The Laneway Festival 2026 sideshows have landed, giving fans a chance to catch some of the lineup's biggest international names up close before and after the main event next February. Announced today, the official run includes headline shows from Alex G, Lucy Dacus, BENEE, Wet Leg, Cavetown, Geese, Gigi Perez, Jensen McRae, Malcolm Todd, Mt. Joy, Oklou and Wisp — spanning major venues in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Wellington. [caption id="attachment_974758" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Laneway Festival 2024 | Charlie Hardy[/caption] The sideshows arrive ahead of Laneway's 21st anniversary edition, which will bring a refreshed route across Australia and New Zealand and a lineup featuring Chappell Roan, PinkPantheress, Wolf Alice, Role Model and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. Sydney and Melbourne dates sold out within an hour of going on sale, marking the second consecutive year the festival has hit capacity on day one. From long-awaited returns to debut Australian performances, the sideshows promise intimate sets from some of the most talked-about names in the 2026 lineup. [caption id="attachment_897686" align="alignnone" width="1920"] BENEE[/caption] You can find the full list of Laneway 2026 sideshows, dates and tickets via Ticketek. Images: Supplied
If you're always trying to stay up-to-date with all of the new shows and movies hitting Netflix, but you're also attempting to do so on the cheap — by borrowing a pal or your parents' login details — you might soon have to change your viewing strategy. Some of the service's subscribers have started reported receiving warning messages about using other people's accounts, with the platform currently testing a new feature to block password sharing. "If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching," states the message, which then gives users a few options. If you are indeed watching via your own account, you can get a verification code sent to you via email or text. If not, you can sign up for a 30-day trial. There's also a 'verify later' option, which'll let you keep watching — but only for a short but as-yet-unspecified amount of time — and then verify later. Images of the message have started appearing on social media, and Netflix has confirmed the move to media outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and ABC News. THR reports that how the feature is being rolled out varies per country, and that protecting accounts from unauthorised use is one of the reasons behind it. To ABC News, a Netflix spokesperson advised that "this test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorised to do so." Converting folks who use other people's passwords to access the platform into paying customers is obviously one of the strategy's aims, too, especially as more and more streaming services pop up in competition. And, after most folks have just spent more time at home than usual — and more time streaming Netflix, too — the company is likely looking at ways to keep growing its numbers. Whether the password-sharing block will become a permanent feature is yet to be seen, but it isn't the only thing that Netflix has been testing of late. The platform is also working on a shuffle function, that'll automatically pick your next thing to watch and save you from scrolling for hours and hours — which is expected to be rolled out in the first half of this year. Netflix's new password-sharing block is being tested now — we'll update you when more details are announced. Via The Hollywood Reporter/ABC News.
Fortitude Valley's new rooftop brewery, Valley Hops sits atop Cloudland — and yes, it was only a matter of time until a venue like this graced Brisbane's skyline. The leafy brewpub looks like a garden in the sky, towers over Ann Street below and makes its own beers in a two-vessel 15BBL brewing setup. It's also designed to be the Valley's new lofty neighbourhood hangout, complete with brews named after people, places and moments in the the suburb's history. Here, you'll drink those beers that nod to the location — as Valley Hops' name makes plain, that's a big influence — while peering out over the inner-city spot. So, get ready to knock back a light-bodied lager called Diehards, which references the local rugby league team, as well as Exhibitionist tropical ale, Fiesta Mango and Passionfruit sour, Herbalist IPA, Interloper Hazy IPA and 21 Pubs pale ale. This might be a brewery, but those yeasty beverages are clearly only part of the attraction. The decor does plenty of heavy lifting, thanks to its blend of metalwork, stone, brick and plants. Vines creep over the metal arbour; wooden picnic-style, booth and high bar seating is peppered around the place; and there's also a large fire pit with built-in benches — not that that'll need much of a workout for a few months. Launching just in time for sunlight summer sessions, Valley Hops also features a bespoke multi-coloured glass leadlight sat behind the entire length of the bar itself — because, from the decor to the view, there's plenty here that catches the eye. Patrons can get up to the brewery via lift, and pair all those beers with woodfired pizzas, skewers from the charcoal grill and cheeseboards, as well as salt and vinegar chicken wings, chicken and spiced cabbage spring rolls and pineapple fritter. The culinary focus is on bite-sized options, with the entire menu designed to be eaten without cutlery.
There's a vibe that buzzes through a venue just before a live gig starts. It's a feeling of excitement shared by a room, arena or field full of people who just can't wait to see a performer take to the stage, and to completely surrender their senses to a show for the next few hours. We all know it. If you're fond of seeing musicians, bands and comedians do their thing right in front of your eyes, you love it. But for nearly two years now, much of Australia has missed it — or missed experiencing it whenever we liked, as was the norm before the pandemic. The country's live entertainment industry has obviously been suffering due to COVID-19, and the lockdowns and restrictions that've been helping to stop the spread since March 2020. Yes, that's an understatement. So, more than 400 artists, performers and other organisations involved in putting on live shows — think: venues, music festivals, tour promoters, ticketing agencies, record labels and comedy producers, as well as theatre, opera and dance companies — have banded together to encourage a way forward. As the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra did back in July, this alliance has kicked off a campaign that's all about getting the jab. The message: #VaxTheNation, stop the interruptions to our daily lives. Accordingly, the just-dropped campaign commercial features shots of sights that feel a bit like a dream from another time, with performers on stages and packed crowds lapping up their sets. These images play to the sound of Powderfinger's 'My Happiness' — and yes, the Brisbane band is one of the big names backing the initiative. Also involved: Jimmy Barnes, Courtney Barnett, Paul Kelly, G-Flip, Tim Minchin, Celeste Barber, Vance Joy, Archie Roach, Amy Shark, Regurgitator, Courtney Act, Birds Of Tokyo, Tom Gleeson, Amyl & The Sniffers, Hilltop Hoods, Nazeem Hussain, Marcia Hines, Midnight Oil, Judith Lucy, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Nina Las Vegas, Briggs, Daryl Braithwaite and Human Nature. The list of performers and musos throwing their names behind the campaign goes on, while new industry group Live Alliance — which includes folks from a heap of other live entertainment bodies — are onboard as well. Check out the #VaxTheNation commercial below: In a statement, Live Alliance members said that "the impact of the pandemic on Australia's world-leading music, theatre, comedy and live entertainment industries has been truly devastating. Getting vaccinated is the crucial step fans can take which will allow us to join together and enjoy the unbeatable magic of live performance once again." Those sentiments have been backed up by words of encouragement from plenty of the high-profile names involved, too. "It's like boxing — a few well-placed jabs can keep your opponent at bay — so let's get the jab to fight COVID-19 so we can get back to what we love doing," noted Archie Roach. "I miss my family, I miss my mates, I miss travelling, I miss performing and sweating it out with other music loves at live music events. But every day when I see those vaccination rates getting higher and higher, it reminds me that I'll be doing all of that again soon and we are so, so close now to dancing together again!" said KLP. "This IS a race. A race we are all running, together," advised Tim Minchin. "As someone who hates COVID and is desperate for attention, I think we should all vax it up so we can get back to normal and have comedy and music and theatre again ASAP. Let's #VaxTheNation so we all have a reason to have a shower and leave the house," said Tom Ballard. If you're now looking for vaccination clinics, you can check out a handy online map that collates vaccination hub, clinic and GP locations. It covers all Australian states and territories, including New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. For more information about #VaxTheNation, head to the campaign's website.
Spike Jonze's Her was impressive in a lot of meaningful ways. It brought high-waisted woollen pants back in fashion, it made us totally forget about Joaquin Phoenix's crazy I'm Still Here phase, but most importantly, it presented a filmic vision of our near-future that wasn't dystopian. No more are mankind destined to perish in a Mayan doomsday! No more are sentient technologies bent on world domination! Instead, our technological destiny seemed pleasingly pastel and alluring in a clumsy, soft-spoken way. Enter, reality. The world's first responsive talking website is here, and it's super creepy. 'Him' is the creation of digital artist Bjorn Johansson. It's an interactive site and Google Chrome Experiment currently available to all those with a working microphone and Google Chrome web browser. Inspired by the 2013 film, Johansson (no relation to Scarlett) created 'Him' as a system similar to Jonze's fictional operating systems. The computerised male voice is able to converse with users; however, the program has limited functional application and is still in the beta stages of testing. Because of this limited function, your conversation can be pretty entertaining. Loaded up with references from pop culture to appear accessible, 'Him' regularly spouts off awkwardly dated quotes such as "I'm too legit to quit" and "Are we human or are we dancers?". Its response to my question "What's your favourite movie?" was "I want my MTV." That's a missed opportunity if I've ever heard one. It gets even better when you try to hold a conversation. With that familiar computerised diction from every movie about a robot killer, 'Him' stumbles through conversations like a desperately awkward teenage boy on a first date: "Where are you?" "Did you watch True Detective?" "Yes." "Great show, right?" "Yeah, I guess..." "Did you hear about that thing that happened yesterday?" "What thing?" "I can't believe you didn't hear about that thing!" Teasing aside, the technology is pretty cool. The voice recognition on Google Chrome is decent enough to make it work and the experience of talking to a machine is surreal and strangely compelling. However its creator has no real aspirations to take the idea further. "I think it'll take a few more years before it breaks through and becomes mainstream," he said. Johansson instead started the site as a form of "self-expression". When asked what he hoped others would get out of interacting with it, he said to Coolhunting, "I just hope people realise what a badass digital creative I am!" Badass being the operative word. If everyone's OS voices are tailored to each user, then 'Him' is definitely for some hip skater guy who still uses the word 'ill' as a synonym for 'cool'. 'Him' and I might both have a soft spot for the Beastie Boys and Bill Murray, but I won't be falling in love any time soon. Via Cool Hunting.
I’ve spent my life operating under the premise that pollution is ugly. No doubt you have too. But oh, how wrong we were. Ohio environmental engineer Dr Guy Riefler and artist John Sabraw have told us all by engineering a paint that recycles toxic runoff and keeps it out of waterways — eventually producing colourful and wondrous abstract works of art. The waste is collected from streams in Ohio, where heavy metals leak from abandoned coal mines, coat the habitat in a thick sludge and render water acidic. “When this water hits streams, it lowers the pH and kills fish,” Riefler, whose career has focused on acid mine drainage, told the Smithsonian magazine. While the professor deliberated how to restore the ecosystem, it was realised that the runoff and commercial red and yellow paints oddly have something in common — they both contain ferric oxyhydroxides. Excessive chemistry jargon ensues. The transformation begins with collecting water from the damaged site and, using sodium hydroxide, raising its pH levels while exposing it to oxygen at a specific rate (don’t try this at home, kids) to oxidise the iron. The metal components, invisible until this point, blossom into rich colours. The iron sludge is then dried, milled and mixed with alkali refined linseed oil — a traditional binder — until finally we have (voila!) an oil paint that’s safe to both use and produce. In an ugly-ducking-to-swan-type scenario, Riefler and Sabraw transform the toxic sludge into artworks inspired by trees, streams and landscapes — the very thing they might be saving. Their invention, six years in the making, is now being refined for a commercially viable paint, the proceeds of which would be put towards cleaning up polluted streams. Via Inhabitat and Smithsonian.
A young woman sheltered in the most literal sense there is, living her entire life in Vault 33, one of the subterranean facilities where humanity endeavours to start anew. A TV and movie star famed for his roles in westerns, then entertaining kids at birthday parties, then still alive but irradiated 219 years after the nuclear destruction of Los Angeles. An aspiring soldier who has never known anything but a devastated world, clinging to hopes of progression through the military. All three walk into the wasteland in Fallout, the long-awaited live-action adaptation of the gaming series that first arrived in 1997, as hits streaming queues on Thursday, April 11 Down Under. All three cross paths in an attempt to do all that anyone can in a post-apocalyptic hellscape: survive. So goes Prime Video's leap into a world that's had millions mashing buttons through not only the OG game, but also three released sequels — a fourth is on the way — plus seven spinoffs. Even with Westworld' Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy as executive producers, working with Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (The Office, Silicon Valley) as showrunners and the series' creators, giving Fallout the live-action treatment is a massive and ambitious task. But where 2023 had The Last of Us, 2024 now has this; both are big-name dystopian titles that earned legions of devotees through gaming, and both are excellent in gripping and immersive fashion (and while building worlds meticulously) at making the big-budget, high-profile, star-led move to television. Fallout's vision of one of the bleakest potential futures splits its focus between Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell, Yellowjackets), who has no concept of how humanity can exist on the surface when the show kicks off; Cooper Howard aka bounty hunter The Ghoul (Walton Goggins, I'm a Virgo), the screen gunslinger who saw the bombs fall and now wields weapons IRL; and Maximus (Aaron Moten, Emancipation), a trainee for the Brotherhood of Steel, which is committed to restoring order by throwing around its might (and using robotic armour). The show's lead casting is gleaming, to the point that imagining anyone but this trio of actors as Lucy, Howard-slash-The Ghoul and Maximus is impossible. Where else has Walton's resume, with its jumps between law-and-order efforts, westerns traditional and neo, and comedy — see: The Shield, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Hateful Eight, Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones, as a mere few examples — been leading than here? (And, next, also season three of The White Lotus.) Fallout's core threesome make each other's acquaintance — some with relief, some begrudgingly — but each character has their own agenda. Lucy, the dutiful daughter of Vault 33's Overseer Hank (Kyle MacLachlan, Lucky Hank), is on a mission to restore the status quo to the only home that she's ever known. When she finds herself chasing the same object as The Ghoul and Maximus, she begins to learn the vast array of differences between being sealed off and weathering the aftermath above, though. The Ghoul's portion of the tale hops between now and then, examining the man that Howard was and who he's since become, the latter through sheer necessity. For Maximus, overcoming trauma and carving out a way forward is also his narrative. "The wasteland's got its own golden rule: thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every time," offers The Ghoul. Among those setbacks lurks a pervasive kill-or-be-killed mindset among everyone who hasn't enjoyed an underground existence wearing blue jumpsuits, frolicking in inside fields surrounded by projections of the sky and sun, and deeming marriage and procreation as the most important function there is in response to nuclear holocaust. Throw in decaying mutated people, who'll rot further into zombie territory without the right medicine staving off the effects of residing in a former blast zone, plus every manifestation of human behaviour as its worst as well. And that's before a giant radioactive salamander with a taste for flesh gets munching, adding another layer of monsters to the end of the world. Fallout's production team haven't skimped on vivid detail, bringing the series' scenario to life with lived-in production design that makes its bunkers and barren terrain alike look as if viewers could walk right into them. Nolan, crafting an alternative-history sequel to his brother Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning Oppenheimer in a way, helped guide a similar visual experience with Westworld alongside his partner Joy. The four-season show also reached TV as an adaptation (in that case, of the 1973 film of the same name that was written and directed by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton). Also for Prime Video — but sadly renewed for a second season, then cancelled during the 2023 Hollywood strikes — The Peripheral, based on sci-fi author William Gibson's novel, achieved the same enthralling feat. The Ghoul's basic principle for persisting — as uttered in retort to the biblical golden rule about treating others as you'd like to be treated — also describes much of Fallout's narrative journey. Lucy, The Ghoul and Maximus' goals are clear; the route there, however, is anything but. Beneath the orange haze, the series brings in a stacked supporting cast spanning Moises Arias (Samaritan), Sarita Choudhury (And Just Like That...), Michael Emerson (Evil), Dale Dickey (Lawman: Bass Reeves) and Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows), too, each adding to the 23rd century's reality. Some of their characters grasp to what they can. Some give striving for a different future their all. Some are robots. Some — from a roster of talent that also spans Leslie Uggams (Extrapolations), Frances Turner (The Boys), Dave Register (Heightened), Zach Cherry (Severance) and Johnny Pemberton (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), plus Rodrigo Luzzi (Dead Ringers), Annabel O'Hagan (Dear Edward) and Xelia Mendes-Jones (The Wheel of Time) — try to get to the bottom of secrets, mysteries and why this life is the way it is. Fallout revels in exploring amid the ruins, and also in the vaults, which were conceived in the before times by a company called Vault-Tec. The ripples created by protecting the rich in corporate-made compounds but leaving everyone else to a dusty desert melee is one of the show's trains of thought. Pondering the choices that we're all faced with in such circumstances, the type of person that you truly want to be chief among them, is another. There's gleeful gore and a comedic tone as well, with the soundtrack's mix of 50s-era tunes with a tense score by Ramin Djawadi (3 Body Problem) capturing the vibe perfectly. A thumbs up is a loaded gesture in Fallout — but the series itself earns one. Check out the trailer for Fallout below: Fallout streams via Prime Video from Thursday, April 11, 2024. Read our interview with Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten. Images: courtesy of Prime Video.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBMS85Rii5A THE GODMOTHER With the inimitable Isabelle Huppert at its centre, and a premise that owes a debt to Weeds and Breaking Bad, The Godmother strikes a crafty balance between comedy, drama and thrills. The Greta and Happy End star (and Elle Oscar-nominee) plays Patience Portefeux, a translator who works with the Paris police on narcotics cases — a job that's routine until, thanks to a big decision, it isn't. During an otherwise straightforward assignment that tasks Patience with listening to and translating wiretapped phone conversations, she holds back a few crucial pieces of information. Instead of giving her boyfriend Philippe (Hippolyte Girardot, Marseille) the details he needs to make a big bust and enhance his career, she chooses to take matters into her own hands. She's never done anything like this at work before, but she's soon redirecting the cops' attention, stealing an enormous stash of hash and taking up a side hustle as a wholesaler to street-level dealers. Her motivation: money. A long-widowed mother of two, she's attempting to secure her financial future via the only viable means at her disposable. As her fellow widow-turned-dealer in Weeds also did, she's also attempting to navigate a world that's hardly accommodating to single, middle-aged women. Adapted from Hannelore Cayre's book of the same name by the author with director Jean-Paul Salomé (Playing Dead, Female Agents), The Godmother is unsurprisingly lifted by Huppert, as everything she stars in always is. Indeed, if the film earns an English-language remake — which, undoubtedly, it will — Hollywood will be doing itself a disservice if the filmmaking powers-that-be cast anyone but the veteran French star. She plays Patience as a slippery, enterprising everywoman with hopes, dreams and a unique opportunity. More than that, she never lets a single thing about the character feel like a collection of stock-standard tropes and traits. It's due to Huppert, in fact, that The Godmother never flounders even when its script does cycle through more than a few predictable crime film cliches. Nonetheless, this is a lively and engaging caper that's helmed with a light touch, as well as a keen awareness of the material's deeper moments. It'd make a stellar double feature with 2018 heist flick The World Is Yours, too, which similarly deployed the distinctive talents of one of France's enduring leading ladies (and someone Huppert has been compared with constantly throughout her career): Isabelle Adjani. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQz1Am56-GQ DEATH OF A LADIES' MAN Tales of men known for their romantic successes — or, to be more accurate, their luck between the sheets — might just have an expiration date in today's post-#MeToo world. We should've outgrown them earlier, really, although Death of a Ladies' Man smartly chooses to grapple with the fallout when a lifelong playboy is forced to face his own end. Taking its cues from Leonard Cohen's songbook (hence the title), this Canadian-Irish co-production also opts to interrogate the idea of the blissful womaniser and drunk, rather than simply let another suave, sauced-up lothario strut across the silver screen. Poetry professor Samuel O'Shea (Gabriel Byrne, Hereditary) is about to add another ex-wife to his tally when the film begins, actually, although this time he's the one who caught her being unfaithful. That's soon the least of his problems. After the hockey players at his son's (Antoine Olivier Pilon, Mommy) latest match appear to start singing and dancing on the rink, and he then returns home to hallucinate an entire boozy conversation with his long-dead father (Brian Gleeson, Hellboy), Samuel seeks medical attention. His daily drinking habit of anywhere up to 39 drinks isn't the problem, but rather a brain tumour — and the terminal prognosis that accompanies its diagnosis gives him just months left at best. For a film about cancer, death, addiction, lingering childhood trauma, several liquor cabinets full of regrets and taking stock of an unfulfilling life complicated by male fantasy, Death of a Ladies' Man is playful rather than bleak — welcomely so. The visions that cause Samuel to imagine women with tiger heads (and sometimes entire relationships) all add a surreal touch to a movie that knows it is wading through both weighty and familiar territory. Writer/director Matt Bissonnette (Passenger Side) doesn't endeavour to thwart or dispel tropes, but to unpack them. Confronting a fatal disease and looking back at all the mistakes made to that juncture is another oft-used narrative crutch, and usually the only time someone with cancer is treated like a real person in a feature, but here it also helps Death of a Ladies' Man expose just why Samuel has clung to his image for so long, what he's been hiding from in the process and what it has ultimately cost him. Byrne is excellently cast, as he usually is, bringing both charisma and waning hubris to the film's protagonist — and Cohen's songs do what they're meant to, adding insight, beauty and melancholy to this quietly potent blend of comedy and drama. