Many local hospitality venues excel at one thing in particular. Whether they pour the best wine or serve a cold brew that'll have you buzzing for a week, most of these venues focus on one specialty during a particular part of the day. For the Japanese café Kahii, located on Kent Street in Sydney, however, flexibility and variety are what keep the spark alive. "Adding a night offering gave the venue a whole new life," says Kahii's director, Matthew Wong. Open from 8am until 3:30pm Monday to Friday, and re-opening from 5pm 'til 12am Tuesday to Saturday, Kahii serves freshly brewed coffee by day and cocktails by renowned mixologist Fumiaki (with a curated bar snack menu from Kuro's Executive Chef, Taka Teramoto) by night. "Flexibility isn't just a survival tactic — it's a growth mindset," Wong tells Concrete Playground. When Kahii opened in 2016, it was purely a day-trade cafe inspired by the Japanese tea room, kissaten. "Quiet, minimal, refined". After the venue survived the pandemic (and subsequent lockdowns and venue regulations that gutted the city as a whole), Kahii wanted to do something "exciting" again. "Licensing conditions had relaxed, and we saw the opportunity to introduce a tea and coffee-inspired cocktail program that reflected our identity while giving people something unique in the city," Wong adds. "It was both strategic and personal — a natural extension of who we are and what we enjoy." Pros of Flexibility According to Wong, the advantages of running a business that opens at different times of the day are plentiful. "It creates diversity—not just in revenue, but in the types of experiences we offer and the people we attract." "During the day, we serve office workers, creatives, and locals grabbing their daily coffee or matcha. At night, the crowd shifts to people seeking somewhere intimate to unwind with a drink and a bite." Wong also notes that increasingly, regulars are starting and ending their day at the cafe. "There's crossover, too." In addition to attracting a diverse range of patrons, from a business standpoint, Kahii is maximising the value of a "sunk cost"—rent. "Activating the space in the evening was a strategic way to make full use of it." Being open throughout the day also creates a buffer from trade volatility. "Things like school holidays, transport disruptions, and weather don't hit quite as hard when we have more than one audience," Wong adds. How to Adapt Your Business to Two Offerings If you want to expand your hospitality business beyond its current offerings, Wong recommends starting with what you love. Then, build systems that support flexibility. "If you're transitioning from day to night, make sure the space is designed to shift moods—lighting, music, staff training, and menus all need to adapt seamlessly." He also suggests thinking about operational flow. From bookings, orders, payments, and prep change, how will you widen your service? "The clearer your identity and the smoother your systems, the more your guests will feel like it's all part of one cohesive experience—not two separate businesses," Wong explains. Tools like Square can help build upon this flow. Kahii uses Square for POS during the day and Square for Restaurants at night. The platform handles everything from payments to open orders and integrates with booking platforms. As he explains, "[Square] makes a huge difference to our workflow, especially as we transition between different trade periods and customer expectations." Kill Your Darlings Running a hospitality business comes with a lot of decision-making. Part of this means making calls that impact your day-to-day. "There were offerings we loved but had to let go of—sometimes because they didn't resonate with guests, other times because they were operationally clunky," says Wong. One of the biggest lessons for Kahii has been knowing when to separate personal attachment from business performance, which Wong notes is never easy, but often necessary. "Looking back, every time we've made that call, it's created room for something better. Something that fits the brand, the customer, and the moment we're in." If Wong could give any advice to other adventurous business owners in the same position, it would be to be honest about what's not working. Be open to new formats, offerings, or even the times of day you operate. And most importantly, don't be afraid to pivot with purpose. "Talk to your team. Listen to your customers. Look at the data. Sometimes the smallest insights, like consistent feedback on a menu item or noticing a dip in trade at a certain time, can spark the biggest changes." Square empowers local businesses to thrive by making it easier to run, manage, and grow their operations. Find out how Square can help your business grow. Images: Kahii
Sydneysiders, start bragging. Folks across the rest of Australia, start making cocktail plans for your next trip to the Harbour City. The World's 50 Best Bars list for 2022 has just been announced — the top 50, after dropping the extended 51–100 rundown in late September — and two Aussie spots have made the cut. They're both in Sydney, and they've both been in this position before. Indeed, in a piece of familiar news, the nation's highest-ranking spot to get sipping in 2022 is Sydney's Maybe Sammy. And, it's the fourth year in a row that the innovative bar in The Rocks has made the list, taking 29th place. That's a drop from 2021 when it came in 22nd, and from 2020's 11th spot, but higher than in 2019 when it sat at 43rd. Also pouring a big glass of déjà vu is Cantina OK!, another World's 50 Best Bars list mainstay. After placing 23rd in 2021, it came in 41st this year — after sitting at 28th in 2020, too. [caption id="attachment_704012" align="alignnone" width="1920"] DS Oficina[/caption] For those yet to be 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. At Cantina OK!, you'll find a pint-sized mezcal bar in an old garage down a service laneway — complete with bright pink and purple walls, Mexican vibes and laneway seating. That's it for Aussie showings in the top 50; however, in the longlist from last week, Melbourne's Caretaker's Cottage came in at 60th spot and Sydney's Re took out 87th position. [caption id="attachment_714476" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kimberley Low[/caption] The overall winner this year, and marking the first time the gong has been won by a bar that isn't in New York or London: Paradiso in Barcelona. Also, Brisbanites, rejoice — the acclaimed venue has been teaming up with W Brisbane's Living Room Bar since May, with the North Quay venue serving up a range of ten tipples created by Paradiso's owner and mixologist Giacomo Giannotti. Paradiso took out this year's top spot ahead of London's Connaught Bar, which did the same in 2020 and 2021 and now sits eighth. In the rest of the top ten: London's Tayēr + Elementary in 2nd, Barcelona's Sips in third, Licorería Limantour in Mexico City in fourth and Paris' Little Red Door in fifth, as well as Double Chicken Please in New York at number six, Barcelona's' Two Schmucks at seventh, New York's Katana Kitten in ninth spot and Cartagena's Alquímico in tenth. Making holiday plans based on the globe's best watering holes? It's as good a reason for a getaway itinerary as any. 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. For the full of the World's 50 Best Bars for 2022 (and the longlist, and past years' lists), head to the website. Top image: Kimberley Low.
Many of us head to Adelaide for its world-class wineries. While its vineyards are a true highlight of South Australia, you also can't miss the vibrant city centre. With chic wine bars and award-winning restaurants, Adelaide's CBD makes for a perfect weekend getaway. Situated in the middle of the city's block (that's surrounded by lush parkland), you'll find Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets. The boutique accommodation is inspired by the city's festival influence, with colourful wall art and posters as interior decorations. Locally influenced decor is celebrated in the tessellated tile patterns and copper fixtures, which pay homage to the state's rich copper mining history. Filled with nods to the neighbourhood, Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets is a central base to everything you could need to make the most of the city. Here's how to spend a weekend eating and drinking your way through Adelaide's CBD. [caption id="attachment_934956" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Adelaide Central Market[/caption] To Market, To Market The Adelaide Central Market is a gem of the city. Established in 1869, it's a hub of food and culture (and one of the largest undercover fresh produce markets in the southern hemisphere) where you can lose hours wandering the stalls and chatting with local producers. Don't miss Lucia's, the authentic Italian deli that has been a part of the market since 1957. [caption id="attachment_915248" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Osteria Oggi[/caption] Foodie's Paradise Don't think you have to be in the vineyards to experience Adelaide's food scene. Just a stone's throw from Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets, you'll find several restaurants that rival the larger cities. Osteria Oggi on Pirie Street serves fresh, handmade pasta daily and offers a modern twist on the Italian you love. Long, communal tables are encouraged, and plates can be shared easily for an Italian-style feast. Right next door to Osteria Oggi is Soi 38. In 2014, the restaurant began serving street food snacks and dishes not found on other Adelaide Thai menus. Now, Soi 38 is an unrivalled dining experience that's serving regional dishes in the heart of the city. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Soi.38 Adelaide (@soi.38) Nearby, restaurant and bar Fino Vino offers a curated menu inspired by regional South Australia. Named a top ten restaurant in 2024 by Gourmet Traveller, Fino Vino is one to add to your must-try list when visiting the neighbourhood. View this post on Instagram A post shared by (@finovino_adelaide) Soak In the Neighbourhood Famous for its vino, sitting and sipping in the city's wine bars is a necessity when in town. When staying in the CBD, take a trip to Leigh Street. Located in the heart of the city, the cobbled street is full of character and heritage buildings. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leigh Street Wine Room (@leighstreetwineroom) There are a number of small bars dotted down the street, but be sure to drop by Leigh Street Wine Room. The cosy bar serves over 400 drops and dishes up small plates to snack on while wine-tasting. On the same character-filled street, you'll find cocktail bar, Leigh Street Luggage, while award-winning cocktail bar, Maybe Mae, is located one street over. Really, you could spend all weekend flitting between Leigh Street haunts. Get Some Air After exploring the side streets of the city centre, find your bearings on its rooftop bars. Merrymaker is situated at the top of Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets. Located 16 floors above the city streets, Merrymaker is Adelaide's tallest rooftop bar and serves a select menu of cocktails, aperitifs, and snacks. With a limited selection of seating available, it's recommended that you book a table at the award-winning Merrymaker in advance (even as a hotel guest) to avoid missing out on the breathtaking city views. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Merrymaker Rooftop Bar Adelaide (@merrymaker_rooftopbar) 2KW Bar and Restaurant is another rooftop bar in Adelaide with spectacular views of the Adelaide Oval, Festival Theatre and Government House. On the weekends, you'll find DJs spinning tunes as the sun sets over Adelaide. [caption id="attachment_1038261" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets[/caption] Rest Up in Style With its stylish streets and reputation as a foodie hub, Adelaide's CBD is a vibrant neighbourhood that inspires. At the Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets, you can continue the energy of the city in its colourful boutique rooms. On the ground floor, you'll find modern Italian restaurant and bar, Market & Meander, as well as its famous pink booths. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Market & Meander was recently named a top ten hotel breakfast in Australia. You can also rest and recover in the hotel's luxe pool and gym. Situated in the heart of the action, the boutique accommodation makes for the perfect base to continue to explore South Australia's capital. Want to stay in the thick of it? Find out more about Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets here. Lead image: Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets
With its warm waters and nearby islands, Brisbane is one of Australia's snorkel-friendliest cities. You can sip top-shelf drops in a wine library one day and lose yourself in an underwater wonderland the next, surrounded by wobbegong sharks, dolphins, turtles and tropical fish. Here are five of the best spots for snorkelling near Brisbane — from the dramatic shipwrecks of Moreton Island to the crystal-clear bays of heritage-listed Peel Island. Recommended reads: The Best Waterfalls Near Brisbane You Can Swim Under The Best Walks in and Around Brisbane The Best Rivers to Swim in Near Brisbane The Best Outdoor Pools in Brisbane [caption id="attachment_828681" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Tangalooma Wrecks, Moreton Island This purpose-built shipwreck is one of Australia's best-known snorkelling spots. Back in 1963, fifteen boats were deliberately sunk off Moreton Island's west coast, creating both a break wall for small vessels and an appealing new home for sea creatures. Among rusted steel and coral gardens, you'll meet wobbegong sharks, trevally, kingfish, yellowtail and tropical fish. It's possible to swim to Tangalooma Wrecks from Moreton Island, but do be careful of the current, which is strong at times. To travel in the safety of a group, consider booking a snorkelling tour. Moreton Island lies 40 kilometres off the coast — a 75-minute ferry ride from Holt Street Wharf at Pinkenba. [caption id="attachment_704303" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Redland City Council via Flickr.[/caption] Amity Point, North Stradbroke Island Just off Amity Point Jetty — the northernmost point of North Stradbroke Island — is a series of rock walls, where all sorts of marine creatures gather to feast and socialise. Expect to meet plenty of fish and, if you're lucky, dolphins or turtles as well. Six of the world's seven turtle species live in North Stradbroke's waters. Other places on the island with thriving underwater communities include Deadman's Beach and South Gorge. If you're not confident snorkelling on your own, think about joining a tour. North Stradbroke Island is 30 kilometres off the coast — to get there, you can catch a water taxi (25 minutes) or ferry (50 minutes) from Toondah Harbour in Cleveland. [caption id="attachment_828677" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Teerk Roo Ra (Peel Islane) National Park Once a quarantine station for people with leprosy, Peel Island — named Teerk Roo Ra National Park since 2007 — is now a serene natural haven frequented by sailors and sea kayakers. Here, the two best places for snorkelling are both human-made. In Platypus Bay, there's The Platypus, built in 1883 and deliberately wrecked in 1926. Off the island's north coast is the Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef, made up of 17,000 car tyres, 200 trolleys, 450 tonnes of concrete pipe, a scuttled tuna fishing vessel and a 60-tonne barge. Peel Island is six kilometres off the mainland. To get there, you'll either need to hire a private boat or to hop onboard with Aria Cruises. [caption id="attachment_828679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Southport Seaway, Gold Coast In the mid-80s, the Southport Seaway was created to help vessels safely enter Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast Broadwater from the Pacific Ocean. This involved building two rock walls, which now offer adventures a-plenty for snorkellers. They're teeming with seahorses, giant gropers, eagle rays, wrasses and stacks of other species of fish and marine life — and, since mid-2022, sculpture-filled artificial dive site Wonder Reef. In general, the easiest place to access the water is the South Wall, which is just six metres deep. If you're keen to venture further, take care: there's a lot of boat traffic. The Southport Seaway is an hour's drive south of Brisbane. [caption id="attachment_828680" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Mudjimba Island, Sunshine Coast Mudjimba Island (Old Woman's Island) lies 1.2 kilometres off the mainland, directly west of Mudjimba Beach. Unlike most other reefs on the Sunshine Coast, its is just three metres below the surface, which makes for perfect snorkelling. Colourful gardens are busy with turtles and tropical fish, easily visible through crystal-clear water. There are two ways to get to this underwater paradise: by kayak (if you're a confident paddler) or by boat from Mooloolaba. Alternatively, join a snorkelling expedition. Top image: Tourism and Events Queensland.
Hot on the heels of the NGV's exciting announcement of a new gallery dedicated to contemporary art, the Melbourne gallery has launched its latest blockbuster: a collaborative exhibition with New York's revered Museum of Modern Art. MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art takes a chronological look at art and design over the past century, from the late 1900s through to modern masterpieces. MoMA at NGV features more than 200 works from all six of MoMA's curatorial departments: Photography, Film, Architecture and Design, Painting and Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, and Media and Performance Art. The exhibition might be one of your only chances to see some of these works outside of New York with 127 of the showcased artworks having never left MoMA's walls before. You'll find masterful paintings that signalled a modern age with works from Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin; art based on emerging technology with Cubism pioneers Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque; collections of post-war American culture that are "bursting with energy"; as well as participatory artworks, pop-art icons, Space Invaders, and many more. The works are spread across eight expansive themed sections at NGV International, which, MoMA director Glenn Lowry calls 'mini villages'. "The spaces between them are alleyways and streets, so movement in this exhibition is always experiential," he said at the exhibition launch. "You go from one town to the next town and along the way you'll discover something." While all the works on display are must-sees, below we've selected five works that you absolutely shouldn't miss. SALVADOR DALI: THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (1931) One of the most admired Salvador Dali paintings is The Persistence of Memory, which is based on the seaside landscape close to Dali's home in Catalonia, Spain. A master of warping time and space with his dream-like style, the painting can be found at the entrance to the Inner and Outer Worlds section of the exhibition. The painting is one of MoMA's most prized possessions, and even Lowry seemed surprised that it had been loaned out to the NGV's ("What? We lent that one?"). Like the Mona Lisa, The Persistence of Memory proves that sometimes artworks big in stature come in small packages — the work is only 24 by 33 centimetres big. So get in early (or make use of your elbows) to get up close and take in all the magnificent details found throughout Dali's work. EL ANATSUI: BLEEDING TAKARI II (2007) Using thousands of bottle caps that have been crushed and reshaped in many ways, Bleeding Takari II is made from materials collected by the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. Linked together with carefully formed copper wiring, this large-scale work flexes and wrinkles in a different way each time it's installed. The work considers the trade of goods, and peoples, from West Africa to Europe. NGV director Tony Ellwood is particularly excited about this work, which demonstrates the type of diverse global works that the NGV and MoMA hope to continue to champion. "This a beautiful example of El Anatsui's work, and I think, in many ways, it heralds the future of contemporary art collecting for major institutions," says Ellwood. ANDY WARHOL: MARILYN MONROE (1967) One of the quintessential works of pop art and a distillation of American culture, the NGV showcases Andy Warhol's famed Marilyn Monroe series. Throughout his career, Warhol would create more than 800 printed images, although almost none more famous than this one. Produced five years after the famous actress's death in 1962, this collection of ten vibrant prints, while colourful in nature, peel back the complexities of fame suggesting a darker perspective on celebrity culture. JOHN BALDESSARI: WHAT IS PAINTING (1968) Displayed next to Warhol's prints, you'll find a vastly different kind of work in John Baldessari's What is painting. It's a self-referential question of genre — for this work, Baldessari hired a sign-painter to produce the lettering in careful detail. Exploring the definitions of art and painting, this 1968 work draws on a strong sense of irony as although this work fits the definition of paint on canvas, it defies our typical understanding of the format. "This fantastic Baldessari is one of my favourite works of art," says MoMA's Lowry. "The painting is about painting — and it challenges us to think about the very act of art making." ROMAN ONDÁK: MEASURING THE UNIVERSE (2007) Slovakian conceptual artist Roman Ondák is known for his large-scale works that often blur the boundaries between art and everyday life. Taking up an entire room of the NGV, Measuring the Universe is an artwork that relies on public participation to fill out what begins as an entirely blank space. Recalling parents measuring their children's height as they grow taller, participants have their height, names and the birthdate scrawled around the room. Over the three months of MoMA at NGV, these engravings will become layered, eventually forming a whirling galaxy-like mass of names. "It isn't art until you participate," explains Lowry. "In the end this work of art is about inscribing ourselves into the history of this institution." MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art is on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until October 7. You can grab tickets here. Images: NGV/Tom Ross.
Korean television made history in 2025, when season three of Squid Game broke Netflix viewership and ranking records. Parasite, Korea's big Oscar-winner, is in the spotlight at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival courtesy of new big-screen sessions with composer Jung Jae-il conducting and performing its score live. That movie's director Bong Joon-ho released his first feature, Mickey 17, since his most-acclaimed picture. They're just some of the ways that 2025 has already been excellent if you love Korean film and television. Here's another: from August–October, the Korean Film Festival in Australia is returning for its latest run. Back in 2010 when it debuted, it did so in Sydney. The Harbour City remains the event's main home in 2025, too. As the fest did in 2024, however, it's also taking the show on the road to regional locations — and when the KOFFIA Touring Program hits up Benalla, Toowoomba, Parramatta, Alice Springs, Victor Harbour and The Whitsundays, it will be free. Accordingly, the Korean Film Festival in Australia has a date with Event Cinema George Street from Thursday, August 21–Tuesday, August 26, kicking off its lineup of ten titles. Then, the KOFFIA Touring Program will visit Benalla Cinema in Victoria across Saturday, September 13–Sunday, September 14; The Strand Cinemas in Toowoomba for the first of its Queensland stops on Sunday, September 14; and Riverside Theatres in Parramatta over Friday, September 26–Saturday, September 27. In October, Alice Springs Cinema will play host from Friday, October 3–Sunday, October 5; Victa Cinema in Victor Harbour gives the event a South Australian location across Saturday, October 4–Sunday, October 5; and Proserpine Entertainment Centre in The Whitsundays will close out the tour, and add a second Sunshine State trip, over Saturday, October 11–Sunday, October 12. The schedule does mean that if you're in Melbourne, Brisbane or Adelaide and you want to attend KOFFIA in 2025, you do need to head out of town. At every stop that the festival makes, though, Hear Me: Our Summer is on the bill — including opening Sydney. The romantic drama co-stars former Iz*One member Kim Minju, remakes Taiwan's Hear Me and sees a love story blossom via Korean Sign Language. Sydney audiences can also catch the South Korean spin on 2011 Colombian film Hidden Face, with Parasite's Cho Yeo-jeong among the cast; see a new take on Mary Shelley's masterpiece via Frankenstein Father; watch more K-pop stars, including An So-hee leading the Seoul-set The Daechi Scandal and EXO's Doh Kyung-soo feature in Secret: Untold Melody; and get a dose of crime thrills via Dirty Money. A 4K restoration of 1999's spy thriller Shiri is showing in the Harbour City as well. If you're keen to hear more about a number of titles on the lineup in Sydney, Hear Me: Our Summer director Jo Seon-ho, Hidden Face helmer Kim Dae-woo and About Family's Yang Woo-seok are all attending the fest — and so is The Noisy Mansion's Lee Lu-da, plus actor Gyeong Su-jin. The last of those two movies are also on the touring program, with About Family a dramedy about a chef discovering that he might have grandchildren, and The Noisy Mansion focusing on a tenant and her neighbours trying to discover why their building is plagued by strange sounds. Sydney and regional audiences can catch Forbidden Fairytale, too, about a children's book author who starts ghostwriting online erotica. Korean Film Festival in Australia 2025 Dates Korean Film Festival in Australia Thursday, August 21–Tuesday, August 26 — Event Cinema George Street, Sydney KOFFIA Touring Program Saturday, September 13–Sunday, September 14, 2025 — Benalla Cinema, Benalla Sunday, September 14, 2025 — The Strand Cinemas, Toowoomba Friday, September 26–Saturday, September 27, 2025 — Riverside Theatres, Parramatta Friday, October 3–Sunday, October 5, 2025 — Alice Springs Cinema, Alice Springs Saturday, October 4–Sunday, October 5, 2025 — Victa Cinema, Victor Harbour Saturday, October 11–Sunday, October 12, 2025 — Proserpine Entertainment Centre, The Whitsundays The Korean Film Festival in Australia 2025 runs in Sydney from Thursday, August 21–Tuesday, August 26, with the KOFFIA Touring Program hitting Benalla, Toowoomba, Parramatta, Alice Springs, Victor Harbour and The Whitsundays between September–October. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the KOFFIA website.
