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What's a good tour for two or three weeks in Japan?

What's a good tour for two or three weeks in Japan?

My wife and I are considering a trip to Japan. Our interests are mainly textiles and gardens. Any suggestions of suitable tours, perhaps of two-three weeks' duration?
R. Hurcum, Tamworth, NSW
Tanpopo Journeys operates a small number of textile trips to Japan each year and their Textiles and Traditional Arts of Japan tour visits several cities famous for their temple gardens. Australia-based tour operator Internationally Different operates a 14-day craft-based tour starting and finishing in Osaka. The tour is hosted by Valerie Kirk, a tapestry weaver and former senior lecturer and head of textiles at the Australian National University. ASA Cultural Tours has a 15-day 'Cherry blossom and the art of the Japanese Garden' tour led by Jim Fogarty, a landscape designer and gardening media personality with a specialist interest in Japanese gardens.
My partner and I are spending six days in Ravenna, Italy, and want to take day trips to nearby towns. We have spent time in Bologna previously. We are particularly interested in art, history, architecture and archaeology. We are also taking our family to Rome for a week including our 11 and eight-year-old grandchildren, any suggestions for kid-friendly activities?
G. Wilson, Northcote, Vic
Expect to spend at least two days exploring Ravenna, it's a world-class wonder, packed with early Christian and Byzantine churches that preserve a superb legacy of mosaics dating back to the fifth century AD. Its UNESCO monuments bear witness to the greatness of Ravenna from the time when this was the capital of the Western Roman Empire. Be sure to include Ca De Ven ('house of wine'), a beautiful restaurant at the heart of the old city, famous for its Romagna cuisine in a cavernous, cathedral-like medieval wine store.
Just a short distance away, Faenza is home to the International Museum of Ceramics with a superb collection of works from all over Italy and beyond. Rimini is another worthwhile day trip, famous for its Tiberius Bridge and the Arch of Augustus as well as its grandiose cathedral, the Tempio Malatestiano, designed by Alberti, with frescoes by Piero della Francesca.
In Rome, you might take your grandchildren to the Gladiator School operated by the Gruppo Storico Romano, where they'll see Roman swordplay in action and 'train' as gladiators in a safe environment. The vast grounds of Villa Borghese are a great place for them to let off some steam while the Explora Children's Museum is a hands-on discovery museum full of electronic and scientific wizardry. They might also try a gelato-making workshop or a pasta- making session.
We're spending a few weeks in Tanzania next year, any recommendations on less-visited game parks as well as locally based operators who offer budget trips? How long should we spend in Dar es Salaam and what are the attractions?
R. Saltman, Mosman, NSW
Ruaha National Park in central Tanzania is one of the largest in the country, but despite its size it gets relatively few visitors. Together with neighbouring Kizigio and Rungwa River Game Reserves, Ruaha forms one of East Africa's largest nature conservancies. Ruaha's wildlife population includes over 10,000 elephant, 30,000 buffalo, 20,000 zebra as well as lions and leopards and more than 400 bird species.
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This may just be Bali's most sophisticated bar
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This may just be Bali's most sophisticated bar

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From the air, the meaning of Murujuga becomes clear. The Ngarluma-Yaburara word translates to "hip bone sticking out". It paints an evocative bird's-eye view of the Burrup Peninsula, which juts into the Indian Ocean north of Karratha, 1,500 kilometres north of Perth. In 2023, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape was nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage List, culminating in a multi-generational campaign for international recognition. The referral is contentious among activists, who have condemned the federal government for extolling the area's heritage values while simultaneously approving heavy industry nearby. A final decision from UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is expected in the coming week. Central to the bid are between one and two million petroglyphs dotting Murujuga's rocky red mounds and shadowy ravines. It is arguably the densest single concentration of rock art on the planet. 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The Marrga features in a host of Pilbara creation stories from "when the world was soft", like how the kangaroo got its tail and how the emu lost the ability to fly. "We couldn't just walk up onto anybody's country. We needed permission," Mr Adams explains. "How we got that permission? We see this significant site, and we know people are close. "[We] make fire, smoke. People inside the gorges will see this smoke, they come out to see who it is." The Marni, as the petroglyphs are called, signify the practical and religious significance of Ngurra, or country. They constitute a visual language: "footsteps" crossing boundaries of speech, marriage, and skin groups to form the basis of local lore. "We have symbols that have been marked around the Burrup that tell us we are in a sacred place, a special place," Mr Adams says. Stepping deeper into Nganjarli, Mr Adams recounts the meetings between cultural groups that once took place there. Yinjibarndi people would travel to the coast from inland and convene with the peninsula's first inhabitants, the "saltwater" Yaburara people. "Yaburara … meaning sea, sea breeze," he says. Mr Adams says the Yinjibarndi sought out the Yaburara during the season of Muhlu, when the days grew shorter and the weather cooler. They bartered for bush tucker and the fruits or "sweets" budding by the ocean. But in the late 19th century, the custodianship of Murujuga changed forever. One of Nganjarli's later additions captures what is thought to be Francis Thomas Gregory's ship, the Dolphin, which anchored off the peninsula in 1861. The settlers' arrival had a life-changing impact on the local Aboriginal communities. Colonial-era violence at the hands of settlers and local police, such as the 1868 Flying Foam Massacre, devastated the Yaburara people. The Ngarda-Ngarli adopted Murujuga, dubbed "orphan country" because its owners could no longer care for it alone, melding artistic traditions and interpretations. "They depict stories of connection to country: how me, you, everyone here today connects to this place," Mr Adams says. He describes a kangaroo-like motif with three stripes on its back. It also taught hunters what game they would find. "When we want something to eat, we go to the supermarket," Mr Adams says. "Here [it is] no different." A handful of the creatures recorded by the rock art are frozen in time. "You'll see animals that are no longer here … megafauna, they call it," Mr Adams says. "He still got a songline today, belong to us even though he's gone." Some petroglyphs act as "increase sites", where rituals are performed to replenish resources. "If we run low on emu, we do ceremony; next year, big mob [of] emu," Mr Adams says. Special configurations mark paths and ceremonial grounds for men's and women's business, as well as warnings to unwelcome intruders. There is even, not pictured for cultural reasons, a tableau of a man and woman in what Mr Adams refers to, with a booming laugh, as the world's "oldest sex education" lesson. A short drive from Nganjarli, the spinifex-strewn hills give way to a sheltered bay. This is Hearson's Cove, so named for a member of Francis Gregory Thomas's crew mistakenly shot by his fellows as they headed ashore. Long before, it was known as Binabarranha. When Ngarluma woman Belinda Churnside looks out at this landscape, she sees her "old people", including her mother. "She's a very proud Ngarluma woman … I wouldn't be doing this today if I didn't acknowledge and support her fight, determination, and leadership," she says. As MAC vice-chair, Ms Churnside departed on Sunday for Paris, where a delegation of custodians will hear the UNESCO World Heritage decision firsthand. "To actually carry the fight for your old people … they want us young people now to support them and fight the fight until we do get this World Heritage," she says. Both MAC and the federal government have protested against a draft decision knocking back the bid amid fears industrial emissions could damage the petroglyphs. Others say it is a rallying cry for stronger protection. For Mr Adams, the looming outcome is immaterial in the face of deep time. "One day, [industry] will be gone, [but] this will still be here," he says. "People like me will be telling that story in 200, 300 years' time."

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