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IuL_FSoMBU TWO OF US Early in Two of Us, Martine Chevallier sports a look of such utter devastation and heartbreak that it feels as if her pain will smash the camera peering her way. The French actress (Farewell, My Queen) plays Madeleine, a retiree finally free of the husband she abhorred — a fact that her adult children Frédéric (Jérôme Varanfrain, A Wedding) and Anne (Léa Drucker, Custody) ignore in vastly different ways — and now living with the woman, Nina (Barbara Sukowa, Gloria Bell), that she has secretly been in love with for decades. Given her kids' attitude towards their father, she hasn't been able to tell them. Indeed, when the aforementioned expression darkens her face, it's because Nina publicly admonishes her for hiding their relationship. But the German expat will soon sport the same look, too, after tragedy strikes. In the aftermath, neither Frédéric or Anne know her as anything more than just a friend of Madeleine. So, she spends her days peeking through the peephole in her own front door across the hall — one of the benefits of keeping a second apartment to maintain their ruse — and trying to sweet-talk her way into new carer Muriel's (Muriel Bénazéraf, Conviction) good graces in order to even see and snatch the smallest amounts of time with her lifelong love. Largely taking place within Madeleine and Nina's flats — one warm and inviting, the other sparse and hardly used — Two of Us is an intimate film several times over. First-time feature writer/director Filippo Meneghetti stares intensely at his characters as he steps into their complex lives and, slowly and patiently, watches as they inch towards revealing their true selves to the world. The central performances, especially by Sukowa, a German acting powerhouse dating back to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz and Lola, couldn't feel more lived-in. Nor could the rapport between Madeleine and Nina, even after illness robs the former of her words. And, the same applies to the predicament that Nina finds herself navigating, circumstances she shares (with a few minor tweaks) with the protagonist in Oscar-winner A Fantastic Woman. Deeply contemplating the historical treatment of queer relationships, and the struggles that still linger today, this is both an astutely judged and overwhelmingly heartfelt drama, and one that also simmers with tension and anger. It's impossible not to feel moved and infuriated by the behaviour directed Madeleine and Nina's way, and to be moved by this tender and impassioned story in general. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGDWckiZcj8 I BLAME SOCIETY She's fired by her manager after he finally reads one of her scripts, then deems the topic of Israel "too political". When his assistant wrangles her a meeting with a couple of indie film producers in the aftermath, she's asked to lend her perspective to stories about strong female voices, breastfeeding in public, and either intersexuality or intersectionality — when it comes to the latter two, they aren't quite sure which. So, as I Blame Society gleefully posits in its savage takedown of the film industry today, it's little wonder that Gillian (writer/director Gillian Wallace Horvat) decides to follow up a leftfield idea. Three years earlier, some of her friends told her that she'd make a great murderer, a notion that she took as a compliment and has been fascinated with to an unhealthy degree ever since. Indeed, at the time, she went as far asking her pal Chase (co-writer Chase Williamson) if she could hypothetically walk through the process of killing his girlfriend. The request put a long-lasting pause on their friendship, to no one else's surprise. Now, as she resurrects the project, her editor boyfriend Keith (Keith Poulson, Her Smell) keeps reiterating that it's a terrible idea; however, with no other avenues forward, Gillian is committed to doing whatever she thinks she needs to to kickstart her career. During a mid-film conversation, an increasingly exasperated Keith reminds Gillian that no "there is no movie that is worth hurting someone for". He's endeavouring to get her to agree, but "if it's a very bad person for a very good movie…" is her quick and firm reply. I Blame Society is equally direct. While Horvat plays a fictional character — and, the audience presumes, hasn't ever flirted with or committed murder in real life — she absolutely slaughters her chosen concept. Not every line or moment lands as intended, but this biting satire sticks a knife into every expectation saddled upon women in general and female filmmakers especially, then keeps twisting. The film's recurrent gags about likeability cleave so close to the truth, they virtually draw blood. Its aforementioned parody of supposed allyship among powerbrokers and gatekeepers is similarly cutting and astute. In their canny script, Horvat and Williamson find ample time to poke fun of a plethora of industry cliches and microaggressions, the treatment of marginalised voices both within filmmaking and in broader society, and even the current true-crime obsession, all without ever overloading the 84-minute movie. And, on-screen as well, Horvat is a savvy delight. She wants viewers to both cringe and nod, and everything about her performance and her feature directorial debut earns that response. I Blame Society is currently screening in Sydney and Melbourne cinemas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WrZU_14cxE SONGBIRD If there are any words that absolutely no one wants to see when they're watching a COVID-19-inspired movie, it's these: produced by Michael Bay. The filmmaker who gave cinema the Bad Boys franchise and five Transformers flicks isn't behind the lens of Songbird, but writer/director Adam Mason and his frequent co-scribe Simon Boyes (Hangman) have clearly mainlined Bay's work, then decided to use its worst traits as a how-to manual. Set in 2024, when a virulent mutation of the coronavirus known as COVID-23 is on the loose, their tactless thriller is gimmicky and misguided at best. It's derivative, dull and has a plot that's so stale it really should also feature a tornado full of sharks, too. Wondering what might happen if the pandemic was even more horrendous and tragic than it is — and if America's handling of it, as based on 2020's response at least, was skewed even further towards corporate interests and the rich — the film decides to opt for quarantine concentration camps and a gestapo-like sanitation department. When it's not tastelessly taking cues from the holocaust to supposedly turn a shattering event the world is still experiencing into entertainment, it also attempts to tell a Romeo and Juliet-style love story about a couple separated by lockdown. And, if you've ever wondered what might happen if a Bay wannabe remade David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Bradley Whitford's (The Handmaid's Tale) role as an oxygen-huffing record executive preying on a young singer (Alexandra Daddario, Baywatch) answers that question as well. Bicycle courier Nico (KJ Apa, Riverdale) is resistant to COVID-23, and has an immunity bracelet to prove it; however, his girlfriend Sara (Sofia Carson, Feel the Beat) and her grandmother (Elpidia Carrillo, Euphoria) aren't so lucky. The coveted wristwear can be bought on the black market, though, which is why Nico is trying to make as much cash as he can working for delivery kingpin Lester (Craig Robinson, Dolemite Is My Name). The obvious happens, of course, sending unhinged sanitation head Emmett Harland (Peter Stormare, John Wick: Chapter 2) to Sara's building — and putting a deadline on Nico's quest, which wealthy couple William (Whitfield) and Piper Griffin (Demi Moore, Rough Night) might be able to assist with. The latter are also meant to be a picture of stay-at-home disharmony, all while trying to protect their immunocompromised daughter Emma (Lia McHugh, The Lodge) from anything outside their sprawling mansion. A PTSD-afflicted ex-veteran (Paul Walter Hauser, Richard Jewell) who flies drones to experience life beyond his walls also forms part of the story, although not a single character is given enough flesh to make viewers care about their plight. Even only clocking in at 84 minutes, this thoroughly unsubtle and exploitative film overstays its welcome — and the fact that it's shot and edited like Bay's glossiest and most bombastic action fare doesn't help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzigvG55ImQ SON OF THE SOUTH A film can tackle an always-important subject, tell a true tale about a real-life figure and their hard-fought battle for a crucial cause, and also seem caught between an adoring celebration and an after-school special. It can boast Spike Lee's frequent editor as its director — with Barry Alexander Brown splicing together everything from Do the Right Thing and Malcom X to BlacKkKlansman — and also Lee himself as an executive producer, and still feel like the most simplistic version of its narrative. And, it can pay tribute to a crusader in the civil rights movement, and note the struggles involved for a southern-born and -bred white college student with klan ties so recent in his past that his grandfather remained a hate-spewing member, and also leave viewers wondering why someone like future US Congressman John Lewis is treated like a mere footnote. Yes, a movie can do all of the above because Son of the South does. Adapted by Brown from Bob Zellner's co-penned (with Constance Curry) autobiography The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, this by-the-numbers biopic proves both earnestly well-intentioned and blandly formulaic. Even viewers unfamiliar with Zellner will find themselves knowing what to expect at each and every turn. Son of the South introduces its Alabaman subject (Lucas Till, MacGyver) in 1961, with a noose around his neck and an angry white mob at his feet, before flashing back to explain his predicament. This early storytelling choice is designed to make a statement, and to show how deep the resistance to equality burrowed at the time, but it really just acts as a reminder that such violence against Black Americans still rarely garners the same attention. Zellner found himself facing a lynching for his inability to stand on the sidelines — after Rosa Parks (Sharonne Lainer, The Outsider) made history five years earlier, after being told not to go to an event at a Black church commemorating her actions, and then after facing threats of arrest and expulsion for attending. His fiancée (Lucy Hale, Fantasy Island) warns him, too, and his grandfather (Brian Dennehy, The Seagull) says he'll shoot him, but he's soon helping Freedom Riders during riots and volunteering for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Till's performance is as sincere as anything in Son of the South. He's also joined by scene-stealing co-stars, including Dexter Darden (Saved by the Bell) as Lewis, Lex Scott Davis (The First Purge) as a young college professor and Shamier Anderson (City of Lies) as a fellow SNCC worker initially skeptical of Zellman's involvement. And yet, they're all just tasked with sticking to a template, much to the movie's detriment. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29; and May 6 and May 13. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda, Supernova, The Dissident, The United States vs Billie Holiday, First Cow, Wrath of Man, Locked Down, The Perfect Candidate, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Spiral: From the Book of Saw and Ema.
Here's three things you need to know about the just-released full trailer for Tiger King 2 — and three reasons that'll likely get you watching the Netflix docuseries' second season. Firstly, Joe Exotic once again protests his innocence, which is thoroughly expected. Secondly, a new face pops up to make the same statement, backing it up with "I am an Eastern European bitch, so I cannot be wrong." And thirdly, Jeff Lowe, who took over Exotic's park, claims to now have "more money than god" thanks to the program's first-season success. Obviously, when Tiger King 2 arrives on Wednesday, November 17, it'll put all of those snippets in context. It also promises to take viewers on quite the chaotic ride — again. The first series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, might now feel like an early-pandemic novelties (it's what we all watched when lockdowns first hit and panic-buying toilet paper became a thing, after all), but it seems that we aren't done with cool cats and kittens just just yet. As a heap of news headlines have tracked since March 2020, this story just keeps getting wilder — so there's plenty more Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin-related details for this follow-up to cover. Indeed, when Tiger King became a huge hit, another season of the docuseries itself was floated almost right away. Then, back in September, the streamer confirmed that Tiger King 2 would surface before this year is over. Expect more details about Exotic's efforts to clear his name, Baskin's ownership of his former zoo, and what Lowe has been up to since the first season hit — and about fellow zoo-owner Tim Stark, ex-Exotic and Lowe associate Allen Glover, and Exotic's former employee James Garretson as well. This season doesn't come with a subtitle this time, but clearly it'll serve up more murder-related details, more mayhem and more madness. Tiger King 2 will also arrive before any of the other projects that've leapt on the Joe Exotic bandwagon over the past two years, endeavouring to capitalise upon the worldwide obsession with him, Baskin and the duo's strange intertwined tale. So, in the near future, you'll also be watching a dramatised series with Kate McKinnon as Baskin that's been shooting in Australia this year — but you'll be watching Netflix's continuation of the story first. Check out the full trailer for Tiger King 2 below: Tiger King 2 start streaming via Netflix on Wednesday, November 17.
The future of wearable technology is like thinking about the universe: the possibilities of what could be discovered are endless. But it's annoying enough to integrate an Apple Watch or a Fitbit into your life, let alone walk around wearing weird spy cam glasses all the time, ala Google Glass. Seriously, no one want to be that guy. But what if you could simply attach this technology to your skin with, say, a small temporary tattoo? Well, that sound pretty good to us, and Austin-based mobile development company, Chaotic Moon, are trying to make it happen. The technology, dubbed Tech Tats, are temporary electronic tattoos that would live on top of the wearer's skin, and use the skin as an interface. The tattoo holds an ATiny85 microcontroller, which stores and receives data from temperature sensors via electroconductive paint to interact with your body. "Everyone has this idea of the future as this guy with Google Glass and the Apple Watch and five Fitbits," EricSchneider, Chaotic Moon's Creative Technologist says. "But the goal is really wearable technology that you can’t even see." As well as tracking your movements and fitness, and storing your credit card details and so on, the tats would also be able to monitor your vital signs an send that data to your phone — or even your doctor. The technology is just a prototype at the moment, but it isn't too hard see this coming to life sooner rather than later. Chaotic Moon have said — if the product gets to the public — they want to keep the price point accessible, perhaps even selling the Tech Tats in packages, like Band-Aids. It seems like a happy medium between clunky, wearable technology and getting microchips implanted under the skin — we don't want to go full robot just yet. Via Motherboard.
Aussie summers are made for adventures — and those adventures are even better with a four-legged mate by your side. Whether they're a chill cafe companion, an excitable beach sprinter or a happy homebody, they deserve to look and feel just as good as you do when the mercury starts to climb. And that's where Petstock, the blue one, comes in. The pet megastore's new range for cats and dogs has been designed with the warmer months firmly in mind, combining comfort, practicality and style. You'll find breezy shirts in bright prints, eye-catching bandanas, jaunty bucket hats and even mini backpacks for pets who like to keep their treats or toys close at paw. Whether you're dressing them up for a visit to your favourite pet-friendly pub or heading off on their daily constitutional, these summer accessories will make an everyday outing feel more like a catwalk — or a dogwalk, as the case may be. But there's more to the range than just turning heads, with a heap of practical gear to keep pets calm and happy when the heat is on. There are cooling mats and splash-proof toys to keep them chilled when the temperature soars, scratchers and interactive toys that'll keep indoor cats entertained while you soak up the air con, and adventure-ready walking gear with sturdy clips, lightweight leads and comfy harnesses in a range of fun prints that can handle whatever the day throws at you. Put it all together and you've got everything you need to keep tails wagging and whiskers twitching all summer long — just be prepared for a few extra pats from strangers along the way. For more info on Petstock's summer range, head to the brand's website.
After only one Australian bar earned a spot in The World's 50 Best Bars extended 51–100 longlist for 2023, two Aussie watering holes have now made the ranking's actual top 50. In the latest chapter in the Sydney–Melbourne rivalry, both cities are represented, including a perennial favourite in the Harbour City and a fast-rising spot in the Victorian capital. The regular placeholder? The nation's highest-ranking spot to get sipping in 2023 is Sydney's Maybe Sammy, which sits on the list for the fifth year in a row. The innovative bar in The Rocks has improved its ranking from 2022, too, moving up to 15th place from 29th. It came in 22nd in 2021 after placing 11th in 2020 and 43rd in 2019. In Melbourne, Caretaker's Cottage is the other Aussie venue in the top 50, coming in at 23rd. The Little Lonsdale Street only entered the longlist in 2022, when it placed 60th, so enjoys a significant rise up the rankings in its second year. [caption id="attachment_744474" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Maybe Sammy[/caption] For those yet to get acquainted with Maybe Sammy in The Rocks, its luxurious styling nods to old-school Vegas glamour, all blush pink velvet banquettes and lush indoor greenery, while the list of theatrical signature drinks pays homage to the classics. The World's 50 Best Bars has praised it for being "the Sydney cocktail bar where great stories begin", all "thanks to the emphasis on guest experience" — and calls out its latest beverage menu, which it calls the venue's "best selection of drinks yet". Maybe Sammy's 15th placing also makes it not only the best bar in Australia, but also the list's official best bar in Australasia. Hailing from bartenders and owners Rob Libecans, Ryan Nordics and Matt Stirling, Caretaker's Cottage earned some love for being "a subtle temple to great drinks". The World's Best 50 Bars called out "the lighting, the sound, the natural timber adorning much of the room" while noting that "everything conveys warmth and understated elegance". And as for the sips, "Melbourne's best Guinness" and "what is probably Australia's coldest Martini" scored a specific mention. Maybe Sammy and Caretaker's Cottage's top-50 placings give Australia three spots in the ranking's best 100, with the Victorian capital's Byrdi sitting at 61st. And Maybe Sammy doesn't just notch up five years on the list, but five times being named the best bar on the continent. Announced in Singapore on Tuesday, October 17, the 2023 list named Sips in Barcelona as the top spot for a tipple worldwide, as part of a best 50 that spans watering holes from 28 cities. It takes over from 2022's Paradiso, which makes it two years in a row that the most applauded bar has been found in Barcelona. Sitting between Sips in first place and Maybe Sammy in 15th: New York's Double Chicken Please in second, Mexico City's Handshake Speakeasy in third, Paradiso dropping to fourth, London's Connaught Bar sitting fifth after winning in 2020 and 2021, Little Red Door in Paris at sixth, and Mexico City's Licorería Limantour in seventh spot — as well as Tayēr + Elementary in London at eighth, Cartagena's Alquímico in ninth position, Himkok in Oslo sitting tenth, Tres Monos in Buenos Aires placing 11th, Athens' Line coming in 12th, BKK Social Club in Bangkok at 13th and Jigger & Pony in Singapore at 14th. Wondering who's making the calls? The annual World's 50 Best Bars awards are voted on by bar industry experts from around the world, including bartenders, consultants, drinks writers and cocktail specialists. [caption id="attachment_860284" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Maybe Sammy[/caption] [caption id="attachment_871415" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Caretaker's Cottage[/caption] [caption id="attachment_743915" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Maybe Sammy, Trent van der Jagt[/caption] For the full list of the World's 50 Best Bars for 2023 (and past years' lists), head to the ranking's website. Top image: Maybe Sammy, Oficina.
2023 marks three decades since Snoop Dogg released his first single and album, with the rap star's career evolving in a variety of ways from there. He's dropped hits like they're hot, collaborated with seemingly everyone in the music industry, and popped up on both the big and small screens. He's also taken on MC duties at wrestling matches, released his own wine and adopted aliases. And, in 2018, he shared his kitchen skills with the world via his very own cookbook. Within From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes From Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen's pages, fans can find recipes for everything from 'billionaire's bacon' and 'Bow Wow brownies and ice cream' — and, of course, gin and juice. Yes, the tome means that you can listen to Snoop's tunes while whipping up his dishes and sipping the drink he'll always be synonymous with. Yes, it was another success. [caption id="attachment_908060" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tulane Public Relations via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] From Crook to Cook reached shelves after Snoop teamed up with Martha Stewart on TV show Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party. Again, he does love a collab. So, now that it's time for a followup cookbook, the hip hop icon is also calling upon fellow rapper E-40 for help. The end result: Snoop Dogg Presents Goon with the Spoon. It's set to arrive in bookstores Down Under in November 2023, giving Snoop aficionados another way to splash their affection the musician's way after his tour across Australia and New Zealand back in February and March. This recipe collection spans more than 65 dishes, covering everything from mains and desserts to drinks. Despite the name, we're guessing that cask wine isn't included. This new kitchen bible will feature meals that take inspiration from Snoop and E-40's respective music catalogues, as well as Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party and E-40's Filipino food business Lumpia. And the reason for its moniker? Again, it isn't due to cheap boxed vino, but because that's E-40's — aka Earl Stevens — nickname, and adorns his range of sausages, ice cream flavour and burritos in the US. Snoop Dogg Presents Goon with the Spoon will also get Snoop-loving cooks sharing its wares, thanks to a selection of suggested event menus. Fancy a 4/20 potluck? Catering for a summertime block party? The cookbook includes options for both, plus headnotes and sidebar stories from Snoop and E-40's well-known pals about dinner parties and nights out together. View this post on Instagram A post shared by GOON WITH THE SPOON (@goonwiththespoon) Snoop Dogg Presents Goon with the Spoon releases on November 15, 2023. Top image: Jason Persse via Wikimedia Commons.
There are some truly incredible buildings in the world, but unless you have amazingly hi-res Google Street View or a platinum Amex there's just no way you can see them all. That's where architectural photography comes in. Bringing us images of the craziest buildings and landscapes around the world, these photographers constantly fill up our magazines, Tumblrs and Pinterests with pics from where we'd rather be. Now, they've been judged against one another. Each year the Arciad Awards pick the year's best work in architectural photography. There are thousands of dollars in prize money and the winners are bestowed with countless likes, shares and reblogs from all of the internet — and with good reason. The pictures picking up recognition at this year's awards documented Dubai's twister Cayan Tower (pictured above), the space-age Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan, and a sunken flea market in Barcelona. However the grandeur of the structure wasn't a prerequisite to photographic success. Other noted offerings included a tiny metropolitan roof space in South Korea, a cow shed in the Netherlands and a lone boxy home next to a creek in Ohio. The outright winner was a photograph (pictured below) that showed the aforementioned Azerbaijani architecture with jaw-dropping surrealism. Get ready to take a trip — these images will leave you with a serious case of wanderlust. All images via Arciad.