Jed Kurzel boasts one of the most-enviable recent resumes in Australia's film industry. It was back in 2011 that the founding member of The Mess Hall added a haunting layer to Snowtown, the first feature directed by his elder brother Justin, via its score. The pair have worked together on every one of Justin's films since. But Jed doesn't just have the sounds of stunning Shakespeare adaptation Macbeth, game-to-screen flick Assassin's Creed, the dark-but-playful True History of the Kelly Gang, the complicated Nitram and the upcoming The Order to his name. Jennifer Kent's The Babadook and The Nightingale, Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, Dev Patel's feature directorial debut Monkey Man: he has scored them all as well. With a filmography that also hops from The Turning, All This Mayhem and Slow West to Overlord, Seberg and Encounter — plus Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities on the small screen — it might seem an impossible task to pick favourites. Even whittling down what to talk about at Kurzel's Screen Commentary session at SXSW Sydney 2024, where he's chatting through his work, might sound difficult. But ask him which of his projects stand out, as Concrete Playground did, and he has answers, even if he notes that his responses differ over time. "There's a few. But then they start to change as I go on, because I guess you learn more things, and some films follow a particular style that you might have gotten onto, or a particular thing that I've discovered and I will push that through a few films," he explains. "Snowtown for me is the one that that really stands out, I think because it's the first one and I still get offered films today that have put Snowtown in their temp music, which is the music they put in while they're editing — it's kind of crazy that's it's still being used. So that one particularly, it still pops up. Macbeth as well, I think just because it was the first real string score I've done, orchestral score, and I did it all over in the UK, so I met a lot of people that I'm still collaborating with then and I felt like we were all jumping into this thing together," Kurzel advises. "I think those two stand out for me, and The Babadook." His fruitful career composing for the screen might've come about as one could expect when your brother is a filmmaker — Justin asked him to have a go at scoring Snowtown — but working together and taking this path wasn't a long-held childhood plan. "Never. No, I don't think that we have ever spoken about it. It was just how it worked out," Kurzel notes. "We'd been working together before that, in that he'd been doing the video clips for us and all that kind of stuff. We were always doing things together. So it wasn't like it felt like an 'oh, here we go' kind of thing. It was really just one of those things where we're always a part of what the other was doing." Viewers can be thankful for sibling bonds and the route it has taken Jed down. As brilliant as everything they each splash across the screen is, Snowtown, Macbeth, Nitram, The Babadook, The Nightingale and more wouldn't be the films they are without Kurzel's scores. Ahead of his session at SXSW Sydney, we also chatted to the composer about what sparked his contributions to some of the above films, how collaborating with Justin is different to working with other filmmakers, ensuring that his music isn't commenting on the content of the movies, the influence of genre, challenges he'd like to take on and plenty more. On How Kurzel Began Composing for the Screen "I was touring around with The Mess Hall and I had some time at home. Then Justin, my brother, was doing his first film Snowtown, and he asked me if I'd like to have a go at scoring it because, outside of the things I was doing with the band, I was always messing around with stuff at home. I guess it was more in the film soundtrack kind of land, but I was just doing it for my own enjoyment. And he said 'oh, you know, some of that stuff could work well, all that kind of thing could work well'. And I said 'I've never done that before, so'. And he said 'look, it's fine if it doesn't work, I'll get someone else. But you have a go with it'. So I did and then that was kind of it, it just it snowballed from there. It wasn't something that I had set out to do really. At that point, I was really happy playing music — and playing, actually. But I was missing just being in the room and making music. We were out playing a lot, and it's very hard to make music when you're doing that. So I was missing that at that time — so it came at a perfect time, I think." On Collaborating with Justin on All of His Features So Far — and How It's Different to Working with Other Filmmakers "It is different now, because I think we've developed — I mean, we always had a shorthand, but it feels like it's become even shorter now. We almost hardly ever discuss it while we're doing it. It just happens, in a way, now. We used to take a long time. I'd start really early on his films and it would be this drawn-out process, and sometimes the process could get quite difficult as the edit changed and things like that. I think just through experience, we've started to work out an efficient way to work that is still as creatively rewarding. And the last couple of things I've done with him, like The Order, it was all very free-flowing and it came quite quickly, and it wasn't something that we laboured over. I think we've discovered that the more we labour over things, it doesn't help anything." On What Sparked the Score for a Film as Complicated as Snowtown "With that one, we always talked about that hitting the bullseye was a very slim chance in some ways, because we found that with most music that we put on it, it felt like it was commenting on it. So immediately it was like 'well, we don't want to do that' because that just wasn't what the film was doing — and it didn't want it anyway. So it became a really instinctive thing about what it wanted, and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of changing the edits to suit where we were taking it. So a lot of back and forth between us. And then, I always feel like if you just listen to the film, it'll eventually tell you what it wants. You throw things on it and just sort of shrug it off, and then there'll be something that starts to stick. And as soon as it starts sticking, you're on your way." On Whether Working on Films Like Snowtown, Nitram and The Nightingale Brings a Sense of Responsibility Given the Historical Details They're Diving Into — and How to Avoid a Score That Comments "I think so. But, I mean, I think with those projects, you're well-aware of that before you've even started them. There is a certain responsibility, I think, not to — I guess what it is musically, I'm always aware of not commenting, and that you're adding. I feel like you're just adding another layer and energy to the film, rather than going 'this character comes on and they've got a theme' or anything like that. It's just different, it's adding a feeling. It's what the film wants — and if you start commenting with some of these films, it just doesn't work. It just feels wrong. But on other films, you can go into those areas and the film absolutely wants to have that. I think it just depends on what you're working on. I always love to look at the film itself, and how it feels and what it looks like, and where it's set and those kind of things, because I think with music, you can actually add to that even more so. Even cinematography, I think, is really a big one for music, too, that maybe gets overlooked a little bit, because we are responding to images, so that's the first thing you're looking at." On Adding Playfulness to a Score That's Also Quite Dark, Such as True History of the Kelly Gang "That one, I'm glad you said that, because actually that's what I wanted to achieve with that score — that there was a playful quality to it. I always really loved the Sidney Nolan paintings, and I was sort of taking a cue from that. And also I love the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons and things like that. So for me, they were the influences that I was grabbing. I guess if you've got a concept or an idea that you want to launch things off of, that's always helpful." On How to Find the Score for a Shakespearean Adaptation Like Macbeth When There's So Many Past Big-Screen Versions —Including Initially Skewing Electronic "I remember doing that and both of us [Jed and Justin] feeling a lot of pressure because it's been done. There's not many times when you do a film that's like 'well, this has been actually been done before word for word'. When films are made, I think there's some directors who've got it all in their head and then they go out and make it, and what happens in the edit is the film just wants to be something else — and if you fight against that, usually you'll end up with something that's probably nowhere near your vision, and that frustrates you. Whereas if you follow what the film wants and then listen to it, and just go with where it wants rather than trying to hold onto your initial idea, then I think you can end up in really interesting places. In that case, yeah, it started out as an electronic score, that's what we wanted to do, but the film just, again, didn't want it. So we had to change tact a little bit, and we got something completely different, but I think it's the same sort of idea that we started out with. We had an initial idea, and then we just followed our gut while we were doing the edit." On How Working on Something Smaller, or More Character- or Mood-Driven, Differs From a Big-Budget Sci-Fi Sequel Like Alien: Covenant "I think there's similar pressures with both. On a smaller film, even though it's a smaller budget, there's almost more at stake because a lot of the times that might be someone's first film that they've directed. So they're kind of like someone's baby. Whereas the big-budget films, there's so many people involved, and they keep changing and they tend to have a lot more time to sit with things. The smaller budgets, the smaller films, they don't, they have to finish by a particular time because they don't have the money to keep editing or keep doing things. So I think there's different pressures with both. But in terms of scoring them, I just I think they just different hills to climb." On the Way That Genre Has an Impact on How Kurzel Approaches Scoring a Movie "We all grow up watching films, so we've all got that language. So whether you like it or not, you're aware of genres, and what those genres are and what's come before you, which I think is great because it can set benchmarks for you. If you're looking at something and going 'I want to do a horror film' and 'what are the films that I really like in this sort of genre?', you can go back and have a look, and just see the way they've been approached — which may make you go 'well, I don't want to approach it like that, I want to approach it like this'." On What Drives an Unnerving Score Such as The Babadook "That's a good question because that score, the inspiration for that — I think I wrote this in the sleeve of the vinyl — when I was scoring that, I was living in Erskineville and there was a possum on my roof or in the tree above me. And it was knocking things down through the night, and it would jump off the tree onto the roof. So I was always listening to what sounded like people throwing bodies on my roof. On top of that, it would make these strange noises, or there'd be strange noises outside. So a lot of the time, I was keeping the door open and making music, and just letting those sounds come in as well — and going 'okay, that's interesting. I could kind of do something'. So I think what I'm listening for is what's unnerving me — and particularly late at night, if I'm doing something, you can hear things. The world really is making music all the time. So the environment's always really great, if you've got your ear out, you can always hear really interesting stuff. But in terms of horror, I like to be unnerved. I'm not that much into the jump scares and things like that. I like an eerie, unnerving kind of feeling." On the Response to The Babadook — Then and Now "Even internationally, you mention it and everyone knows it, and the characters. It's pretty amazing. I'm really proud of the work we all did on that and how much Jen stuck to her guns with the film. I think it's just been re-released on screens in the US, it's doing a tour of America at the moment, which is amazing. And that was a film that if you told us that's what was happening, and most of the things that happened with that film, we would have laughed at the time because it just was not on anyone's radar. Even when it was released here, it had such a tiny release, I don't think anyone even knew it'd come out." On Being in Action Mode with Monkey Man, But Using the Score to Build an Emotional World "That was really different, because Dev already had, for a lot of the action scenes, there was already a lot of source music placed in there as music that already existed. And he had a definite thing for me, which was 'I want the film to be the emotional underground of the character'. So a lot of it, we talked a lot about memory, and the music was representing his memory of his mother. And so it was really strange, I was doing an action film but I wasn't really doing the action side. There's a few chase scenes and things like that. But in terms of that being the focus, it really wasn't, it was this whole other world that Dev was after which I found really appealing and exciting when we first spoke about the film." On the Most-Important Task for a Film Score to Achieve "I always feel like I'm there to add a layer that's almost not even music — it's another layer to the film that wasn't previously there, that if you took out, you would really notice it. A lot of people talk about watching films and not noticing the music. But I feel the other way. I want to notice it. And I want it to give me another layer on there that I know wouldn't exist otherwise — the performances wouldn't get it, the editing, it's adding something that's unique and almost impossible to describe, which is what to me that music is. It feels like some sort of magical language." On the Ultimate Challenge in Composing for the Screen That Kurzel Hasn't Taken on Yet — But Would Like To "I really don't know, because I find everything that I do, there's a new challenge and it usually rears its head pretty quickly. You get into something and you think 'oh yeah, I know how to do this' — and suddenly the film, like I said, the film starts to move into a direction and that tilts everything. Being aware of those things, I think that's the exciting part about it. If you're living in the moment and scoring things for the moment, listening out for really happy mistakes — which I call those things that you kind of go 'ohh, I'm going to try this' but something else happens that was a mistake, and you think 'that's actually better than what I was going to do. I'm going to go down that path for a while'. They're the things that I love about composing. In terms of feeling like there's something I haven't done yet, I haven't really done any romantic comedies. But I just, for some reason, I don't think I'm the go-to guy for those." [caption id="attachment_875685" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Netflix © 2022[/caption] Concrete Playground: "I chatted with Justin about Snowtown and he told me at the time that the next film he had in mind was a tennis rom-com." Jed: "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Concrete Playground: "So maybe if he does end up doing one, you'll get one." Jed: "I keep saying to him, because he's very funny, so I keep saying 'you need to do a comedy. That has to be your next one'." Screen Commentary: Jed Kurzel takes place at SXSW Sydney from 11am–12pm AEDT on Friday, October 18, 2024 at Fortress Sydney. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for more details.
The dots are stunning. The pumpkins, too. Her use of bold colours and shapes is also dazzling. There's another reason that Yayoi Kusama's art is so beloved, however: whether via mirrored infinity rooms, oversized tentacles or getting exhibition attendees putting stickers everywhere, she wholeheartedly embraces immersing her audience. It's true of Dancing Pumpkin, one of her famous gourd sculptures, which is on display in Melbourne right now — and when NGV International's massive Yayoi Kusama exhibition opens in December, it'll prove true again and again, breaking a world record in the process. Since April, the NGV has ben promising that its summer blockbuster exhibition — an Australian-exclusive as well — will be big. Across Sunday, December 15, 2024–Monday, April 21, 2025, it will feature 180-plus works from the acclaimed Japanese artist, in the largest Kusama retrospective that the country has ever seen. Now, the gallery has also revealed that it'll boast ten of the talent's immersive installations, which is the most that has ever been assembled in a single location before. [caption id="attachment_950475" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of Yayoi Kusama's Chandelier of Grief 2016/18, Tate Modern, London. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro. © YAYOI KUSAMA.[/caption] One is a brand-new piece that's world-premiering in Melbourne, so when visitors enter Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light, they'll be among the first people on the planet to experience the work. Inside, the space appears to open into an infinite celestial universe. Kusama's latest creation adds to her ongoing fascination with infinity mirror rooms, which she has been creating since the 60s. See also: 2016's Chandelier of Grief, which features baroque-style chandelier spinning within a hexagon of mirrors; 2013's Love Is Calling, where tentacles in different colours spring from both the floor and the ceiling; and 2017's The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, which gets viewers peering at glowing pumpkins as far as the eye can see through a small peephole. [caption id="attachment_981012" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of Yayoi Kusama's Dots Obsession 1996/2015 at Kusama's solo exhibition YAYOI KUSAMA: IN INFINITY, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark. YAYOI KUSAMA Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts © YAYOI KUSAMA.[/caption] Also relying upon mirrors heavily: the newest version of Dots Obsession, a room where the walls are reflective and biomorphic inflatables lurk. And yes, it's meant to inspire existential thoughts — and also feel as if the space goes on forever. Then, in Invisible Life, convex mirrors line a twisting and multi-hued corridor. With its six-metre-tall tendrils — which are covered in polka dots, naturally — the yellow-and-black The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe from 2019 is striking without using a looking glass (or several), and will make its Australian premiere. Prefer flowers instead? Set within a dotted space, All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever from 2013 sees a trio of giant tulips loom over audiences. [caption id="attachment_950473" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yayoi Kusama's The Obliteration Room 2002–present. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photo: N Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] If you went to the comprehensive Kusama showcase at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art back in 2017–18, or to the same site when it has also hosted the artist's The Obliteration Room at other times, then you'll know all about this sticker-fuelled experience. Even if you haven't taken part before, you've likely seen photos of it on social media. In Melbourne as in the other places that it has popped up, this artwork gets you popping coloured dots everywhere — 'obliterating' it, as Kusama calls it — to cover an apartment interior that's completely white otherwise. The idea is to fill every single millimetre with stickers over time. It's an all-ages (and free) part of the exhibition, displaying in the NGV's children's gallery, but expect as many adults there as kids. Flower Obsession is another participatory piece, returning from the 2017 NGV Triennial. Again, you're asked to add to the work. This time, though, red flowers are applied to a domestic space — and again, obliterating it is the mission. [caption id="attachment_950474" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of Yayoi Kusama's Flower Obsession 2017 on display in NGV Triennial from 15 December 2017 – 15 April 2018 at NGV International Melbourne. © YAYOI KUSAMA Image courtesy of NGVImage courtesy of NGV.[/caption] Alongside the ten immersive installations — plus the five-metre-tall Dancing Pumpkin in NGV International's Federation Court — Yayoi Kusama will step through the 95-year-old artist's eight decades of making art via a thematic chronology. Some pieces hail from her childhood. Some are recent. Her output in her hometown of Matsumoto from the late 30s–50s; the results of relocating to America in 1957; archival materials covering her performances and activities in her studios, especially with a political charge, in the 60s and 70s: they'll all appear. Half of the exhibition is devoted to the past four decades — so, pumpkins galore, giant paintings and more. Again, this is a hefty exhibition overall, complete with a new version of Narcissus Garden made of 1400 30-centimetre-diameter stainless silver balls, a Kusama artwork specific to NGV's Waterwall, over 20 experimental fashion designs by the artist, Infinity Net paintings from the 50s and 60s, Accumulation sculptures and textiles from the 60s and 70s, and a recreation of her New York studio. It's one of the most-comprehensive Kusama retrospectives ever staged globally, in fact — and the closest that you'll get to experiencing her Tokyo museum without leaving Australia. [caption id="attachment_979066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yayoi Kusama's Dancing Pumpkin 2020 now on display for the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV International, Melbourne until 21 April 2025. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photo: Sean Fennessy.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_950480" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yayoi Kusama, 2022 © YAYOI KUSAMA[/caption] [caption id="attachment_979065" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yayoi Kusama's Dancing Pumpkin 2020 now on display for the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV International, Melbourne until 21 April 2025. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photo: Sean Fennessy.[/caption] Yayoi Kusama displays at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne from Sunday, December 15, 2024–Monday, April 21, 2025. Head to the NGV website for more details and tickets. Top image: Yayoi Kusama, The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe 2019 at Kusama's solo exhibition Yayoi Kusama: All About Love Speaks Forever at Fosun Foundation, Shanghai. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts © YAYOI KUSAMA.
