The unique Alice Desert Festival

Australia is a culturally diverse country, brimming with an array of wondrous sights and activities. But there’s no better way to get a unique insight into Australian culture than to attend one of our many fascinating festivals. Boasting everything from scrumptious delicacies to unique musical offerings, here are four favourite festivals for the second half of 2015!

The Margaret River Gourmet Escape
When: 20th to 22nd November, 2015
Where: Margaret River, WA

The Margaret River Wine Region is world renowned for its much loved wine varieties and fine food experiences. As such, the Gourmet Escape Festival is a food and wine lover’s paradise. With events planned across the three days, visitors and guests are treated to a roster of food talent from places as diverse as Russia, Chile, Thailand and elsewhere. With food-based events, free entertainment and plenty of wonderful food stalls, the Margaret River Gourmet Escape Festival is a must-attend culinary delight!

The Taste of Tasmania Festival
When: 28th December, 2015 to 3rd January,  2016
Where: Hobart, TAS

With news of Tasmania’s world-conquering produce industry hitting the headlines, the Taste of Tasmania Festival 2015 is sure to be one of the year’s best food events! Held across a series of venues in the historic Hobart waterfront area, the festival promotes the quality of Tasmanian produce and highlights the very best in fresh food and other goods. With numbers of visitors reaching well into the hundreds of thousands, the festival takes advantage of the end of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. So consider it the perfect addition to a refreshing end-of-year holiday!

The Brisbane Festival
When: 5th to 26th September,  2015
Where: Brisbane, QLD

A major international arts festival, The Brisbane Festival is undeniably one of the state’s premier arts events. The September event is a family friendly and truly refreshing festival of all things artistic, bringing together the best in music, dance and circus ! Since 2009, the Brisbane Festival has enlivened the world-famous city with its eclectic mix of the uplifting and the challenging- so be sure not to miss out on this year’s fun!

The Alice Desert Festival
When: 27th August to 6th September,  2015
Where: Alice Springs, NT

A characteristic and charming Aussie festival, the Alice Desert Festival is the best way to acquaint yourself with the nation’s exotic, desert-based cultures. Boasting a line-up of local and international artists, the festival also offers many community based events and opportunities for family outings.

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The iconic Fringe Festival…

For those interested in the business of tourism, today’s big news came out of Adelaide. According to organisers of the famous Fringe festival, the event delivered a staggering $68.8 million worth of business to the state’s coffers!

Festival chairman David Minear discussed the overwhelming success of the event with the ABC. “It’s up quite significantly, it’s almost 7 or 8 per cent [higher] and our aim is to be regarded as the best fringe in the world,” he explained. “These sorts of numbers can echo around the world to other fringes, other festivals and underline just exactly what has been achieved in 2015.”

Organisers say that this year’s Fringe saw an improvement in ticket sales and crowd numbers. Sales were up by a solid 21 percent, and a staggering 541,000 people attended ticketed events! With such incredible numbers, the festival is proving that little ideas can blossom into big things. Originally a grass-roots festival, Fringe has grown into its role as the state’s biggest and most attended event.

“The people of South Australia will tell us if we get too big,” Mr. Minear suggests. “Right now growth is coming in consistently year-on-year. We’re very mindful of the situation of our audiences and I think our growth in the future will probably come from more interstate and overseas [visitors].”

As part of an attempt to attract a wider and more sophisticated crowd, the Adelaide Fringe is shaking things up by announcing a new creative director. After five glorious years, the celebrated Greg Clarke will be replaced by Heather Croall, the internationally renowned producer behind the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.

For the state government, the Fringe Festival is a much-needed economic booster. With receipts creeping towards the hundred million dollar mark, the tourist-friendly event is just what the state auditor’s ordered. For other Australian cities considering greater investment in local tourism, it proves that the sky really is the limit.

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The legend of Kevin Sorbo…

Fans of ‘geek culture’ should prepare themselves, because the 2015 Oz Comic-Con season has begun! The pop-culture event brings together the best of the comic and film worlds, while also capturing everything in between. This week, the Adelaide event began, thrilling fans with an array of special guests and notable artists.