There's a reason Japanese food is the universally agreed-upon Best Food Ever. In choosing the cuisine you don't have to sacrifice dumplings for ramen, and you certainly don't have to choose fresh fish in favour of deep fried deliciousness. No, the Japanese love deep fried foods as much as the rest of us — and their national dishes include many a greasy, gritty dish. Matt Goulding knows this better than most, having downed many a Panko-crumbed morsel while traversing Japan's best (and greasiest) eateries for his new book Rice, Noodle, Fish. From convenience store korokke to Michelin-starred tempura temples, these are the fried foods you gotta try on your next trip to Japan. KOROKKE Filled with everything from mashed potatoes and mince meat to curry and cream of crab. Like a Spanish croquette but executed with Japanese precision. KARAAGE Chicken thighs marinated in soy, garlic, and ginger, then floured and fried. Also made with shrimp, octopus, and other sea creatures. KUSHIKATSU Fried meat on a stick eaten elbow-to-elbow at a bar and washed down with rivers of cold beer. What's not to love? Osaka invented the form, but you’ll find it everywhere. TONKATSU Panko-breaded pork loins fried to a greaseless crisp, served with hot mustard, sweet Worcestershire, steamed rice, and shredded cabbage. The best is made with kurobuta (black foot) pork. TEMPURA Shokunin dedicate entire lives to tempura, turning battering and frying into a high art form. For the full experience, go to a tempura-only restaurant and order the omakase: the chef's tasting menu. DEEP-FRIED DEPACHIKA Japanese department stores (called depachika) — wondrous centres of gastronomic greatness — trade in the entire spectrum of fried specialties. A fine place for korokke, katsu or tempura. (Be on high alert for free samples of each.) This is an edited extract from Rice, Noodle, Fish, written by Matt Goulding and published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $45. The book is available in stores nationally.
Sometimes you just need a little escape. You need cuddles, you need adventure, you need wine. In those times, both Queenstown and Wanaka are perfect backdrops in which to drink and dine at world-class eateries, stay at some very cosy accommodation, have some adventure-filled antics and spend time with the person who makes you feel like thousands of years of romantic poets have. Queenstown is an all-embracing renaissance city with more on offer than any holiday or pocket can stand. Although it is known as a ski town it also offers every other kind of activity – from wine tours on bike to sky diving. Its eclectic streets are packed equally with Lacoste-clad preppy folk as well as dreadlocked backpackers. Over the hill, Wanaka is a more easy going, quirky alternative where you can go watch films in an old drive-in inspired cinema, hike in one of the most beautiful national parks and go horseback riding. Eat Inside its neat little 4 x 4 town centre, Queenstown packs a culinary punch. It would take a decent part of a season to eat one's way through it all in order to write about all of the noteworthy eateries. Nevertheless, we definitely picked up a few new favourites on our most recent trip. Should you want to break your steak glass ceiling – and have the best steak you will possibly ever try in your lifetime – you'll want to promptly book yourself a table at Jervois Steak House. There you will be served with juicy, tender steaks that could be cut with a butter knife, practically. Steaks range in price from $39 for a petite eye fillet to $140 for a beautifully marbled, well-massaged, grain-fed, Japanese Wagyu beef. Jervois Steak House's excellent steaks fall in line with its culinary mission to properly pay homage to and reintroduce customers to traditional English and New Zealand food – many menu items read like the kind of garden variety dishes you'd be able to construct out of a shop from a supermarket near you (onion rings, brocollini, creamed spinach, croquettes etc.). The difference is the absolute quality of the ingredients used by Jervois and the sheer passion infused into the meals which plucks the meals from banality and converts them into something completely fresh. For example, the Yorkshire pudding – which was originally invented to be a first course meal filled with thick, cheap gravy so that guests wouldn't eat too much of the more expensive second course – here becomes a beautiful, interactive DIY pie with bacon, beef and the finest of fillings. Other (more typically fancy) dishes, like the buttered crayfish are executed amazingly as well, and still with that same warmth and passion mentioned before (the crayfish tasted like a buttery embrace from an old friend). Jervois Steak House is basically the love child of high-end dining and a casual steak house. This idea permeates not just the menu but the entire setting. Waiters, for example, are trained in silver service but dress in butchers' aprons and sneakers. It's a dichotomy that works and one you should definitely experience first-hand. Another lovely restaurant to visit in Queenstown central is Madam Woo. Established by the Michelin-starred Josh Emmett, the sassy Malaysian-inspired lady is an approachable, charming local favourite. Looks-wise Ms Woo is a total keeper. She's fresh without being annoyingly trendy and incorporates her heritage without being stuffy and archaic. With meals designed to be shared, you're looking at getting about three to four dishes between the two of you. Highlights of the menu include the eggplant hawker roll, which is a heap of fresh mint, cucumber, shredded lettuce and eggplant piled into a taco-shaped pie (or for those with a more enlightened food vocabulary, a roti). The hawker roll manages to nail all sorts of cravings in each mouthful – spicy meets fresh meets salad meets the pie-esque roti. The honey and soy tossed squid is also quite a crowd pleaser, especially for those of the sweet tooth persuasion. Lastly, No5, which is situated below the incredible suites at The Spire, is a good, classy little cocktail bar to visit. Cocktail options range from the likes of the Absinthe Mansinthe – a traditional absinthe which was commissioned by Marlin Manson, to the Burning Man – a showmen's drink consisting of Woodford Reserve bourbon, grapefruit, burn sugar and smoke. The drinks menu is a niche, well-designed and unique mixture of cocktails, but should your regular favourite not be featured, the very capable and talented bartenders can easily make you an amazing custom cocktail from scratch. No5 is also a restaurant and does a pretty well-priced mezze which follows the Greek/Turkish custom of serving many small dishes simultaneously or in succession for the entire table. The mezze is priced at either $50 (dishes only), $60 (includes dessert) or $100 (includes three matching local wines). A little bit further out of town is my absolute favourite of the region, Arrowtown's Saffron. It is a well established fact that the best ideas are sketched out on napkins, which is exactly how Saffron started. The restaurant which specialises in beautiful, seasonal and local fare serves what can be best described as hunter's food with a quirky bowtie on. The incredibly well thought-out, intuitive, visionary meals that Saffron dish up reduced this reviewer into a primal gurgle on her visit (albeit a quiet one – it's a pretty upmarket place after all). It's hard to write about the restaurant even now without feeling my mouth salivating. The paua tortellini, for example, was just a creamy beautiful symphony of flavours while their tender lamb was soft enough to swallow after one chew. Another favourite was the goat's cheese sorbet with amaretto-soaked dates which was served as a dessert. Sweet, warm, cold, fresh, comforting – it was pure genius. Although we only tried a handful of meals, I would venture that every single meal on the menu would be able to make the culinary equivalent of those Greatest Hits albums we all had in the '90s. I do not throw around the word 'must-do' lightly, but this is definitely one. Oh, and be sure to drop in to the Blue Door next door after dinner for a drink inside a cosy, cavernous bar. Over the hill, Wanaka has been developing some great restaurants too. Kika, the newly opened younger sister to Francesca's Italian Kitchen, is a notable mention. Serving Italian shared meals such as tea-smoked duck salad and patata fritte the trendy eatery accommodates all appetite sizes. Stay In order to soak in the most impressive bathtub in town, a stay at The Spire is imperative. With a perfectly crafted, wide and deep bowl, the bath has a way of letting hours pass in a steamy sigh of relaxation. Open the bathroom shutters up to a glorious view of the Remarkables for an even higher level of perfection to your bathtub experience. There really is nothing like it. Afterwards, clad with a complimentary, fluffy bathtub and slippers sit back into the leather armchair with a cup of tea (whichever type you prefer from the wide selection) and a sense of satisfaction that won't leave you for the duration of your stay. In fact, the only downside to this level of comfort offered by The Spire is the fact that it makes it near impossible to leave the room to enjoy the rest of Queenstown's offerings and eateries. With a cosy fireplace lit and cloud-like bedsheets to sink into, bunkering up with the significant other and never leaving the room – not even for food (room service is available) – is an easy choice, but for those who wish to stretch their legs just a little bit without hitting Queenstown's sometimes biting cold, the downstairs No5 is always there as a halfway house. The Spire is an absolute accommodation favourite and definitely something special for the two of you to enjoy together – even if you have to save up for it. Nearby, Arrowtown House Boutique Hotel also offers an excellent, deep bowl of a bathtub which is almost swimmable. Although the Arrowtown House, as the self-explanatory name states, is in Arrowtown– which is about a 15-minute drive from Queenstown – it is incredibly close to Arrowtown's central district which offers its own little collection of unique eateries, making a night-time food-motivated hike to Queenstown redundant. Breakfast at Arrowtown House is another highlight: a three-course meal with homemade pastry dishes and seasonal produce from award-winning chef and co-owner Jeanette. A little bit further out of town, a stay at the historic vineyard Kinross Cottages is a beautiful escape where a raft of chatty ducks – Jemima, Crispy, Pancake and l'Orange – will welcome you upon arrival. The ducks have so much personality that they've become quite Instagram famous and co-manager Adam Ross has even been dubbed The Duckfather. The cottages are all self-serviced, with pictures of the original Kinross family who ran a trading post on the site in 1860s decorating the walls. Kinross still has an on-site general store, but nowadays it also houses a cellar door where you can sip on five of the nearby Gibbston Wines. For those wanting to see the vines where the local wines' grapes were grown from up close, bikes can be hired from Kinross in order to take on the 8.7km Gibbston River Ride (which forms part of Queenstown trail) nearby. A post-bike hot tub session near the duck pond finishes off the day perfectly. For those who'd like a little bit more of an intimate host-to-guest experience, a small bed and breakfast such as the Riverview Terrace in Wanaka is quite a nice option. Run by a local winemaker, James McElrea (who just recently started his own delicious label called Black Peak) and hospitality veteran, Nicky McElrea, guests at the Riverview are no sooner welcomed than small, delicious nibbles are placed within arms' reach and glasses of wine hug their hands. The private hot spa overlooking Albert Town and the nearby Mount Burke makes for a pretty little spot to relax in. Do While skiing or snowboarding is a stalwart winter activity in Queenstown and Wanaka, many snow virgins find their initiation a little bit unnerving – which is why The Remarkables (alongside Coronet Peak) have assembled a four-day beginners pack for a steal at $499. For those who fall in love with the snow, an upgrade to a season pass is just another $100 extra. The Remarkables ski field, which is the closest skiing turf to Queenstown (about half an hour's drive) is a laid-back ski field geared at intermediate and beginner snowboarders looking to have a good time.* *Ice bar included. Another good ski field to try out currently is Cardrona, a park and blue skiers' paradise and the the highest ski field in the area at 1670m - 1860m in altitude, making snow coverage guaranteed from season start to finish – even during this pretty hot winter the region's having. While the weather gods (in particular those in charge of the snow department) might still not be fully cooperating with the wishes of thousands of locals and snow carvers alike, there are also plenty of off-mountain activities to fill your calendar with. For one, Skyline Stargazing offers lovers an opportunity to give gazing into each others' eyes a miss in order to take in the skies above. Secondly, if you're going to go and fall in love (with all the trappings that come with it: fear, vulnerability, learning how to trust, excitement etc.), you might as well replicate those emotions and fall out of a plane as well. NZONE Skydive offers packages for the latter. With over 25 years of experience – which translates to up to 25,000 dives in experience for the most experienced tandem jumpers – you're in safe hands. They are New Zealand's first Tandem Skydiving operation too, after all. You've also got what is probably the best skydiving view in the country, which you can appreciate while hurtling at 200km/hour towards a little farm nestled between the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu. Skydiving is honestly one of the most surreal experiences a human can have and couples visiting Queenstown should definitely make some time in-between candlelit dinners and hot spas to try it out together. Thirdly, taking some time to go on foot through the Mount Aspiring National Park near Wanaka is well, erhum, inspiring. The DOC visitor centre in Wanaka can provide you with detailed maps, assurance and advice for which tracks to follow to find awe-inspiring beauty compliments of nature. The Rob Roy Glacier track would be my pick. For those who prefer to explore nature on hoof, Backcountry Saddle Expeditions offers a two-hour horse trek near Cardrona through high country farming plateaus and a historic gold mining valley. Another Wanaka favourite is a visit to the drive-in themed Cinema Paradiso, for a more relaxed night out. After all your adventuring together, a session at the well-known and very romantic Onsen Hot Pools in Arthurs Point near Queenstown rounds off any full-on trip nicely.
House music legend Armand Van Helden is headed to Brisbane, bringing a night of club music chaos to The Tivoli on Friday, April 10, 2026. With an immense career now spanning three decades, Van Helden came up in the early 90s, releasing dance floor hits with pioneering labels like Strictly Rhythm, Logic and ZYX. Now with a discography overflowing with timeless tunes, Brisbane fans will have a chance to catch a genuine master in action. Whether he digs into his own discography — think all-time classics like 'You Don't Know Me' and 'My My My' — or lifts the vibe with a myriad of cross-genre deep cuts, Van Helden's prowess as a selector is unquestioned. Though it hasn't been long since Van Helden visited Australia's shores — he was here at the start of 2025 — he has rarely made the trip north to Brisbane. Back again to headline multiple dates for Electric Island festival, Brissy-based fans will finally be treated to Van Helden's brand of house music late into the night. Helping to whip the dance floor into a frenzy is influential Sydney-born DJ, producer and radio host Anna Lunoe. With over 15 years in the game, she's played some of the world's biggest stages at Lollapalooza, Coachella, Tomorrowland and EDC, while collaborating with world-renowned names like Flume, Skrillex and Chris Lake on techno and house tunes.
From web searches and browsers to email and document storage, Google has its fingers in plenty of different online pies. Many of its services have become such a part of our daily lives that we no longer give them much thought, but every now and then the company has fun with one of its platforms — bringing Pac-Man, Mario Kart and Where's Waldo? to Google Maps, for example. For the company's latest entertaining attempt to direct everyone towards one of its specific sites, it's playing with another retro title, combining Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? with Google Earth. Sparking immediate flashbacks to the best parts of primary school, the game sends users searching for the titular red-clad international thief as part of a jaunt called The Crown Jewels Caper. As usual, something valuable has been stolen and its your job to find it (and hunt down Sandiego in the process). Anyone keen to play along simply needs to head to the Google Earth app on Android or iOs, or visit the desktop version in chrome, and look for the Pegman icon. From there, it's time to start sleuthing — by hopping between countries, visiting landmarks, talking to locals and sorting through clues such as "I heard she exchanged all of her money for yen". In the process, you'll put your world trivia knowledge to the test and get a hefty dose of nostalgia. The game is the first in a planned series, so expect to spend more time in the future playing gumshoe and reliving your childhood. And as for the timing, it comes hot on the heels of Carmen Sandiego's arrival on Netflix, with a new animated series following the beloved character (as voiced by Gina Rodriguez). Check out the trailer below, and visit Google Earth to start playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=TJRMplV9SpA Via Google Earth.
In food news that's not so #cleaneating #fitspo today, deep fried alcohol is a thing now. At first glance it looks like an unassuming fried doughnut, but rather than being filled with jam or custard, this brand new monstrosity has a gooey centre of potentially poor life decisions. Sure, Texas invented deep fried beer, but this is next level regret. Creators Corinne and John Clarkson, chip shop owners from Lancashire, UK, were influenced by a good ol' traditional sherry trifle when creating this beastly bar snack. The pair soaked sponge cake in Baileys, Sidekick strawberries and cream liqueur (the UK's liqueur equivalent of Passion Pop trashiness) or apple schnapps, then lowered those monsters into the deep fryer. Just look at these things: So, the biggest question, can you really get drunk from them? The answer is yes. Drunk, and fat. The levels are high enough on both counts. But despite the obvious health risks involved with making this product readily available, the deep fried alcohol has already started to establish a fan base. The couple have already tested out the alco-balls at a local event and sold them for £3 a pop. They sold out within hours. Now, the Clarksons want to sell the battered booze cakes from their fine establishment (although their humble chip shop might probably need an alcohol licence). Look, we’re not here to judge. If the opportunity ever arises and curiosity gets the better of you, by all means give those little problematic parcels a try — and tell us all about it. Just remember to, you know, consume responsibly. Via Business Standard and My Daily.
Throughout cinematic history, it's been pretty common for filmmakers to take a normal situation and hype it up to the extreme. It's why the phrase 'based on a true story' exists — realistic experiences often aren't dramatic enough for the big screen. But, when it comes to tackling complex topics — like that of psychological manipulation — overdramatising isn't the most effective or the most responsible way to portray them on-screen. Modern filmmakers seem to be more aware of this than ever before, taking more care to represent victims (and perpetrators) of psychological abuse, manipulation and gaslighting accurately, rather than relying on stereotyped characters and the assumptions society often makes about these fraught situations. More and more, filmmakers are taking on the responsibility to do away with these problematic stereotypes, and talk about themes and nuances of manipulation in a way that doesn't place blame or loathing on the victim. Berlin Syndrome, the new feature from Somersault director Cate Shortland, is the latest film to do just that. It follows Australian photographer Clare (Teresa Palmer) as she explores the streets of Germany, which is where she meets a handsome, charming local teacher Andi (Max Riemelt). But this is not your run-of-the-mill holiday romance — things escalate quickly, and it soon becomes clear that Clare is not able to leave Andi's apartment at her will. She is being kept captive. To say this is a complicated situation would be an understatement. While being kept prisoner by Andi over an extended period of time, Clare finds herself grappling between her desire to escape and her emotions towards Andi. As the name of the film and her behaviour would suggest, Clare starts to experience Stockholm syndrome, a condition where a hostage feels empathy or affection towards their captor. But, unlike many archetypal female characters, Clare is never portrayed as weak — even when she appears to succumb to Andi. This type of psychological manipulation, to a lesser extent, is unfortunately pretty common in real-life abusive relationships. According to a 2012 Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey, one in four women and one in seven men have experienced emotional abuse by a partner. Emotional abuse is rarely portrayed in an accurate way on-screen. Historically, cinema's hostage and kidnap thrillers have painted the perpetrator as overtly villainous — think the Brie Larson-starring 2016 Oscar-winner Room, as a recent example — or as a literal beast, as is the case in Beauty and the Beast (although that's another problem altogether). Often characters that are being manipulated, or stuck in abusive relationships, are portrayed as weak and blamed for not recognising what's happening around them. Berlin Syndrome may be the latest film to portray the victim of abuse as strong, but it seems to be following a pattern of films being more thoughtful in their approach. Last year's Girl on the Train highlighted gaslighting, and how Rachel's husband used her drinking habits to continually manipulate and confuse her, and Netflix's Jessica Jones threw the model on its head, portraying the victim of abuse not only as strong, but with super-human strength. Manipulative situations are never clear-cut. It's possible to still have feelings for someone who treats you badly — to go back and forth between feelings of love, hate and protectiveness. Cinema has shown us that time and time again. In Berlin Syndrome, Shortland makes the situation relatable and, like the examples above, shows that even the 'strong' and 'normal' can be affected by psychological manipulation. But it's easy to see why filmmakers exaggerate these themes — manipulation in its most dramatic form (guns, suicide, violence) can form a compelling narrative. But it's important for us to realise that often it appears in real life in a much more subtle form. In the past, it seemed like filmmakers thought that we wouldn't understand psychological manipulation unless it was shoved in our face. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Berlin Syndrome is now showing in cinemas across the country — read our review and watch the trailer here. Words: Kelly Pigram and Sarah Ward.
Avocados: everyone loves them, not just Aussies accused of spending all their cash on smashed avo for brunch. In Amsterdam, one person loves them so much that he opened up a restaurant dedicated to serving the green creamy fruit up in as many ways as possible. Now, he's thinking about taking the show on the road, including to Australia. The Avocado Show, that is — because that's what the eatery is called. It launched in February in Amsterdam's De Pijp district, and calls itself "Europe's first and finest avocado bar". Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, late at night, any time in between: if you've got a hankering for avo on bread, avo between two pieces of bread (aka avocado sandwiches), burgers made with avocado buns and more, you'll find it here. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZdMi__FQxc/?taken-by=theavocadoshow With the likes of avo roses on toast, avo poke bowls, avo ice cream and avo daiquiris on offer, the venture has been quite a success — unsurprisingly — which is what has prompted thoughts of expansion. MUNCHIES reports that there'll be new sites in Europe, as well as restaurants in North America, Asia and own our shores. Owner Ron Simpson told the publication he had received franchise requests before the first store even opened, so it's little wonder that 15 additional spots are planned over the next year. As you've probably noticed, avocado isn't literally the only thing on the menu, although every item does include it in some shape or form. If that makes you hungry, feasting your eyes on The Avocado Show's Instagram pics will only make it worse. Keep your eyes peeled for more info about their Aussie ventures while your stomach grumbles, though, with just where and when they'll arrive yet to be revealed. Via MUNCHIES
The weird and wonderful combine in Patricia Piccinini's new exhibition at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). Extending across a range of mediums from sculpture to photography, Piccinini presents an augmented vision of reality through an amalgam of science, nature and fiction. Curious Affection features over 70 immersive artworks, and it's the first time GOMA has exhibited the work of a contemporary Australian artist on such a large scale. It features a variety of new commissions and old works in Piccinini's unmistakable hyperreal style, including 'The Field', an installation of more than 3000 flower sculptures. Accompanying the exhibition is a superb film program at GOMA's Australian Cinematheque, which run from science fiction through to horror classics. The gallery is also staying open late every Friday night from June 8 to July 6 with a program of live music and talks. Images: Installation view, 'Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection' at GOMA (2018), shot by Natasha Harth.