For the second year in a row, heading to the movies wasn't a simple activity in 2021. Sometimes, it wasn't even possible at all. But when picture palaces were open, their projectors whirring and the scent of popcorn floating through the foyers, Australians went to see big-budget blockbusters such as Godzilla vs Kong, Fast and Furious 9, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Black Widow and No Time to Die en masse. We also threw plenty of love — and cash — at Aussie page-to-screen adaptation The Dry as well. They're some of 2021's cinema success stories in dollars, but money never tells the whole movie-going story in any year. Plenty of other films reached the silver screen Down Under over the past 12 months, didn't set the box office alight, but absolutely rank among the year's best. They're the must-sees that, based on their cinema takings, you likely didn't actually see — and you really should've. Whether you missed them because of lockdowns, restrictions, a lack of time, they weren't showing near you or just due to life in general (sorry, Jurassic Park, but sometimes life doesn't find a way), here are 12 top-notch flicks that hit Aussie cinemas in 2021 that you need to add to your catch-up list right now. EMA A new project by Chilean director Pablo Larraín is always cause for excitement, and Ema, his drama about a reggaeton dancer's crumbling marriage, personal and professional curiosities, and determined quest to be a mother, rewards that enthusiasm spectacularly. It's a stunning piece of cinema, and one that stands out even among his already-impressive resume. He's the filmmaker behind stirring political drama No, exacting religious interrogation The Club, poetic biopic Neruda and the astonishing, Natalie Portman-starring Jackie, so that's no minor feat. For the first time in his career, Larraín peers at life in his homeland today, rather than in the past. And, with his now six-time cinematographer Sergio Armstrong (Tony Manero, Post Mortem), he gazes intently. Faces and bodies fill Ema's frames, a comment that's true of most movies; however, in both the probing patience it directs its protagonist's way and the fluidity of its dance sequences, this feature equally stares and surveys. Here, Larraín hones in on the dancer (Mariana Di Girólamo, Much Ado About Nothing) who gives the feature its name. After adopting a child with her choreographer partner Gastón (Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle), something other than domestic bliss has followed. Following a traumatic incident, and the just as stressful decision to relinquish their boy back to the state's custody, Ema is not only trying but struggling to cope in the aftermath. This isn't a situation she's simply willing to accept, though. Ema, the movie, is many things — and, most potently, it's a portrait of a woman who is willing to make whatever move she needs to, both on the dance floor and in life, to rally against an unforgiving world, grasp her idea of freedom and seize exactly what she wants. Di Girólamo is magnetic, whether she's dancing against a vivid backdrop, staring pensively at the camera or being soaked in neon light, while Larraín's skill as both a visual- and emotion-driven filmmaker is never in doubt. Read our full review. PIG Nicolas Cage plays a truffle hunter. That's it, that's the pitch. When securing funding, those six words should've been enough to ensure that Pig made it to cinemas. Or, maybe debut feature writer/director Michael Sarnoski went with these seven words: Nicolas Cage tracks down his stolen pet. Here's a final possibility that could've done the trick, too: Nicolas Cage does a moodier John Wick with a pig. Whichever hit the spot, or even if none did, Pig isn't merely the movie these descriptions intimate. It's better. It's weightier. It's exceptional. It always snuffles out its own trail, it takes joy in subverting almost every expectation and savouring the moment, and it constantly unearths surprises. When Cage is at his absolute best, he plays characters whose biggest demons are internal. Here, he broods and soul-searches as a man willing to do whatever it takes to find his beloved porcine pal, punish everyone involved in her kidnapping and come to terms with his longstanding, spirit-crushing woes. And, it's a measured gem of a portrayal, and a versatile, touching, deeply empathetic and haunting one that's up there with his finest ever. Sarnoski keeps things sparse when Pig begins; for the poetically shot film and its determined protagonist, less is always more. Rob Feld (Cage) lives a stripped-back existence in a cabin in the woods, with just his cherished truffle pig for company — plus occasional visits from Amir (Alex Wolff, Hereditary), the restaurant supplier who buys the highly sought-after wares Rob and his swine forage for on their walks through the trees. He's taken this life by choice, after the kind of heartbreak that stops him from listening to tapes of the woman he loved. But then Rob's pig is abducted in the dark of the night, turning him into a man on a mission. As the swine's distressed squeals echo in his head, Rob stalks towards Portland to get her back. He has an idea of where to look, but he needs Amir to chauffeur him around the city — and Pig is at its finest when its two main characters are together, unpacking what it means to navigate tragedy, fear, loss, regret, uncertainty, an uncaring world and a complicated industry. Read our full review. LITTLE JOE Pipes blow gently. The camera swirls. Rows of plants fill the screen. Some are leafy as they reach for the sky; others are mere stems topped with closed buds. Both types of vegetation are lined up in boxes in an austere-looking laboratory greenhouse — and soon another shoot of green appears among them. Plant breeder Alice (Cruella's Emily Beecham, who won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress award for her work here) is cloaked in a lab coat far paler than any plant, but the symbolism is immediately evident. Audiences don't know it yet, but her shock of cropped red hair resembles the crimson flowers that'll blossom in her genetically engineered new type of flora, too. "The aim has been to create a plant with a scent that makes its owner happy," she tells a small audience, hailing the virtues of a species that's been designed to make its owners love it like it was their own child. So starts Little Joe, which shares its name with the vegetation in question — a "mood-lifting, anti-depressant, happy plant," Alice's boss (David Wilmot, Calm with Horses) boasts. She's borrowed her own teenage son's (Kit Connor, Rocketman) moniker for her new baby, although she gives it more attention than her flesh-and-blood offspring, especially with the push to get it to market speeding up. The clinical gaze favoured by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner (Amour fou) is telling, though. The eerie tone to the feature's Japanese-style, flute- and percussion-heavy score sets an uneasy mood as well. Making her first English-language feature, Hausner helms a disquieting and anxious sci-fi/horror masterwork. Like many movies in the genre, this is a film about possibilities and consequences, creation and its costs, and happiness and its sacrifices — and about both daring to challenge and dutifully abiding by conformity — and yet it's always its own beast. Read our full review. RIDERS OF JUSTICE Few things will ever be better than seeing Mads Mikkelsen get day drunk and dance around while swigging champagne in an Oscar-winning movie, which is one fantastic film experience that 2021 has delivered. But the always-watchable actor is equally magnetic and exceptional in Riders of Justice, a revenge-driven Danish comedy that's all about tackling your problems in a different and far less boozy fashion. In both features, he plays the type of man unlikely to express his feelings. Here, he's a dedicated solider who's more often away than home. Beneath his close-cropped hair and steely, bristly beard, he's stern, sullen and stoic, not to mention hot-tempered when he does betray what's bubbling inside, and he outwardly expects the same of everyone around him — including when a a train explosion taints his character, Markus, with tragedy, leaving him the sole parent to traumatised teenager Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Pagten). With a name that sounds like one of the many by-the-numbers action flicks Liam Neeson has starred in since Taken, Riders of Justice initially appears as if it'll take its no-nonsense central figure to an obvious place, and yet this ambitious, astute and entertaining movie both does and doesn't. When Markus returns home from Afghanistan, Riders of Justice's writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken) and screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) send statistician Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas, The Keeper of Lost Causes), his colleague Lennart (Lars Brygmann, The Professor and the Madman) and the computer-savvy Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro, The Kingdom) knocking at the grieving family's door — a trio of stereotypically studious outsiders to his stony-faced military man who come uttering a theory he seizes upon. Narratives about seeking justice often ride the expected rails on autopilot, getting from start to finish on the standard vengeance template's inherent momentum; however, this layered gem questions and subverts every usual cliche, convention and motif along the way, including by putting its characters first. Read our full review. LAMB Staring into the soul of a woman not just yearning for her own modest slice of happiness, but willing to do whatever it takes to get it — and starring Noomi Rapace (The Secrets We Keep) in what might be her best role yet, and best performance — Lamb is all animal at first. In this Icelandic blend of folk-horror thrills, relationship dramas and even deadpan comedy, something rumbles in the movie's misty, mountainside farm setting, spooking the horses. In the sheep barn, where cinematographer Eli Arenson (Hospitality) swaps arresting landscape for a ewe's-eye view, the mood is tense and restless as well. Making his feature debut, filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson doesn't overplay his hand early. As entrancing as the movie's visuals prove in all their disquieting stillness, he keeps the film cautious about what's scaring the livestock. But Lamb's expert sound design offers a masterclass in evoking unease from its very first noise, and makes it plain that all that eeriness, anxiety and dripping distress has an unnerving — and tangible — source. This enticing, surreal and starkly unsettling is as human as it is ovine, though, as it unleashes an intense and absurdist pastoral symphony of dread and hope, bleakness and sweetness, and terror and love. The farm belongs to Rapace's Maria and her partner Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason, A White, White Day), who've thrown themselves into its routines after losing a child. They're a couple that let their taciturn faces do the talking, including with each other, but neither hides their delight when one ewe gives birth to a hybrid they name Ada. Doting and beaming, they take the sheep-child into their home as their own. Its woolly mother stands staring and baa-ing outside their kitchen window, but they're both content in of their newfound domestic happiness. When Ingvar's ex-pop star brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) arrives unexpectedly, they don't even dream of hiding their new family idyll — even as he's initially shocked and hardly approving. Read our full review. SAINT MAUD If humanity ever managed to cure or circumvent death — or even just stop despairing about our own mortality — the horror genre would feel the difference. Lives are frequently in peril in films that are meant to spook and frighten. Fears of dying underscore everything from serial killer thrillers and body horror flicks to stories of zombies, ghosts and vampires, too. Indeed, if a scary movie isn't pondering the fact that our days are finite, it's often contemplating our easily damaged and destroyed anatomy. Or, it's recognising that our darkest urges can bring about brutal repercussions, or noting that the desperation to avoid our expiration dates can even spark our demise. Accordingly, Saint Maud's obsession with death isn't a rarity in an ever-growing genre that routinely serves it up, muses on it and makes audiences do the same whether they always realise it or not. In an immensely crowded realm, this striking, instantly unsettling feature debut by British writer/director Rose Glass definitely stands out, though. Bumps, jumps, shocks and scares come in all manner of shapes and sizes, as do worries and anxieties about the end that awaits us all. In Saint Maud, they're a matter of faith. The eponymous in-home nurse (Dracula and His Dark Materials' Morfydd Clark) has it. She has enough to share, actually, which she's keen to do daily. Maud is devoted to three things: Christianity, helping those in her care physically and saving them spiritually. Alas, her latest cancer-stricken patient doesn't hold the same convictions, or appreciate them. Amanda (Jennifer Ehle, Vox Lux) isn't fond of Maud's fixation on her salvation or her strict judgements about her lifestyle. She knows her time is waning, her body is failing and that she needs Maud's help, but the celebrated ex-dancer and choreographer does not want to go gently or faithfully in that good night. Instead, she'd much prefer the solace that sex and alcohol brings over her palliative care nurse's intensely devout zeal. Read our full review. THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS In a sparse small town — with the film shot in Kanosh, Utah — the separated-and-unhappy-about-it David (Clayne Crawford, Rectify) attempts to adjust to living with his ailing widower father (Bruce Graham, Forty Years From Yesterday). His wife Niki (Sepideh Moafi, The L Word: Generation Q) remains in their home with their four children, as they've agreed while they take a break to work through their problems. David isn't coping, though, a fact that's apparent long before his teenage daughter Jess (Avery Pizzuto, We Fall Down) gets angry because she thinks he isn't fighting hard enough to save their family. He's trying, but as Crawford conveys in a brooding but nervy performance — and as writer/director/editor Robert Machoian (When She Runs) and cinematographer Oscar Ignacio Jiménez (Immanence) can't stop looking at in lengthy and patient takes — he can't quite adapt to the idea of losing everything he knows. There's an element of Scenes From a Marriage at play here, although The Killing of Two Lovers pre-dates this year's remake — and so much of the feeling in this gorgeously shot movie comes from its imagery. When it's hard to look away from such rich and enticing visuals, it's impossible not to spot and soak in everything they depict. Each frame is postcard-perfect, not that those pieces of cardboard ever capture such everyday sights, but wide vistas and the snowy mountains hovering in the background are just the beginning. With its long takes, The Killing of Two Lovers forces its audience to glean the naturalistic lighting that never casts David and Niki's hometown in either a warm glow or grim glower. Repeated images of David alone, especially in his car, also leave a firm impression of a man moving and solo. Read our full review. HERSELF Survivalist films typically pit humans against the elements, nature or space, testing a character's endurance when they're cast adrift in the ocean (as in Kon-Tiki and All Is Lost), enduring unwelcoming expanses (Into the Wild, Arctic), faced with animal predators (The Grey, Crawl) or navigating the heavens (Gravity, The Martian). Herself doesn't tick any of those boxes, but it still fits the genre — because what else is a movie about a woman trying to escape an abusive marriage, care for her two young daughters alone and build a safe future if not a story of survival? In Dublin, Sandra (Spider-Man: Far From Home's Claire Dunne, who also co-wrote the feature's screenplay) is unhappily married to Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson, Vikings), and has the bruises to prove it. When he finds money hidden in her car, a badly fractured hand becomes the latest marker of their domestic horror. Sandra leaves, children Molly (Molly McCann, Vivarium) and Emma (debutant Ruby Rose O'Hara) in tow, but forging a path forward proves complicated at every turn. As a writer (with What Richard Did's Malcolm Campbell), Dunne doesn't make easy choices. Her narrative doesn't follow a straightforward path, either. Herself's script highlights the devastating complexities that surround Sandra, but avoids plotting the obvious course — because more hopeful and more grim moments are always in everyone's futures, even when it seems that worse surely can't come. Stress, resilience, tender gestures and uncaring powers-that-be are all a part of this story. So is interrogating a system that's quick to push back at victims in the name of family, and the impact upon children who grow up in a household blighted by domestic violence. Herself fleshes out this reality, but always hurtles forward, because that's all that Sandra can do. Worlds away from the two other features on her resume — Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady — director Phyllida Lloyd helms an intense, compassionate but still clear-eyed drama without any cloying sentiment, but still rich in hope and tenacity. Read our full review. THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS Northern Italy's woods are abundant with truffles, especially the tuber magnatum — otherwise known as the white variety. But before these highly sought-after morsels can make their way into kitchens, onto plates, and into many a willing and eager mouth, someone has to spend their time and expend their energy finding the edible fungus. Accordingly, The Truffle Hunters introduces viewers to multiple elderly men and their adorable dogs who all do just that, with their lives revolving around roving the forest and searching out the prized food. It might sound like a relaxed pursuit — as walking through trees with your pet pooch to fill your pockets with a delicacy is bound to — but it's a highly competitive endeavour, and one that the documentary's central figures are intensely passionate about. Charting four men's stories — tales that involve canine partners, cantankerous veterans and sneaking out at night to search with a torch in hand, lest one truffle hunter be caught by his wife — directors Michael Dweck (The Last Race) and Gregory Kershaw (cinematographer on The Last Race, and also on this) survey a wealth of details. The titular subjects try care for their dogs, argue with others encroaching on their turf, type missives about how the world has changed and, in one case, keep absconding by moonlight. Dweck and Kershaw aren't above using puppy cam as well, and it's both a joy and a thrill, as well as emblematic of the film's fondness for flavour and character above all else. The Truffle Hunters is a leisurely movie that's content to chronicle its subjects' easy-going lives, lean into their eccentricities and survey their lush surroundings — and, even clocking in at just 84 minutes, it's an unhurried gem of a film — however, it's also carefully compiled. Read our full review. MY ZOE Rare is the film that nods overtly to more than a few of its influences, yet still manages to inhabit its own niche and no one else's. My Zoe is one of those movies. Its first half bears much in common with 2017's exceptional French drama Custody, while its second half takes its cues from the greatest horror novel ever written, aka Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. That combination works astonishing (and almost disarmingly) well, and nothing here every feels like a mere clone of better material. Indeed, writer/director/star Julie Delpy (Looking for Jimmy, 2 Days in Paris, The Countess, Skylab, 2 Days in New York and Lolo) blends relationship dramas, a tragedy and a science fiction-tinged exploration of loss into a gripping and empathetic film that ponders how grief leads to drastic reactions, how science can let humans play god in increasingly bold and consequential manners, and how we're hardwired to use the latter to work through the former, as well as our fears of mortality. In the movie's opening section, Berlin-based geneticist Isabelle (Delpy, Wiener-Dog) juggles the struggles of co-parenting with her ex James (Richard Armitage, The Lodge). They both dote on seven-year-old Zoe (Sophia Ally, The Current War), but they also argue incessantly — largely due to James' dour behaviour, cruel demeanour and ludicrous demands. By the time that Isabelle calls him "just an awful human being" in one of their arguments, the audience is already on her side. They settle their custody dispute, but the bickering doesn't subside when Zoe is found unconscious and requires hospitalisation. Eventually, though, Isabelle has another dilemma to navigate, involving a desperate ploy to get back what she's lost, a risk-taking doctor (Daniel Brühl, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) in Moscow and an option his own wife (Gemma Arteton, Summerland) warns against. Read our full review. FANNY LYE DELIVER'D Even on a sunny day, a storm can darken a dazzling blue sky, cracking through that gorgeous facade with the weather's version of stress and woe. That's the sensation that emanates from Fanny Lye Deliver'd's early shots, which show a picturesque Shropshire farm shrouded in mist so scenic that the entire image looks like it could've been rendered in watercolours — back in 1657, too, when the movie is set. But little is perfect behind this bucolic beauty, and that's true even before two strangers unsettle the household. As they prepare to attend church on an otherwise ordinary Sunday, Fanny Lye (Maxine Peake, Peterloo) is used to being treated with disdain by her Puritan husband John Lye (Charles Dance, Game of Thrones), including in front of their son Arthur (Zak Adams, Alice Through the Looking Glass). But then young lovers Thomas Ashbury (Freddie Fox, The Pursuit of Love) and Rebecca Henshaw (Tanya Reynolds, Emma) sneak their way into the Lye home, and nothing is the same again. Fanny Lye Deliver'd isn't writer/director Thomas Clay's first feature or even his second, but it's made with a distinctive vision. Every visible detail, meticulous performance, probing line and weighty rumination upon the subjugation of women and the ills enforced in faith's name — here, during Oliver Cromwell's reign over Britain following the English Civil War — is that fastidious and intoxicating, even when depicting brutality. Clay's picture could easily sit in the mud, folklore and farmland anxiety with The Witch, a film that similarly steps into a god-fearing community where the hatred of women ascending beyond the meagre station allotted them has infected every thought and action. It plays like a cousin to that similarly entrancing and potent movie, however, rather than a sibling. Fanny Lye Deliver'd also benefits from Peake's ferocious and arresting work in the eponymous role, in what proves a stunning survivalist film about women attempting to persist amidst violence and persecution. Read our full review. FIRST LOVE When boxer Leo (Masataka Kubota, Diner) receives news that no one wants to hear — he has a brain tumour, it's inoperable and he doesn't have much time left — he takes it as gloomily as anyone would. But when he subsequently crosses paths with sex worker Monica (Sakurako Konishi, Colorless), his evening takes another unexpected turn. She's fleeing the yakuza gangsters who forced her into prostitution, including one particularly scheming underling (Sometani, Detective Chinatown 3) who plans to use her in a ploy with a crooked cop (Seiyô Uchino, 13 Assassins) to eradicate a Chinese triad gang. They start off as strangers, but Leo swiftly becomes Monica's only friend amidst the bloody mayhem. Iconic Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has more than 100 movies to his name, shows zero signs of stopping and is clearly doing something he knows he adores (and that he's proven he's great at) with First Love. That doesn't make the prolific Audition, Ichi the Killer and Yakuza Apocalypse director's latest any less inventive, dynamic, enjoyable or brilliant, though. Here, pulp violence, a twisty crime tale and the Japanese auteur's gonzo energy all combine in a Tokyo-set noir-thriller, which ripples with Miike's distinctive brand of magic again and again — including in the movie's blending of gleefully cartoonish mania with a poignant outsiders-against-the-world narrative, and in everything from its jazz-rock score to its immaculately executed hardware store showdown as well. The inimitable talent can never be accused of painting by numbers, with everything here fitting and working as it should. Yes, he's both found and embraced his wavelength. Read our full review.
