AAT Kings hit the high notes at the launch of the World’s First Mobile Piano Bar

Not content with bringing smiles to guests’ faces, yesterday AAT Kings (aatkings.com)  surprised Australians by unveiling the World’s First Mobile Piano Bar at a special launch event in Sydney. Until 29th July, a retro-fitted AAT Kings coach, complete with upright grand piano and bar setting will hit the road, journeying from major cities including  Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide plus plenty of places in between, from Ballina to Bairnsdale and Toowoomba to Traralgon.

Over a period of four weeks, the Mobile Piano Bar will travel to over 30 regional and coastal towns and cities throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. Anthony Hayes, Managing Director, AAT Kings said “We love our iPhones and Spotify playlists as much as anyone but we also remember a time when the musical entertainment came from the piano in the corner of the bar of the pub and locals joined in when they knew the words – and often when they didn’t. We want to recreate that sense of community spirit and good old-fashioned fun with our World’s First Mobile Piano Bar.

Best of Italy and Croatia 2017 with Italian Back-Roads tour

‘Best of Italy and Croatia 2017’ is a 19-night cruise-tour featuring a seven-night ‘Best of Croatia’ round-trip from Venice aboard Ponant’s Le Lyrial and an exploration of Italy with a difference.

As an example of French luxury yachting sophistication, Le Lyrial, sailing under the French flag and only a year old, tops the range. This boutique-size ship has just 122 staterooms and suites.

‘Best of Italy and Croatia 2017’, arranged and delivered by boutique voyage and cruise specialists Cruise Traveller (cruisetraveller.com.au) also includes an 11-night ‘Italian Indulgence’ small-group tour with Back-Roads Tours from Rome to Venice.

andBeyond reveal lion cubs born in Rwanda

The first lion cubs in Rwanda in almost 20 years have been born to one of the five lionesses donated by andBeyond Phinda Private Game Reserve to reverse a local extinction of the species in Akagera National Park as part of an African Parks project.

Estimated to be approximately fourteen weeks old, the three cubs were first spotted with their mother in early May and have since been seen climbing trees and eating meat provided by their mother. Their arrival brings the total number of lions in Akagera, the only park where they are present in Rwanda, to ten.

“There is great excitement in Rwanda about these new additions,” says Jes Gruner, Park Manager of Akagera. “We are thrilled that the lion population in growing in the park. It shows that they have settled in well and are thriving in their new home.

Lions became extinct in Akagera 15 years ago, as Rwanda experienced a period of intense upheaval following the 1994 genocide, resulting in the lack of management of its national parks and the subsequent poisoning of lions by cattle herders. In June 2015, the five lioness from andBeyond Phinda, as well as two male lions from Tembe Elephant Park, were introduced to the park in a ground-breaking effort to bring the species back to Rwanda.

Disconnect. Rejuvenate. Recharge at Arkaba, South Australia

Wild Bush Luxury has partnered with mindfulness expert, Jacqui Lewis of The Broad Place, to create a retreat that brings clarity to the mind through connectedness to nature at Wild Bush Luxury’s South Australian wildlife conservancy, Arkaba.

The ‘Mindfulness Retreat at Arkaba with Jacqui Lewis’, which will run from 4 to 7 September, 2016, will be set in the awe inspiring wilderness of Arkaba in the Flinders Rangers, a place where the first signs of life on earth were discovered, providing the perfect setting for guests to disconnect from the world and reconnect with themselves.

Guests can evoke the free spirit of wildlife such as Big Red Kangaroos and Wedge-tailed Eagles that roam unrestricted over the expansive 25,800 hectare (60,000-acre) property, so the hustle and bustle of life seems worlds away. With a guest to land ratio of 1:3,035 hectares, stripping away the distractions of modern life and getting immersed in wild surrounds isn’t hard. Arkaba’s craggy sandstone bluffs and dry creek beds lined with River Red Gums are quintessential markers of the Australian outback.