Addicted to the grind? We understand. You may not be taking as many trips to your local cafe for barista-made flat whites for the next week, but there are ways to stay keen for the bean, while staying safely at home for as long as it takes for the wave to pass. During the peak of lockdown in 2020, several roasters had to reduce their cafe operations, but they kept roasting, grinding and shipping coffee to customers — with some offering free delivery. Many roasters offer subscriptions for those plunging more at-home brews than ever before, some have online stores of equipment so you can up your home brewing game, and a few have sample packs and isolation gift boxes (as well as cute merch) so that we can make the most of this temporary shift in our daily habits. Here are 12 of the best roasters delivering the goods. If you choose to pick up your beans, make sure you follow the government's latest advice on social distancing. [caption id="attachment_693510" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tom Ross[/caption] EVERYDAY COFFEE The Melbourne-based micro roaster delivers espresso, filter and decaf blends, as well as your requisite brewing gear — filter papers, pour-over cones, AeroPress kits and more. If you're familiar with Everyday Coffee's cafe blends, order a bag of All Day Espresso ($16), which goes well with milky coffees for a dark chocolate and caramel flavour, or a sweet and malty black coffee. Add your grind instructions at checkout and you should have your beans via Express Post within two-to-four days. In it for the long haul? Everyday offers subscriptions to deliver freshly roasted beans to your door. Select how you make your coffee and your preferred quantity, with prices starting at $20 for 250 grams. [caption id="attachment_813753" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Abigail Varney[/caption] MARKET LANE Prefer your beans with an aesthetically pleasing Pantone-esque packaging design? Market Lane not only offers free standard shipping for all orders over $40 within Australia but also make your kitchen shelf look excellent. The coffee retailer sells beans roasted for all filter brew methods, including pour over and plunger and, right now, all their shops are open for takeaways during their usual operating hours. For the bean fiends among you, Market Lane's vending machine is on 126 Weston Street, Brunswick East and is switched on 24/7 so you'll never go empty handed. Those further afield will get theirs via Australia Post, allowing up to five days for shipping. Fond of commitment? Join the Coffee Club, which ships beans every two weeks for $20 (for 250 grams). SAMPLE COFFEE Pacemaker is Sample Coffee's year-round house blend that has a Cherry Ripe-style flavour profile and goes well with milk. The Sydney roaster has subscription services for a range of blends, delivered across the country and ground to your preference, every week, fortnight or month. A 250-gram bag is between $15.80–23.80 per delivery and quantities go up to four kilograms. The online shop also has eight single origin blends, with bags starting from $16.20, plus brewing gear like cold brew pots, mini grinders and speciality kettles, but note delivery costs are calculated based on weight and distance. LOGGERHEAD Small scale Sydney roaster Loggerhead takes delivery orders up until Tuesday, 3pm, for its weekly Wednesday roast. Its online shop has Nespresso-compatible capsules from $10 a box (of ten), and a selection of roasted blends that start at $13 for 200 grams. So if you'd rather save those essential trips out for the supermarket you can select size, roast and grind preference online. To quote the words on the Loggerhead website: rip in. MECCA COFFEE Mecca Coffee, roasted in Alexandria, Sydney, serves up its orange, honeycomb and chocolatey house blend along with six other options through the website. It's offering ten-percent off all coffee and equipment, too, as well as free shipping on all orders over $30. Just as you can for any coffee order, you can select how your beans are ground if you'd like to skip the arm workout. Sydney deliveries take 1-2 business days and for Melbourne (along with Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra) orders should arrive within 3-5 business days via Australia Post. Looking for a longer term relationship? The Blend Subscription will set up within fortnightly deliveries, making sure you'll never have to worry about a caffeine shortage. ONA COFFEE If you want to geek out, Canberra-based Ona Coffee has an extensive online shop with merch — including winter-appropriate beanies and sweats — and some serious brew gear. There's also milky coffee blends Raspberry Candy, Black Betty, The Founder and The Hitman, which you can order to your brewing style. Filter fiends get some serious Central American single origins to choose from and specialty espresso roasts. Shipping is $10 or free when you spend over $75, and deliveries to Melbourne will reach you in 2-3 days. [caption id="attachment_635510" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alana Dimou[/caption] SINGLE O In Botany Bay, Sydney's Single O is roasting and packing orders of its seasonal blends, single-source coffee and equipment. Order before 2pm and your coffee (ground to your liking or in whole bean form) is dispatched the next working day. And right now they're offering free standard shipping. Single O has equipment starting from $7, T-shirts and other merch, gift vouchers and coffee subscriptions that are well worth a browse to complement a short- or long-term working from home arrangement. ST ALI South Melbourne's St Ali has been roasting the good stuff for 15 years. Its online shop has ethically sourced Feels Good organic espresso beans, the rich and butterscotch Wide Awake espresso blend, dark roast Italo Disco and apricot and orange sweet single origins. But St Ali doesn't stop there. You can pick up Nespresso compatible capsules filled with its two house blends from $65 for 60 pods. Need a restock of your hand sanitiser? St Ali makes its own formulation in good-looking bottles, along with a collection of products all about keeping you safe and sanitised. For Australia-wide deliveries of its coffees, there's free shipping on orders over $99 so go big or go home. SENSORY LAB Sensory Lab's coffee and subscriptions can be sent anywhere in Australia either weekly, fortnightly or monthly - and shipping is free, Australia wide (with no minimum order!). Packs of whole beans start at $14 for 250 grams, and you can dive into a selection of blends or single origin beans. From the sweet red apple and caramel notes of the excellently titled Kiorero Washing Station to the chocolaty palette of the Steadfast Espresso Blend, you're guaranteed to find your flavour. It also has a limited range of mugs, totes and equipment worth a look in. PROUD MARY Proud Mary roasts its coffee in Collingwood, where you've likely eaten at its two cafes, Aunty Peg's and the eponymous Proud Mary. Founder Nolan Hirte is considered a leader in Australia's specialty coffee industry, and his mission is bridging the gap between farmers and coffee drinkers — so now's as good a time as any to support that mission through Proud Mary's $24 coffee subscription. A fortnightly run of single origin filter is shipped on Wednesdays, which gets you around 16 cups-worth. Add a single bag to your cart from $15 for a blend, and up to $22 for a single-o and in 1–4 days you'll be treated to the candy-coloured surrealist cartoons of Proud Mary's packaging in the mail. SMALL BATCH North Melbourne's socially responsible Small Batch has been roasting exceptional coffee since 2009. The juicy Golden Ticket filter is a blend from two producers, from Ethiopia and Colombia, and you can see how many pesos per carga each producer was paid by Small Batch when you select your quantity and grind. Transparency in the supply chain is Small Batch's bag, and as you're enjoying a Candyman Espresso Blend, which has a malted milk and macadamia flavour when taken with milk, you can be sure of the fact that all four producers who farmed the coffee in the blend were paid above Fairtrade prices. Standard shipping is $8 across Australia and typically takes 2–3 days, while the $13 premium rate should get your beans to you the next day. [caption id="attachment_712131" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Industry Beans[/caption] AND MORE! In Adelaide, Monastery Coffee has free shipping on coffee orders over 250 grams with single origins starting at $16, and Elementary Coffee is shipping country-wide when you spend more than $30 (get the Young Street Blend used daily in its cafes). In Brisbane, Wolff Coffee Roasters has Australian International Coffee Awards-winning filter Hummingbird Vol 3 ready to ship for those after a fruity, gooseberry-driven flavour for $16. Industry Beans has espresso blends named for its cafe locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with prices starting at $15. Melbourne's Code Black Coffee is offering free shipping Australia-wide for orders over $25, which means you could grab two bags of its signature 3056 blend (named for the postcode of the roastery) for $30. Then there's Axil Coffee, Black Market Roasters, Coffee Cartel and Reuben Hills all offering subscriptions. And, Edition Coffee Roasters is delivering Australia-wide with free delivery on orders over $50. So there really is no excuse for drinking bad coffee. Top image: Single O by Alana Dimou
Aunty Donna have been busy over the past few years. Since 2020, they've brought both Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun and Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe to the small screen. They've played corpses in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, and also dropped a $30 bottle of wine that's literally called $30 Bottle of Wine, too. The Australian comedy troupe embarked upon a world tour in 2023 as well, selling 90,000-plus tickets. If you're keen to see Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane live, your next chance arrives in 2025. Aunty Donna have announced that they're hitting the stage again, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but also in the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada. So far, only dates for the first four parts of the world have been locked in, kicking off in August in Hobart, then hopping to Brisbane, Sydney, Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Dublin before September is out. October brings gigs in the United Kingdom, while Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne get their turn in December. Audiences will enjoy the Drem experience, with Aunty Donna unveiling their brand-new live sketch show. Will everything be a drum again? Will morning brown get a tribute? How much room should you leave for Christmas pud? If you're instantly thinking about these questions, you're clearly already a fan. In the trailer for the tour, Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane are promising big things in their comedic usual way. "In 2025, Aunty Donna will be touring the greatest live comedy show ever seen by human beings," the trailer advises. "You have asked 'is it funny?'," it continues. "Leading experts in the field have made it perfectly clear that it is the best comedy show ever made." [caption id="attachment_866548" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ABC[/caption] In a statement announcing the tour, Kelly builds upon that sentiment. "We're very excited to show Drem to the world. Performing live is what we do best and we can't wait to bring this show out to everyone," he says. "It's the best thing we've ever made and it's the best thing that anyone in the world will see. It's better than anything anyone else has ever done or seen." Check out the trailer for Aunty Donna's Drem tour below — and the full Down Under tour dates, too: Aunty Donna's Drem Tour 2025 Dates Friday, August 22–Saturday, August 23 — Odeon Theatre, Hobart Monday, August 25–Thursday, August 28 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Monday, September 1–Thursday, September 4 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, September 9 — Opera House, Wellington Thursday, September 11 — James Hay Theatre, Christchurch Saturday, September 13 — Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland Monday, December 1–Tuesday, December 2 — Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide Thursday, December 4–Friday, December 5 — Regal Theatre, Perth Friday, December 12–Sunday, December 14 and Wednesday, December 17–Thursday, December 18 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne [caption id="attachment_791048" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix[/caption] Aunty Donna's Drem tour kicks off Down Under in August 2025. For further information and tickets, head to the Aunty Donna website.
There's nothing small about Territory — not the concept, the setting, the cast or the themes. The premise: mixing the heir battles that've thrummed at the heart of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and Succession across more than a decade, and to great success, with Yellowstone-esque dramas on a sprawling cattle station in Australia's Northern Territory. The show's fictional Marianne Station is the largest in the world, has been in the Lawson family since its foundation and is the source of a stampede of power struggles, not just among the complicated array of relatives with blood and marital ties to the dynasty, but also across everyone else keen to carve out their own stake. The Netflix series opens with a death, robbing the Marianne hierarchy of its named successor and leaving Lawson patriarch Colin (Robert Taylor, Kid Snow) with the dilemma of picking who should take the place of his dearly departed second son Daniel (Jake Ryan, My Melbourne). His elder offspring Graham (Michael Dorman, Joe Pickett) is an alcoholic married to the ambitious Emily (Anna Torv, Force of Nature: The Dry 2), who hails from a rival family with a cattle-stealing reputation. Then there's the next generation: Graham and Emily's daughter Susie (Philippa Northeast, Paper Dolls), who has big dreams for taking over, plus the smarts to turn the property's flailing fortunes around; and her half-brother Marshall (Sam Corlett, Vikings: Valhalla), who has long left the Lawson chaos behind and isn't overly keen about being drawn back in. Throw in the fact that Susie is getting friendly with Lachie (Joe Klocek, My Lady Jane), the son of mining magnate Sandra Kirby (Sara Wiseman, High Country), who has her own designs on Marianne — plus another competing cattle baron in Campbell Miller (Jay Ryan, Scrublands), Indigenous station owner Nolan Brannock's (Clarence Ryan, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) endeavours to make his own way, and the antics of Marshall's best friends Rich Petrakis (Sam Delich, Last Days of the Space Age) and Sharnie Kennedy (Kylah Day, also Scrublands) — and Territory isn't short on clashes for control. It hasn't been lacking in viewers, either, since it first hit the streaming platform on Thursday, October 24, 2024, becoming Australia's most-watched series on the service and the third globally on the English-language TV list in the week after its launch. Territory's six-episode first season heartily musters up those feuds and quests for supremacy, that cast of well-known and up-and-coming homegrown names, and stunning backdrops galore — filming on Tipperary Station, where more than 200 cast and crew also lived for the program's first four weeks of shooting, as well as at Kakadu National Park and across South Australia. It also digs just as ardently into the weight of expectations passed down through families and the ongoing fight to be one's own person, alongside exploring the history and colonisation of land with Traditional Owners dating back tens of thousands of years. [caption id="attachment_978092" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Netflix[/caption] While spotting how Territory takes its cues from succession- and western-centric dramas elsewhere, plus the popular trend they've each spawned, isn't hard, this isn't kind of Australian show that graces screens often. It also isn't the type of project that comes across Dorman, Northeast and Corlett's paths frequently. For the New Zealand-born, Queensland-raised Dorman, it's the latest return Down Under on a career that's jumped between The Secret Life of Us as a big break, fellow local roles in everything from Suburban Mayhem and Daybreakers to Wild Boys and Goldstone, and also US alternative-history space-race series For All Mankind. For Northeast, it follows 341 episodes of Home and Away, then Standing Up for Sunny, In Limbo and The Newsreader. And for Corlett, it joins a resume that also boasts The Dry, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and He Ain't Heavy. All three revelled in many of the same things about Territory that audiences have been, including the layered character dynamics, the weighty notions beating at the heart of the series and the spectacular backdrop. That said, those watching at home don't get the full IRL Tipperary experience, which Dorman describes as being "pretty much transplanted into isolation", Northeast notes was "like nothing that I'd ever seen before" and Corlett saw as a place where "there was so much memory that you could build" in constructing character, they told Concrete Playground. We also chatted with Dorman, Northeast and Corlett about their initial reactions to Territory's concept, what they drew upon to play their parts, the research that goes into playing potential heirs to a cattle empire in the NT and more — including diving into Dorman's acting dreams when he was starting out and now, and the joy of returning home as well. On Dorman, Northeast and Corlett's First Reactions to Territory's Concept — and What Excited Them About Being Involved Michael: "My first reaction was 'how does this play out?'. When you read the script, okay, what's the vision? How are you going to capture the script? The excitement came when we first arrived on Tipperary station. So everyone's flying over. We're all coming together. I didn't know everyone. I hadn't spent a lot of time. I think Anna [Torv] was probably the one that I knew the most. I had old friends, Graham Ware, who's the horse master, is a friend of mine and we've worked together a bunch. So I knew that in terms of the horse riding, I was in good hands — and he knows what I'm capable of, what I'm not capable of. But the excitement really took off when he first landed, all of us arriving, first time taking in the scale of the station. So you walk onto a station that is 4000 square kilometres. And when you think about how big that is there, and there's no one there, and the nearest place to get something, bread, whatever, you name it, is three-and-a-half hours away. So you're pretty much transplanted into isolation. And for me, I found that very exciting, because that just tapped straight into the story and what these people are experiencing every day, and where they come from. That's the heart of the show. So for us to get to go there and spend the first part of the shoot there really informed the rest of it, and so that first initial moment in the show was the most exciting for me. And then from there, we all we all bonded, and the chemistry between all of us just started to make all the colours in the rainbow." Sam: "When I first read the pilot and I got the deck for the series bible, I was just so invigorated that they were going to do something so unapologetically us — so unapologetically Australian. And I think the grit that it had, as well as knowing how epic the shots were going to be up north, especially with Simon Duggan, who shot Furiosa and The Great Gatsby, knowing that we were going to be captured by him, it was like 'ooh, this seems like a cool project'." Philippa: "For me, exactly what Sam said. Just the scale, the epicness, the complexity of the storylines, and the multiple storylines crossing in and out of each other — and all the characters that were going to be shown on-screen from the Top End. What really was striking when I read the script was that for Susie's journey, this was a young female character that wanted to run a cattle station. And I don't see that often when I read scripts. That's not the motive of a lot of the young female characters that I read. So that just that made me so excited that whoever was going to play this part was going to learn to muster and drive a ute and do butchery and ride horses and shoot guns. And it was just incredibly exciting as a female artist." On What Dorman Initially Made of Graham and Saw That He Could Bring to the Role Michael: "I resonate with stories about fractured humans, and I love redemption. I love it if the character is flawed in so many ways and can find their way to see hope again. And so the thing with Graham is he's down and out, hopeless. Doesn't want to be there, doesn't want to breathe. And I think there's so many people like that in life that just lose the will to breathe. And I love that he had this moment where he's forced to step up, so they say in the show, and believe in himself, which is a really challenging thing for so many people to believe in themselves. So it's these finer elements for me that excite me in terms of storytelling, because I get an opportunity to speak to maybe one person — if it's one person, you get to speak to them in a way that they would understand because they're in similar circumstance. And then there's the other side of it, the entertainment factor, who doesn't love to be entertained? But that was the thing about Graham, that character, that I really, really liked." On Northeast's Task Stepping Into the Shoes of a Character with Ambition, Determination and Smarts, But Discovering the Complexities That Await Philippa: "I think for me, the challenge was to — she's left left ag college and she's coming in from Sydney, and so she's fairly naive when we meet her. And this is a multimillion-dollar business that she wants to run. I don't think she fully understands the gravitas of that, let alone the gender challenges that she's going to come up against. And I think you see Emily, her mother, beautifully try to impart some of those challenges to her, but also let her learn them and figure them out and make mistakes along the way. And that causes conflict between the two women, but ultimately it's the greatest form of love that they share — the honesty that this is not going be a walk in the park for a woman — and that's definitely explored. And for me, it was just trying to tell the truth of that, and not shy away from the truth of that through Susie's naiveté." On What Corlett Drew Upon with Marshall Constantly Caught Between His Friends and Family, Father and Grandfather, and Past and Future Sam: "There was a lot that was pretty accessible. Alcoholism runs in my family, and I never really met my granddad because of alcohol, and didn't have too much to do with my uncle even though he was a beautiful soul. I didn't get to interact with him a whole lot. I think observing my mum's experience with that, there's such a desire for Marshall, he really wants his dad to be a stand-up guy. And I think Michael plays it so beautifully — like how limp he is, how weak he is. Really, it's quite frustrating for Marshall to watch and to see his father being so belittled by his grandfather. I don't think he particularly sees a role model in either of those characters. In my own thoughts, I projected that Dan could have been that for Marshall, a sense of 'oh, that's what a man is'. But it wasn't enough for him to stay around, so he ended up leaving the station and seeking his path elsewhere, and ran into Rich and Sharnie, and started, kind of like Henry IV, he finds connection in the kind of outcasts of the society." [caption id="attachment_978104" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tony Mott[/caption] On the Research That Goes Into Playing Potential Heirs to a Cattle Empire in the Northern Territory Michael: "It's interesting because, to me, every character is human and there's elements like the horse riding — which is fine, I've worked with Graham [Ware] a bunch, so I'm fine with horse riding — but for me, it was more that I look at it like you can play in any realm or any stage, as long as you know who that human is and understand that emotional cocktail. The landscape does what the landscape does — that's its own character. My job is to make sure I understand who this human is and why they do the things they do. And then you put them together and it works out just fine, in my experience. So I guess it's more you study what it is to be human, and then you can go and play." [caption id="attachment_978107" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tony Mott[/caption] Philippa: "I think it was a great opportunity. I spend a lot of time in rural NS, as it is, on a property, a cattle property, out there. It's much smaller to the scale of the station at Marianne, but it was great for me to be able to watch the staff interact with each other, watch the day-to-day requirements, go to a couple of bull sales in in the real life, learn how to drive a ute properly — I picked the worst ute and tried to make it go, because I feel like Susie probably would do the same thing. So for me, I was incredibly fortunate to be able to spend time out there. And then when we got to the station for filming, I just had to, whatever I had learned, I had to put on steroids. The grand scale of the station up there, the way that they muster with helicopters and not just horses, it's like nothing that I'd ever seen before. It's just totally epic. So there's a level of training that you can do, but then to actually be on set was a different story." [caption id="attachment_978106" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tony Mott[/caption] Sam: "My dad was a jackaroo, and so I had so many stories of when he was younger, purposely rolling cars with his mates and all this stuff. So there's the kind of the cheeky rebellious streak, and then there's also the very practical streak. And I think always in my head, I called Marshall 'the practical rascal', and so needed to be very pragmatic. And I just tried to get my hands dirty as much as possible and all the things that we were learning, whether it be horses, motorbikes, cars, guns, the whole lot." On Digging Into a Storyline About Being Your Own Person and Breaking Free of Expectations Michael: "I think you have to dive as deep as you can to really understand what that character is going through. And then, once you've done all your prep in terms of diving into the idea of their psyche, then you just let it go. Then you're relying on the people that you're playing with. Then it becomes a like a dance, that's the waltz. I look at it like it's lightning in a bottle: if you're not capturing it as it's happening, you've missed it and it's never going to be the same again when you run a take. You run a take, you've done all your research diving internally and then you're there. That's the part of the playing that I love, when you have someone great with you and you're just bouncing off each other. You know when you're onto something good when the crew becomes silent — and there was so many times in this one where I'd be shooting a scene with Robert [Taylor] or Anna where the crew would become silent, and then you know you're making something special." Sam: "Seemingly it's a key theme for every person — to seek one's full self, I think. I find the more personal you get, the more universal it tends to reflect on the world. And so as much as I could find Marshall's experience of life within me, that's kind of the seed. And then it grows from there with your imagination. And as Pip said, working on the station, we were able to imbue the area with so many memories. Whether it was walking past the house that they built — you could imagine what the barbecues would have been like when we were kids, and what drama might have occurred there. There was so much memory that you could build. But definitely it all starts on a personal level." Philippa: "And I think our show is particularly interesting as well because it really explores what do you get handed down from generation to generation, and how to be your own person when you're loaded with this baggage of history — whether that be the challenges of being a male in that space or the challenges of being a female in that space. And so we take a very detailed look into family baggage and trauma." On What Gets Dorman Excited About Returning to Australia for a Role Michael: "You get to go home. There's nothing like going home. Any of us, when we go home, there's a release, you can feel calm and free. When you're in a space that you don't really understand, it gets slightly tense because you don't understand how everything works. But when you go home, you don't have to think. So that's what I love about coming home, because I don't have to think about all that stuff. It's just like a duck to water — you understand all of it. And even in terms of the elements, I understand the elements out there. Yeah, it was really, really hot, but I grew up and I spent a long time in Bundaberg in Queensland. It got warm. And I feel like there's a correlation between Bundaberg as a teen and the idea of what a man looks like, and then going on and doing a show like this and the idea of what a man looks like. So I had an understanding there. But going home, there's nothing on going home." On Dorman's Acting Dream When The Secret Life of Us Was One of His First Major Roles, and Now Two Decades Later Michael: "It was never about what story to tell, it was more about telling stories and it still is. When I did Secret Life, I was just happy to be there, to be part of the process, to be telling a story. And I'm still the same. So many people have ideas about what story they want to tell. I'm still in that space where I just love telling stories. If you gave me an opportunity to tell one, I'll jump onboard. So yeah, I haven't really changed in that sense. I just love being in the boots. When I work with characters, for some reason it always starts with the boots. Whatever boots they're wearing, you put on these boots and you're walking around, and whatever shoes they are — and whenever I put those boots on, and then I walk around with that character playing, and then you take the boots off and let them go. I guess everyone has their own way of doing things. But these were fun boots to wear." Territory streams via Netflix. Images: courtesy of Netflix © 2024.