They're called The Kindred, not The Family. Adrienne Beaufort is their leader, not Anne Hamilton-Byrne. But there's no mistaking the inspiration for JP Pomare's book In the Clearing and its new eight-part Disney+ adaptation The Clearing, which streams from Wednesday, May 24. Exploring the inner workings of an Australian cult based in rural Victoria, spouting New Age sentiments mixed with doomsday thinking, fixated upon blonde-haired children and led by a charismatic woman — a rare female cult leader — this tale fictionalises the real-life details documented in countless newspaper headlines since the 80s, and also in Rosie Jones' 2016 documentary The Family and 2019 series The Cult of the Family. Amid their so-wild-they-can-only-be-true stories, both of Jones' projects showed viewers the eerie image of children with platinum locks in severe bobs and dressed in matching blue attire. That distinctive look is similarly at the heart of Disney+'s first original scripted Aussie drama. In the earlier of its timelines, Amy (Julia Savage, Blaze) dons the tresses and uniform as one of the older children at Adrienne's (Miranda Otto, Wellmania) Blackmarsh bush compound — one being prepared to be her heir, and made an accomplice in the group's quest to add more kids to its ranks. Initially dutiful, the teenager is soon questioning the only existence she's ever known, with its harsh rules, strict aunties keeping everyone in line between Adrienne's sporadic visits, weekend services attended by well-to-do acolytes and, sharing the show's title, its LSD-fuelled confessional sessions. The catalyst for Amy's growing unease: assisting The Kindred to kidnap schoolgirl Sara (Lily LaTorre, Run Rabbit Run). Even before her hair is bleached, the eight-year-old that's rechristened Asha rejects her new home. So, as Aunty Tamsin (Kate Mulvany, Hunters) and Aunty Hannah (Anna Lise Phillips, Irreverent) struggle with the brood's latest addition, Amy is charged with helping her new sister assimilate. Creators and writers Elise McCredie (Stateless) and Matt Cameron (Jack Irish), co-scripting with Osamah Sami (Ali's Wedding), aren't solely interested in the rituals and restrictions at the heart of the cult, however, although they find much to mine in its routines, power games and warped dynamics. As it jumps between the past and present, The Clearing is even more concerned with the interplay between control and choice — and the trauma that springs both from a life enforced upon someone and from the decisions they willingly make. "They are as pure and untainted as it is possible to be," Adrienne tells her followers of Amy and her so-called siblings. "A generation raised away from the suffocating rules of society, nurtured under the most perfect conditions," she continues. Even if The Clearing didn't dart forward, then return to The Kindred's heyday, the twisted reality behind those words couldn't be more apparent. There's nothing idyllic about Amy's upbringing, where Tamsin plays cruel disciplinarian, Hannah's exasperation hangs in the air, Adrienne's conditional love and fleeting presence are dangled as carrots, and only Henrik Wilczek (Erroll Shand, The Justice of Bunny King) offers a reliable source of kindness. There's nothing caring about The Kindred co-founder Dr Bryce Latham (Guy Pearce, Mare of Easttown), either, who reinforces just how calculating this sect is about its operations. When The Clearing dwells in the now, still in Victoria at its leafiest, nothing evades the smear of heartbreak and damage as well. Indeed, when single mother Freya Heywood (Teresa Palmer, Ride Like a Girl) hears about a girl being abducted, she can't shake the feeling that history is repeating. She dotes over her primary school-aged son Billy (debutant Flynn Wandin), but she's also visibly nervous and anxious. When she keeps spotting a white van, she's a portrait of panic. In an apt opening image — the show's very first scene — Freya is initially introduced in a lake, submerged up to her shoulders before disappearing below. The Clearing's directors Jeffrey Walker (Lambs of God) and Gracie Otto (Seriously Red) bring this sight to mind often, including what happens next: the surface is still, Freya is lost to the water and her descent into its depths goes unnoticed by the surrounding world. How the show's timelines connect is one of its original mysteries, but the series brings 2011 movie Martha Marcy May Marlene to mind, too. Also a tautly made and atmospheric psychological thriller, the film flits between life within a cult and the difficulties coming out the other side; Love & Death's Elizabeth Olsen plays its many-monikered namesake, while Deadwood alum John Hawkes throws around his menace. The Endless, 2017's brain-bender about two adults returning to the UFO death cult they were a part of as kids, likewise bobs up — and, thanks to Freya's impressive remote home and a throughline about the sway that parents hold over their offspring, Hereditary does as well. As it ponders people forever changed and frayed by an inescapable influence, and how that shapes their paths as adults, The Clearing is clearly in exceptional company. With Savage, Palmer and Otto at its centre, The Clearing also fills its frames with impressive talent. In Blaze and now this, Savage continues to excel as young women dealt tragic hands by fate, and never paints her characters as victims first and foremost; complicated teens feeling every possible emotion in response to complex situations are becoming the rising talent's speciality. Palmer wears Freya's pain and agitation like a second skin, bearing the shattering weight of being unable to clean a murky past out of her head and heart, too. And Otto is transfixing as Adrienne, splashing around a brand of charisma that can keep a congregation in her thrall, and mistreated children, but can't patch over the imposing figure's dangerous sense of self-importance, her masterful scheming and the lengths she's willing to go to to have her flock in her sway. Brandishing its ties to The Family so overtly, and starring a who's who of Aussie film and TV — Claudia Karvan (Bump), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road: Origin), Hazem Shammas (The Twelve), Xavier Samuel (Elvis), Harry Greenwood (Wakefield), Matt Okine (The Other Guy) and Doris Younane (Five Bedrooms) also feature — The Clearing was always going to intrigue, and has since being announced by Disney in mid-2022. That's why viewers will initially press play, but it isn't what makes the series so riveting. It's one thing to dramatise a notorious cult that drugged adults and kids with psychedelics, and to examine the woman pulling the strings. It's another to convey such a range of swirling mindsets, motivations, impacts and coping mechanisms, and so comprehensively and probingly. Chillingly and gripping from the outset, The Clearing haunts far more than just its on-screen characters. Check out the trailer for The Clearing below: The Clearing streams via Disney+ from Wednesday, May 24.
When Kate Reid's cult-famous Lune Croissanterie released its first-ever cookbook back in 2022, it put the ability to make its creative pastries into everyone's hands. But sometimes, you just want someone to whip up the treats for you. And sometimes, you want those bites to be something that Lune does particularly well: mashups of its croissants and other baked goods with fellow beloved foodstuffs. One such favourite is the chain's twice-baked finger bun croissants, which are back in February 2024 as part of its monthly specials menu. So, you've got until Thursday, February 29 to get your hands on Lune's traditional croissants with milk and coconut frangipane, strawberry jam, and with whipped coconut icing and a hefty sprinkle of coconut on top. This is in Reid's recipe book — so you can consider picking up the end result from the brand's Fitzroy and Armadale stores in Melbourne, and South Brisbane and Burnett Lane in Brisbane, research for your future baking endeavours. This month, Lune also wants you to choose between the finger bun option and a cherry ripe pain au chocolat. The latter is available at all venues — so from the CBD in Melbourne as well — and packs the pastry with cherry frangipane, maraschino cherries and chocolate batons. On top: more cherry frangipane, freeze-dried cherry and toasted coconut. Of course, you can always pick both — and also a tiramisu pudding, berry juniper cruffin, and harissa and goats' cheese escargot. The first takes a Lune pudding, then adds coffee caramel and coffee-soaked savoiardi, plus mascarpone cream and powdered chocolate to finish. You'll find it at the Fitzroy, Armadale, South Brisbane and Brisbane CBD venues. As for the cruffin — which is available at the same four venues — it's rolled in juniper sugar, filled with blueberry juniper jam and white chocolate ganache, and features white chocolate drizzled on top as well. And, at all locations, the escargot obviously features harissa paste, as well as goat's cheese, spiced chilli sesame sprinkle, flaked salt and fresh mint. Treating yo'self here can be both sweet and savoury, clearly. Lune's February specials menu runs until Thursday, February 29, 2024, with different specials on offer at Fitzroy, Armadale and the CBD in Melbourne, and South Brisbane and Burnett Lane in Brisbane. From the Fitzroy, Armadale, South Brisbane and Burnett Lane stores, you can also order them online. Images: Pete Dillon.
Come 2026, seven years will have passed since the last Avengers movie, with Endgame releasing in 2019. If you've been counting down the days until the next huge Marvel team-up flick — as 2025's Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* have all been laying the groundwork for — then you'll still be seeing it next year. Instead of checking it out in autumn Down Under, however, you'll need to put it on your viewing list for December. Disney has announced that the two upcoming Avengers movies, 2026's Doomsday and 2027's Secret Wars, have postponed their release dates by more than half a year each. Instead of arriving in April 2026 and May 2027, respectively, they'll now start screening in cinemas on Thursday, December 17, 2026 and Thursday, December 16, 2027. [caption id="attachment_996596" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney[/caption] If you want to consider this a new Christmas gift two years running, then, you can. Doomsday's cast is certainly stacked higher than a pile of presents, continuing to enlist just about every famous actor ever to suit up for a Marvel movie — or to do so again. Set to be the 38th Marvel Cinematic Universe entry — following the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which releases in July 2025 — Avengers: Doomsday boasts Robert Downey Jr (The Sympathizer) rejoining the franchise, a few folks who've been in past Avengers films, recent additions to the fold, familiar X-Men faces and more. Downey Jr's return comes fresh from him becoming an Oscar-winner thanks to Oppenheimer. While the last time that he was in an Avengers picture, he played Tony Stark aka Iron Man — a role he portrayed in ten MCU movies — this time he's stepping into Victor von Doom's shoes. [caption id="attachment_973924" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.[/caption] It's a massive list from there, starting with Chris Hemsworth (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), alongside Anthony Mackie (Twisted Metal), Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice), Paul Rudd (Only Murders in the Building), Letitia Wright (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Winston Duke (The Fall Guy) among those with prior Avengers experience. Also, Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), Florence Pugh (We Live in Time), David Harbour (A Working Man), Hannah John-Kamen (Breaking Point) and Lewis Pullman (Salem's Lot) are hopping from Thunderbolts* to Doomsday. Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon), Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place: Day One) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) are doing the same from The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Simu Liu (Last Breath) returns from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Danny Ramirez from Captain America: Brave New World and Tenoch Huerta Mejia from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Channing Tatum (Blink Twice) was in Deadpool and Wolverine, and will keep adding to his MCU resume. As Beast from the X-Men movies, Kelsey Grammer (Paper Empire) joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in The Marvels, while Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Picard) brought Professor Charles Xavier to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — and they're back again now. [caption id="attachment_989732" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2025 MARVEL.[/caption] Ian McKellen (The Critic), Alan Cumming (Drive Back Home), Rebecca Romijn (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), James Marsden (Paradise): they're on the list of X-Men stars — actors who were bringing Marvel comics to the screen before the MCU even existed, but in films that were their own franchise until now — that are also part of Doomsday. Now that Disney owns Fox, which previously was behind the Deadpool, X-Men and Fantastic Four flicks, it's moving characters from all of the above into its ever-sprawling screen saga. After helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo (The Electric State) are back as well, directing both Doomsday and Secret Wars. And character-wise, yes that's Thor, Loki, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Ant-Man, Shuri, M'Baku, John Walker, Yelena Belova, Red Guardian, Ghost, Robert Reynolds, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, Shang-Chi, Joaquin Torres, Namor, Gambit, Beast, Professor X, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Mystique and Cyclops covered. Check out the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement video below: Avengers: Doomsday releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 17, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars on Thursday, December 16, 2027. Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter. Top images: photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
There's nothing quite as tranquil as a lake. There's something about the still water that forces your brain to relax — regardless of how wired you've been or for how long. Australia's massive open plains and long mountain ranges create plenty of space for lakes to form, from Western Australia's brilliant pink watery delights to Queensland's tropical swimming holes to the endless expanse of Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre. Been feeling a bit frazzled lately? It could be time to hit the road and spend a day or two beside one of these natural beauties. From pristine beaches and bountiful wine regions to alpine hideaways and bustling country towns, Australia has a wealth of places to explore at any time of year. We've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your road trips, weekend detours and summer getaways so that when you're ready to hit the road you can Holiday Here This Year. Under current COVID-19 restrictions in Australia, there are restrictions on where you can go on holiday. Bookmark this for when you can explore once again. [caption id="attachment_741619" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Western Australia[/caption] HUTT LAGOON, WESTERN AUSTRALIA If you like your pink gin, flowers and homewares, you need to visit Hutt Lagoon. It's quite remote, being located on the Coral Coast, around 515 kilometres north of Perth, between Port Gregory and Kalbarri. If you're visiting on a road trip, you'll get the best views along Port Gregory Road. But do be tempted to see it from the air on a scenic flight. Hutt Lagoon's pink is always changing, with the most stunning shades usually on show at sunset. The lake gets its colour from dunaliella salina, which is an algae that produces caroteinoid. [caption id="attachment_741600" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LAKE MCKENZIE, QUEENSLAND In sore need of some sand and sun? Make tracks to Fraser Island in Queensland, to visit Lake McKenzie. This natural phenomenon is a perched lake — that is, a special kind of lake that contains rainwater. And rainwater only. Unlike most other lakes, it's sealed off from groundwater and isn't connected with any streams or rivers. On top of that, the sand in and around Lake Mckenzie is made entirely of silica. All this means it's unbelievably clear, whether you're taking a dip or enjoying the views from the shore. [caption id="attachment_741605" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] LAKE MUNGO, NEW SOUTH WALES Strictly speaking, Lake Mungo isn't a lake. But, it was one tens of thousands of years ago. And it's still one of the most important places to see in Australia because it's where the oldest human remains were found, being those of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, who lived at least 40,000 years ago. If you're up for a road trip, take the 70-kilometre Mungo Track. There are also plenty of walking trails, including the ten-kilometre Zanci Pastoral Heritage Loop and a bunch of short strolls to lookouts and significant spots. [caption id="attachment_741602" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LAKE EACHAM, QUEENSLAND Around 1400 kilometres north of Brisbane lies Crater Lakes National Park and, within it, you'll find Lake Eacham. This dreamy spot — formed by a volcanic crater — is encircled completely with rainforest. Spend your time in whatever way suits you, be it swimming, fishing, hiking, picnicking or jumping in a kayak (but note that motorboats aren't allowed). Both Lake Eacham and the forest in its vicinity are part of the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics of Queensland, which means they're protected so tread with care. [caption id="attachment_690974" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Charles Hill via Tourism Tasmania[/caption] LAKE ST CLAIR, TASMANIA Lake St Clair — found in the southern section of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tassie — took two million years to form, via slow-moving glaciers. Of all the freshwater lakes in Australia, it's the deepest, at 160 metres. There are many ways to experience this watery wonder, from short walks to multi-day camping expeditions. If you like a little luxury with your wilderness experience, then a stay at Pumphouse Point or Lake St Clair Lodge might be the way to go. [caption id="attachment_741599" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Robert Blackburn via Visit Victoria[/caption] LAKE EILDON, VICTORIA Lake Eildon's claim to fame is the town of Bonnie Doon, where you'll find the Kerrigans' holiday home from 1997 film The Castle. These days, it's listed on Airbnb, so you can experience "the serenity" for yourself. But what's less known about Lake Eildon is its epic size. With 515 kilometres of shoreline, the lake is so big that it holds six times the water of Sydney Harbour. You won't run out of territory to explore, whether you spend your time kayaking around Eildon's many inlets or stick to picnicking on land. [caption id="attachment_741635" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ockert le Roux via South Australian Tourism Commission[/caption] BLUE LAKE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA Maybe Blue Lake should be called Blues Lake. That's because it changes colour. Visit between March and November, and you'll see a deep, dark, wintry blue. Change your schedule to sometime between November and March, and you'll be met with a striking turquoise. Either way, the best way to experience it is on foot via the 3.6-kilometre walking track that follows the shore. You can also go underground on an aquifer tour. Blue Lake is just outside of Mount Gambier, in South Australia's southeast, right near the state's border with Victoria. [caption id="attachment_741624" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jeffrey Drewitz via Destination NSW[/caption] BLUE LAKE, NEW SOUTH WALES One of the loveliest spots on the walk to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko is Blue Lake. It's a cirque lake, which means it was formed by glacial erosion during the Ice Age around 10,000 years ago. Though you can't tell when you're standing on the shore, Blue Lake is a whopping 28 metres deep. Plus, it contains the freshest water on the Australian mainland. Both the lake and the 320 hectares surrounding it were recognised as a Ramsar site in 1996, so they're protected under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. [caption id="attachment_741634" align="alignnone" width="1920"] South Australian Tourism Commission[/caption] KATI THANDA-LAKE EYRE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA This extraordinary natural wonder is the most famous lake on this list for a few reasons. First up, it's the biggest lake in the country — at 9,500 square kilometres. Secondly, it's home to the lowest point on the Australian mainland, at 15 metres below sea level. Thirdly, when it's full of water, it's as salty as the sea. So don't arrive thirsty. Also, if you're keen to see the lake at its most dazzling, check on water levels before hitting the road. It's dry a lot of the time, with a large amount of water arriving just once every eight years. In fact, during the past 150 years, Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre has filled to capacity on only three occasions. [caption id="attachment_741617" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Western Australia[/caption] LAKE HILLIER, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Another of Western Australia's pink watery sights is Lake Hillier. When we say this lake is pink, we really mean it. We're not talking pale pastel, either — we're talking bright, brilliant, lollipop pink. And what makes the colour even more dramatic is Lake Hillier's location on Middle Island, where it's separated by a narrow strip of land from the deep blue of the Southern Ocean. To get there, you first need to get to Esperance, on Western Australia's southern coast, then catch a boat or plane. Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Image: Hutt Lagoon via Tourism Western Australia. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. 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Great cinema often feels timely and topical. Even just from its two trailers so far — and even while remaking a South Korean sci-fi comedy from 2003 — Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone's next movie together already seems to fit that description. A battle between the one percent and the conspiracy-obsessed is at the heart of Bugonia, when a CEO is kidnapped by two young men who are convinced that she isn't from earth. Another year, another collaboration between two big names who keep teaming up to make stellar films, then. With Bugonia, Stone and Lanthimos combine for their fourth joint feature, following 2018's The Favourite, 2023's Poor Things and 2024's Kinds of Kindness. The first of the bunch earned them both Oscar nominations. The second scored Stone her second Academy Award and made Lanthimos a contender again. The latest? It's a remake of Save the Green Planet!. If you've seen that film, then you'll know the story. If you haven't, get ready for Lanthimos' take on it. Either way, the Greek filmmaker's newest movie is all about a CEO of a major company, two men obsessed with wild theories, the belief that said head honcho is an alien who'll destroy earth and, as a result, an abduction plot to attempt to hold her to account. In her second feature of 2025, and second this year to see her wrapped up with conspiracy-spouting folks after Ari Aster's Eddington, Stone is the CEO in Bugonia. Doing the abducting: Jesse Plemons — who also worked with Lanthimos on Kinds of Kindness, and won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his efforts — plus feature first-timer Aidan Delbis. Bugonia's cast also spans Stavros Halkias (Tires) and Alicia Silverstone (Y2K). Behind the camera, while Lanthimos directs, Will Tracy (The Menu) adapted the screenplay from Jang Joon-hwan's film. Stone is one of Bugonia's producers, too — and so is Aster. The movie just premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where Poor Things did and won the Golden Lion. For audiences Down Under, Bugonia has a date with local cinemas from Thursday, October 30, 2025. Check out the full trailer for Bugonia below: Bugonia releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, October 30, 2025. Images: Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.
If you have never been to China, you might have heard from someone who has that nowhere in Brisbane can you find ‘good’ Peking duck. This killjoy may have even gone on to utter perhaps the most pompous word in all culinary critique — ‘inauthentic’. We prefer to believe that if you haven’t found a Peking duck to love in this city, you simply haven’t looked hard enough. Not all of us are so lucky as to have sampled this centuries-old delicacy in its birthplace of Beijing, but lucky we are to have the following five restaurants in Brisbane. Though they may all take a slightly different approach to the mouth-watering little morsels of crispy duck skin wrapped in pancakes, they all serve up tasty Peking duck (or versions thereof). Pine and Bamboo Though the rest of this list is in no particular order, Pine and Bamboo is number one. Come here for the whole shebang. White-gloved waitstaff wheel a cart to your table then expertly cleave the crispy duck skin from the meat. The flavour is explosive (the house-made sauce, terrific), and nowhere else on this list reaches the same giddy heights. 968 Wynnum Road, Cannon Hill Yee Foong Run by a husband-and-wife team, Yee Foong has graced Brunswick Street for decades, though it is only in the last couple of years that they have added Peking duck to their menu. No frills here, but the plate of sliced duck is delicious and garnished with prawn crackers. The remainder of the bird is cut up and offered as a simple second course — highly recommended. 196 Wickham Street, Brisbane Yum Yum Peking Duck This Darra restaurant lives up to its adorable name. The Peking Duck for two people feels quite portion-controlled, made up exactly of six duck pancakes, two duck legs and two servings (four leaves) of san choy bau. In an unexpected twist, all three elements of the meal arrive at the table at once. 146 Scotts Road, Darra Suncrop Suncrop are known for their mud crab and for their lobster but are also a favoured Peking duck restaurant of those in the know. It is certainly good value, with a first course of 12 pancakes and a second course of six san choy bau costing $46.80. For smaller appetites, the half bird is available for $18.80. Sunnybank Plaza Shopping Centre, Sunnybank Peng You Peng You, meaning ‘friends’, is all about dining as a social experience; the food is designed to encourage a fun, hands-on and communal vibe. If you want to enjoy the flavours of Peking duck as part of a spread of share plates, in a modern inner-city setting, this is probably the one for you. Gasworks Plaza, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead
An enchanting swimming experience awaits a mere one-hour drive from Brisbane CBD. Park at the Cedar Creek Falls carpark then follow a short track along the gorge lookout all the way to the pools. Greenery and scrub overhang on rocky outcrops, framing the waterfall as it tumbles into the natural swimming pools below. The water is remarkably cool even when the pool catches full sunlight. You can lie on the warm rocks, soaking up the summer heat, then splash into the water for a quick rejuvenation. Rinse and repeat until refreshed. There are picnic tables and barbecues, so bring the esky and some pals and share a magical day of waterfall-bathing. Image: Tourism and Events Queensland
Traditionally, autumn is a season filled with orange, red, brown and yellowing leaves, as spring and summer's greenery makes way for winter. Come March, just over an hour outside of Brisbane, it'll also be a time for golden stems — all as part of the Scenic Rim's new Sunshine & Sunflower Day. Expect to spot sunflowers as far as the eye can see at the Jenner family farm in Kalbar. There'll be more than 200,000 of the vibrant blooms reaching up to the sky, in fact, and you'll be able to wander through them all. You'll also be able to do yoga at sunrise in the field, learn how to cook with sunflowers, fly over the top of the property, and have both dinner and breakfast there. And, obviously, taking plenty of photos with a yellow backdrop is on the program, too. The new event is the result of Russell and Jenny Jenner's change of direction during Queensland's ongoing drought conditions. Usually, they farm lucerne but, with water levels low, they opted to switch to a crop that doesn't require as much H2O. And, with all those sunflowers now looking rather striking, the couple is keen to let everyone else enjoy their golden petals. Events across the day are ticketed separately, so you can pick and choose exactly which ones you'd like to attend — and what suits your budget. For those who'll simply be happy with seeing all of those rows and rows of sunflowers, the $15 entry-level tickets will get you access to the field between 9am–3pm, plus three flowers to take home with you. There'll also be food stalls and vans onsite, plus coffee. And if you'd like to take a picnic while you're there, you can order a hamper as well. Sunshine & Sunflower Day takes place on Saturday, March 27 at Kalbar in Queensland's Scenic Rim. For further information, and to book tickets, head to the event's website.