Games of Thrones actors Finn Jones and Daniel Portman were on hand for the Adelaide festival, discussing their experiences with the ABC.

“It’s a really nice little city actually,” Mr. Jones said of Adelaide. “We’ve been to some nice restaurants and we love the Central Markets. We played karaoke. That was fun. It’s nice to get people out of the house, off their phones and into the real world.”

The event will also bring together several famous faces including The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin Green, Doctor Who notable Billie Piper, Ex-Hercules hunk Kevin Sorbo and horror icon Robert Englund (aka Freddy Krueger). Also in attendance at the Adelaide (and Perth) dates will be Stargate star Michael Shanks and Lord Of The Rings actor Billie Boyd. Fans are encouraged to check their local events for different guests and stars in attendance.

Visitors are often treated to exclusive panel sessions and exciting talks, as well as countless displays and competitions involving guests. There’s also plenty on offer for autograph seekers, hoping to get the ‘John Hancock’ of their favourite movie and TV stars. From TV writers to cosplay champions, the 2015 Oz Comic-Con has something for everyone!

The event will travel around Australia over a series of months, with the last Oz Comic-Con event taking place in Sydney during late September. Tickets are available online and through the venue sites, so be sure to grab yourself a ticket while you can!

When and Where:
Adelaide: April 18-19 | Showgrounds
Melbourne: June 27-28 | Convention & Exhibition Centre
Brisbane: September 19-20 | Convention & Exhibition Centre
Sydney: September 26-27 | Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island

Who:Michael Shanks, Sonequa Martin Green, Billy Boyd, Billie Piper, Kevin Sorbo, Robert Englund, Chad Coleman and many, many more…

For more information visit: https://www.ozcomiccon.com

The iconic Adelaide Festival!

The Adelaide Festival is once again stunning crowds of locals and tourists. The 2015 Adelaide Festival kicked off last week, with a massive lights display drawing in a crowd of thousands. The huge outdoor party was a smashing success, proving once and for all that Adelaide is a party town!

The renowned festival brings together the best in digital, visual and performance arts, offering many local talents the chance to show off their unique skills. This year, organisers have placed emphasis on evolving artworks, which compel viewers to approach the works multiple times.

“A lot of the sites have multiple artworks, so it’s designed so people will hopefully come back again and again and see something different,” Festival Chief Karen Bryant told the ABC. “But of course it’s also great to see before a show or after a show.”

The 2015 line-up is being touted as one of the best ever, with over a hundred and fifty performances providing locals the best in live entertainment. New York’s Cedar Lake contemporary ballet company will be performing to the music of film and TV composer Danny Elfman, a rare artistic treat for those in the know.

Festival artistic director David Sefton says that the Cedar Lake performance is on his list of must-see performances.

“They’re a relatively young company who get to cherry-pick the best dancers and choreographers in the world so they’re quite sought after but haven’t travelled much,” Mr Sefton told the ABC. “This is their first, at this point only, Australian appearance, so I’m very happy about that.”

There’s also plenty of digital and visual art on offer, so be sure to consult with the festival’s website for exact locations and a walking tour. For visitors and locals, the festival really is one of the highlights of the year- so be sure to make it along! The festival will last for seventeen days until the 16th of March, 2015.

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From awe-inspiring circus and physical theatre shows to hilarious comedy acts to unfathomable hypnotist performances, Adelaide Fringe offers almost every type of entertainment your heart could desire. The high-quality, diverse program of events satisfies the distinct desires of every taste and will make you laugh, gasp and think in ways that you may have not even thought possible. On top of ticketed performances in venues such as the Garden of Unearthly Delights or Gluttony, the Adelaide Fringe Festival also takes over the streets, arcades, boulevards and even malls of Adelaide’s vibrant city centre. The parades, street festivals, art exhibitions, Fringe in the mall showcases and other special events make the entire city come alive under the huge umbrella of the Fringe atmosphere, which completely envelops Adelaide.