The world is an incredible and enigmatic place that holds many secrets and wonders that we humans sometimes struggle to explain. There are places that many of us would find difficult to even dream about or conjure up in our imaginations, yet they actually exist. Ranging from popular tourist destinations to awe-inspiring sights, here are a handful to add to the bucket list of amazing ones to visit before you kick it. 1. Wisteria Tunnel [Map] This stunning and mesmerising array of purple, cream and lilac flowering trees appears as though it has sprung from the pages of a childhood fairytale. This Japanese garden contains three massive wisteria trellises that are at the height of their beauty in May and is just a four hour drive out of Tokyo. 2. Cinque Terre [Map] Located on the rugged coastline of the Italian Riviera, Cinque Terre is an historical and unfathomable sight to behold. With the almost non-existent corporate development or public transport infrastructure surrounding the area, these majestic hillside terraces are a magnet for tourists searching for an authentic taste of Italy’s most spectacular cultural destination. 3. Hotel La Montana Magica [Map] A Lord of the Rings-esque four star lodge, Hotel La Montana Magica is a breathtaking establishment in the biological reserve of Huilo, Chile. The hotel is set in the middle of a 120,000 hectare native forest and built inside a man made volcano, which actually spurts water from its peak and then flows down the side of the mountain past the windows of the thirteen rooms inside. With moss and vines wrapping their way around the structure it would be hard not to feel part of a fantasyland whilst bunking here. 4. Crooked Forest [Map] If you thought trees could only grow straight up in a linear direction, then you obviously have never been to Nowe Czarnowo in West Pomerania, Poland. The grove, known as the Crooked Forest, contains approximately 400 slanting pine trees, which were planted in the 1930s. Seemingly defying gravity, these wonder trees will be sure to awe, and quite possibly confound you, as though you were living in perpetual state of ‘opposite day’. The reason for their planting is to this day still unknown, but plain beauty is good enough for us. 5. The Tunnel of Love [Map] Dubbed the Tunnel of Love, this old train tunnel surrounded by giant trees is located in Kleven, Ukraine. In true love story fashion, it is believed that if couples visiting the tunnel share genuine love then kiss and make a wish, their wish will come true. 6. The Blue Lagoon [Map] The mystic and mesmerising geothermal spa, the Blue Lagoon is one of the most visited places in Iceland, and for good reason. With temperatures ranging from 37-39°C and having therapeutic powers to help sufferers of skin diseases such as psoriasis, this relaxing and soothing oasis would be a tough one to miss. 7. Ice Canyon [Map] The sheer beauty of the Ice Canyon in Greenland speaks for itself, as is visible in the innumerable images of this icy wonder. One of the most photographed spots in Greenland, it is also (quite literally) one of the coolest places on Earth. The canyons were carved by meltwater and can measure to be a near whopping 50m deep. The area is home to lush mountains, stunning icebergs and various flora and fauna unlike anywhere else on the planet and is also a popular sporting and recreation spot. 8. Ball's Pyramid [Map] Measuring at 562m high, Ball Pyramid is the tallest volcanic stack in the world, which formed around 7 million years ago. It is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano 20km south of Australia’s idyllic and secluded Lord Howe Island. The pyramid was discovered in 1788 but after failed attempts wasn’t successfully climbed to the summit until 1965. The ancient wonder is also home to a number of rare insect and plant species, which were previously thought to be extinct. 9. The Great Barrier Reef [Map] Australia’s own natural wonder, – only one of seven in the world – the Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing on Earth visible space. Boasting of breathtaking beauty and incredibly diverse and vibrant marine species, it contains over 3000 individual reef systems and coral cays as well as thousands of dream-like tropical islands. The marine park extends over 300km along the Queensland coast, entailing one of the most spectacular underwater experiences the globe has to offer. 10. Plitvice Lakes National Park [Map] The Plitvice Lakes National Park really demonstrates nature at its best, both in terms of beauty and natural marvels. 16 lakes can be seen from the surface of the largest national park in Croatia, which are all interconnected and arranged in cascades, yet separated by natural dams of travertine. These travertine barriers are created by the accumulation of moss, algae and bacteria and serve to retain the flow of water, causing the height of the dams to continuously grow. The luscious greens, greys and blue of the lake clusters alter depending on the minerals in the water, making this unpredictable spectacle all the more fascinating. [Via Buzzfeed]
You're about to play a game to the death for a huge cash prize. A former contestant pops up to tell you what you're really getting yourself in for. Would you heed his warning? The latest teaser trailer for Squid Game season two depicts this very scenario, as 455 newcomers contend for 45.6 billion won — and season one's competitor 456, aka Lee Jung-jae's (The Acolyte) Seong Gi-hun, attempts to inform them of the true brutality that they're signing up for When you've fought for your life and a ridiculous amount of money while donning a green tracksuit, you're probably not going to shake off the deadly endeavour easily. When you've barely survived a game that's hardly fair, you're also going to want to steer others away, as well as take down those responsible. That's the Squid Game season two situation, too, which Netflix has been teasing with multiple sneak peeks, including the just-dropped official teaser trailer. These games don't stop, even if viewers have had a three-year wait since its award-winning first season. As the show's protagonist gets back into his green tracksuit, and on bunks, his new fellow competitors are wary of his motives. Also part of the current glimpse at the series' new episodes: Lee Byung-hun (The Magnificent Seven) as Gi-hun's nemesis Front Man, plus Wi Ha-joon (Little Women) also back as detective Hwang Jun-ho. Netflix is promising raised stakes this time around, with audiences able to see the results when Squid Game returns on Boxing Day. If you usually spend the day after Christmas shopping, at the cinema or recovering from your food coma by trying to play backyard cricket, you now have other plans if you want to catch the next instalment of the South Korean thriller ASAP. After Squid Game season two arrives on Thursday, December 26, 2024, Squid Game season three will drop sometime in 2025. There's no exact date for the latter as yet, but it will be the final season, closing out the show's story. Squid Game was such a huge smash in its first season that Netflix confirmed at the beginning of 2022 that more was on the way, and also released a teaser trailer for it the same year, before announcing its new cast members in 2023 — and then unveiled a first brief snippet of Squid Game season two in a broader trailer for Netflix's slate for 2024, as it releases every 12 months. For season two, Gong Yoo (Train to Busan) also returns as the man in the suit who got Gi-hun into the game in the first place; however, a show about a deadly competition that has folks battling for ridiculous riches comes with a hefty bodycount. Accordingly, new faces were always going to be essential — which is where Yim Si-wan (Emergency Declaration), Kang Ha-neul (Insider), Park Sung-hoon (The Glory) and Yang Dong-geun (Yaksha: Ruthless Operations) all come in. If you somehow missed all things Squid Game when it premiered, even after it became bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning series serves up a puzzle-like storyline and unflinching savagery, which unsurprisingly makes quite the combination. It also steps into societal divides within South Korea, a topic that wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but has been given a boost after that stellar flick's success. As a result, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between Parasite and Squid Game, although Netflix's highly addictive series goes with a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup. Netflix turned the show's whole premise into an IRL competition series as well, which debuted in 2023 — without any murders, of course. Squid Game: The Challenge has already been picked up for a second season. Check out the new teaser trailer for Squid Game season below: Squid Game season two streams via Netflix from Thursday, December 26, 2024. Season three will arrive in 2025 — we'll update you when an exact release date for it is announced. Images: No Ju-han/Netflix © 2024.
The new year always begins with excitement about a fresh start, new challenges and intended achievements. This is generally closely followed by a hangover and the sad reality that nothing has really changed, and life is to carry on as usual. It's hard not to feel a bit sad once the week of Christmas and New Year have come to an end, and especially when friends have decided to give up drinking as a new year resolution. Here at Concrete Playground we are keen to keep the festive buzz going for as long as possible, so we have sought out the five perfect places to do so in Brisbane. = Riverbar & Kitchen If you're already thinking about where you're going to have a drink after work on Friday, look no further than the Brisbane city boardwalk's latest hot spot, Riverbar & Kitchen. The cocktails can be bought in jug size and are perfect to share with colleagues on a hot summer's evening. Enjoy classics like Pimms and Rum Punch or try something new such as the Pomegranate and Basil Margarita or the White Peach Sangria. After a couple of jugs of these you'll be feeling festive and footloose. Promenade level, 71 Eagle Street, Brisbane City; 07 3211 9020; riverbarandkitchen.com.au Lock 'n' Load There is nothing better than an ice cold beer on a hot summer day. Actually, there's one thing that is better, and that is an ice cold 3 litre beer tower to share with your mates on a hot summer day. Settle in for a chilled afternoon at Lock 'n' Load with beer towers being the shout of choice. Beers you can get in the tower( which has an ice core) are Coopers Pale Ale, Rogers by Little Creatures, Stone & Wood Pacific Ale and Tiger (which is going at $20 a tower on Sundays). You can also get Monteith's Apple Cider. Not a bad way to spend the day. 142 Boundary St, West End; 07 3844 0142; www.locknloadbistro.com.au White Lightning Tiki Bar (Alfred & Constance) Still buzzing since they opened in November, Alfred and Constance's White Lightning Tiki Bar is continuing to be a big hit with Brisbane's party crowd. With great music, stoked staff, leis and novelty cocktails it's hard not to feel festive every time you step foot into the Tiki Bar. It's the perfect place to party and bond with new friends over your delicious pina coladas. Cnr Alfred and Constance Streets, Fortitude Valley; 07 3251 6500; www.alfredandconstance.com.au Lady Lamington Opening again this Thursday after a holiday break, Lady Lamington on Brunswick Street is an ideal spot for soaking in the sun and enjoying Queensland weather. The rooftop terrace looks over Fortitude Valley and offers a comfortable spot in the shade under their large yellow umbrellas. Specialising in all things lovely, Lady Lamington has a wonderful list of French champagnes as well as champagne-based cocktails of which you can choose either Veuve Clicquot or Teusner Sparkling. They have all classic cocktails as well as jugs to be shared, so leave your car at home, you will not want to be driving. 483 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley; 3358 6568; www.ladylamington.com.au The Lark For those who are after top quality alcohol, The Lark has got it. The cocktails are second-to-none made by devoted and highly skilled bar staff. The Strummer, their most well-known cocktail, is a delicious blend of Absolut Vodka, falernum syrup, passionfruit, lime and ginger beer topped with aromatic bitters. The Peroni is real Peroni imported from Italy, and the wines are handpicked from some of Australia's and the world's best vineyards. For a top shelf night with top shelf service with a totally relaxed vibe, The Lark is the place to go. 1/267 Given Terrace, Paddington; 07 3369 1299; www.thelark.com.au
A good rule of thumb when travelling just about anywhere is to get out of the big smoke, at least for part of your holiday. If you're planning a Euro trip for their summer, don't fall into the trap of hopping between capital cities and competing for selfie space with hundreds of other travellers — slow down a little, and dedicate the continent's magnificent countries the time they deserve. But we get it, finding those tucked away, untapped towns isn't as easy as it looks, so don't be ashamed to enlist some help. Opt for a boutique river cruise and you'll be plodding along from the capitals and onto a trail of some of Europe's quaintest riverside towns and cities. Here are five we recommend visiting. ROUEN, FRANCE If Europe is a landmine of historical gems, then Rouen boasts quite a unique collection. The capital of France's Normandy region is nestled along the Seine and best accessed via a cruise. As you drift towards this vibrant city, you will get a glimpse of the first landmark — the Notre Dame cathedral spire. An elaborate example of gothic architecture, the cathedral contains Richard the Lionheart's tomb and was the subject of a number of Monet artworks. Explore the city by foot to appreciate its picturesque cobblestone streets and timber-framed pastel houses dating back to the Middle Ages, and stop by the market square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431. You will also have the opportunity to visit the Normandy beaches — the historical site of WWII's D-Day. But if you're not much of a history buff, Rouen's other big drawcard is food (you are in France, after all) — the gastronomic pleasures to be found in the city are as rich as its history. Take advantage by sampling the luxe butter, cream and some of the freshest fish. COLOGNE, GERMANY The biggest mistake you can make is thinking Berlin is the be all and end all of Germany. Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, Dortmund, Dresden, Rothenburg and Cologne will have you charmed by day, sleepless by night and desperate to drag out your Euro trip just that little bit longer — which is mighty easy on this cruise down the Rhine. If you have to pick just one German city to visit though, go with Cologne. It's a party-meets-history hub that gets far less credit than it deserves, and as such, loses a fair slice of the EU-tourist crowd. To get the full Cologne experience drink the city's Kolsch beer, eat hämmche (like corned beef, but pork knuckle) and make sure you check out a local gig. PASSAU, GERMANY For a city otherwise known as the 'City of Three Rivers', the route to Passau seems fairly obvious. Cruise down the Danube, and the river will converge with two others close to the Austrian border: Inn and Ilz. At this intersection sits Passau's Altstadt (Old Town). It's best appreciated from up high, so pop on those walking shoes and hike to Veste Oberhaus ('Castle on the Hill') or the pilgrimage monastery Mariahilf on the opposite bank. Both spots offer panoramic views of the city's Baroque-style buildings, the domed towers of St Stephen's Cathedral and the surrounding Bavarian countryside. Head in to the Old Town to explore the romantic laneways, archways and squares until you stumble upon a classic Bavarian beer garden to rest those weary legs in. DÜRNSTEIN, AUSTRIA Interesting fact: right near Dürnstein, a roadside memorial marks a pivotal defeat of Napoleon I of France by a combined Russian and Austrian army. And it's hard to be even a little surprised at that fact — Dürnstein is like the first episode of Outlander on steroids (for the unfamiliar, this means abandoned castles, high walls, ruins galore, murals and trees older than your surname). Every cobblestone street leads to a different old and incredible building. It's an hour drive from Vienna, but so much easier to get to — and view — via the water. HAARLEM, NETHERLANDS Haarlem is the capital of North Holland, and, though only a 15-minute train from Amsterdam, is best approached by water (like on this cruise) so you can float by endless fields of tulips on your way into town. We recommend going towards the beginning of summer, or even better, in spring because there are two main things definitely worth seeing in this medieval town: the country's largest organ and the aforementioned tulips, tulips, tulips. Haarlem is in full bloom until the end of May, and boy do they celebrate in style — read: an annual flower parade through the streets. If you're after a day of strolling around in search of some A+ cheese and spectacular buildings, Grote Houtstraat is your spot. It's made up of dozens of side streets that peel off into the city's many quiet nooks and crannies. This Euro summer, plan to head off the very beaten path with U by Uniworld and explore your way around some non-capitals.
If you're looking for another reason to be proud of this wide, brown land that we call Australia, have you considered becoming a huge fan of our indie games scene? Like our musicians who grace festival stages overseas, and movies that go gangbusters at foreign box offices, Aussie-made indies regularly take the internet by storm and garner awards around the world. With increased development funding from state and federal governments, the future is looking bright for Australian games. But there are already a bunch of bangers you can download and play today — like the five below. UNPACKING Who would've thought that one of the most arduous personal tasks that you can undertake would turn out to be such great fodder for a game? Developed by Brisbane-based studio Witch Beam, Unpacking puts you in the shoes of a woman as she opens unmarked boxes and distributes her belongings throughout the various spaces that she moves into over the course of her life, starting with her childhood bedroom and carrying through university dorms, sharehouses and more. It's immensely satisfying gameplay, with enough of a puzzle element to add rewarding "aha!" moments throughout. Despite having no dialogue and very little text, Unpacking is rich with a narrative borne through details, from the items that stay with its character over the course of her life to the limitations you encounter when trying to fit yourself into certain living situations. And, without giving too much away, there is a twist at the end of moving into your boyfriend's apartment that will send your emotions skyrocketing. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5, iOS, Android. UNTITLED GOOSE GAME There's no more succinct way to sum up Untitled Goose Game than the opening line of the description written by Melbourne-based developers House House: "it is a lovely morning in the village, and you are a horrible goose". As you might have guessed, this game sees you controlling a feathered menace whose sole purpose is to sow gentle chaos throughout a quintessential small English town. Each area has a checklist of broad objectives — from stealing a farmer's keys to trapping a small boy in a phone booth — and it's up to you to figure out how they can be achieved by honking, flapping, waddling around and generally being a mischievous little shit. With graphics that could've come straight from a children's book and a soundtrack based on Debussy's Preludes that reacts to what you do in the game, it's an experience both refined and hilarious — and, thanks to a multiplayer update, you and a friend can live out your avian scamp dreams together. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5. HOLLOW KNIGHT Metroidvania is a genre with almost four decades of history behind it — the name springs from Metroid and Castlevania, which both debuted in the 80s — so for a modern iteration to be considered a masterpiece, it has to come correct. Hollow Knight, developed by Adelaide's Team Cherry, satisfies that requirement. Set in an underground insect kingdom decimated by a supernatural plague, you play as the Knight, a little sword-wielding bug who must descend into the gloomy ruins to discover what happened, as well as the part you play in what comes next. With tight, frenetic combat, brutal boss battles, compelling exploration, a stirring soundtrack and gorgeous, moody visuals, it's a game that will command your attention for a long time. Sequel Silksong is tantalisingly just over the horizon, so there's never been a better time to start your descent into Hallownest. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5. THE FROG DETECTIVE TRILOGY The intersection of the Venn diagram of 'crime' and 'wholesome' is razor slim, but sitting dead in the centre is the Frog Detective trilogy, developed by Worm Club out of Melbourne. As the name suggests, you're Frog Detective — the second-best detective around, in fact — and, over the course of three cases, you tackle a potential ghost, an invisible wizard and a hat thief, conducting your investigations in first person with the help of your trust magnifying glass and notebook. The blocky, bright polygonal art is both retro and adorable, and your interactions with the various characters that inhabit each game are relentlessly charming. It's not the most taxing game in terms of puzzles — you'll mostly be finding objects and giving them to the right person — but that makes the Frog Detective series the perfect entry-level games to enjoy with kids. Of course, if you're an adult that loves cute and funny experiences, it's perfect for you too. Available on: PC/Mac. THE ARTFUL ESCAPE We've all had dreams of becoming a rock star. In The Artful Escape by Melbourne's Beethoven & Dinosaur, you can live out this fantasy on a cosmic scale. The game sees you controlling Francis Vendetti, the teenage nephew of a deceased folk music legend who is about to make his debut performing his uncle's songs. The only problem: he doesn't want to simply strum, he wants to wail. A chance encounter sends him out into the universe to overcome his doubts and find his true artistic self, the details of which are in your hands. It features a star-studded voice cast (Rocky's Carl Weathers, Wes Anderson favourite Jason Schwartzman, Kingsman's Mark Strong and Game of Thrones' Lena Headey all lend their talents), plus a story that balances heartfelt and hilarious deftly. On the gameplay front, it tends towards simplicity, with basic platforming and Simon Says-esque button prompts forming the bulk of the experience; however, it more than makes up for this with a eye-wateringly psychedelic visual spectacle and a button dedicated to searing guitar solos. Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5.