The Sunshine Coast hinterland is ripe for farm-to-plate cuisine, thanks to its abundant subtropical warmth. In late June, the Alsahwa Estate relaunched with a new restaurant — ēthos — bringing a new level of hospitality to the mix and making the most of the region's fertile conditions. Now situated on a 30-acre regenerative agritourism destination brimming with food, nature and community, the estate recently shifted from its original Verrierdale macadamia farm to forge a new chapter in Palmwoods. Guided by hatted local chef Sophie Phipps (Spice Bar), the restaurant's highly intentional concept features a menu focused on fresh, organic and spray-free ingredients. Harvesting produce straight from the surrounding gardens or sourcing it from local farmers, each dish is made to be shared, while reflecting a more conscious approach to top-quality dining. "The restaurant is a reflection of our values — to tread lightly on the earth, support our community, and nourish our guests with food grown in healthy soil," says Phipps. "We're cooking with intention, with produce that speaks for itself." Inside the restaurant, natural light floods through floor-to-ceiling windows, offering enchanting views of the property while allowing the fresh coastal breeze to flow uninterrupted. Immersed in landscaped gardens, palm trees and thickets of wildflowers, the estate's dams are another serene highlight, primed for sun-drenched long lunches and intimate dinner gatherings that see golden-hour sessions transition to after-dark stargazing. Yet ēthos is just one aspect of the Alsahwa Estate. The broader vision speaks to a regenerative agritourism venue, where curated picnics, seasonal dining, weddings and workshops all form part of an experience designed to help people forge deeper ties with their natural surroundings. A jam-packed events program will also convey this mindful message, from Bees & Brunch sessions that delve into the inner workings of the hive to curated food festivals that reveal the community's best cuisine. "We'll be continuing to follow our 'Mind, Body, Planet' philosophy and look forward to sharing our Wellness in Nature and Estate Exchange events, as well as community conscious movie nights over the coming months," says Alsahwa Estate Founder Jo Walker. "We're excited for the Sunshine Coast to discover Alsahwa Estate at Palmwoods and see it bloom in this botanic garden-like location." Alsahwa Estate's ēthos restaurant is open Wednesday–Sunday from 11am–9pm at 20 Rifle Range Road, Palmwoods. Head to the website for more information.
In his three decades so far behind the camera, every film that Wes Anderson has made, features and shorts alike, has boasted one of two people behind their ideas. Number one: himself, with the writer/director sometimes teaming up with Owen Wilson (Haunted Mansion), Noah Baumbach (White Noise), Jason Schwartzman (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) and/or Roman Coppola (Mozart in the Jungle) to pen his screenplays. Number two: Roald Dahl, the author responsible for a bookshelf full of childhood classics that've engaged and entertained generations. With the latter, first came Anderson's magnificent stop-motion Fantastic Mr Fox adaptation, which is lively, smart and funny as well as gloriously animated. Now arrives four new Netflix shorts based on various parts of Dahl's lengthy bibliography. Wondering how Anderson would fare with The Witches, Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — each of which have reached screens multiple times, including a recent The Witches remake, the film version of Matilda The Musical and upcoming origin story Wonka — remains confined to the world's imaginations at the moment. Instead, the symmetry-loving filmmaker and Dahl still prove a dream match with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison. Dropping daily since Wednesday, September 27, the entire group is now available to stream. Watch all four at once and you've got a new Anderson-directed, Dahl-inspired feature-length anthology, plus pure, quintessential, gorgeous and thoughtful Anderson gold. Visually, the Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom and Isle of Dogs filmmaker busts out his jewel and pastel palette, elaborate dollhouse visuals, moving sets, centred framing and distinctive dialogue rhythms in his latest works, each trademark stylistic touch a reliably dazzling treat in his hands. Talent-wise, he enlists a core sextet of well-known stars — Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), Dev Patel (The Green Knight), Ben Kingsley (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Ralph Fiennes (The Menu), Richard Ayoade (The Souvenir: Part II) and Rupert Friend (High Desert) — who deliver pitch-perfect Anderson-esque performances cycling through a range of roles while uttering deadpan to-camera dialogue. Thematically, Anderson starts the shorts series with belief and hope, then keeps skewing darker. His fixation with meticulously delightful sights has always been paired with bleaker notions, as seen from Bottle Rocket onwards; here, he swings between humanity at its best and its worst. Also present: more stories within stories within stories (within stories), as Anderson has long loved stacking and unpacking, frequently with writers taking centre stage. Fresh from stepping into a play as a live production in a TV show in Asteroid City and also flicking through a magazine's articles in The French Dispatch, the filmmaker now gets an author sharing his scribblings. Dahl isn't just the origin of the four stories adapted. Fiennes, who reunites with the writer/director after turning in one of the finest-ever performances in his films in The Grand Budapest Hotel, plays Dahl in one of his current parts for Anderson. That move enthusiastically makes the helmer's fondness for layers known structurally, standing out as much as the faux sets that he deploys visually — and as Dahl pops up to narrate and explain from his Buckinghamshire writing hut, it's also a choice with meaning. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar begins the set with its longest and lightest entry, the source of some of Anderson's best and most purposeful visual playfulness yet, and a 39-minute flick that shares an account of personal and spiritual growth. So, as the author's 1977 tale comes to the screen, the movie's version of Dahl chats. Henry Sugar (Cumberbatch) does as well. Dr Chatterjee (Patel) and his patient Imdad Khan (Kingsley) also have a natter. Their stories reveal that Khan has learned to see without his eyes, Chatterjee couldn't be more fascinated about this medical marvel and, after learning about it accidentally, Sugar is desperate and determined to learn the trick for himself. Initially, the eponymous figure is solely in it to help his gambling and get even richer than he already is; however, there's only soullessness and emptiness on that path, but tenderness with another choice. The next in the batch, the 17-minute The Swan, pushes Friend to the fore. It also sharply changes Anderson's tone. In this short, bullies terrorise a classmate and wildlife in tandem, in a musing on cruelty that's still stunning to look at. With The Rat Catcher, which also clocks in at 17 minutes, the short's namesake (Fiennes) is enlisted by a village (represented by Ayoade and Friend) to live up to his name, a feat he's certain that he only achieve by being as rat-like as possible. Then, in the similarly 17-minute Poison, Cumberbatch, Patel and Kingsley work through almost the opposite of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, with an Englishman in British-occupied India (Cumberbatch) given kindness by a colleague (Patel) and local doctor (Kingsley) in a life-and-death situation, but hardly repaying it. The cast that brings The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison to life is as divine on-screen as it sounds on paper, especially Cumberbatch and Patel in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, plus Patel and Kingsley in Poison. Anderson's way with aesthetics may hog the limelight whenever his name comes up — that, and the wealth of talent that he amasses in each of his films — but his ability with actors is one of his greatest skills. There isn't merely a knack to performing in the filmmaker's work; he gets his stars epitomising his specific style while showcasing their own flair, too. Watching The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, no one would ever want Anderson's latest ensemble to leave his sight, in fact, or to stop telling stories for him. Only one quibble springs from this four-short project: the decision to release each chapter separately, rather than packaging them together as an anthology feature. Of course, streaming makes that choice moot now that The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison are all freely available in Netflix's catalogue. There's a cumulative power to this set of films. Anderson sees the ups and downs of human nature as he works through Dahl's four stories. As Fiennes' Dahl talks in and around their narratives, Anderson also spies it in an author who is both beloved for his creations and decried for his discriminatory opinions. It's there in the explanatory text on-screen noting what inspired The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison as well. Spectacular to look at, exceptionally performed, and packing an emotional and thematic punch, these shorts are vintage Anderson through and through. Check out the trailer for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar below: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher and Poison are all available to stream via Netflix. Images: courtesy of Netflix.
Ask any long-term Brisbanite to rattle off a list of great things about this fair city of ours and they won't have any trouble. The glorious year-round weather, the plethora of spots to relax by the water, summery day trips, the ability to head either up or down the coast for a quick weekend away, GOMA — they're all certain to rate a mention. So too should Brisbane's abundance of places where you can take a relaxed hike through nature. Just because you live in a city, that doesn't mean you don't want to go for a scenic mosey without straying too far from home, after all. We all love wandering well beyond our own backyards, of course, but sometimes sticking to nearby turf is on the cards. That's when all those hiking trails near Brisbane look particularly attractive. So, next time that you grab your partner and/or housemates, pack yourselves a picnic, jump in the car and get ready to start breathing in the fresh air while putting one foot in front of the other — and you're keen to stay local — give one of these six Queensland hiking locations a try. Recommended reads: The Best Walks in and Around Brisbane The Best Brisbane Bike Rides The Best Caves to Visit Near Brisbane The Best Waterfalls Near Brisbane You Can Swim Under [caption id="attachment_899401" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Mt Cooth-tha Reserve For some, heading to Mt Coot-tha is all about wandering through the Botanic Gardens, driving up to the lookout and having a meal at the summit-top restaurant (which is set to get a big revamp). For others, Brisbane's inner-city mountain is a hub for walking and hiking — and stopping for a bite to eat on the grass if you've come prepared, which we recommend. Towering above the city just 15-minutes drive from the CBD, Mt Coot-tha Reserve spans across 1600 hectares, and features a hefty number of picnic spots and plenty of walking trails — Mount Coot-tha Summit Track being the most popular. If it has been raining, you might also spy flowing creeks and rushing waterfalls, all while meandering along tracks that take anywhere from 15–90 minutes to complete. [caption id="attachment_899445" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matthew Taylor/Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] D'Auilar National Park Previously known as Brisbane Forest Park, D'Aguilar National Park stretches over 36,000 hectares, which means there's always somewhere to walk. And, it starts right next to the aforementioned Mt Coot-tha Reserve, so this is another place where you can go wandering without leaving the city limits (if you prefer). Choose which part you'd like to see, or add them all to your list — whether you're eager to hike around Mount Nebo, feast your eyes on the water at Enoggera Reservoir, or head to Samford and Mount Glorious. If it's a lake, some grassy trails and a nice picnic spot you're after, you can also venture west to Lake Manchester, which is connected to the nearby dam around 15 kilometres north of Ipswich. [caption id="attachment_899403" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Mount Gravatt Outlook Reserve Brisbane's inner west isn't the only spot just a few kilometres out of the CBD, surrounded by houses, with a lofty peak to drive up — well, a city-sized peak — and a lookout perched at the top. Or, with greenery and trails surrounding said landmass, so that you can get hiking before, after and while you're peering down at this Queensland capital of ours. Head south and Mount Gravatt Outlook Reserve, the 91-hectare expanse that's home to the Mount Gravatt Lookout, also ticks those boxes. For walking, you can bash along five bush tracks, including through the adjoining 260-hectare Toohey Forest Park. And for company, you just might spot koalas, echidnas, owls, honey eaters, frogs and more. [caption id="attachment_899397" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lyle Radford via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Karawatha Forest Fancy getting out of the house not only for a change of scenery, or to get some exercise, but in the name of creative inspiration? If so, you might want to take a trip to Poet's Rock in Karawatha Forest. You don't have to start composing rhyming lines once you've strolled along the Brisbane hiking trails, of course, but you'll be in a mighty eye-catching spot either way. Wetlands filled with frogs, flower-filled lagoons, and plenty of other flora and fauna are also part of this 900-hectare parcel of bushland, which is located in Brisbane's outer southern suburbs of Karawatha and Kuraby. Walking-wise, you can pick from a range of different tracks — usually eight, but some have been temporarily closed for restoration recently — ranging from 20 minutes to one hour in duration. [caption id="attachment_768824" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Brisbane Koala Bushlands No prizes for guessing what kind of creatures inhabit this patch of greenery in the Redlands region — which means that, while you're walking, you'll want to keep your eyes peeled. Even if you don't spot a furry, cuddly, big-eared Australian animal in Brisbane Koala Bushlands, you might just find plenty of other wildlife, as well as a whole heap of the native vegetation that wallabies, bandicoots, gliders, rosellas and kingfishers call home. On one of the bushlands' walks, you can stand on the boardwalk and peer out over Stockyard Creek. On another, you'll mosey past rainforest, wildflowers and ridges. Two of the site's tracks are also open to horse riders, too, so you might just have some equine company trotting along nearby. [caption id="attachment_768825" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Castle Hill Blackstone Reserve via Facebook[/caption] Castle Hill Blackstone Reserve Hit the highway, drive west and you can then tick two things off of your to-do list at once. Firstly, you can get out of Brisbane without travelling more than 50 kilometres away. Secondly, you can find somewhere picturesque for a stroll — or, if you'd rather, a mountain bike ride. Castle Hill Blackstone Reserve boasts spaces for both, including four kilometres of foot trails that double as a walking museum. While you're hiking, you'll be enjoying a slice of history, dating back to the area's coal-mining past. And, you'll see the remnants of Brynhyfryd, the three-story mansion built in the late 19th century that was considered a castle — hence the region's name. You can find Abbott's Bakery products at all major supermarkets — and discover more tasty sandwich recipes via its website. Top image: Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.
There are many ways to make the most of Brisbane's all-year-round sunshine, whether you're keen on going for a stroll with a scenic view, hitting the pedals or finding a refreshing swimming spot. One activity stands out, though, perhaps because you can do it at so many places around town — including before or after you take that walk, bike ride or splash. We're talking about picnics, of course. And, in most cases, picnics with a watery view. Brisbane boasts many a patch of greenery adjacent to the river, including big hitters such as New Farm Park, the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, Howard Smith Wharves and South Bank. If you're after a bite to eat by the coastline, you can head to the Wynnum-Manly foreshore, plus the Sandgate and Shorncliffe region, too. But if you've whiled away more than one afternoon at all of the obvious places — as every Brisbanite has — this city also features plenty of other great waterside picnic spots that you might not have visited. We've listed nine that'll get you thinking about sandwiches, cheese and whatever else you'd like to put in your basket. [caption id="attachment_770752" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Sir John Chandler Park If you don't live nearby, it takes a little time to get to Sir John Chandler Park, even though it's just in Indooroopilly. As a suburb, Indro sprawls along the river, as do its roads — so you'll find yourself enjoying a suburban drive past the golf course before your picnic. Perhaps that's why this park is rarely crowded. It's tucked out of the way and, when you're there, it feels that way. As a result, it also feels particularly cruisy and laidback, which exactly the right atmosphere for a park overflowing with grass, boasting picnic tables and barbecues, and also right next to the river. If you like looking at rather expensive houses, you'll also spy a few across the water. [caption id="attachment_692305" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Colmslie Beach Reserve Brisbanites, you don't need to head up or down the coast to enjoy a picnic on a beach. This city of ours is home to its own sandy spot, but it's hidden. Don't worry, you won't have to trek too far to find it, because it's actually less than ten kilometres out of the CBD. Head to the secret idyll that is the Colmslie Reserve, and you'll come across a tiny riverside beach — yes, sand and all — as well as tree-lined paths and a boardwalk that catches the cool water breeze. This southside oasis is a great place for a peaceful interlude and a lazy day in the Brissie sun. And, if you fancy going fishing while you're there, don't forget to bring your rods. [caption id="attachment_770753" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Wilson Outlook Reserve When the Howard Smith Wharves precinct opened in 2018, it gifted Brisbane one helluva picturesque inner-city riverside picnic spot. That said, it also stole a little of Wilson Outlook Reserve's thunder. Perched atop the cliffs next to HSW, this scenic space has been welcoming locals for years — but it's not so well-known that it's always jam-packed. Here, you'll take in the eye-popping vantage, which includes the Story Bridge and the CBD, while kicking back beneath jacarandas in New Farm. Fancy an evening picnic? Wilson Outlook serves up quite the sight when sunset rolls around. Just remember, unlike HSW below, you'll want to bring your food with you. [caption id="attachment_770749" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Warren Major via Flickr[/caption] Bullocky Rest Beaches are great. Rivers, too. But there's just something extra special about lazing around by a lake. There's a peacefulness that emanates, and it's very much present at Lake Samsonvale in the Moreton Bay region. Thanks to the lake's dam, aka North Pine Dam, it's also a source of Brissie's drinking water. If you're fond of a nice walk, it's surrounded by tracks as well. But, if it's picnicking you're after — and you're reading this list, so you clearly are — then get cosy at Bullocky Rest. Just be prepared to have company, including of the tiny human kind thanks to the onsite play equipment. [caption id="attachment_814713" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Rocks Riverside Park Before making the most of its riverside location, this spot in Seventeen Mile Rocks, in the city's west, was home to a cement and lime quarry. So, when you're wandering around, expect to see more than a few remnants of the site's industrial past. Expect plenty of trees and bushland as well, and a plethora of perfect places for picnicking with water views. The park's Great Lawn spans around 8000 square metres, so green is clearly the hue here. Also onsite: a market garden, pathways for that after-lunch stroll, a half-size basketball court and heaps of kids' play equipment — making it an ideal spot if someone in your crew has littlies in tow. [caption id="attachment_770750" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Porter's Paddock Park Located on Brisbane's eastside, Minnippi Parklands is comprised of several smaller parks throughout Tingalpa, Cannon Hill, Carina and Carindale. Only one of them boasts a lagoon, however, which instantly shoots Porter's Paddock Park to the top of the must-visit list. When you're not eating your way through your picnic basket, you can walk across the boardwalk, peer into the water, and look at both the birds and the plant life. That's a particularly relaxing way to digest all those cheese slices, crackers and sandwiches — or whatever other picnic feast you feel like bringing along. [caption id="attachment_972027" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Sherwood Arboretum This heritage-listed gem to the CBD's west has been welcoming the public and its picnics for nearly a century. Here, you'll sit under leafy trees — more than a thousand, in fact — while looking out over your choice of man-made freshwater wetlands or the Brisbane River. Whichever you choose, you're in for both a green and glistening sight — although the plant life is as much of a drawcard as the proximity to water. As the name makes plain, Sherwood Arboretum is all about amassing different species of trees (or collecting them, in a sense), so make time during your picnic to go for a wander. [caption id="attachment_770748" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] Bulimba Riverside Park It isn't the lengthiest walking track in Brisbane, but the paved path along the Bulimba stretch of the river is one of the nicest places to put one foot after the other while soaking in both the river breeze and the Brissie sun. Naturally, there's a park nearby — and while it's never empty thanks to the fact that it's surrounded by houses, it's still a mighty fine picnic spot. Peering out over the water to Newstead, Bulimba Riverside Park is also a great place for impromptu picnics given that Oxford Street and its shops and cafes are so close by. Stock up, walk down to the river and get munching. It's also just a quick stroll from the CityCat terminal. [caption id="attachment_770747" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Michael Zimmer via Flickr[/caption] Bongaree Beach There are beaches, and there are beaches. Yes, you can claim a sandy riverside spot as a beach (see: Colmslie Beach Reserve above), and that's all well and good. But if you want to picnic at a beach where you can actually go for a swim, then Bribie Island's Bongaree Beach is worth a visit. It features parklands on one side and water on the other, so you can pick between grassy and sandy sitting spots. You can also choose just to go for a dip in shallow water, or to hire a kayak or paddleboard. And, you can do the very Brisbane thing of saying you're heading away to an island, even though it's connected to the mainland by a bridge. Top image: Brisbane City Council via Flickr.
If you're a perennial re-watcher of the all-timer Christmas classic Love Actually?, you may or may not already be aware of the musical stage adaptation that's getting ready to hit Australia's east coast. After a swathe of nationwide auditions, the production has announced not one but three casts of performers for shows in NSW, VIC and QLD. They've broken past the typical range of stage veterans and hired everything from impressionists and stand-up comedians to musical veterans and internationally touring artists — the producers call it "pure festive chaos". The Sydney cast includes Ellis Dolan (The Rocky Horror Show 50th Anniversary Tour, School of Rock), Tommy James Green (The Fox and the Hunter, Scratch), Hamish Pickering (Hello, Asteroid), Gracie Rowland (Josephine Wants to Dance), Bash Nelson (Once on This Island) and Brittany Morton (Into the Woods). In Melbourne, audiences will see Mitchell Groves (Cruel Intentions: The '90s Musical), Belinda Jenkin (Friends! The Musical Parody), Jeremy Harland (A Zoom Group Project: The Musical), Ian Andrew (Midnight: The Cinderella Musical), Sophie Loughran (50 Shades of Grey — The Musical Parody), and Massimo Zuccara (Opera Australia's West Side Story). Brisbane's production features Dylan Hodge (Legally Blonde The Musical), William Kasper (Rate of Decay), Benjamin Hambley (Godspell), Nicole Kaminski (Urinetown), Stephanie Beza (Chicago), and multi-award-winning Gold Coast actor Ashton Simpson (Romeo & Juliet). "This show is like Christmas dinner after a few too many champagnes — loud, ridiculous, and way too much fun," said Associate Producer Ashley Tickell. The show follows nine quirky couples as they chase love across London, sending up the cult 2003 rom-com with tongue-in-cheek songs such as "He's The Prime Minister of Rom Coms" and "Keira Knightley Actually". Written by the creators of Friends! The Musical Parody, the production promises a night of high-energy laughs for audiences aged 15 and up. Love Actually? The Musical Parody first premiered in Australia in 2024 to rave reviews, hailed as "fabulously hilarious and laugh out loud entertainment" (Musicals Reviewed) and "a surefire way to get into the festive spirit" (Toorak Times). With its cheeky humour, catchy songs, and irreverent take on one of the most beloved Christmas films of all time, the show promises to be the ultimate untraditional holiday tradition. As Tickell puts it: "Whether you love Love Actually, love to hate it, or have never even seen it, you will actually love this musical." 'Love Actually? The Musical Parody' will play at Sydney's Darling Quarter Theatre from November 27 to December 23, followed by Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre from December 5–23 and Brisbane Showgrounds from December 11-21. Tickets start at $69 via loveactuallymusicalparody.com.
