My favourite holiday: STV presenter Jennifer Reoch on why laid-back Australia will live with her forever

JENNIFER REOCH, 28, is a former Miss Scotland.

Glasgow girl Jennifer’s beauty show days came after she left university where she’d been doing a law degree.

She joined STV three years ago and is one of the regular hosts of popular magazine programme Live At Five.

It’s on STV each weekday and from this Wednesday it kicks off a month of coverage from the Edinburgh Festival.

I’M the sort of girl who’ll take any excuse for a holiday.

While I adore my job, I love the chance to travel and have had some incredible trips.

At the end of 2015 I went to Australia for three weeks with my sister.

It was a chance to spend some great time with her as well as having experiences that will last a lifetime.

Right up amongst them was seeing in the New Year in Sydney when all the fireworks, which we always see on TV, were going off.

We managed to get a prime spot where we could see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and it really was one of those big life moments.

It felt like the whole of the city – maybe the whole of Australia – had turned out.

Despite the crowds, it all felt very laid-back. It certainly wasn’t like Hogmanay back home.

The weather was obviously a lot better, but there’s nothing to beat the Scottish spirit.

We also went to the Great Barrier Reef. That’s another of those things you can tick off your list

It was nice to see that efforts are being taken to protect the reef from any more damage, with restrictions on the numbers who are allowed out.

I was snorkelling and saw turtles and a clown fish. I’d found my very own Nemo!

I made sure I got an underwater camera to get pictures to look back on.

The other place that was so special was South Africa.

I had a couple of weeks there with my boyfriend and we did more of those must-sees, such as Table Mountain.

We also got out of Cape Town and followed the route up the east coast to do a safari.

I think that was the most magical bit of all.

It wasn’t just that you were seeing animals you wouldn’t see back in Scotland, but that you were seeing them happy in their own space.