Red Hill, Canberra: its walking tracks, scar trees and ochre earth underfoot will always transport me

‘This place – at once prosaic and so special – is the stage for so many of my happiest, most poignant recollections’ … Paul Daley writes of Red Hill in Canberra. Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design

Would I like to write about my favourite place?

The invitation inspired me to recall so many magical places – from north-east Arnhem Land to Mediterranean island hamlets with idyllic quayside tavernas, from the Melbourne Cricket Ground on grand final day to Dickensian London pubs, from picture postcard villages beneath snow-capped alpine peaks to the haunts of my literary giants and on to Joshua Tree and Hagia Sofia.