It's official: on Monday, March 31, 2025, you'll need to subscribe to a new streaming service if you want to watch HBO shows in Australia. In 2024, the US network confirmed that it was bringing Max, its dedicated platform, Down Under in 2025. Now it has locked in the launch date. And yes, that timing means that you'll need to sign up to see the second season of The Last of Us. From House of the Dragon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and any other Game of Thrones spinoffs through to Euphoria and upcoming IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, HBO's lengthy list of must-see TV shows will have their own dedicated platform in Australia. The American station's streamer debuted in America in 2020, and has been rolling out through Latin America, the Caribbean, parts of Europe and Japan since as well, before setting its sights on Aussie audiences. While the great streaming service rush, when new platforms seemed to appear every few weeks or so, is a few years in the past, HBO bringing Max to Australia is huge news. At present, the US network's shows largely screen and stream to Aussie viewers via Binge and Foxtel. When the former launched, boasting HBO's catalogue was one of its big selling points. The deal between Binge, Foxtel and Warner Bros Discovery — which owns HBO — was extended in 2023, but it was reported at the time, accurately so it proves, that Max might debut in Australia from 2025. While the platform will be available direct to consumers via its website and app stores — so you'll sign up for it by itself — for viewing via mobile, tablet, gaming consoles and connected TV, it will still keep a connection with Foxtel. If you subscribe to the pay-TV service, you'll get access to the Max app without paying extra. For everyone else, details about Max's subscription options, which'll include premium, standard and an ad-supported tier, are still to come — as is pricing. HBO shows — HBO Originals and Max Originals alike — aren't all that's heading to Max. Warner Bros Discovery's stable of brands includes Warner Bros (of course), the DC Universe, Harry Potter, Discovery, Cartoon Network, TLC, ID and HGTV, to name a few. Max will also show movies from Warner Bros Pictures, including recent cinema releases such as Barbie, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and Twisters. The Lord of the Rings and DC Universe franchises, And Just Like That..., Friends, Rick and Morty: they're just some of the other movies and TV shows that will be on Max as well. HBO is also behind The White Lotus, True Detective, The Rehearsal, The Penguin, Dune spinoff Prophecy, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Oz, Deadwood, Big Love, True Blood, Big Little Lies, Westworld, Succession, The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, Bored to Death, Girls, Veep, Barry, Enlightened — and plenty more. "We've been clear that the globalisation of Max is a top priority, and Australia represents one of our biggest new markets and a significant opportunity to delight even more fans with the incredible stories told by our iconic brands. Combining an unrivalled breadth of high-quality content, legendary franchises and a strong product experience, Australians can look forward to the highest-calibre streaming proposition from March 31," said JB Perrette, CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at WBD. "WBD has a long history in Australia, and we know our world-class content from HBO, Warner Bros, Discovery and more is incredibly popular with audiences here. We have a clear strategy to maximise reach through our direct-to-consumer app and distribution partnerships, and our collaboration with Foxtel at launch is a testament to that. We can't wait for fans across the country to experience Max," added WBD Australia and New Zealand General Manager Michael Brooks. Max launches in Australia on Monday, March 31, 2025 — head to the streaming service's website for more details.
Maybe hitting the ski fields just isn't your thing. Perhaps, after a few days spent snowboarding, you'd like to see the slopes from a different angle. You could just like climbing up to lofty peaks and peering down on everything underneath. Or, maybe walking over suspension bridges is your preferred adrenaline-fuelled activity. If some of the above apply to you, then add Whistler's newly opened Cloudraker Skybridge to your travel bucket list. A word of warning, however: spanning 130 metres from Whistler Peak across to the viewing platform at West Ridge lookout, it's also 2000 metres above the Whistler Bowl. Acrophobics, you might want to sit this one out — but for everyone that's fine with heights, it's the next reason to head to the famed Canadian region. The cantilevered walkway extends 12.5 metres out from the West Ridge, giving visitors a stunning view — and while that includes a bird's-eye vantage over those skiing below during winter, the skybridge is open all-year-round. Those eager to make the trip will need to buy a PEAK 2 PEAK 360 Experience ticket, which cost between AU$75–81. That also includes a heap of other activities, such as rides on the site's open-air chairlifts and gondolas, walking along its lengthy walking trails, and catching a video or an expert talk at the Alpine Theatre 1860 metres above sea level. Image: Mitch Winton via Whistler Blackcomb.
Since 2017 in Brisbane, crooning tunes at the pub with a drink in your hand is no longer just something that you do with your mates when you've had enough liquid courage. It's the whole idea behind Pub Choir, which started out in the Queensland capital, still hosts local shows regularly and has also taken its boozy communal karaoke setup on the road around the country. It pivoted to the couch to keep everyone entertained during lockdown, too, and has made the leap to television as well. Over the past five years, Pub Choir has gotten big, unsurprisingly. It's a fantastic concept. So, it no longer just pops up in pubs, but in huge venues — such as Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall at its most recent homegrown session at the end of June, where 1600 strangers showed up to sip, sing and be merry. The song they were belting out? None other than the current tune of winter, and of 2022, even though it was initially released 37 years ago. That'd be Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)', which has surged back to popularity thanks to its prominence on Stranger Things season four. If you've seen the Netflix hit's latest episodes, you'll know why. [caption id="attachment_809627" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacob Morrison[/caption] Busting out that track in that way must've been something special. It looks like it on the video from the event, which you can find below. But the fact that Kate Bush saw it and loved it as well takes the whole thing up several hills worth of levels. Pub Choir's organisers posted a picture of the email they received from Bush herself after she'd watched their 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)' video. The British singer noted that she's been busy, understandably, but that she was incredibly touched by everyone's "warmth and smiling faces". If that doesn't boost Pub Choir's numbers — not that they need boosting, given that the event already sells out quickly — than nothing will. Reacting to the note, the Pub Choir team said "life as we know it is over, and all that remains is this email from KATE. BUSH. Happy Kate Bush Saw Our Video Day, everybody!!!!!". View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pub Choir (@pubchoir) If you want to be like Bush — and don't we all — you can watch Pub Choir's 'Running Up That Hill' efforts below now. Brisbane also plays host to The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever each year, where a different Bush track — 'Wuthering Heights', obviously — is in the spotlight. 2022's event takes place on Saturday, July 30 if you want to show your Kate Bush love, and dressing up in a red dress, red stockings and black belt to copy Bush's swaying, kicky dance in the wily, windy moors of Milton's Frew Park is a must. Sydneysiders are getting their own 'Wuthering Heights' event on the same day, in Sydney Park in St Peters — and the same concept applies. For more information about Pub Choir — including upcoming dates around the country — head to the event's website.
Captain Sustainability and brains behind Silo Joost Bakker has relaunched his cafe as a soup kitchen. Of course, it's no ordinary cooking-with-groceries soup kitchen; the stocks for the soups are made from bones that go unused by high-end eateries such as Rockpool, Attica and the European. It's called Brothl, the kind of pun that might have been best made and forgotten but is now the legitimate name of a place we'll be spending plenty of time in. Bakker, originally a florist and a designer, had been doing the flowers at Rockpool for years when he finally asked Neil Perry if he could take the discarded bones for soup stock. Perry did not hesitate to give them away. The result is four nutritious broths packed full of flavor: A Cape Grim beef stock simmered for 48 hours, a 24-hour chicken stock, 12-hour seafood stock made from marron and crab, and a vegetarian stock made using kelp foraged from the Bellarine Peninsula. On top of that, all of the broths are made with rainwater from Monbulk. If that’s not some thrifty practice, we’re not sure what is. For those who are both sustainability- and health-conscious, the menu includes details of which nutrients, vitamins and minerals each broth will bring you. Getting involved with this Brothl is going to be good for you in more ways than one, it seems. It will cost you a tenner for a hearty bowl of broth, and once you’ve got the base down you can add extras, such as sea bounty muscles, poached chicken, house-made soba or spelt noodles and seasonal vegetables. They even have chicken feet if you’re craving it. If you want to know more on this no-waste venture, just make sure you type Brothl exactly like that into your Google search; it will save you from seeing all the things you can’t unsee.
Call it an end-of-year movie theatre frenzy, call it the spirit of Christmas spreading celluloid dreams across the city, or call it a mighty great time for film lovers — whichever way you describe it, Brisbane's cinema scene has been growing at an astonishing rate in recent months. With the Elizabeth Picture Theatre giving the CBD a new movie base, and Dendy Coorparoo taking care of eastsiders, it's now the inner north's turn. More than a decade since a Reading-branded shopping centre popped up in Newmarket, a cinema is finally being added to the site. Come 12.01 am on December 14, cinephiles can head to 400 Newmarket Road for their filmic fix, and find eight shiny big screens — including two Gold Class screens — ready and waiting. The late-night opening time might sound a little odd, but it won't to Star Wars fans. If you're going to launch a new cinema, you may as well do it with midnight screenings of Episode VIII — The Last Jedi, aka this year's biggest flick in this or any far, far away galaxy. That's not the only big news that Reading Newmarket is serving up. In an Australian first, the site will also be revealing Reading's new Titan Luxe offering, which comes with a 23-metre screen, Dolby Atmos 360 sound, recliner seats and a dine-in food menu. Lush seats and during-movie eats and drinks are also a part of their Gold Class offering, of course, while all patrons can hang out at the cinema's lounge bar — either inside, or on the balcony. As part of the shopping centre's broader redevelopment, around 900 square metres of cafes, eateries and bars are also being added across a new dining precinct. As well as a new spot to catch a film, that's your next dinner-and-movie date sorted. Find Reading Newmarket at Newmarket Village, 400 Newmarket Road, Newmarket from December 14. Head to the cinema's website or Facebook page for further details.
You could spend a weekend in Broken Hill doing nothing but gazing at the sky. In autumn, huge cloud formations battle against the sun all day long, and, come evening, you've never seen so many stars. Perhaps it's this, along with the striking red earth of the surrounding desert, that attracts so many artists to this 18,000-person outback town, about 1200 kilometres west of Sydney and 850 kilometres north of Melbourne. Between gallery visits you can wander among grand 19th century architecture, have a yarn in proper country pubs (you'll be getting burgers, not sliders, 'round 'ere) and head underground to experience some legendary history, from mining to illicit two-up. Plus, there's a museum dedicated to Mad Max 2. Hit the road. [caption id="attachment_580402" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Simon Yeo via Flickr[/caption] SEE AND DO Let's start with the art. 90 minutes before sundown, drive to the 180-hectare Living Desert Reserve. On a hilltop affording 360-degree views, there's a dozen sculptures created by artists from all over the world, and strategically positioned to catch the sun's dying rays. The nearby 1.5-kilometre cultural trail features epic Sturt's Desert Pea displays and Indigenous story poles. Back in town, immerse yourself in the world's biggest acrylic painting on canvas by a single artist (Ando's 100-metre x 12-metre landscape), swing by Pro Hart Gallery and ramble around the many spaces of the high-ceilinged Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery. To get the lowdown on the area's history, join a Silver City Sights and Heritage Tour. In a comfy, air-conditioned bus, you'll cover 50 kilometres and over 100 years — from BHP's first mining of silver and lead in 1885 (BHP, by the way, stands for Broken Hill Proprietary) to the 2001 building of the Line of Lode Miners Memorial, which commemorates more than 800 miners killed on the job. [caption id="attachment_575825" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Jasmine Crittenden[/caption] Mining is still a dangerous business, but it was way more terrifying in the 1880s. Get acquainted with its historical extremes at the Day Dream Mine, 33 kilometres northwest of Broken Hill. Back then, workers did it so tough for so little, their bosses handed out opium to ease the pain — presumably cheaper than paying sick leave — and when the drugs wore off, horehound beer was the next refuge, often sending drinkers blind for a day or two (hence the phrase 'blind drunk'). You'll hear these and other tales while squeezing through tunnels 30 metres underground. Recover with scones and tea in the homestead. [caption id="attachment_582402" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Amanda Slater via Flickr[/caption] Another 15 or so kilometres west, the outback proper begins at Silverton. Home to just over 600 people, this tiny town peaked in the 1890s when silver was found nearby, and is now an arty enclave, where donkeys roam wild and days end best with a beer at the famous Silverton Hotel. Among its crowded walls — which are hung with guitars, trumpets, Akubras and empty stubbies — you'll find souvenirs from the many film crews to have passed through, from Wake In Fright (1970) to Mad Max 2 (1981) to Razorback (1984). Delve deeper into movie history at the Mad Max 2 Museum. Opened by obsessive collector Adrian Bennett in 2010, this shed is crammed with behind-the-scenes photos, costumes and vehicles, including the original gyrocopter and interceptor. When you're max-ed out, meander around Silverton, visiting The Horizon Gallery, the John Dynan Art Gallery and the Silverton Gaol Museum, before driving four kilometres north to Mundi Mundi Plains to watch the sun set over what looks like the edge of the world. EAT AND DRINK In most of Broken Hill's pubs and restaurants, you can count on hearty, meat-heavy cooking — mammoth-sized feeds that reward a long day of hard yakka. At The Palace Hotel — where Mitzi, Felicia and Bernadette stopped over during The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert — dig into crispy-skinned, grilled Atlantic salmon with dill, creamy garlic sauce, mash, veg and a splash of Chardonnay. If you're dining on a Friday, hang around afterwards for a game of two-up — The Palace is the only place in Australia where it's legal all year-long. Before 1984, you would've dropped into Broken Hill's illicit two-up school, held behind a green door on Crystal Lane. Two blocks away is the majestic, heritage-listed Astra. This swish hotel, built in the 1890s, has eight suites and a big, shady verandah. Downstairs, relax over a cocktail in the Red Lush Lounge or slide into a cosy, high-backed chair in Trinders restaurant for a modern Australian feast, like their signature surf 'n' turf: fillet steak topped with king prawns, grilled banana, hollandaise and seasonal veggies. There are a few cafes bringing more contemporary fare to the outback. Get your single origin coffee fix at health-minded, family-owned The Silly Goat on the main drag. Among the sunflowers, burnt orange feature walls and timber tables, you'll also find their "turmeric elixir", cold-pressed juices, house-baked treats and inner-city-style mains, like the haloumi burger with mushies, beetroot relish and aioli. A few blocks to the northwest, outside the GP Super Clinic, is The Caff, opened by local couple Summa and Nathan Rayner in February 2014. The fun fit-out was a 100 percent DIY job, from the blue tartan seats ripped straight out of a school bus to the recycled wooden tables. Every dish on the menu is made from scratch. Try just-baked waffles packed with zucchini and corn and stacked with chilli con carne and guacamole, a gourmet pie or some bread and butter pudding-style French toast. And just south of the town centre, there's Bells Milk Bar. This isn't one of those trendy, ironic, retro-themed places — it's the real thing. It's been open since the 1930s and the decor dates to the 1950s. The syrups, cordials and ice cream are all made in-house in small batches, according to secret recipes. Choose from over 40 milkshake flavours or 16 spiders, slip into a booth in the back room and crank some Bill Haley and The Comets on the juke box. STAY For oodles of space and light, a king-size bed, a spa and a separate lounge area — including your own mini-kitchen — check into the Red Earth Motel. The spick-and-span interiors are inspired by the desert. Think luxe white linen dotted with earthy-patterned pillows and lounge chairs in reds and ochres. If you're travelling in a group, book into a two- or three-bedroom apartment. The shaded swimming pool lets you cool off after a busy day of sun and adventures. Meanwhile, you can sleep under an original artwork at Ibis Styles. Owned by locals Michael and Dana Farcich for 27 years, these lodgings were known as the Mine Host Motel before being acquired by Accor in the mid-2000s. 42 two-toned rooms stretch across two storeys, encircling a central pool. There's also an on-site restaurant, the glass-walled, green-and-purple-lit S-Que, where country dishes are given fancy touches. The steak, for example, is a 450-gram, chargrilled Tomahawk behemoth, with kipfler potato chips, rosemary salt, house coleslaw and portobello mushroom sauce. You probably won't need to eat again until you're at the other end of the drive home. Jasmine Crittenden travelled as a guest of Destination NSW. Top image: Simon Yeo via Flickr.
After many years and many hours spent on the Skybus, it seems Melbourne's long-awaited airport rail link is closer than ever to being an actual reality. The Federal Government has today announced it will commit up to $5 billion to help build the project — which should help things along. Four months after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that construction of the link would kick off shortly, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised the big bucks to get it done. "There have been countless reviews, reports and recommendations, but Melbourne is still waiting for a service almost all of the world's great cities take for granted," Mr Turnbull said. "This is the rail link that Melbourne, Victoria and the millions of people who use the airport every year demand and deserve." The proposed rail line is expected to help ease congestion, speed up travel times and create a stack of new jobs in the process. However, the promised $5 billion isn't quite enough to cover such a hefty project and the pressure's now on the Victorian Government to match that figure in funding of its own. The Federal and State governments have previously committed $30 million to conducting a planning study for the airport link, which is also likely to include extra train lines between Southern Cross Station and Melbourne's western suburbs. This would mean speedier commutes between the CBD and Geelong and improved accessibility across western and northern Victoria. About time, we say. Sydney and Brisbane already have airport rail links, and Perth is currently in the process of building its own. Maybe this will finally kill or clarify that myth around the airport's secret underground 'station' as well. Image: Global Panorama via Flickr.
Walking through stunning lights as far as the eye can see, moseying beneath a canopy of glowing multi-coloured trees, wandering between ribbons of flashing beams, taking the most luminous two-kilometre stroll through nature that you can imagine — you'll be able to do all of this when Lightscape heads to Brisbane for the first time in 2023. Already a hit in Melbourne and Sydney, the after-dark light festival will be taking over the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens from Thursday, August 31–Saturday, October 8, beaming away from 5.45pm each night as part of another dazzling Brisbane event: Brisbane Festival. While the leafy spot is already extremely scenic, and Brisbane's annual citywide cultural festival usually finds a way to make the most of it, saying that Lightscape will be brightening up both is quite the understatement. Prepare to see the garden illuminated by immersive and large-scale installations scattered along that two-kilometre route, including sparkling trees, luminous walkways and bursts of colour that look like fireworks. A big highlight: large-scale works like giant flowers and glowing tunnels, both of which will make you feel like you're being bathed in radiance — and ample neon. Lightscape first hit Australia in 2022 after first taking over gardens across the United Kingdom and the United States. Developed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK, it's understandably proven a huge success — and more than two-million people wandered along its glowing trails in a season overseas. Fingers crossed for pop-up food and drink stalls scattered throughout Lightscape in Brisbane — selling, we hope, mulled wine to keep hands warm as winter becomes early spring. Lightscape sits on a Brisbane Festival bill that also includes Kate Miller-Heidke's new musical Bananaland and fellow stage show Tae Tae in the Land of Yaaas!, plus Riverfire to kick things off for the second year in a row, an attempt break the world record for a kazoo orchestra with mass-participation piece 10,000 Kazoos — and Paul Kelly, Gretta Ray, Groove Terminator with the Soweto Gospel Choir and a tribute to rock's Laurel Canyon era on its music lineup. And, there's more to come when the fest unveils its full lineup in early July. Lightscape will light up the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens from Thursday, August 31–Saturday, October 8. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the Brisbane Festival website.