Internode Fringe Favourites gave a list of its top Fringe shows for 2015. The comedy shows deemed unmissable this year include: the highly quirky Kitty Flanagan with her brand new show, Seriously?, as well as Wil Anderson’s intelligent and provocative performance of Free Will, Arj Barker’s insightfully hilarious show, Get in My Head, and the Umbilical Brothers’ critically acclaimed production, KiDSHoW (heads up it’s not actually suitable for children).  On the circus side of things, Internode recommends experiencing the wicked and wild world of Limbo, the death-defying stunts of the acrobats from Papillon, and the ‘choreographed majesty’ of SOAP.

As well as the popular performances, Adelaide Fringe is also showcasing a whole suite of undiscovered or up-and-coming artists, which will be sure to inspire and delight. An avant-garde circus show returning after huge success in 2014 is the immersive UV world, Luminous, and the thrilling acrobatic show, A Simple Space. For some truly unique experiences, also be sure to check out Puppetry of the Penis, the award winning show by international TV mentalist Phoenix, “Psyche!” or one of the many talented musicians taking up residence in Adelaide for the month.

There is simply not enough time or space to cover all of the incredible acts being featured on the Adelaide Fringe Festival’s phenomenal program. So head to the Fringe website to check it out for yourself and find the performances or events which tickle your fancy.

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On Saturday, November 15th, the Pride March ripped through Adelaide’s CBD. Afterwards, guests and participants made their way to a massive street party on Hindley Street West. With an appearance from Commonwealth Games gold medallist turned cabaret performer Matthew Mitcham, thousands of eager revellers turned the usually quiet street into an electric avenue of fun and freedom. It was truly a sight to behold…

The Feast Festival was conceived as a celebration of equality and gender diversity, but it’s also a great place to let your hair down and have a rollicking good time. This year marks the eighteenth anniversary of the festival, so organisers know a thing or two about putting on a good show! There’s live comedy, cabaret, live music, food, film and all kinds of other fun.

More than 100 awesome acts from across the nation (and the world) have made their way down to this year’s festival. Highlights will no doubt include an appearance by Aussie icon Carlotta, a sizzling set by veteran comedian Bob Downe, music from the Scottish-born Horse and more side-splitting humour from acerbic comedian Hannah Gadsby. There’s also plenty of other stuff happening too (cool panels and plenty of serious, discursive events), so check out whatever works for you.

The Feast Festival is an incredibly open and vivacious event, so get involved if you can. For tourist and visitors, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with Australia’s blossoming LGBT scene. For more information on events, ticketing and locations, head on over to www.feast.org.au and check out the full festival line-up!

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Everyone has their opinions on what constitutes a good holiday. Are you a beach person? Do you prefer cold winters and big jackets? Are you a lover of museums and art? Maybe, you’re a car enthusiast. And if you are, we have just the holiday for you.

Picture yourself, travelling around Australia, exploring all the museums, worshipping modern car advancements, and driving a few cool vehicles yourself. We’ve got the top places you have to see if you have any kind of love for cars.

National Motor Museum

Your first stop, naturally, should be the best museum in Australia. Nestled in the beautiful surrounds by the River Torrens in Adelaide’s picturesque hills, this museum is a short 50 kilometres from Adelaide. It houses over 300 of Australia’s most prized vintage, veteran and classic motor vehicles. It gives visitors an image of what life was like in the heyday of the car, and how cars have changed over time.

The museum hosts special events each year including the Bay to Birdwood Run, The Bay to Birdwood Classic and the Rock ‘n Roll Rendezvous.

Harris Street Motor Museum

This little gem is not as big as other car museums, but certainly makes up for it in charm and location. Situated right behind Darling Harbour, Harris Street presents over 160 classic motor vehicles, bikes and commercial vehicles. Among the top notch attractions are an Edward VII Gardener’s Serpollet steam car, the unique Delorean, and actor Anthony Quinn’s 1959 Chevrolet.

Portland Powerhouse Motor and Car Museum

Another classic transport place of worship, this museum features everything from a Penny Farthing bicycle to a 1920’s Cable Tram and Grip car. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of vintage car memorabilia to get you going, as well as stacks of interactive fun with two sectioned, push button operated motors, a Holden 6 cylinder grey motor and a Mazda rotary. You’ll find this one on the corner of Percy and Glenelg St, in Portland, Victoria. Enjoy yourselves!