When Brisbane's Christmas plans were revealed for 2024, filling the CBD and South Bank with festive cheer, a new addition to the lineup of events stood out: Sono Lumo — Festive Nights of Sound & Light, Queen's Wharf's addition to the seasonal fun. How does the River City's newest inner-city riverside precinct get merry and jolly? With a free audiovisual show accompanied by DJs and roaming live performances, as well as food and drink pop-ups. Since Wednesday, December 4, running 5–11pm Wednesday–Sunday, this has been Queen's Wharf's end-of-year gift to Brisbane. Taking place until Sunday, December 15, Sono Lumo features an hourly four-part visual journey called Carols Rewired, which is dazzling the precinct's patch of the waterfront — plus an EDM soundtrack with some festive nods, as programmed DJ Young Franco. Head by for the full experience — including Fat Noodle, Lúc Lắc, Cucina Regina and Babblers on food duty — or, if you're even remotely in the vicinity, you'll be able to spot the Christmas glow from afar. Carols Rewired lights up at 7.30pm, 8.30pm and 9.30pm each evening. The performances and DJ sets kick off from 5.30pm, with Standing Ovation, Mr Smith, DJ Harley Girl, Electro Swiggety, Jarrod Costello, DJ Sunoe, Liam Connor, DJ Sammy G, DJ Kessin, DJ Varnan, Bella Vita, DJ Boris Maskoff, The Kite String Tangle, DJ Madan, Elska featuring Cutloose, DJ Tasha Lee, Yena featuring DJ Neish and DJ Della Rix on the lineup across Sono Lumo's second week.
Just a few minutes away from Sunshine Coast's busiest beach spots, Tewantin is a quiet coastal town on the edge of Tewantin National Park and Noosa River. Its historic local, The Royal Mail Hotel, is ideal for fuelling up between outdoor adventures. This November, the 143-year-old pub has unveiled a fresh coastal-inspired fitout that might tempt roadtrippers to linger during their pit stop. The pub has expanded into the neighbouring Liquorland, which has been transformed into a convivial beer garden with picnic tables overlooking the Noosa River. Sage and terracotta accents run throughout the venue, spanning a timber-clad bistro with boho chic woven ceiling pendants and a sports bar outfitted with plush armchairs, a pool table and big screens showing rugby, cricket and footy matches on every wall. If you're staying in town for a few days, the 13 rooms that sit above the hotel have also been spruced up. It's not just the fit-out that got a facelift. The new sharing-focused menu opens with a prawn and lobster brioche roll with a zesty aioli, burrata with blistered grapes and cherry tomatoes and a lineup of ten types of woodfired pizzas. There's variety in the bread basket – opt for your garlic bread to be plain or dotted with cheese and bacon, and the woodfired flatbread comes with either a dukkah and hummus combo or garlicky with a ricotta salata. Bigger plates mostly stick to the classic meat-and-potatoes formula — the oven-baked barramundi with dukkah potatoes and caper beurre blanc stands out – though there's also a prawn pappardelle and wholesome roasted cauliflower with portobello mushrooms and a side salad for vegos. The cosy nooks and crannies around the pub were designed to turn it into a social hub, and that ethos is echoed by the discounted senior offering and a kids' menu. Everything on the latter comes with a nostalgic Dixie cup or a frog in the pond for dessert – and all prices drop to zero on Thursday, when kids eat for free. Other weekly specials include a $25 steak night on Tuesday, $25 parmi and trivia on Wednesday, raffles on Friday and live music over the weekend. Sunday Roast comes in at $29 on Sundays, accompanied by kids' entertainment in the afternoon. Visit the Royal Mail Hotel website for more information or to make a booking.
Planes are not the first mode of transportation you associate with relaxation. Sure, Qantas plaster their lounges with posters about gourmet dining at 30,000 feet and if you're in first class you can settle into the flight with a warm lavender scented towel on your face (I assume). But for most of us, flying is a literal rollercoaster of anxiety and frustration. On every trip, I have the same devastating thought: Is this how I die? "She went peacefully," the eulogy will read. "The air hostess plied her with a $10 plastic cup of wine and she seemed mildly entertained by the rerun of Modern Family." Anyway. Apparently, it's not all that bad. When planes are stationary, closer to the ground and filled with handcrafted luxury items, they're okay by me. Enter Costa Rica's Costa Verde resort — the world's premier destination for finery and fuselage. Crafted from the airframe of an abandoned 1965 Boeing 727, Costa Verde's Phoenix Suite is understandably the hotel's 'most exclusive' accommodation. The two-bedroom luxury suite is entirely fitted out with Costa Rican teak panelling and hand-crafted Indonesian furniture, and it also a large deck on what was once the plane's right wing. Nestled at the edge of the Manuel Antonio National Park, this suite offers amazing access to the nation's wildlife too. Sloths, iguanas, birds and butterflies roam freely around the area, but most famously the grounds are home to a large variety of monkeys — squirrel, howler, and white-faced. As you might expect, it's somewhat exxy ($250-750 per night without taxes). Perhaps you could write it off as a medical expense — an entirely necessary measure to cure your fear of flying. Regardless, in the land where money is no object and all the animal kingdom are at one with us, we would like to be taken there immediately. Via Lost At E Minor.
He's played a shimmering vampire in the Twilight films, a circus newcomer in Water for Elephants, a photographer friend of James Dean in Life and a desperate small-time criminal in Good Time. Also on his resume: battling in the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, stepping into Salvador Dali's shoes in Little Ashes, roaming around the Australian outback in The Rover, heading to space in High Life and enduring a nightmarish seaside ordeal in The Lighthouse. Yes, we're talking about Robert Pattinson, who'll also add Batman to his hefty list of roles next year — but, before then, he's playing a creepy man of faith in Netflix's new thriller The Devil All the Time. Since leaving terrible supernatural teen romance franchises behind, Pattinson has chosen many an impressive, interesting part. Indeed, add the David Cronenberg-directed Cosmopolis and Maps to the Stars, the unnerving The Childhood of a Leader, biographical drama The Lost City of Z and Shakespeare adaptation The King to the above lineup, too. So, playing an unholy and unsettling preacher in a small Ohio town between World War II and the Vietnam war seems right up his alley. That said, as The Devil All the Time's just-dropped first trailer shows, Pattinson is just one of the film's many stars. Tom Holland leads the charge as Arvin Russell, who finds himself surrounded by sinister figures — including not only Pattinson as Reverend Preston Teagardin, but Jason Clarke and Riley Keough as a twisted couple, plus Sebastian Stan as a corrupt sheriff. In a movie adapted Donald Ray Pollock's novel of the same name, IT's Bill Skarsgård also pops up, as do Aussie actors Mia Wasikowska and Eliza Scanlen. If it all sounds rather disquieting, that's the point, in a tense feature that promises a fight between the just and the crooked. It certainly looks the part and, hitting Netflix on September 16, The Devil All the Time also boasts Simon Killer and Christine's Antonio Campos behind the lens as well. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIzazUv2gtI The Devil All the Time hits Netflix on September 16. Top images: Glen Wilson/Netflix.
Gelato probably isn't your regular first meal of the day, but it's not unheard of either. For instance, Sicilians stuff sweet ice cream inside warm bread to create brioche con gelato. But despite Messina's Italian roots, the team is ready to reveal a more Aussie-inspired anytime treat, where gelato meets muesli as part of a limited-edition scoop. Created in collaboration with regenerative macadamia farmers, Brookfarm, a brand-new breakfast gelato flavour — Good Morning, Honey — is about to hit Messina stores nationwide for one week only. Combining creamy honey gelato made with Australian rainforest honey, each bite is packed with chewy clusters of Brookfarm's Toasted Macadamia Muesli, coated with churned coconut butter for even more crunch. "This is the first time Messina has ever used muesli in a flavour, and what an innovation it has been. As soon as the team tasted Brookfarm's muesli, we knew it would make a great addition to a gelato flavour," said Donato Toce, head creative chef and co-owner of Gelato Messina. Yet this breakfast-inspired ice cream is celebrating more than just a timeless morning meal. Brookfarm is marking its 25th birthday with this first-of-its-kind collab, growing from a rundown dairy farm in the Byron Bay hinterland to a thriving macadamia orchard responsible for top-notch muesli, granola, porridge and more. "Whether you're a breakfast lover, a gelato lover, or a bit of both, we're confident people are going to fall in love with this flavour," says Brookfarm CEO Will Brook. "Messina has married the flavours of Brookfarm's Toasted Macadamia Muesli and local Rainforest honey perfectly with their creamy gelato base." Available from Thursday, November 27–Thursday, December 4, or until sold out, a scoop of Good Morning, Honey is your chance to enjoy guilt-free cereal for dinner or gelato for breakfast. Just swing by your nearest Gelato Messina store to discover whether ice cream goes hand in hand with the first meal of the day. Gelato Messina and Brookfarm's Good Morning, Honey gelato is available in Gelato Messina locations nationwide from Thursday, November 27–Thursday, December 4, or until sold out. Head to the website for more information.
There's something about the onset of sunnier weather and the urge to stray past our comfort zones. Once the brief spell that Brisbanites call winter passes each year, our feet start itching to range beyond the city limits, down winding highways and in search of adventure. Thankfully, southeast Queensland — and northern New South Wales, too — delivers plenty of places that trekkers should and do journey to for a day of fun in the sun. For those with a bad case of wanderlust, we've compiled a list of top picks. Be warned: you probably won't be able to stop at just one. [caption id="attachment_888494" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Sand, Snorkelling and Shipwrecks: Moreton Island When a certain advertising campaign asked "where else but Queensland?", it could've been referring to the state's island problem — because deliberating over which scenic offshore landmass to visit is the kind of issue that only the lucky are blessed with. The active and outdoorsy already know this, with a trip to Moreton Island at the top of their must-do (or must-do-again) list. Snorkelling and submerging at the iconic Tangalooma Wrecks dive site is the main attraction, as well as peering out from the historical lighthouse and playing in the sand. If your imagination is firing, you can pretend you're exploring Titanic-like shipwrecks, fantasise about reliving your childhood Round the Twist dreams and conjure up visions of Dune, all in one spot. Moreton Island is 90 minutes from Brisbane via the Micat ferry (prebooking essential). [caption id="attachment_702565" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Marvelling at a Waterfall: Queen Mary Falls Sometimes, you just have to ignore the wisdom of memorable 90s tracks and go chasing waterfalls. One of Queensland's best is located in the Main Range National Park — in the Warwick region, and 11 kilometres east of the town of Killarney, to be precise. To get to Queen Mary Falls, you'll walk along a two-kilometre return circuit, which takes around 40 minutes. The trek will get you from the leafy base to the top of this towering wonder, complete with a spectacular view down its 40-metre drop from the lookout at cascade's apex. You'll also find a picnic and barbecue area, because who wouldn't want to soak in this rainforest wonder for as long as possible? A tip: bring your comfiest, sturdiest walking shoes, because getting so close to the spray results in some rather slippery rocks. Queen Mary Falls is about two hours from Brisbane. [caption id="attachment_702568" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland / Jewels Lynch[/caption] For Wine-Fuelled Picnics: Stanthorpe Are you a beach grinch? If so, you're going to want to day trip in the western rather than eastern direction. And while you're roaming away from the Queensland coastline, you probably want to make a beeline for Stanthorpe, where the focus isn't on splashing about but on cheese and wine. The area isn't called vino country for no reason. With more than 50 cellar doors to choose from, you won't be lacking for something to do. Of course, plonk isn't the only precious stuff the town is known for, with its birth actually owed to minerals and a mining rush. Fossick for topaz and quartz — or track down huge granite boulder towers in Girraween National Park, a giant stone pyramid in the nearby village of Ballandean or get lost in the Granite Belt Maze. Stanthorpe is a three-hour drive from Brisbane along the National Highway A15. [caption id="attachment_888499" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Charles Hill, Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For an All-in-One Island Getaway: Minjerribah If you've lived in Brisbane long enough, you've been to Minjerribah, aka North Stradbroke Island, at least once — and there's a reason it's a day-tripper's favourite destination, especially when the weather is fine. The second-largest sand island in the world (after nearby K'gari, aka Fraser Island) offers variety that defies its island status, spanning five main beaches for surfing and sunbathing, plus freshwater lakes for paddling through, wetlands to stomp around in and a lookout to spot whales from. Plus, the two-kilometre Mount Vane walking track boasts plenty of highlights, including 360-degree views of Moreton Bay and Quandamooka country. Once all that frolicking around in nature has you seeking a brief sojourn, a stopover at the famous local pub — Stradbroke Island Beach Hotel — is a must. North Stradbroke Island is two hours from Brisbane along Old Cleveland Road. [caption id="attachment_702569" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Swimming with Marine Life: Bundaberg and Bargara If you can handle an early morning start, a late arrival home and a bit of extra time in the car, then you really should make the drive to Bundaberg and Bargara at least once. Just don't expect bustling shopping strips and a thriving cafe scene, because you won't find them here. What you will find is a picturesque area surrounded by national park on one side and beach on the other, with the two towns — a mere 13 kilometres apart — separated by sugarcane fields. When you can do things as diverse as tour the Bundaberg Rum factory, spy nesting turtles at the Mon Repos Conservation Park (which scored a $22 million redevelopment a few years back) and swim with marine life, who needs the usual tourist haunts? Bundaberg is four hours from Brisbane along the M1. [caption id="attachment_886636" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Getting Active on the Beach: Rainbow Beach Yearning for a coastal spot off the beaten path, but don't know where to head? Afraid that most of Queensland's stunning beach spots have become busy tourist meccas? Located just past Gympie, Rainbow Beach might actually be that dream spot you've conjured up. Taking its name from the multi-coloured dunes that line its shores and stem from deposits of minerals such as rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite, the former sand-mining site turned Sunshine Coast holiday town is quaint, gorgeous and just the right kind of quiet. Looking like it belongs on a postcard, it's perched on the edge of the Great Sandy National Park and boasts all the outdoor activities you could want. Fancy a 4WD down the beach? A horse ride in the ocean? A kayak, hang glide and paraglide? You'll find it all here. Rainbow Beach is about three hours from Brisbane via the M1. [caption id="attachment_702576" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Trekking Through a Rainforest: Springbrook National Park Going beachy isn't the only way to have a wet and wild day trip in the driving vicinity of Brisbane. In fact, you can head to Springbrook National Park and not even get your feet damp — and remain perfectly happy about it. Revelling in the great outdoors, you'll be distracted by the many rainforest-set walking tracks and lookouts, and by feasting on the picnic you brought along — not to mention waiting until dark to spy a peek at glow worms. If you want a splash of H2O, however, the rock bridge, plunging waterfall and arched cave that comprises the Natural Arch is the place to head to. You can't swim there, but you can marvel at its crisp air and overall coolness. Springbrook is a two-hour drive from Brisbane along the Pacific Motorway. [caption id="attachment_888497" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Art, Cuckoo Clocks and Mountain Views: Montville Sometimes, the best thing about a day trip is the change of scenery. At Montville, the mountainous sights really are something to behold — and something vastly different from Brisbane as well. When you're not soaking in the view, including while enjoying a meal, you could be browsing galleries, shopping for opals and hearing the chimes of cuckoo clocks in the Sunshine Coast hinterland's main strip. To make a real day of it, go the long way round, stop by Kondalilla Falls for a refreshing dip on the way into town, then drop into one of the vineyards on your way home. Yes, you do need wine as a souvenir. Montville is one hour and 40 minutes from Brisbane along the M1. [caption id="attachment_888498" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] For Boating, Fishing and Barbecuing: Lake Wivenhoe If your only experience with Wivenhoe Dam is hearing about its levels in times of drought and restrictions, then prepare to visit somewhere both peaceful and practical. The water reserve one-hour northwest of Brisbane is the kind of spot where you can easily spend a day doing little but relaxing, making it the ideal way to while away part of a weekend. Head to either the Hays Landing or Billies Bay recreation areas to swim, potter around in your non-fuel-powered boat (if you happen to know someone who has one), fish (though you'll need a permit), or simply laze around in the fresh air. Don't forget to bring a stock of food that you can grill on the barbecue, too, to complete what we have to call a damn good outdoor experience. Wivenhoe Dam is a one-hour drive from Brisbane on the M2. [caption id="attachment_675431" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Byron at Byron[/caption] For Giant Prawns and Poolside Cockails: Ballina and Byron Bay Jumping in a car with your mates and coasting over the border to one of New South Wales' lesser-known spots — now that's a Brisbane rite of passage. You can basically throw a pin at a map of the northern coast and find a great beachside place to visit, but only one is the home of the big prawn. Yes, really. Ballina also boasts a historic waterfront trail where spotting dolphins isn't unusual, plus the kind of rolling surf that laps at the mouth of the town's river and makes for gentle watery fun. The Byron Bay Wildlife Sanctuary features among the region's attractions, for those fond of animals. Then, on the way back up to Brissie, stop by Crystalbrook Byron for a happy hour cocktail by the pool. Ballina is a three-hour drive from Brisbane along the Pacific Motorway. You can find Abbott's Bakery products at all major supermarkets — and discover more tasty sandwich recipes via its website. Top image: Tourism and Events Queensland.
Dig in deep and revive that Saddle Club phase. Whether you're hiding a few Gymkhana medals under your belt or don't know your stirrup from your saddle, there's a horse riding institute to suit any level of experience in Brisbane and its surrounds. You can get friends together and try your luck at riding into a sunset, or go solo like the man from Snowy River — all you need is a pair of jodhpurs, some RMs, and maybe a Telfast or two. RAINBOW BEACH HORSE RIDES One of Australia's most beautiful strips of surf and sand, Rainbow Beach is as pristine a place as any to saddle up and go for a ride. Andrew and Kirsty McCarthy run Rainbow Beach Horse Rides, one of those picturesque little ventures that seems like never-ending fun and the dream of small businesses. With a team of certified trail guides and some of the prettiest and quietest horses this side of the equator, Rainbow Beach Horse Rides is the perfect little adventure for when you've got a free, hot summer's day. SLICKERS HORSE RIDING If there's one thing better than a nice relaxing trail ride, it's a nice relaxing trail ride that involves a stopover at a pub or winery. Slickers Horse Riding at Ocean View (45 minutes drive from Brisbane) offers a variety of different day trips and activities on horseback, such as pub and winery tours, farm stays, moonlight rides and birthday parties. The pub ride kicks off at 10am, with riders travelling down the mountainside to the Crown Hotel for a couple of drinks and big pub meal. The winery ride stops of at Ocean View Estates Winery for a tasting of some great local wines and a cheese board. Good luck staying in the saddle after your third or fourth glass. COWBOY UP TRAIL RIDING The phrase 'cowboy up' refers to that point in time where things are feeling a little tough, and all you can do is dust yourself off and keep trying. And that's what Cowboy Up Trail Riding is all about: a relaxing ride to give you the chance to 'cowboy up' for the rest of your day, week or month. Situated about 20 minutes outside Crows Nest (or a two-hour drive from Brisbane), this trail riding club offers docile horses, comfortable western saddles and the chance to ride through rollings hills that lay ground to magnificent views of mountains and farmlands. Chances are you'll also see a wallaby, deer or native bird or two. If you're looking to up your horse riding game, Cowboy Up also offer cattle musters, office parties, whip cracking lessons and a monthly moonlight ride. HORSE RIDING QUEENSLAND TRAIL RIDES Okay, so you might have to dig deep into your pockets for this one (around $100 per person) but we can give you some solid assurance that it's worth every buck. Horse Riding Queensland are the kingpins of our state horse riding scene — we assume there is a scene — which means they've got sound expertise and know-how to set up the perfect environment for beginners. Situated in Alberton, only a half an hour drive from Brisbane, Horse Riding Queensland is close enough to the city to be a convenient half-day trip, but also shows off beautiful paddocks and Australian bushland without a main road in sight. MARY VALLEY ADVENTURE TRAILS If you're looking for a great combo of rainforest and beachside trail riding, then Mary Valley Adventure Trails can deliver. As a minimum, $120 gets you a half-day ride (around three hours) — but if you're after something more serious, they've also got full day and multi-day rides on offer. You'll get to ride through the beautiful Gold Coast hinterland and witness spectacular views all from up in the saddle. If you're looking to stay a little longer in the area, they can happily recommend accommodation. Added bonus: they also offer trail rides for children and sell gift vouchers if you're stuck for a Chrissy gift. Good luck up there in the saddle, and remember: be a Lisa, not Veronica. Top image: Dollar Photo Club
What's better than grabbing a meal from a food truck? Trying to choose from a lineup of meals-on-wheels vendors at a food truck pop-up, of course. And that's what's on offer at Abbeville Street Park in Upper Mount Gravatt on Saturday, August 29, with the event rounding up some of Brisbane's standout mobile eateries for a tasty afternoon. Micasa Burger Truck, Rolls Pho Mi and Tender Calamari will all be in attendance, so you can pick different types of cuisine for your late lunch, arvo snack or dinner — or grab something from all three. For dessert, Gelato a Go Go will be there too, so clearly you know what's on offer. Fittingly, this get-together is called the Mt Gravatt Food Truck Pop-Up, and it takes place from 3–7pm. Bring your wallet and your appetite, obviously. The Mt Gravatt Food Truck Pop-Up takes place from 3–7pm on Saturday, August 29 at Abbeville Street Park, Upper Mount Gravatt.