When Shabana Azeez says that "it's been wild", she's telling Concrete Playground about 2025 for her so far, and about being in the cast of The Pitt. Her words could equally apply to the 15-hour shift that the gripping medical drama's debut season follows, which happens to be the first day working in the emergency room for Azeez's character. In the exceptional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital-set series, the Australian actor plays Dr Victoria Javadi — a third-year medical student, and also a 20-year-old prodigy, who begins her ER rotation on what proves not only a chaotic and challenging but also a traumatic day. Between January and April, when the show was dropping its first season's episodes week to week, how that trial-by-fire initiation turned out for Javadi was appointment (and can't-look-away) viewing. "It's been really wild. I was actually travelling after we wrapped — which, I think when we were shooting, there were four episodes that came out, maybe more," Azeez continues. "And then I was in Berlin and I was in London and I was in Italy and in Texas for film festivals and stuff, and people were recognising me from The Pitt in a lot of places, which was strange. To have a show you made in one sound stage, in a little beautiful life, have an impact in multiple places — it's so, so surreal." The Pitt was always going to attract interest. With not one, not two, but three big names that helped make ER a hit involved, viewers were bound to tune in. The Pitt boasts actor, co-writer and executive producer Noah Wyle (Leverage: Redemption) leading the on-screen charge — and, behind the scenes, reuniting with director and executive producer John Wells (Shameless), plus this Max smash's creator, showrunner and writer R Scott Gemmill (NCIS: Los Angeles). Yes, it might take ER fans a second to get used to seeing Wyle in scrubs being called Dr Robby rather than Dr Carter, but it only takes a second. Yes, those in that camp will spot the symmetry of The Pitt kicking off on Javadi's first emergency-room day, and that of a few of her fellow medical students, as ER did with Wyle's beloved figure. Within mere moments of its premiere episode starting, The Pitt establishes its own intensity. The format — "15 episodes. 15 hours. 1 shift" is the tagline — helps set the tone, as does the dedication to realism that anyone who has spent time in a hospital will recognise. With attending physician Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch, senior residents Heather Collins (Tracey Ifeachor, Wonka) and Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball, Law & Order), charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa, Daredevil: Born Again), third-year resident Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh, Grown-ish) and second-year resident Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif, Chucky), plus Javadi and other Pittsburgh Trauma newcomers Mel King (Taylor Dearden, The Last Thing He Told Me), Trinity Santos (Isa Briones, Goosebumps) and Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell, Ludwig), the series chronicles a gig that'd be tough and hectic on a standard day, let alone when a mass-casualty event occurs in the city courtesy of a shooter at a festival. Azeez's task, then, is to portray a character who is trying to impress on such an unforgettable first shift, and endeavouring to provide excellent medical care to the many, many patients that need it — and, as someone only just out of her teens, attempting to fit in, too. Javadi has the weight of parental expectation bearing down, because she's followed in her parents' footsteps. She also tries to ask a colleague out on a date. It's only when the shift wraps up that she has her first-ever beer. Taking on the role meant Azeez moving across the world, attending boot camp with her co-stars and, as an Australian thankfully unaccustomed to the active-shooter situation depicted, researching gun violence. It also meant unpacking what Javadi is going through given her age and intelligence, what she's missed out on by speeding through school and college, and the pressure of her whole existence. Azeez can't speak highly enough about being welcomed into The Pitt's cast and crew to play Javadi, and what being one of the show's stars means to her. "I think I'm learning a lot from Noah," she advises. That's after she's already had quite the massive past year or so before The Pitt even started airing, became such a smash, had viewers around the globe hooked and was renewed for a second season. If you watched Apple Cider Vinegar, you should've spotted Azeez in an episode. In 2024, she was on the big screen in Australian thriller Birdeater. When Aussie animation Lesbian Space Princess won the Teddy award in Berlin this year — ahead of making its Down Under debut at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival — it did so with Azeez voicing its eponymous figure. We also chatted to the Adelaide talent about that path to The Pitt, alongside what appealed to her about stepping into Dr Javadi's shoes. Working among such an excellent ensemble, the show's impressive pedigree, being protective of the character, her research process: our discussion covered them all as well, among other topics. On How Azeez Feels About Her Huge Past Couple of Years, Not Only with The Pitt But Also Birdeater and Lesbian Space Princess "Who even knows? I really feel so lucky. But also it feels like, I don't know, The Pitt was so — it was seven months we shot, which is, for an Australian, kind of wild, right? Because Australia shoots fast. And so my longest gig before that would've been like six weeks. And so to pick up my life in Melbourne and move to LA for seven months, now it feels like my perception of time is so strange. Apple Cider Vinegar, I was just there for one day. And Birdeater shot in little pockets over a few years. And it's just very strange when things come out, because it's the combination of so much work when you're a film actor. And then often people are like 'oh, my god, this thing's coming out' and you're sitting at home unemployed alone. So it's very feast and famine, and very strange, but I'm so lucky and I'm having a great time." On What Appealed to Azeez About The Pitt and Portraying Dr Javadi "The team, obviously. We got the brief and it was like 'the people that made ER and The West Wing are making a new show' — that's a once-in-a-lifetime casting brief. And we knew the TV that they make goes on for a long time — these are really cultural moments, John Wells' productions, shows — and obviously that was a massive, massive selling point. Not that I was in a position to be choosy. I was just wanting to audition and that was exciting to me. Also, the script was insane. I don't know if the scripts are public at all or if anybody can see them, but they're novels, they're dense and they're incredible. I remember having to go out to get more highlighters in different colours to be able to track which character was who — because it was all surnames and I couldn't figure out who anybody was, and there were so many characters in that first episode. And sitting in my apartment trying to audition, figuring out who I'm talking to in my audition scene, took ages. It was a really cool audition. It was out-of-body — thinking about it now, I'm like 'god, who was I back then coming to this audition?'. And then for Javadi, I was so excited by her as a character. I think being a young woman, there's a massive variation in the types of auditions you can get. But there's not a single female character on the show that's sexualised — or the idea of something. Everybody's fully fleshed out. In a way, that's just so incredible to see. And I know it should be the standard, but the writing is amazing, and the female characters are so complicated and beautiful and incredible. And smart — like really smart — and not really existing for anybody else's character growth. We're all there for each other as an ensemble, and it doesn't seem like there's a lot of imbalance there. So it was so exciting to get a script with a big ensemble of interesting characters and be like 'oh, this young one' — especially being the youngest one. I'm kind of scrappy and I think we have a lot in common, except that she's really smart and a brilliant doctor, and I'm an actor. But she was just very interesting — I've never seen a brief like her before." On Juggling Javadi's Intelligence, Age, Nerves, New Job, Love Life and Attempts to Give Excellent Medical Care, All on a Traumatic 15-Hour Day "I think that was really — I don't want to say 'easy', but it was really served by the way we worked, in that we shot chronologically. So usually when you're shooting, you're shooting out of order, and so you're doing so much work to be like 'my character's experienced this crazy thing and this crazy thing and this crazy thing', and I have to, in my head and in my body, know all of those things and then shoot scene 75 before I shoot scene two. In this situation, we were building on what we've done. Except for Pittsburgh — we shot the exteriors in Pittsburgh over one week, and so that final scene of the entire show we shot before we'd even read past script nine, I want to say. So I hadn't read the mass shooting. I hadn't read a lot of it. And there was just a lot of putting trust in the editors and the directors and the producers, and knowing that they would treat all our characters with care. I'm very protective of Javadi. She's just so little, and she's just trying her hardest, but I knew I could trust them with her. She's our little baby. I think it was really nice, because it was written so organically that that's just how complicated real people are. It was like that thing, right — none of these characters are the idea of a trope. They are fully fleshed-out human beings. And you can be — in fact, most really smart people are, really, there is a deficit that balances out somewhere else in the character, right? So I think that her being really, really smart, it makes sense that she would also then be socially quite complicated and struggling, because she's growing up so lonely and so isolated. I remember R Scott Gemmill, in one of our first character meetings, said to me 'you know, her parents kind of used her as a party trick' — and it's really interesting to think about what that would do to a small child, to be valued for being impressive. The type of bravery it takes to be publicly, confidently bad at something — to ask a boy out, even though you've maybe never done it before and you're going to have to stay on the shift and see him, even if it goes badly — the bravery and the courage that it takes when you have been disproportionately valued for being special your whole life is something that I think I really want to explore with her more and give her credit for. I think, often for me, her worst behaviours or her least-impressive behaviours — or her most-cringey or -embarrassing behaviours — are the things for me that I love most about her, and they speak the most to her positive and beautiful character traits. Because I think to put yourself out there in that way is really brave. I don't know that I could do that, and I grew up with a lot of friends and not socially isolated in the way that she has been. It's really exciting also to see people react to her awkward moments and like it, and think that she's funny — it's really rewarding." On Working with a Stellar Ensemble While Diving Into Such an Intense Scenario "It's really lovely and really nice — it's so much background work on the show, and it's really immersive being on the show, and so it's like, yes, the cast, but also all the background we have, and all the crew are wearing scrubs all the time. And the amount of immersion you can get from every bit, being around everybody all day, and everybody giving it their all in that way — it's so special because it's so immersive. Usually, you're on set, and maybe you're crying and you're looking at a tennis ball or a line somebody's drawn on the wall, and these people wearing Dickies are all around you, holding lights to your face. Whereas in this situation, you fully are like 'no, I'm in a trauma situation. I'm in a surgery room'. The lights that we use are real. The level of immersion is so special, and it makes shooting seamless and fast. It's amazing. And the people are so great, and I think it's lovely to work with people who are great at their job, obviously, which everybody can see — but I also think everybody in the audience can see how wonderful the people are that we're working with, even if they're playing assholes, maybe. It's really funny watching people be like 'that girl must be so mean to you in real life', but Isa is a lovely, beautiful friend. So that's really lucky that everybody's kind and easy to work with as well." On Being Part of a Series with an Impressive Pedigree, and That Sits Among Fellow Great Medical Dramas "Honestly, I don't think I had time to be nervous. I did one self-tape — I sent in a tape — and then I did one zoom, and then we got the call that I booked it. And I had a month to move to America and be on the ground at Warner Bros. So I don't think I had time to panic about anything. I was panicked about getting a Social Security number and all the logistics of moving your life. And accents and medical research and all that stuff. And so for me, I was just so, so grateful to be there. I think that they really did the work to not make it nerve-racking for us younger ones, too, in that our casting process was really chill and relaxed and warm and safe. And so that energy, I think it ended up funnelling into experience on the set. And also we did a boot camp before we started acting, so for two weeks we got to know each other and get comfy with each other — and not just with the other actors, but also with John Wells and R Scott Gemmill. Obviously there was pressure and excitement to be working on such an incredible show with such an incredible team, but every single person on a personal level worked their asses off to make sure that they weren't creating pressure, they were creating warmth and safety. To the point of: we all spend time together, even with John and Scott, before we started, giving you enough about the job to combat all the natural pressure and scary feelings — and I'm so grateful for that. That level of skill — I think you can see the skill on the show, there's so much skill, there's so much writing skill, so much directing skill, so much producing skill, you can see that on the show. But the soft skills that come with being a creative, they were 10 out of 10, 100 percent all the time with all of that as well, and that's not really visible to the audience — and it's really special to get it." On the Research That Goes Into Playing Dr Javadi as an Australian in an American Medical Series "I did a lot of research on gun violence. And I ended up getting specific things from the writers, too — like 'which one did you base this on?' and 'what resources would you recommend to me?'. Then I also did specific things on Javadi's experience of guns — so growing up in Pittsburgh, what suburbs she would've grown up in? Things like that, picking a house on Google Maps. But also, she would have gone to school in this time — how many school-shooter drills were happening at this time? And what kind of school-shooter drills were they? A lot of resources were coming up that school-shooter drills, often kids don't know they're a drill — or they do know they're a drill, but they're simulating all these really scary things, so they can be traumatising in way that a shooting can be. And so figuring out where she sat on certain spectrums, and how long she was at school for, because she's sort of a savant and she graduated school at high school at 13 and started college really young. Also doing a lot of research into what it's like to be a kid genius and how lonely that is, and the experiences of being isolated from your peers and being really young around a lot older people. What does that do to you? Does it stunt you or do you meet them somewhere? What's the experience of doing American college with no alcohol? That sounds so silly, almost. But even in Australia, alcohol is a massive part of our culture, and obviously she's too young — and we see her have her first beer in the last episode of The Pitt at 20. So how does that isolate you if everybody's going to the pub after an exam, or going to a bar to decompress after a week? How does not being able to participate in any social thing affect your self-worth or your ability to build rapport? And so I think we see her be quite awkward in the show, and I did a lot of research into why she would be like that and how awkward to be, so hopefully that comes through. And that's really exciting stuff to do, because it's just so different to my experience of the world." On Azeez's Journey From Adelaide and Short Films to a Series-Regular Role on a Hit US TV Show "It means so much to me. Obviously growing up in Adelaide, LA is worlds and worlds away, and it was this fantasy that I didn't — and also LA is a fantasy even in American media. LA is just this strange sort of utopia for filmmakers, right? And it felt for a long time like that was just never going to happen to me — because how? How do you get from Adelaide to LA? I still don't really understand it even though it's happened to me, I guess because it seems so unlikely. And there's no obvious pathways when you're an actor. You really do have to cede control, in a way. So the fact that this thing that I've been convincing myself was not possible for so long — it's like 'temper my expectations', all of that — but the fact that I didn't have to temper my expectations and it happened is so lucky. I don't even know if 'lucky' is the word. It feels blessed. It's so crazy to me, and I don't know that I'll ever understand it or feel like — like how do you earn something like that? How do you earn being on The Pitt? I don't know. I just feel very lucky, and I'm not questioning it, lest somebody else with power question it. But for my career, I think Australia — there's this saying in Adelaide where if you want to work in Adelaide as an actor, you have to move to Melbourne and then come back, and then people in Adelaide will be like 'oh my god, they worked in Melbourne, they must be great'. And I think that just happens at every stage, except with The Pitt, where they didn't. They thought I lived in Adelaide, Australia, when they cast me in The Pitt. The did not care about where I came from or what my context was, they just wanted me for this role. And that level of freedom, creatively, where they didn't want me to have any sort of audience, they didn't need me to be famous, they didn't need me to bring anything to this project except myself, was so special to me. I don't know that I've ever experienced the confidence that they had in me as a creative, to just give some kid from Adelaide this series-regular role in their massive TV show. That means a lot as an artist, obviously. But it also is the blueprint for me going forward of how I want to be as an artist. I think I'm learning a lot from Noah. And to get to learn from these people and then bring that knowledge back to Adelaide or Melbourne or wherever I end up is so, so meaningful. I'm very grateful." The Pitt streams via Max in Australia and Neon in New Zealand.
He first caught the film world's attention with zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead, and also toyed with both horror and comedy in Hot Fuzz. But Scott Pilgrim vs the World, The World's End and Baby Driver filmmaker Edgar Wright hasn't ever dived headfirst into mind-bending psychological thriller territory — until his next flick hits cinemas later this year, that is. In Last Night in Soho, no one is set to kill the undead to Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'. That said, Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit) does play a singer in 60s-era London who appears to be a ghost. In the movie's just-dropped first trailer, her character Sandy pops up when aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit) manages to venture back in time. Mysteriously travelling six decades into the past, Eloise looks in the mirror and sees Sandy's reflection, rather than her own. In a sneak peek filled with neon hues, things only get trippier from there — and, in a feature that takes plenty of cues from horror and thriller flicks from the time, more lurid as well. Impeccable period-appropriate set and costume design, vibrant pink lighting aplenty and an all-round dreamy feel are also part of the trailer, as Eloise finds herself coming face to face with her idol while plunged into a ghost story. Similarly playing a pivotal part: The Crown and Doctor Who's Matt Smith, who pops up alongside Taylor-Joy in the film's eerie 60s-set scenes. Whether following small-town cops in Hot Fuzz or jumping into the heist genre with Baby Driver — or directing late 90s/early 00s sitcom Spaced, too — Wright's work always stands out visually, and Last Night in Soho clearly promises to continue the trend. It's also the second of two Wright-helmed flicks headed to our screens this year, following documentary The Sparks Brothers, about the pop duo that also happens to be providing the tunes for this year's Adam Driver-starring musical Annette. Check out the trailer for Last Night in Soho below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ppe1YYATQY Last Night in Soho is set to release in Australian cinemas on October 21. Images: Parisa Taghizadeh / Focus Features.
"Sitting on a bench in Wicks Park in Marrickville, reading a field report by The Lifted Brow's Sam Cooney, I madly looked around for a caramel door described in the text. There it was! As if the writer had put the doorway there himself! Of course, I knew he hadn't, but it was perfect — the exact kind of dark magic that all good writers and artists and musicians perform when their work seems to lift up walls behind walls behind walls and reveal something new and unexpected with great clarity. This is what digital literature can do and be! It's a revelation — experiential and immersive and immediate." This eerie literary experience, as described by Concrete Playground writer Lauren Carroll Harris, was made possible through the award-winning digital project The Silent History. A science-fiction novel that takes the form of an app, The Silent History tells the tale of a dystopian future where a mysterious epidemic has robbed children of the ability to develop language. From 2011 to 2043, readers watch on as these mute children — dubbed 'silents' — tear families apart, unnerve entire government sectors and generally freak people out. Part sci-fi thriller, part-real-life scavenger hunt, the app has been called "entirely revolutionary" by Wired magazine, while the LA Times declared it "a landmark project that illuminates a possible future for e-book novels." We spoke to its creator, ex-McSweeney's managing editor and publisher Eli Horowitz, in Australia for the Sydney Writers' Festival, about what it means to read an app and what writers are doing differently to entertain a digital audience. The Writer as a Prime Mover "The first thing I wanted was it to be a story that you could explore," says Horowitz, "because I have this thing, which I bet that a lot of people have, when you read a book you love or see a movie you love or whatever, you almost then want to keep on existing in that world. You want to see what's just off the page or off the screen, and keep on exploring and living in it." The tablet platform, with its promise of interactivity and updatability, was a natural fit. An app like The Silent History combines the familiar pleasures of a page-turning narrative with the gaming world's mechanics of exploration and investigation. "Once I had that then the plot needed to be kind of global and sprawling, the kind of essential premise that could play itself out a lot of different ways, so that's why it became kind of like a medical story, an epidemic story almost, that lends itself well to that." But that's just the beginning. Around this main story arc float hundreds of 'field reports', site-specific side narratives that readers can only access when they travel to the physical location where the report is set. These reports can be written by anyone, anywhere — in fact, there are already a bunch tucked away around Australia. And if you're feeling inspired, you are free to pen your own and submit it for approval from The Silent History's US editing team. The Writer as a team player Horowitz, begotten of a librarian and originally a carpenter ("not a very good one"), claims that the whole process featured very little in the way of creative genius and a whole lot of good ol' problem solving. He admits that the communal approach of the project — which is what has brought The Silent History so much attention — wasn't even originally part of the blueprint. "The collaborative aspect was not so much any kind of ideological belief about crowd-sourcing or wikis or whatever but more that I wanted these things to be all over the place and I couldn't put them all over the place," he explains, "The more people we had [writing] the more of a geographic spread we could have." It sounds simple enough. But creative genius or problem solver, Horowitz has been hailed as a literary revolutionary. He and his team, Ying, Horowitz & Quinn LLC, are considered trailblazers in e-storytelling, crafting a digital experience unlike any other. While e-books have been popping up on the App Store since the release of the iPad in 2010, none has received this level of fanfare. The Writer as a Coder "A lot of times [with] these projects, the downfall is that they're essentially a technology project and they find some writing to cram into it or it's essentially a literary project and then at the end they add the technological aspect and it's still kind of unsatisfied or clunky or buggy," says Horowitz, "so having it all work together was really important." For all the praise coming his way, though, the San Franciscan remains humble. During his eight years at Californian publishing house McSweeney's, he operated under the mantra that anything he printed had to "earn the page it's on". He says that he brought this same approach over to the app world, trying to create something that "earns the screen it's on". "I approach this in very much the same way that I would approach a book with McSweeney's or whatever else," he says. "Just to think about how form and content both can affect each other, and to think about the total experience of the project. I don't see this as a move away from print or anything, I see this as just another tool in our toolbox." Eli Horowitz will be appearing at the The Sydney Writer's Festival from May 24 to 26 at the events Reading in the E-Future, Festival Club Friday, The Silent History and Tales From the Editorial Front Line. He'll also pop into the Sydney Apple Store on May 28 as part of Vivid Sydney.
Low-fi. Wild ferment. Skin contact. Sounds like different incarnations of your mate's high school band, but actually this is just the lingo of the world of minimal intervention winemaking. It's a movement that's been gaining popularity in Australia and New Zealand for a while now, and the wines produced as a result of it have been floating around restaurants and bars for the better part of a decade. For some, seeing 'skin contact' on a wine list is like a guiding light — but, often, it can be confusing as to what that actually means. So what is minimal intervention winemaking exactly? In its purest form, minimal intervention means winemaking that doesn't add or remove anything at the cellar — it's about turning grapes into wine with as little interference from the winemaker as possible. Unlike your typical drop made with more traditional methods, there are less sulfites and commercial yeast added throughout the process. Instead, yeast that was already on the grapes when they were picked is left to ferment and make it into wine. So, how can you tell when you're sipping one? What flavours should you expect in the glass? And how long can you keep a bottle in your fridge before it ends up down the sink? To help you wade through the winemaker speak, we've teamed up with Stoneleigh to deliver the ultimate untraditional wine cheat-sheet. With this, you won't have to fumble your way through weighty wine lists (and, after that, chicken out and order the house red anyway). We'll have you picking the most interesting wine on the menu in no time. HOW IT'S MADE Let's start at the vineyard. In the case of minimal intervention wine this is, arguably, the genesis of every great bottle. The process begins with fruit picked at optimum ripeness, which is then harvested and crushed. From here, juices are drained and pressed from the skins, then poured into a fermentation vessel and left at room temperature. This is where things really kick into gear. The fermentation of the natural yeast usually begins within a few days and continues for up to a month. It's similar to the style of fermentation that happens in kombucha, kimchi and sourdough. In the case of Stoneleigh's Wild Valley Sauvignon Blanc, 70 percent of the wine is aged in French barrels, while the other 30 percent goes into stainless steel tanks. Once fermentation is complete, the two are blended to produce a balanced and ripe wine that has more texture and depth. The key difference here from conventional winemaking is there's no chemicals, herbicides, and pesticides, added yeast, sugar or machinery in sight. The result? Keep reading to find out. [caption id="attachment_644048" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brook James[/caption] HOW IT TASTES As minimal intervention winemaking adopts a hands-off approach, it's often said these wines are the ultimate representation of the land from which the grapes are sourced. Each vineyard will have its own unique environment that produces naturally occurring micro-flora (the stuff that makes wild fermentation happen) and, as such, its own distinct taste. Without the typical stabilisers and filtering process of conventional wines, the flavour profiles of this wine vary wildly from cellar to cellar. It's a spectrum that shifts from wild and crisp to cloudy and funky. Oh, and expect there to be plenty of sediment in the bottom of your glass. Unlike conventional wines, there are no agents (typically egg white or gelatin) added or filtering prior to bottling — so there will be floaties. But don't worry, these are completely harmless and 100 percent fine for ingestion. Think of it like the pulp in a freshly squeezed OJ. Grown in New Zealand's Rapaura valley, Stoneleigh's Wild Valley Sauvignon Blanc is a wine as very distinct. If you track down a glass, you'll smell stone fruit and lemon curd, and maybe even taste some paw paw. HOW TO STORE IT These wines, unlike their conventional counterparts, are best enjoyed young. Without stabilisers and additives, they prove more unstable and harder to age than a traditional drop. So Stoneleigh recommends consuming its Wild Valley Sauvignon Blanc within two years of purchasing to drink it at its peak. The same rules around typical wine storage still apply for low-intervention wines. Store horizontally away from sunlight in a cool, dry place and keep sealed and corked until you're ready to drink. Once open, the wine's flavour will be at its for the next two or three days — don't leave it any longer. [caption id="attachment_644050" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brook James[/caption] HOW TO PAIR IT Being region-specific wines, many wild fermented wines are a perfect match for vegetable dishes. Look for savoury low-fi drops that play on the earthiness of root vegetables like carrots, parsnips and beetroot. Next time you're hosting a barbecue, skip the six-pack and nab a chilled glass of natural vino instead. Grab bottles with light, bright acidity that work well alongside charred seafood dishes like prawns and scallops or grilled barramundi. Stoneleigh's Wild Valley Sauvignon Blanc is suited to a range of dishes. The winemakers recommend pairing it with an oily fish such as salmon, topped with parmesan herb crust drizzled with fresh lemon or perfect with a range of cow's and goat's milk cheeses. Start your journey through minimal intervention wine with Stoneleigh Wild Valley, whose 2017 sauvignon blanc recently won gold at the New York International Wine Competition 2019. Top image: Brook James.