Classic Car Investments

If you’re still dying for a little more exciting motor vehicle action, there’s one more stop to make on your trip. A tour of Oz would not be complete without delving into the world of classic car investments and the restoration business. Classic Car Investments hosts seminars on all your favourite  models, gives you the chance to have a vintage car restored, and even buy into an investment. Think luxury classic and vintage car investments in Australia, and you’re bound to get the heart racing. These guys have classic car investments in Australia, the UK and USA, so if you can’t make it to Australia’s museum, you can discover the magic all over the world.

Classic, vintage and iconic car models are a highlight of many holidays. Sure, they’re mainly a guy’s idea of heaven, but there are plenty of fun things to find in all of these old-style museums. Add it to the bucket list, and make it a mission to see at least one of these amazing museums. The trip down history lane is too good to miss!

Australians enjoy watching a huge myriad of different sports and activities, from the international games of tennis and cricket to the slightly more unique ones such as camel racing or lingerie rugby. You have an endless amount of sports to choose from, however, it is well worthwhile watching one of the larger ones to truly experience the competitive spirit. Easily, one of the most rewarding sporting events to attend is horse racing.

Rather than being a single 40 minute sport game focused solely on the movements of a ball, horse racing is an entire carnival day filled with fascinators, beverages, rushes of emotion, and a series of incredibly tense horse races. The Autumn Racing Carnival is nearly upon us, and it is the second biggest carnival in the country, with 34 group one races across three states.

Each city has a few highlight events over the next few months with the biggest wagers, unprecedented prize money, the tensest atmosphere and top pick of horses. Melbourne’s million dollar thoroughbred, juvenile race, Blue Diamond Stakes, at Caulfield racecourse on February 22nd, and the two million dollar races at Flemington racecourse 8th March, Australian Cup and Newmarket Handicup are the top ones to visit. Sydney’s key event is the prestigious Golden Slipper Stake – with prize money of over $3,500,000  this race is the world’s richest race for two-year-old thoroughbreds. The key races in Adelaide are the $500,000 South Australia Derby on 3rd Ma and Goodwood on 10th May, both at Morphetville racecourse.

Visit Horse Race Australia to see all the races over the Autumn Racing Carnival across the three venues.  After picking which games take your fancy the next steps are fashion and betting. Firstly, you need to get your outfit together as fashion is one of the most vital aspects of a racing carnival (particularly for the ladies!). Head to racing fashion Australia to see all the latest fashion trends and help you decide what extravagant outfits you will be donning on your day of choice.

Betting is another imperative aspect of horse racing in Australia, whether it be simply a few dollars on a random whim or thousands of dollars based on hours of research and insight. Regardless of what level you will be betting at, it is always a great idea to discover secrets of quinella betting type before stepping inside the race gates. Getting some expert advice and tips from Practical Punting before each race is vital to performing well and increasing your chance of leaving the day on top. Horse racing involves incredible highs and lows of emotion and will rile you up like little else. Therefore, seeking trifecta betting tips for punters is ideal for people wanting to feel more exaltation rather than despair.

So make sure you head to one of the incredibly exciting Autumn Racing Carnival  Days in 2014. For unrivalled excitement, entire days of dressing up, drinking and entertainment, as well as huge potential winnings, there is nothing else like it. So make the most of the beginning of the racing season and plan your Australian racing experience now.

There’s a new advertisement that springs more life into the Barossa Valley. The slogan is ‘be consumed’, and its truly a gift for the senses. The ad shows country living, beautiful fresh food, home-grown vegetables and stormy skies. Every fantastic image you would want to see in a successive collage appears in this ad, and I can’t stop myself from watching it continuously. (It’s down the bottom if you can’t wait!)

The Barossa Valley has always been renowned for its wine-filled, food-producing feast for the tastebuds, and it hasn’t shown any signs of slowing. Tourists seeking “a taste of the good life” travel to Barossa Valley, to be greeted by picturesque rolling hills, regional produce and acclaimed wines. The official Barossa site describes the valley as a recipe book, with a host of ingredients making up the final product. Each time you sample the flavours of the Barossa Valley, you’re forced to reconsider your opinions of this beautiful wonderland.

