming out to the ocean and rolling cooling breezes of salty air thick with classic coastal bush scent.
I have many favourite scent memories, but the first time I smelt a magnolia grandiflora flower was incredibly special - there really is nothing quite like that rich complex floral scent. - Marty Boetz
______________________________
KATE SWINSON
Native Swinson Wallpaper
TOP PADDOCK, JINDERA
see on Google
We would walk up through the knee-high dry yellowed grass, a small pack of kids, aged 10 down to five.
Looking back, hands shading our eyes we lost sight of the house and the adults. We were on our own.
We would bravely hold long thin blades of straw grass almost on the electric fence wire to see if the fences were active or not.
Somehow wearing gumboots or rubber thongs, we believed, would stop the electricity from racing through our bodies into the ground. We would find a long stick and use it to hold up the wire so we could all very slowly and carefully climb through without being shocked.
Then we would clamber over enormous prehistoric grey rocks, so warm from the sun. We would sit up high looking down on to the graduating land of southern New South Wales.
Covered in a coating of dirt, scapes on knees and the palms of our hands. No hats, no sunscreen we would squint into the harsh light from the cool shade of the enormous looming rocks. We were pretty damn happy with ourselves.
Luckily for me my favourite scent memory is a continuing one. The scent of rain, petrichor. Petrichor is the name for an oil that is released from the earth into the air before rain falls. For me, it is the happiest of smells all the more poignant at the moment as it makes me think of of my big sister and her family living in Bali and I am not sure when we will be able to see them. - Kate Swinson
______________________________
SOPHIE TATLOW AND BRUCE SLORACH
Utopia Goods
OVERLAND TRACK
see on Google
Would have to be Tasmania’s Overland Track that traverses Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clare. It’s 65km’s and travels through multiple microclimates and landscape mysteries, in some parts feels quite jurassic. We experienced vast weather changes from snow, sleet and sunshine and incredibly diverse flora and fauna. We walked it in three/four days and it’s about time to do it again! Majestic in every sense.
Crushed Eucalyptus leaves in the hands feels very Australian and the ‘Streets of India’s mystical ‘scents’, are so evocative of travel and country. Sandlewood beads...... My mother’s soapy Aperge by Lanvin from the 70s/80s. It’s a dated fragrance but memorable….. so many to choose!! - Sophie Tatlow