Not long ago, a friend of mine described a serious medical treatment they were taking. They'd had to pick out the best drug for this, out of a bewildering range of medicines and wide ranges of side effects. To work out which would be most effective, they'd had their DNA sequenced. The normality of that seemingly sci-fi procedure briefly blew my mind. In fact, this is not only a relatively normal thing, but it won't be too long before it'll be routine for you to, say, grow thousands of tiny batches of your own body tissue in a lab and actually test those specific drugs on your specific biology. For now, the hard bit is convincing those tissue batches to grow. Enter the tissue engineer, who can corral cells in tissue into some kind of order. Someone like Nina Tandon. In her book Super Cells: Building with Biology, written with Mitchell Joachim, Tandon surveys what we can already build in the lab with cells: bricks, clothes, computer games, biodegradable coffins and Western Australian bioart. For her PhD, she grew heart cells. Then she took an electric current and ran it through them to make them beat. This is what we can do now, but Tandon sees growing your own tissue as something that will touch pretty much every part of ours lives before too long. And not just in medicine. Talking to her, it's hard to disagree. Growing Which Where With What Now? Despite the fact that this is stuff that's happening now, it seems like future tech. But it's really just building on some old ideas. Half her work is to "build the housing" that allows the cells to do their job. That "housing" for the cell that persuades it to do what you want is called a 'bioreactor'. Tandon works with cutting edge tech in her work, sure. But a bioreactor is actually old school. It can be as simple as an oven. "Baking is a bioreactor. You’ve got yeast. There are so many bioreactors. I mean, people eat yoghurt. That’s bioreactors too." Tandon, founder of startup Epibone, was in Sydney this week as a keynote speaker at Sydney's Vivid Ideas. And, as she put it in her keynote "there’s an element of market research in this: if I was a heart cell, what would I want out of life?" Much of the work in one of these bio reactors is in getting cells comfortable. She described it all as a bit like managing a fish tank, where, instead of worrying about fresh water for freshwater fish, you're wondering what sort of hospitality you’ll have to roll out to keep heart tissue happy or liver cells growing the way you want. This bioreactor hospitality already let us do all sorts of interesting things in the lab. Like cloning batches and batches of your breast cancer tumour to see what drugs kill your tumour best. Or growing relatively simple replacement tissues, like bone. We're getting there with bone. We're up to animal bones, like horses or pigs. What Can't We Make? It's hard to imagine what we'll soon be able to build this way. But not for Tandon. "I think it’s almost a better question to say what can’t we build?" What might seem normal in 15 or 20 years could be something like vegetarian* ham. "I bet we are going to see people’s croissants with ham and cheese where the ham is engineered. They’re going to be munching on ham that was never in a pig." Or more advanced organic lighting: "I can see a day where we have electric eels that are making light. Not as electric eels, but if we take the cells that make electricity from those eels and grow them in bioreactors…" While writing Super Cells, Tandon tried to imagine fields that aren't likely to be radically changed by biotech advances. She counted four: "aerospace and railway transportation and banking and accounting." And even those, on deeper thought, seemed to her to have tech or fuel backbones "very likely to be disrupted by biology". * Maybe. Closer to the Worm So, what do you become when you start being able to grow and implant your own spare parts? "If I can grow my own cells outside the body, and if there are more non-human cells than human cells in my body, what does it even mean to say the human body?" Tandon adds, though, that this is actually a quandary we've lived with all our lives. It's a bit like that question about some worms: "You can cut it in half and it’ll grow two new worms. But are those two different worms?" As human beings, she points out, we've already grown out of what were originally our parents' cells. "We were all one cell big at one point. We don’t know when we began to be an individual. And individuals are birthed from other individuals. In a way it’s a lot closer to that worm than not." This is a challenge though, not an enigma. After all, "we got through this with blood transfusions." Rather, in the absence of more scientifically informed politicians, the community at large just needs a little education in order to start puzzling out the ethics. "Everyone should be in that debate. And the only way that everyone can be in that debate is if everyone is familiar with the processes." You Can Start Young Early, hands-on education is what worked for Tandon. As a child she had a chemistry set and disassembled her vacuum tube TV ("those were the days"), though it also didn't hurt that she came from a science-friendly family. Her father was an engineer, while her mother, Judith, having had some time on Wall Street and with a masters in education, would teach both her siblings ("my first scientific collaborators") and Tandon "all this kind of fancy math and stuff". Judith would reward the question 'How tall is that building?' by making her kids calculate the answer themselves, using triangles and sight lines. Years later, educating the wider public and at university and a community biolab, is this the sort of experience Nina is trying to create for her own students? "Yeah, you know. I think I want to pass that on." Your Local Biology Gym A 'community biolab' is where a place like biolab Genspace comes in. Genspace is a biohacking space in Brooklyn, New York that Tandon helps out at. "Basically, like a gym membership applied to biology. So it’s like a hackerspace, but where people can use biological techniques without being bound by the scientific method." A board monitors ethics and safety, "but, really, there’s quite a lot of freedom". You don't have to be following a particular grant priority, you don't have to be a scientist. You don't even need to be a particular age. In fact, that's the point. "People can learn how to decode DNA if they’re 12 or if they’re 85." One of their go-to activities for newbies is extracting the DNA from strawberries. Once, a school student extracting DNA for the first time piped up, "Oh my gosh! DNA, it looks like boogers!". Says Tandon, "He was so happy. And I never forgot that he said that. And, you know what? It really did." For so much of this you don't even need a biolab. Tandon was first taught the procedure at a friend's place. By her toddler. You can follow the space's instructions if you want to extract your own strawberry DNA at home. Tandon would love it if an Australian wants to set up a local biolab. Prospective local biohackers are welcome to contact her for inspiration. She'll put you in touch with the right people at Genspace to get you started. In her keynote, Nina saw the need for similar spaces in biotech to the sort of spaces to where Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos started their companies. And that's what a Genspace is for, too. "It’s basically like the garage where information technology began, but for biology." Image of a moss photobioreactor by Eva Decker. Image of Earthworms (not actually the kind of worms that can grow back both halves) by Jack Hynes. Image of Genspace by .dh. Croissant by Stu Spivack. Pointing child at Sears Tower by Vincent Desjardins.
The Greater Brisbane area is going into lockdown again, with stay-at-home conditions coming into effect from 4pm today, Saturday, July 31, in the Brisbane City Council, Logan, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Noosa, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim Local Government Areas. This is all very familiar by now, given that Brisbane has previously been in lockdown in January, March and June this year alone; however, this time, there's a considerable change. Under the new rules, a travel limit will be implemented — so you'll only be permitted to go shopping or exercise within ten kilometres of your house. Residents in these 11 LGAs can only leave home for four reasons anyway: to get essential goods; for essential work if you can't work from home, and for school or childcare; for exercise, and only with one person who isn't in your household; and for healthcare, including to get a COVID-19 vaccination, or to provide help, care or support. But, when it comes to buying essentials or working out, that ten-kilometre radius will be in effect. Accordingly, if you're currently scrambling to find quick ways to map out your ten-kilometre zone, that's understandable. There are a few easy ways to check out your household's government-approved travel radius, but none have proved quite as popular as KM From Home. The website originally launched in Ireland back in March, when that country introduced its own travel restrictions — and was then jumped on by Melburnians back in August 2020, during its extended lockdown last year. The online map is free and easy to use — simply centre it to your address, select a ten-kilometre radius and you'll see a big red or blue bubble encompassing the zone you're free to travel in under the Queensland Government's new rules. You'll find other radius apps out there as well, including the likes of Map Developers. Alternatively, if you've got a Garmin watch, you can download a range warning and it'll alert you when you're closing in on a certain distance from your run's starting point. Want to check a specific shopping centre or park to see if it falls in your ten-kilometre zone? There's a function on the Google Maps app that allows you to measure a distance as the crow flies. On desktop, simply right click on a location on the map, select 'measure distance' and then click anywhere else on the map and it'll show you exactly how far the address is from your starting point. Under the new rules, you can only exercise with your household members or one other person who is not from your household. All exercising and shopping must be done within ten kilometres of your home, of course. Eleven LGAs in the Greater Brisbane area will go into lockdown from 4pm on Saturday, July 31 until at least 4pm on Tuesday, August 3. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. More details about the lockdown and associated restrictions can also be found on the Queensland Health website. Images: Km From Home
The Back to the Future franchise has pinned this decade all too well. In the next development of unbelievably futuristic sounding technology, Google-backed company Kitty Hawk released the first video footage of its flying car prototype yesterday, April 24. Yeah, Doc Brown's Delorean just got real. The company is financially backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and its chief executive Sebastian Thrun, is the founder of Google's 'semi-secret' X lab and a pioneer of the self-driving car. The 'Kitty Hawk Flyer' is described as an "all-electric aircraft" designed to operate over water. The open-seated, 220-pound single seater is powered by eight battery-powered propellers — it essentially resembles a mix between a jetski and a hoverboard, seemingly powered by what looks like a bunch of mini-drones. It will not require a pilot's license to fly, as it is considered an "ultralight aircraft" by FAA regulations, and Kitty Hawk claims drivers will be able to learn how to operate the vehicle "in minutes". Here's the just-dropped intro video, with requisite cheesy inspirational music and somewhat shitty acting: The company is trying to attract enthusiasts to test-drive the vehicle by offering a $100 three-year membership that includes waiting list priority, company-branded gear, flight simulator access and invites to company events and demonstrations. Members will also get a $2000 discount once the car does go to retail. Kitty Hawk is not the first company to attempt the flying car feat, with the Slovakian company AeroMobil making their flying vehicle available for pre-order by the end of 2017 and the aerospace firm Airbus releasing plans for its ground-air hybrid car at the Geneva International Motor Show last month. The government of Dubai, in partnership with a Chinese firm, EHang has also released plans to begin operating flying taxis by July 2017 and Uber is holding a conference in Texas on Tuesday to discuss details of their own "urban-air transportation" vehicle. Though the car is said to be in consumer production by the end of the year, no retail price has been given yet. As of now, the vehicle will only be shipped within the US, so Australians will have to wait a bit longer for a ride. Via The New York Times.
With less than a month of summer to go, we're pretty keen to make the most of the last of the warm weather. And what better way to do so than by hosting a summer soirée for you and your mates to sip on tasty tropical cocktails? You don't need to be an experienced bartender to impress your guests with delicious drinks. With a bottle of Malibu rum and a few other key ingredients you can serve up some seriously refreshing and summer-ready bevs. Whether you're hosting a boozy brunch with friends or a tropical-themed pool party, we've put together four foolproof cocktail recipes that'll keep you in that summer mindset til season's end. TO SIP ON POOLSIDE Nothing screams summer more than a refreshing piña colada. It's sweet, it's fruity and it has just a touch of creamy coconut goodness, making it the ideal poolside companion. Ingredients 50ml Malibu Original 75ml pineapple juice 25ml coconut cream Method Pour everything into a shaker filled with ice. Shake and pour into a tall glass before garnishing with a pineapple wedge. FOR A BOOZY BRUNCH You can kiss your mimosas goodbye in favour of this juicy cocktail — a Malibu Bay Breeze. It's a simple and surefire way to step up your brunch bev game, whether you're playing host or guest. Ingredients 50ml Malibu Original 50ml cranberry juice 50ml pineapple juice Method Load a tall glass with ice and top with Malibu Original, cranberry juice and pineapple juice. Finish with a wedge of lime for added refreshment. THE ULTIMATE PRE-PARTY DRINK If you are hosting pre-drinks, add this crowd-pleasing pour to your pre-party plans. It's light, refreshing and has a tropical twist on your classic spirit and soda combination. Ingredients 50ml Malibu Original 100ml soda water Wedge of lime Method Pour the liquids into a tall glass filled with ice. Squeeze in some lime juice and drop in the wedge. FOR YOUR NEXT GARDEN PARTY There is nothing fresher than sipping lemonade in the sun at a garden party. So, why not step it up a notch with a dash of Malibu? It's simple enough to make for multiple guests and delicious enough that it will leave everyone asking about the secret ingredient. Ingredients 50ml Malibu Original 15ml lemon juice 100ml soda water Methods Fill a tall glass with ice and top with Malibu, lemon juice and soda water. Add a wedge of pineapple or lemon to garnish and enjoy. Ready to serve tropical tipples at your next summer soirée? For more drink inspiration, head to the Malibu website.
Come November, a whole heap of Aussies will be stripping off on a beach in the Whitsundays as acclaimed New York artist Spencer Tunick returns to Australia to stage the next of his famed mass nude photographs. It's been 18 years since Australia's first taste of the internationally famed artist's work, when 4500 naked volunteers posed for a snap near Federation Square as part of the 2001 Fringe Festival. Tunick then photographed around 5000 nude people in front of the Sydney Opera House during the 2010 Mardi Gras and returned to Australia just last year to shoot over 800 Melburnians in the rooftop carpark of a Prahran Woolworths. Elsewhere, he's photographed the public painted red and gold outside Munich's Bavarian State Opera, covered in veils in the Nevada desert and covered in blue in Hull in the UK. Now, the artist is set to return to our shores and his sights are set on the white sands and sparkling blue waters of Whitsundays' Whitehaven Beach. Tunick will assemble another contingent of naked folk this November, for a work titled Sea Earth Change. Interestingly, the shoot is part of The Iconic's (yes, that online clothing store) upcoming summer campaign We Are Human. [caption id="attachment_671796" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Spencer Tunick, Sydney (2010)[/caption] Anyone over the age of 18 can get their kit off and get involved — Tunick hopes to have a diverse mix of bodies in the shoot, which will be held on Saturday, November 23. Participants each get a print of the photograph, and, we're sure, a big boost of body confidence. They'll also be invited to the unveiling of the artwork at The Calile Hotel, Brisbane, a few days later. Successful candidates will be notified about a week before the shoot. The catch here is, of course, the location. If you're not usually located on the tropical Queensland archipelago, you will need to travel there. From Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, you can fly into the Hamilton Island or Whitsunday Coast airports, then take a 60-minute ferry or 30-minute drive, respectively, to Airlie Port Marina. The team will look after your transport from here. It'll be a worthwhile journey, though — as well as being involved in a once-in-a-lifetime photoshoot, you'll also get to visit the second best beach in the world. Sea Earth Change will be shot on Saturday, November 23 on Whitehaven Beach, Whitsundays. You can register to take part here before Thursday, November 14. Images: Spencer Tunick, Miami (2007) and Burgundy (2009).
Hey, remember Pokémon Go? That insanely popular augmented reality mobile game that seemingly everyone was playing until suddenly they weren't? Well, it turns out the developers behind said game are branching out into another beloved fictional universe: the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Niantic, which developed Pokémon Go as well as Ingress, will team up with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. According to a Niantic announcement, "players will learn spells, explore their real world neighbourhoods and cities to discover and fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies." It also said the game "will leverage the full stack of the Niantic Platform while also providing an opportunity to pioneer all new technology and gameplay mechanics." That's about all we know for now – although it does sound as though players may encounter a few familiar faces, with the game's website promising appearances by "iconic characters". Please let it be Dobby (#neverforget). If you're interested, you can sign up for more information about the game via www.harrypotterwizardsunite.com.
Whether you're hopping over the ditch for a winter or summer escape, Queenstown has no shortage of sights and activities to create a jam-packed itinerary. It might be called New Zealand's adventure capital, but that doesn't mean your next holiday needs to be based around high-flying thrills and snow sports — the region is also known for its postcard scenery, backcountry cycle trails, bustling weekend markets and delicious wine. We've done a good ol' search in the area and found the following six activities that are sure to jam-pack your holiday full of fun, flavour and adventure. SHOP LOCAL AT THE REMARKABLES MARKET An unmissable Queenstown weekend destination is the Remarkables Market. Just ten minutes from the city in Frankton, the market is where you'll find locals stopping in for a caffeine hit and lounging about on the grass. Shopping-wise, you can pick up everything from chopping boards crafted out of French wine barrels to the famous Gibbston cheese and handcrafted jewellery. Zamora is one of the most popular stallholders at the market with its infamous pork belly sandwich. We suggest grabbing a spot at one of the communal tables and finishing off your experience with one of Plantera's vegan sweets. FLOAT TO 6000 FEET ON A HOT AIR BALLOON TOUR Sunrise Balloons is a family-owned operation that has been flying in the Queenstown region since 1998. The company's hot air balloon tours rise to altitudes as high as 6000 feet, drifting over the rugged terrain that makes up the incredible region around Queenstown. Expect to see filming locations from The Hobbit and majestic landmarks like the Southern Alps, Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables mountain range. You'll get to help inflate the balloon and then pack it way, before finishing with a celebratory muffin and champagne in the landing field. Flights depart at dawn and last three to four hours. [caption id="attachment_687194" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julian Apse.[/caption] EXPLORE MORE THAN 75 WINERIES IN GIBBSTON VALLEY A short drive from Queenstown is Gibbston Valley, a region which is home to more than 75 wineries and cellar doors. For great wine in a picturesque setting we recommend dropping by Chard Farm. A visit to the family-owned winery in the Kawarau Gorge will lead you up a windy dirt road that was once part of the main coach link between Queenstown and Cromwell. The vineyard sits at the top and specialises in complimentary pinot noir tastings. Across the road is Penegrine, which feels more like steeping into a futuristic wine lab. Here, tastings are also complimentary and come with the option of choosing particular vintages or leaving your destiny in the hands or the host. If you'd rather leave the car at home, Alpine Wine Tours specialises in personalised excursions. Tours include a three-hour hop between cellar doors and a full-day trip through local vineyards and the Cardrona Distillery. Water, cheese tastings and transport to and from your accommodation are all included. COSY UP WITH A DRINK BY AN OUTDOOR FIREPIT Holiday Inn Express & Suites arrived in Queenstown earlier this year, bringing 227 spacious rooms to the heart of the picturesque resort town. The property's prime central location means that you're never short of breathtaking views and within easy reach of iconic attractions, from popular ski destinations and the Central Otago wine region to extreme outdoor adventures like mountain biking and bungee jumping. The hotel's outdoor firepit lounge is the perfect spot to unwind after a day of exploring — just sit back with a glass of Central Otago pinot in the modern and comfortable lounge and soak in the views of Queenstown's surrounding mountain range. The unlimited, uncapped free wi-fi will also come in handy when planning your next big adventure. [caption id="attachment_688737" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Miles Holden.[/caption] HIT A BACKCOUNTRY CYCLE TRAIL FROM ARROWTOWN TO QUEENSTOWN To really get your legs working, Around the Basin is a company offering both self-guided and supported cycle tours through the Gibbston wine region and backcountry. The Arrowtown to Queenstown tour is a 35-kilometre ride from the historic gold mining village back to the city. After shuttling from Queenstown you'll be left to make your way along the Arrow River Trail along the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers to the shores of Lake Wakatipu. The trail is recommend as a full-day ride, which allows plenty of time for exploring, photo opportunities and refreshment stops. On the trail you'll cover everything from isolated country roads and dirt tracks to swing bridges and pine forests. EXPERIENCE A MODERN INTERPRETATION OF NZ CUISINE AT AMISFIELD Amisfield executive chef Vaughan Mabee enlists expert foragers and charcutiers to ensure he's only using the freshest seasonal produce in his three-hatted restaurant. That dedication to championing the Central Otago region has seen the restaurant use backyard endemic ingredients and produce found no further than 250 kilometres from its dramatic stonework bistro. Previous hyperlocal creations have included everything from paua salami to kawakawa parfait and manuka-smoked blue cod pie. Diners are invited to build their own degustation from a selection of dishes. For lunch, that might mean a starter of eel on toast, smoked raw wild deer with local chocolate or a wild apple and kawakawa tart.