The choice of restaurants, wineries and local events is endless, so planning your trip can be useful. Keep your plans flexible, however, in case something even more exciting comes up. There are a number of self-guided tours found on the website that allow you to meander through the Barossa Valley. The heritage walks, museums and tourist drives allow for a far more relaxed exploration of the valley and the pieces that make it what it is today. The Butcher, Baker, Winemaker Trail sounds especially tantalising, with access to delicious foods and heady wines.

There is a nifty feature on the Barossa Valley website that hands you the reigns in crafting your own journey. The Trip Planner allows you to add up to nine attractions to your itinerary, then prints out all the necessary details in pdf form.

But of course the food and wine attractions take the cake when it comes to the appeal of the Barossa Valley. The many exciting things to do include a visit to Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop, where tastings and sales of seasonal produce are offered. There are beautiful country views, cooking demonstrations and a selection of meals to peruse for lunch. The Barossa Farmer’s Market is a Saturday favourite, starting at 7.30am and running until 11.30am. It’s here that you’ll find a market full of local breads, cheese, meat, fruit, vegetables, oils and preserves. Irvine Wines is one of the featured wineries in the Barossa, set in the peaceful Eden Valley. Classic wines such as Pinot Gris, Merlot and Meslier give this niche wine market a unique ambience, and the Irvine family are more than happy to invite you into their little touch of paradise.

The Barossa Valley gives South Australia a wonderful attraction that appeals to many. The tastes, smells and sights of the valley invite you in to explore their surrounds, leaving you wanting more. But back to the advertisement. It tells the story far better than any words ever could. Hit the play button, turn up the volume, and enjoy the next two minutes in Barossa.

Tourism Australia has selected their finalists for the competition known as ‘The Best Jobs in the World’, with the catch phrase, ‘there’s nothing like Australia’. The 6 positions for jobs across Australia have been filled with their final applicants, and finalists will compete their last leg of the competition in Australia in June.

For those of you living under some sort of rock, ‘The Best Jobs in the World’ competition was a campaign to increase the amount of tourism brought into Australia from overseas. The competition advertises what Tourism Australia calls the  ‘Best Jobs in the World.’ These jobs fall into 6 categories, and involve everything from partying with VIPs to trekking across the outback.

SIX of ‘the best jobs in the world’

Each category, complete with links to the 3 finalists and their video, can be found on the Tourism Australia website. They include…

• Chief Funster, NSW. It involves reviewing festivals, tweeting, tagging and posting your opinions and being an all round Sydney VIP.
• Lifestyle Photographer, Melbourne, VIC. This includes the chance to create new trends, build both city and country photo shoots and meet local identities, designers and artists.
• Outback Adventurer, NT. Essentially gets you trekking through the outback, meeting the locals and having all kinds of adventures.
• Park Ranger, QLD. Here you’ll patrol beaches where only your footprints can be found, swim in exotic waters and basically become a beach bum.
• Taste Master, WA. This job will see you eating your way around the state, tasting the best of local produce and uncovering the top bars and restaurants.
• Wildlife Caretaker, SA. This includes all things wildlife, from hanging with kangaroos to swimming with dolphins.

For 6 months, the winners dance and discover their way around whatever state they applied for. They’ll see sites many Australians won’t have seen, and will seek to bring record numbers of tourists to the shores of Australia. Oh, and the pay isn’t too bad either – just your average $100, 000! I think it’s fair to say that these are undoubtedly the best jobs in the world, unless you can find a better one? Go on, I dare you!

Tourism Australia tells us the campaign has been working magic since its inception in March. STA and Virgin have had enormous spikes in bookings, just as local hostels like YHA  and Base Backpackers have reported record numbers in their bookings. The total number of applicants exceeded 150, 000, showing just how prominent this campaign has become. Keep your eyes peeled for the final round in June to decide who will be lucky enough to score one of the best jobs in the world.