Newsflash: No Impact Girl wins travel writing award

I'm wildly honoured to have won another travel writing award over the weekend, at this year's Australian Society of Travel Writers' Convention & Awards for Excellence 2014, held at the Intercontinental Fiji.

Just being themselves: Cheetah
at Ulusaba, South Africa

Unfortunately, I couldn't be there to collect it - at the time, I was actually surfing on the Central Coast north of Sydney; still had wet hair when I checked Twitter and saw that I'd won the award for Best Luxury Travel Story. Stoked!

In case any of you think I've lost my No Impact Girl sensibilities, let me assure you that the luxury travel experience I wrote about was a safari at Ulusaba, Richard Branson's low key lodge in South Africa, and the real luxury of the place, as I mention in my winning story, Wildly indulgent, is how close you can get to the wildlife in Sabi Sands Game Reserve, thanks to Ulusaba's incredible rangers and trackers.

Heartfelt congratulations to all my fellow writers who won awards, and those who were finalists, particularly the talented Fairfax columnist and feature writer Ben Groundwater who is the 2014 Travel Writer of the Year. Go Ben!