If you're spending a night in a hotel for a romantic evening away from your own sheets, W Brisbane wants to give your next visit to the riverside spot a buzz. Because it's that time of year where everyone's thinking about love and lust (like that's not happening everyday anyway), the inner-city hotel is transforming its suites into sexual wellness havens. And as well as nabbing access to an in-room lingerie selection, you'll also get to play with a mini bar filled with sex toys. Whether you're enjoying a Brissie staycation or you're in town from further afield, you you can book into the hotel chain's new 'love your buzz' package, which is on offer in partnership with Lovehoney Australia. It's available from Monday, February 14 (of course) up until Thursday, March 31 — and while it doesn't come cheap, with prices starting at $1569, hopefully you and your partner will be coming into quite the pleasurable stay. As well as that $800-plus mini bar filled with sex toys and the Lovehoney lingerie — both complimentary — the room includes access to a 'sexologist concierge' service, which lets you book in a free phone consultation through sexologist Chantelle Otten's clinic. You'll also be able to watch a dedicated on-demand streaming service filled with educational sexual wellness videos (so no one will be blushing over in-room movie rental charges), and listen to playlists that've been curated by sexologists and sex coaches to get you in the mood. The package features champagne on arrival as well, plus breakfast for two in your room and a bath soak — because you'll be staying in one of W Brisbane's luxury suites, which has a tub. If you do celebrate Valentine's Day, this is quite the way to do it. And if you're after something slightly less pricey, there's also a 'what the buzz' package from $969 (yes, we meant it when we said slightly cheaper) that comes with a night in a luxury suite, champers upon arrival, a bubble bath, in-room brekkie for two and a Lovehoney couples sex toy kit. For more information about W Brisbane's 'love your buzz' and 'what the buzz' packages, or to book a room before Thursday, March 31, head to the hotel's website.
Twenty years. Twelve seasons, plus a round of revival specials. Oh-so-many music and comedy guests. As at 2025, that's the Spicks and Specks story. This year marks two decades since the series first debuted on the ABC — and through cancellations, new hosts, bringing back its OG talents and more, the music quiz show has become a firm Australian favourite. To celebrate that longevity, its latest run will arrive in June. The ABC announced back in 2024 that Spicks and Specks would return this year. Now there's an exact date: Sunday, June 15. Adam Hills, Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough are all back — this time joined by Megan Washington, Marcia Hines, Kram, Lucy Durack and Robert Forster among the musicians, plus comedians Julia Morris, Tom Ballard, Dave O'Neil and Sara Pascoe. Hands on buzzers, again. Get ready to bust out all that music knowledge, and also to play along with one of the nation's most-beloved television shows once more, too. Among everything that the ABC has ever broadcast, be it news, entertainment, after-school kids shows, oh-so-much Doctor Who and late-night music videos to keep you occupied after a few drinks all included, Spicks and Specks is among the all-time highlights. 2025's season will also feature performances by Spiderbait, Montaigne, Paul Kelly, Emma Donovan, Pseudo Echo, Barry Morgan and The Living End. In the mid-00s, when the ABC decided to take a few cues from Britain's music quiz and comedy panel TV series Never Mind the Buzzcocks by creating Spicks and Specks, Australia's national broadcaster likely knew that it had a hit on its hands — but it mightn't have realised just how popular that the show would become. Here's how it works, if you need a refresher: the contestants answer questions, compete for points and just generally prove funny, too, all while the series puts Aussie musos and comedians against each other. Spicks and Specks was a weekly favourite when it first aired between 2005–2011 — and it keeps being resurrected. In fact, it has enjoyed more comebacks than John Farnham, although that has meant different things over the years. When the program was initially revived back in 2014, it did so with a new host and team captains, for instance. And when it started to make a return with its original lineup of Hills, Warhurst and Brough, it first did so via a one-off reunion special. That 2018 comeback became the ABC's most-watched show of that year. So, the broadcaster then decided to drop four new Spicks and Specks specials across 2019–20 and, for 2021, to bring back Spicks and Specks in its regular format. In 2022, ten new episodes hit — and then the show returned again in 2024. To tide you over until the 2025 episodes arrive, here's a clip from 2024's Spicks and Specks run: Spicks and Specks returns to ABC TV and ABC iView from Sunday, June 15, 2025.
It was a smash in Australia with Eryn Jean Norvill (Love Me) in the lead. When it made the leap to the UK starring Succession's Sarah Snook, it became the talk of London's West End, and also earned its one and only performer a 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her efforts. It's been picked up by Cate Blanchett's (Borderlands) production company Dirty Films to get the film treatment. And, now it's heading to Broadway. Sydney Theatre Company's version of The Picture of Dorian Gray keeps doing huge things — and its latest jump to the most-famous stage district there is will also keep Snook at its centre. She's making her Broadway debut playing all 26 of the play's parts, with the production hitting New York from March 2025. When STC's take on The Picture of Dorian Gray premiered in 2020 — and then also played theatres in Melbourne and Adelaide — it didn't just give Oscar Wilde's gothic-literature masterpiece a fresh spin; it turned it into a brand-new stage sensation. Not only does the show feature just one performer playing every single character but, to make that happen, it uses video to help. It's the work of writer/director Kip Williams, it's groundbreaking, and it's been understandably earning audiences raves and winning accolades. On the page, The Picture of Dorian Gray is exceptional, as well as astute and unnerving, as it follows the selling of its namesake's soul in order to keep indulging every corporeal whim, urge and desire. There's a reason that it just keeps getting adapted for the screen and in theatres, after all. But there's never been a version like Sydney Theatre Company's, which Broadway patrons now get to experience. "It was a singular privilege to bring The Picture of Dorian Gray to life in London and I am thrilled we will be able to share this astonishing production with audiences in New York," said Sarah Snook about the news. "From Oscar Wilde's timeless words to the masterful reinterpretation Kip Williams has created, this tale of virtue, corruption, vanity and repercussion is an electrifying journey for me as much as for the audiences, and I am filled with anticipation as we continue on this ambitious creative endeavour." "I was so humbled by the response from audiences in London to The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I could not be more thrilled to be bringing this work to Broadway. It has been extraordinary to witness the way Oscar Wilde's story continues to resonate with people today," added Williams. "I am so excited for audiences in New York to experience our show and to see the tour-de-force performance Sarah Snook gives in bringing to life the many characters in this new adaptation of Wilde's remarkable story." Check out the trailer for the Broadway season of The Picture of Dorian Gray below: The Picture of Dorian Gray will play Broadway in New York from March 2025 — for more information and to join the waitlist for tickets, head to the play's website. Images: Marc Brenner.
Across four seasons of Stranger Things so far, entering a rift to the Upside Down hasn't transported anyone Down Under. But jumping into the hit Netflix series' world keeps proving a reality in Australia — first via one of those portals popping up in Bondi back in 2022, and next courtesy of Stranger Things: The Experience, which has just locked in its Aussie debut at Luna Park Sydney as part of Vivid's 2025 program. Luna Park Sydney and immersive experiences based on Netflix shows keep going hand in hand of late; from the end of 2024, the Harbour City tourist attraction also hosted Squid Game: The Experience, letting small-screen fans dive into another streaming smash. Stranger Things: The Experience will run from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14. The must-attend event falls into the Ideas portion of Vivid's lineup. Get ready to visit 1986 — and also Hawkins, Indiana, of course — in what promises to be an interactive stint of Stranger Things-loving fun. Locations from the show are part of the setup, as is a supernatural mystery. And yes, you can expect to feel nostalgic, even if you don't have your own memories of the 80s because you hadn't been born yet. Stranger Things: The Experience isn't just about visiting recreations of settings that you've seen while watching Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, The Electric State) and the gang. The installation features its own storyline, where playing along means trying to save Hawkins from yet another threat. And yes, you will take a trip to the Upside Down. You'll also be able to drink themed cocktails. Based on its time in other cities, Demogorgons and/or Vecna might await, too, along with Christmas lights, Scoops Ahoy and Surfer Boy Pizza. The experience initially opened in New York in 2022, and has enjoyed dates with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, London, Paris and São Paulo since, with a Rio de Janeiro stint also on the way. Hanging out for new Stranger Things back in your Netflix queue? That's due to happen in 2025, when the show's fifth and final series arrives — although there's no exact release date as yet.
When the sun dips below the skyline, Melbourne switches from chic boutiques and specialty coffee to a city that doesn't sleep. Despite the unpredictable-at-best weather, Melburnians still turn out for after-dark activities. Whether it's seeing a gig or grabbing a late-night feed, there's no shortage of things to do in Melbourne once the sun sets. This evening culture is one of the reasons why Melbourne has been crowned Australia's number one night-time hot spot. This is according to the Visa Australia Night-time Economy Index 2025, a new in-depth analysis measuring data such as spending, vibrancy, venues open and the amount of nightworkers boosting the economy after dark. Sydney's CBD came in second with a night-time Vibe Score of 74.3 to Melbourne's 82. Data from the Visa Vibe Economy report, commissioned by Visa and conducted by McCrindle, also found that the Victorian capital is dining out at restaurants more frequently than other cities after dark. Unsurprising. Whether you want to get out of the house more now that the weather is warming up, or are looking to impress an interstate mate, here's what to do in Melbourne after dark. [caption id="attachment_1031981" align="alignleft" width="1920"] AO Live[/caption] Catch a Gig or Game Melbourne, like most of Australia, truly comes alive in the summertime, especially after dark. From The Forum's endless stream of live music to Howler and Northcote Social Club's smaller venues up north, you can see both local and international acts all season long. Over at Melbourne Park, there are sports games including soccer, basketball and in January, world-class tennis at the Australian Open. AO Live is heading to Melbourne again this summer, so you can combine sport and culture under one roof. If you prefer to play games yourself, Holey Moley has two mini golf courses in the city: one at Crown Casino and one on Little Bourke Street. [caption id="attachment_722678" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Stalactites[/caption] Late-Night Bites According to the Visa Vibe Economy Report, dining out is Australia's most loved after-dark activity, with 76 percent of respondents venturing to their favourite restaurants for a post-work feed. Night markets were also high up on the list of preferred nighttime activities. In Melbourne, venues like Butchers Diner on Bourke Street and Pizza, Pizza, Pizza (also on Bourke Street) serve up greasy comfort food that still sticks to the city's high food standards. Pizza, Pizza, Pizza also offers a hidden bar behind the counter, where you can lose track of time and enjoy cocktails until late into the evening. Chinatown is a mecca for late-night eats. Wander up the street and take your pick of the most succulent dumplings and noodle dishes the city has to offer. Another 3am institution is Stalactites in the city, a respite for late-night workers and revellers. Keep your eyes peeled for Melbourne's buzzing night markets, including the Queen Victoria Market's summer edition, which runs from now until March 2026. [caption id="attachment_984535" align="alignleft" width="1920"] NGV[/caption] Culture After Dark Melbourne is a city of culture, even into the night. Every Friday night from December to April, the National Gallery of Victoria hosts NGV Friday Nights. Punters can wander the summer exhibition (this season features Westwood | Kawakubo) after dark, soaking in the culture and art under the cover of night. Enjoy a glass of bubbles and a canapé in the Great Hall before jumping on a tram to see where the night takes you. If you prefer your science and culture child-free, the Melbourne Museum hosts monthly after-hours adult entry on Friday nights. Enjoy the exhibits (without screaming children), take in a themed talk and toast to the weekend ahead. Looking for a date night option? Try the Moonlight Cinema at the Royal Botanic Gardens. It's the perfect blend of chill and culture. Simply bring a picnic blanket and snacks, and you can watch a classic as the sun sets over the city. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2026 season. Down the road, Southbank's theatre district is a buzzy blend of music and theatre lovers, plus if you book your tickets early, you can often find good deals and soak up some premier culture. From 2am dumplings in Chinatown to catching the best in live music and culture, there's always an after-dark adventure to find in Melbourne. Discover the vibe near you. Lead image: NGV Friday Nights
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from July's haul. Brand-New Stuff You Can Watch From Start to Finish Now Fake A drive to the airport in a rideshare is one of life's mundane experiences, whether or not you're en route to a wedding, and also regardless of if you're meant to be collecting your partner and their dry-cleaned suit along the way. In Fake, this routine journey on an average Melbourne day is a masterclass in tension, a portrait of an unravelling and an unwanted realisation unfurling with no escape. With journalist Birdie Bell (Asher Keddie, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) sitting in the backseat as much that she's trusted melts down, it's a stunning episode of television, arriving five instalments into this eight-part Australian thriller that tells a page-to-screen and reality-to-fiction tale. Viewers spend the preceding four episodes of Fake waiting for a moment like this. For those who haven't read Stephanie Wood's memoir of the same name, charting her time dating a former architect-turned-grazier who pairs his grand romantic gestures with erratic behaviour, there's still no doubt that it's coming. It has to, and not just because series creator Anya Beyersdorf (The Twelve) and her co-scribes Jessica Tuckwell (Year Of) and Hyun Lee (Born to Spy) have Birdie's beau Joe Burt (David Wenham, Elvis) note in voiceover that she was onto him from the get-go. While Fake is a love- and lies-fuelled saga, it's also about how someone gets taken in not by the kind of narratives that Joe spins but by the emotions that they prey upon, even when their intuition tingles at the outset — and how deceptions like this, from someone manipulating others and someone fooling themselves alike, always shatter. The words "Joe, 51, grazier" on a dating app introduce the ex-property big shot to Birdie; however, everything that he utters on their first date almost halts their romance there. When the pair meet at a sleek bar, he has a business acquaintance (Yuchen Wang, White Fever) in tow and talks only of himself, grandstanding with the recognisable arrogance of someone who refuses to believe (or simply hasn't stopped once to consider) that they aren't the most-interesting person in the room. She cuts and leaves quickly, despite his insistence to the waitstaff that they'll share more wine. Then she ignores his persistent follow-ups afterwards, until she doesn't — but really should've. Fake streams via Paramount+. Read our full review. The Devil's Bath Suspense and tension, how to cultivate such a strong atmosphere of unease that it feels as if it drips from the screen, the darker side of human nature, sheer existential exasperation: writer/directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala know these things. The Austrian filmmakers are just as well-aware of how to make movies that crawl under your skin as much as distress does with their characters. For that sensation at its very best, see: Goodnight Mommy, their Oscar-submitted 2014 debut (which was then remade in America in 2022). The Devil's Bath earns the same description, too. The duo's first feature since 2019's Riley Keough (Under the Bridge)-starring English-language horror flick The Lodge, it needles deep as it follows new bride Agnes (Anja Plaschg, Axolotl Overkill), who is thrilled to be starting her married life to Wolf (David Scheig, Heribet), even if that joy doesn't seem completely reciprocated. Relationship disharmony bubbles at the heart of this 18th century-set film, but that's not the only force bearing down on a woman that no longer has any agency — and, soon, little hope left simmering as well. Franz and Fiala begin The Devil's Bath with a different scene of domestic struggle. They haunt their viewers from the outset, too. First up, a woman throws a baby over a waterfall, then turns herself in for punishment, knowing that she'll meet her end via decapitation. With that scene as a prologue, it hardly appears strange that Agnes is thrilled to receive a severed finger as a wedding gift — a digit that's meant to bring luck for starting a family. But nothing in the way of good fortunes spring when she's soon away from her other loved ones, left alone in a woodland cottage as Wolf works by day, stuck navigating his disinterest in the bedroom each evening and frowned upon constantly by her new mother-in-law (Maria Hofstätter, Andrea Gets a Divorce). There's history to Franz and Fiala's screenplay, which draws upon real events, and the mood of despair that seeps from returning Goodnight Mommy cinematographer Martin Gschlacht's grey-toned frames sports a can-only-be-true bite to it. There's little sunshine shed on the imagery, or on the way that people treat each other — and there's even more terror in realising that the lines between this arresting picture's vision of the past, even as set within a deeply superstitious and puritanical community, and today are far from faint. The Devil's Bath streams via Shudder and AMC+. The Imaginary Since Studio Ponoc made its feature debut in 2017 with Mary and the Witch's Flower, a question has remained: when is its next film coming? That query was answered in 2023 in Japan, and has now arrived in 2024 on streaming — and The Imaginary is a delight worth the wait. If you didn't know when sitting down to either of the company's movies that they hailed from an animation house founded by a Studio Ghibli alum, you'd guess while watching. A producer on The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There — and also The Boy and the Heron since — Yoshiaki Nishimura scripted Studio Ponoc's second picture, too. His source material is the AF Harrold-penned, Emily Gravett-illustrated British children's book that gives The Imaginary its name, just as Mary and the Witch's Flower found its story on the page as well. Prepare to be enchanted, even as viewers beyond the film's homeland get their third flick this year about imaginary friends. Not just Blumhouse horror movie Imaginary but the John Krasinski (A Quiet Place Part II)-directed IF have nothing on this, though, despite sharing more than a few plot details. This'll sound familiar, then: imaginary friends exist, but can't always be seen as children grow up and forget about their buddies. When they're no longer a kid's best friend, they dwell in their own space, eager to have a flesh-and-blood pal again. So discovers Rudger (Kokoro Terada, Tokyo Poltergeist), companion to Amanda (Rio Suzuki, Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!!). He's been dreamed up, she's human, and they spend every moment of her spare time in the attic above her home — which is itself above her widowed mother's (Sakura Andô, Godzilla Minus One) closing-down bookshop — going everywhere that she can conjure up. Alas, thanks to the sinister Mr Bunting (Issei Ogata, Kotaro Lives Alone), the one exception to spying imaginaries as an adult, they're torn from each other's side. Bringing Nishimura's screenplay to life with vivid and gorgeous hand-drawn visuals, director Yoshiyuki Momose's (Ni no Kuni) feature doesn't just cast aside the other recent pictures that served up spins on a similar situation. He does that as well, of course, but also achieves what Japanese animation manages so splendidly and consistently: dives into the fantastical with a wellspring of genuine emotions. The Imaginary streams via Netflix. Omnivore What does it take to get a world-famous chef out of their kitchen? Every time that a new culinary series reaches the screen, that should be the audience's question. Why has someone so skilled in the art of cooking — a talent that they've meticulously and passionately honed for years, to great success and also to the immense benefit of grateful diners — stepped out of their favourite place and in front of the camera? In plenty of such instances, chefs remain chefs on-screen. They talk. They cook. They give viewers the lowdown on how to prepare their dishes at home. Getting René Redzepi out of Noma and onto streaming wasn't about following that well-thumbed recipe, however. Rather, in the David Attenborough- and Planet Earth-inspired Omnivore, he branches beyond the three-Michelin-starred Copenhagen eatery that's been voted the planet's best by The World's 50 Best Restaurants a whopping five times — from 2010–12, and also in 2014 and 2021 — to instead tell the tale of some of the staple ingredients that humanity wouldn't and couldn't exist without. Eight types of foodstuffs receive Omnivore's attention in its first season, starting with chilli, then moving onto tuna, salt, bananas, pigs, rice, coffee and corn. A certainty while watching, and listening to Redzepi narrate the journey: never thinking about any of these ingredients the same way again. Expect to yearn to taste different spicy meals, to visit Japan's tuna markets, to cook with the best of the best salt and to try kinds of bananas that you didn't previously know existed. Expect to gain a greater appreciation of the entire ecosystem that gets each one of the show's chosen foods to your plate — and the impact of the world's ecosystem upon them, and vice versa. Alongside Redzepi and Anthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown alum Matt Goulding, filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die, Beasts of No Nation, True Detective season one) is one of Omnivore's driving forces, and it shows visually. Also evident: the care and dedication that Redzepi has put into sharing the series' slices of life, including the intimate portraits of those involved in the production of everything from pork products to corn's many edible uses. Omnivore streams via Apple TV+. Read our interview with René Redzepi and Ben Liebmann. Abbott Elementary The Parks and Recreation comparisons were there from the start with Abbott Elementary. This Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning comedy charts the hustle and bustle at the titular underfunded school in Philadelphia, rather than a government department in Pawnee, but the similarities have always been glaring. Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson, Miracle Workers) is the eager-beaver second-grade teacher keen to do everything she can for her students. Ava Coleman (Janelle James, Monsters at Work) is the principal content with coasting by on the bare minimum. There's even a newcomer in substitute Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams, The United States vs Billie Holiday), with whom sparks fly on Janine's part. It might seem a bold move to use one of the greatest-ever — warmest-ever, too — sitcoms as a template, or even just follow closely in its footsteps, but Abbott Elementary is up to the task. Those awards, which Parks and Recreation also deserved but rarely received, are well-earned by a series that is all heart, kindness and affection for one of the most-important careers there is, as well as appreciation for the obstacles facing US public-school teachers today. In its third season, Abbott Elementary knows that even a winning formula that's been proven elsewhere needs shaking up. So, it does the equivalent of Parks and Recreation sending Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler, Inside Out 2) to Washington by having Janine work for the school district to attempt to bring about change for her pupils at a higher level. It's a move that brings in the always-welcome Josh Segarra (The Big Door Prize) as her new boss, and also Keegan-Michael Key (IF) as the Superintendent that's his boss — and disrupts the status quo at the educational institution that she adores, including for her idol Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ray Donovan), plus colleagues Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter, The Right Mom) and Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti, Sound of Metal). The idea that one person can and does make a difference, no matter the recognition they do or don't receive, beats strongly in this good-natured series, which Brunson created and co-writes. So does a sense of humour about grappling with whatever the day throws your way, be it professional or personal chaos. Abbott Elementary streams via Disney+. Arcadian Filmmakers love imagining the world once life as we currently know it ceases to be. Even if some scenarios no longer play like hypotheticals — anything about pandemics, obviously, a realm that Contagion perfected with prophetic skill years in advance of COVID-19 — post-apocalyptic stories help us sift through the what ifs that plague our worst nightmares about humanity's possible unravelling. Accordingly, Arcadian doesn't unfurl a unique scenario, as a family endeavours to endure 15 years after the bulk of civilisation has been eradicated. But as it fill its duration with a father and his teenage boys as they eke out as happy a life as anyone can under such circumstances, or attempt to, all while needing to avoid monsters that strike by night and fear the light, this film has a few key components that make it stand out. Director Benjamin Brewer (The Trust) taunts his characters with foes that prove a striking feat of creature design, instantly carving their own place apart from the hordes of prior movie monsters. Also, the patriarch doing whatever it takes to protect his sons is played the one and only Nicolas Cage, who continues to hop between vastly dissimilar roles in the same month in Australia that's also delivered Longlegs to cinemas. Cage's Paul could be pals with John Krasinski's Lee from A Quiet Place, although he's parenting solo in Arcadian. Giving his kids as normal a routine as one can in the circumstances is his aim. The script by producer Mike Nilon (Braven) also gives him offspring curious about their reality, and insistent critters who aren't going to leave anyone alone. While there's a little convenience to parts of the plot, Cage, plus Jaeden Martell (Barry) and Maxwell Jenkins (Dear Edward) as Paul's sons Joseph and Thomas — and also Sadie Soverall (Saltburn) as a survivor from a nearby farm that isn't fond of outsiders — all give weighty performances that convey the emotional toll of fighting for every second and deeply realising that you'll never know if your next moment will be your last. And don't discount what affecting portrayals and unnerving beasts can do when combined. It isn't easy to craft creatures that not just startle but surprise as much as Arcadian's do. Trust Cage's latest genre effort, which also brings his work in Mandy, Color Out of Space and Pig to mind, to achieve that feat. Arcadian streams via Stan. Skywalkers: A Love Story When it comes to scaling great heights on-screen, viewers often fall into two camps if they're not real-life daredevils themselves. Some appreciate the spectacular sights and stunning feats safe in the knowledge that all that they're viewing is filmed footage, even in a documentary. Some still feel the need to virtually peer through their fingers, riding the same nerve-shredding fear that'd rush over them if they were confronted with the scene IRL. Whichever is your go-to, expect one of those reactions to arise while sitting down to Skywalkers: A Love Story. The movie played Sydney Film Festival 2024 in IMAX, but seeing it on a small screen doesn't rob it of its visual impact. Russian couple Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau are rooftoppers, starting out solo, first joining forces when he asked her to collaborate on a sponsored trip, then climbing higher and higher around the world — and the recordings of their gravity-defying ascents up buildings, along sky-high ledges, onto cranes on towering building sites and wherever else they can clamber up to is jaw-on-the-floor material for those who'd much rather remain on the ground. With 2018 documentary Momentum Generation about the era of surfers that Kelly Slater came up in, director Jeff Zimbalist unpacked an insular world for the masses with its main players as guides. Sharing the same credit with producer and first-time helmer Maria Bukhonina on Skywalkers: A Love Story, he takes the same approach with a different pastime. As a subtitle, A Love Story doesn't merely describe Beerkus and Nikolau's fixation with rooftopping, though, with Skywalkers laying bare their relationship from its beginning to the climb that threatens to send them on their separate ways: making it to the the tip of Merdeka 118, the Kuala Lumpur structure that reaches 678.9 metres into the heavens, ranking second on the world's largest skyscrapers list only to Dubai's Burj Khalifa. Nikolau doesn't just stand atop lofty properties, either, but busts out gymnastic and acrobatic poses, adding even more peril to their endeavours. Folks with a need to conquer such buildings aren't always worried about the legalities of their feats, making such a mission doubly tense — and giving this doco a heist-film feel as well. Beerkus and Nikolau smartly earmark the date of the 2022 World Cup final, when Argentina beat France on penalties, as their moment to go where no one had before on the just-built structure. Watching the outcome is nail-bitingly riveting. Skywalkers: A Love Story streams via Netflix. New and Returning Shows to Check Out Week by Week Sunny It doesn't matter what the weather holds for Suzie Sakamoto: with her husband and son missing when Sunny begins, the series' titular term can't apply to her days. An American in Kyoto (Rashida Jones, Silo), she's filled with grief over the potential loss of her Japanese family, anxiously awaiting any news that her spouse Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car) and their boy Zen (debutant Fares Belkheir) might've survived a plane crash. She'd prefer to do nothing except sit at home in case word comes; however, that's not considered to be mourning in the right way according to custom and also isn't appeasing her mother-in-law (Judy Ongg, Kaseifu no Mitazono). When Suzie soon has a robot for company — a homebot, an artificial-intelligence domestic helper that's an unexpected gift from Masa in this ten-part series, which adapts Colin O'Sullivan's 2018 novel The Dark Manual for the small screen — dwelling in her sorrow doesn't appear to be what he'd want in his absence, either. In this near-future vision of Japan, homebots are everywhere, aiding their humans with chores, organising tasks and plenty more — everywhere other than the Sakamoto house with its firmly anti-robot perspective, that is. Amid asking why her husband has not only sent the eponymous Sunny her way, but also why it's customised specifically to her, questions unsurprisingly spring about his true line of work. Has Suzie been married to a secret roboticist, rather than someone who designs refrigerators? What link does his job have with his disappearance? How does someone cope in such an already-traumatic situation when the person that they're possibly grieving mightn't be who they've said they are? Often with a science fiction twist, Apple TV+ can't get enough of mysteries. That truth is as engrained as the service's fondness for big-name talent, including across Severance, The Big Door Prize, Hello Tomorrow!, Silo, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Constellation, Sugar and Dark Matter. Thankfully, there's no content-factory feel to this lineup of shows. Sunny's closest equivalent hails from beyond the brand, bringing Charlie Brooker's Channel 4-started, now Netflix-made Black Mirror to mind, but even then it's far more interested in its characters than their relationship to technology. That said, that people and how they use tech remain the real enemy, not gadgets and advancements themselves, hums at the core of both series. Sunny streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. Futurama Good news, everyone — yet again. Futurama keeps returning, following an initial 1999–2003 run, then another from 2008–13, with a new comeback that began in 2023 and has not just this 2024 season locked in but also two more in years to come. Across the quarter of a century so far that Matt Groening's iconic show that's not The Simpsons has been on and off the air, much has changed about life off-screen. As a result, the details that it can project onto 31st-century existence have evolved as well. Squid Game parodies and NFTs would've made zero sense during the animated comedy's past stints, for instance. But whether satirising Y2K or chatbots, Futurama has almost felt adrift from time, blowing its own TV bubble to spoof the specifics of the day in its far-flung setting while consistently retaining the same vibe. Watch an early 00s-era episode, then one from the new batch, and it seems like nothing has passed between them. That's a skill that deserves all of the appreciation. For many other series, including ones that've existed for a far shorter duration, it's the stuff that dreams are made of — and, if he were real, that only someone like Professor Hubert J Farnsworth (Billy West, Spitting Image) could've managed. Futurama's longevity is a testament to its smart writing, sharp sense of humour and a setup that can keep pinballing in all directions. Where former 20th-century pizza delivery guy Philip J Fry (also voiced by West) can venture with the Professor and the crew of the latter's Planet Express cargo company — so, also with ship captain Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal, Dead to Me); robot Bender Bending Rodríguez (John DiMaggio, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts); and fellow employees Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr, Craig of the Creek), Amy Wong (Lauren Tom, Dragons: The Nine Realms) and Zoidberg (also West agin) — is limited only by Groening, fellow guiding hand David X Cohen (Disenchantment) and their team's imaginations. In the latest episodes, sometimes art heists come their way. Sometimes book clubs beckon. Bender's ancestry and the Martian equivalent of bullfighting all pop up, too. Layered in each is a mile-a-minute feast of jokes and a reflection of humanity's chaos today through a highly fictitious future. Long may it continue. Futurama streams via Disney+. Time Bandits If you're a history-loving kid who adores learning about existence before you popped into the world, doesn't fit in at home or at school thanks to that fascination, and regularly has your nose buried in a book, what's your ultimate fantasy? Time Bandits first explored that idea back in 1981, and now it's back to do it again in 2024. It takes bravery to go where Monty Python members Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin first did, remaking the pair's beloved movie — which The Man Who Killed Don Quixote's Gilliam directed and The New Incomplete and Utter History of Everything's Palin co-wrote with him — decades later. Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris are three such courageous folks. Together, the trio add a television take on the family-friendly flick to TV resumes that already include Wellington Paranormal, What We Do in the Shadows, Reservation Dogs, Our Flag Means Death, Flight of the Conchords and The Inbetweeners, and do so while giving audiences a gloriously entertaining time. Forget wondering if this second spin was necessary, aka the usual line of thinking when anything earns a new look; instead, the question is why didn't it happen earlier? Again, the focus is a boy called Kevin (Kal-El Tuck, Andy and the Band). Again, his parents (Wakefield's Felicity Ward and Deadpool & Wolverine's James Dryden) don't appreciate him or his interests. And again, the past demands even more of his attention when it suddenly and unexpectedly bursts out of his wardrobe. Cue zipping between different chapters of times gone by, via a scenario that the Bill & Ted franchise clearly owes a debt to, with the eponymous group (Better Nate Than Ever's Lisa Kudrow, Shardlake's Tadhg Murphy, You Don't Know Me's Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, The Riot's Rune Temte and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities' Charlyne Yi) reluctantly taking Kevin in. Waititi (Next Goal Wins) directs a few episodes, too, and appears on-screen. Clement (Avatar: The Way of Water) also does the latter. They're having a ball both in front of and behind the lens, a sense of fun that infuses every episode whether it's taking a trip to Troy, making a visit to the Mayans or dwelling in medieval times. Cue spotting more familiar faces along the way, such as Waititi regular Rachel House (Heartbreak High), Wellington Paranormal's Mike Minogue and Karen O'Leary, Next Goal Wins' Oscar Kightley, the What We Do in the Shadows movie's Jonny Brugh, Our Flag Means Death's Con O'Neill, plus Shaun Micallef (Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe) and Ross Noble. Time Bandits streams via Apple TV+. Recent Big-Screen Gems to Watch (or Rewatch) Now That They're Streaming Perfect Days When Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' enjoyed its initial sublime movie moment in Trainspotting, it soundtracked a descent into heroin's depths, including literally via the film's visual choices. For three decades since, that's been the tune's definitive on-screen use. Now drifts in Perfect Days, the Oscar-nominated Japan-set drama from German filmmaker Wim Wenders (Submergence). This slice-of-life movie takes its name from the song. It also places the iconic David Bowie-produced classic among the tracks listened to by toilet cleaner Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho, Vivant) as he goes about his daily routine. Fond of 60s- and 70s-era music, the Tokyo native's picks say everything about his mindset, both day by day and in his zen approach to his modest existence. 'Perfect Day' and Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good' each also sum up the feeling of watching this gorgeous ode to making the most of what you have, seeing beauty in the everyday and being in the moment. Not every tune that Hirayama pops into his van's tape deck — cassettes are still his format of choice — has the same type of title. Patti Smith's 'Redondo Beach', The Animals' 'The House of the Rising Sun', Otis Redding's '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay' and The Rolling Stones' '(Walkin' Thru the) Sleepy City' also rank among his go-tos, all reflecting his mood in their own ways. If there's a wistfulness to Hirayama's music selections, it's in the manner that comes over all of us when we hark back to something that we first loved when we were younger. Perfect Days' protagonist is at peace with his life, however. Subtly layered into the film is the idea that things were once far different and more-conventionally successful, but Hirayama wasn't as content as he now is doing the rounds of the Japanese capital's public bathrooms, blasting his favourite songs between stops, eating lunch in a leafy park and photographing trees with an analogue camera. Perfect Days streams via Stan. Read our full review. Love Lies Bleeding In Love Lies Bleeding, a craggy ravine just outside a dusty New Mexico town beckons, ready to swallow sordid secrets in the dark of the desert's starry night. Tumbling into it, a car explodes in flames partway through the movie, exactly as the person pushing it in wants it to. There's the experience of watching Rose Glass' sophomore film emblazoned across the feature's very frames. After the expertly unsettling Saint Maud, the British writer/director returns with a second psychological horror, this time starring Kristen Stewart in the latest of her exceptionally chosen post-Twilight roles (see: Crimes of the Future, Spencer, Happiest Season, Lizzie, Personal Shopper, Certain Women and Clouds of Sils Maria). An 80s-set queer and sensual tale of love, lust, blood and violence, Love Lies Bleeding is as inkily alluring as the gorge that's pivotal to its plot, and as fiery as the inferno that swells from the canyon's depths. This neon-lit, synth-scored neo-noir thriller scorches, too — and burns so brightly that there's no escaping its glow. When the words "you have to see it to believe it" also grace Love Lies Bleeding — diving into gyms and in the bodybuilding world, it's no stranger to motivational statements such as "no pain no gain", "destiny is a decision" and "the body achieves what the mind believes" — they help sum up this wild cinematic ride as well. Glass co-scripts here with Weronika Tofilska (they each previously penned and helmed segments of 2015's A Moment in Horror), but her features feel like the result of specific, singular and searing visions that aren't afraid to swerve and veer boldly and committedly to weave their stories and leave an imprint. Accordingly, Love Lies Bleeding is indeed a romance, a crime flick and a revenge quest. It's about lovers on the run (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's Katy O'Brian pairs with Stewart) and intergenerational griminess. It rages against the machine. It's erotic, a road trip and unashamedly pulpy. It also takes the concept of strong female leads to a place that nothing else has, and you do need to witness it to fathom it. Love Lies Bleeding streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Rose Glass. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May and June this year — and our best 15 new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming films of 2024's first six months. There's also our highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2023. And, you can also scope out our running list of standout must-stream shows from last year as well — and our best 15 new shows of 2023, 15 newcomers you might've missed, top 15 returning shows of the year, 15 best films, 15 top movies you likely didn't see, 15 best straight-to-streaming flicks and 30 movies worth catching up on over the summer. Top image: Apple TV+.
Brisbane's cafe scene has moved past usual smashed avo and flat whites. The city has long been in the shadow of bigger cafe destinations like Melbourne, but operators are proving you don't need to leave town to get a taste of something different. Trust us Brissies, there are some brag-worthy spots in your own backyard — you just need to know where to look. Enter the new era of brunch: a boozy Bangladeshi-inspired brunch, a farmhouse-inspired cafe with a Thai alter ego, an unabashedly geeky board game den, and more. Here's your guide on where to go for something unexpected in the morning. Recommended reads: The Best Brisbane Beer Gardens and Boozy Courtyards Where to Find the Best Ice Cream and Gelato in Brisbane Brisbane's Best Inner-City Bars for After-Work Drinks with Your Coworkers Brisbane Bars and Restaurants That Are Undeniably, Unabashedly Romantic [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] PADDINGTON SOCIAL, PADDINGTON Just a few steps from Lang Park, Paddington Social is a new community hub in a crooked old Queenslander home, steeped in years of easy Brisbane living. Whether you're sitting at one of the communal tables or basking on the verandah, the triple threat of culinary offerings from each of the three chef-owners is sure to impress. Tyler Sargent heads up the breakfast and lunch menu with reimagined comfort dishes like a spicy chorizo scotch egg and smoky mushroom mac and cheese served over a thick wedge of sourdough. Sweets and coffee come via English-trained pastry chef Gibb 'Gibbi' Mookachonpan, with pandan croissants so fragrant that you'll want to bring one home as a candle. On Tuesday to Saturday evenings, Alex Senee runs Lek's Thai Popup Kitchen, a tribute to Thai noodles, curries and fried starters. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] NODO, SOUTHBANK First finding life in Brisbane's markets, Nodo's doughnuts rapidly rose to become the landmark sweets of the River City. Their doughnuts are all gluten-free (no dough, get it?), a detail that occasionally surprises someone who already enjoyed one despite the name spelling it out clearly. Plus, everything is oven-baked, not fried — a surprisingly restrained move for a shop touting lamington doughnuts rolled in shaved coconut and topped with pink cream and freeze-dried berry dust. "Make people happy" is the shop's mission statement, and it's bleedingly obvious once you've peeped the menu at the South Bank cafe. Burgers and toasties are an easy pick, but don't sleep on their Bang Bang Bene. With Sichuan pork hock on house-made brioche, the dish is such an original take on eggs benny that it should be listed as a notable example on the Wikipedia page. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] IDLE, NEW FARM Named for the slow and steady pace they want to create, Idle serves pastry favourites and pantry staples from the now-closed Agnes Bakery in New Farm. The breezy 36-seater dining area usually bursts with a patient crowd, minds occupied by the difficult choice between a pie, a sausage roll or any other buttery creations on the large rectangular counter. Behind the counter, rugged loaves of sourdough and shatteringly crisp baguettes stand proud like trophies, seedy bagels and buns dotted between them. Put simply, if it goes into the oven as dough and comes out delicious, they bake it here. More good news: Idle has moved beyond viennoiseries and pastries with a fresh dine-in menu. Bold and hearty, the Baghdad Eggs with labne, cumin-infused burnt butter and a flaky flatbread for dipping stand out. Lighter options include house granola, green poached chicken salad and oxheart tomato toast. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] SEMI-SEMI, WEST END Most lunchtimes, Semi-Semi is hard to miss thanks to the line of West End workers ordering gourmet sandwiches and tea. Those with more time on their hands can be spotted seated with a smile and a spoon, digging into a bright stack bingsu, served here in a wide range of flavours. There's a matcha-based bingsu with pearls and red beans served on the side. Coconut, cocoa and earl grey also feature in their own creations, with add-ons including rainbow jelly, lychee popping balls and even granola. The never-boring sandwich menu starts at $14 with options for every appetite, from lighter meat-free stacks to heartier toasties with fillings like spicy pulled beef and cheesy truffle mushroom. Practice caution with the monthly specials — don't get too attached to limited-time items like a chicken katsu curry, only to find it gone the next month. That's a pain only two bowls of bingsu can cure. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] CAFE DISCO, WEST END Cafe Disco is a tempting beacon of late mornings done right. The cheery yellow exterior of the 40-seater mingles with bottle-green finishings, striking red houndstooth booths and a vinyl soundtrack. The brunch menu is imbued with the flavours of owner Tasfeen Hassan's Bangladeshi heritage, inspired by Hassan's memories of his grandma's cooking. The diner is vegetarian-friendly — the gloriously messy veggie brekkie roll comes with fiery kecap manis (Indonesian soy sauce) and a refreshing raita, while the chilli scramble is topped with a gremolata of Thai green chillies. Omnivores can indulge in dishes like a lamb meatball congee and fresh kofta in house-baked pita. Plus, sweets like pandan and coconut cream puffs are an ideal sidecar for Northgate's Passport Coffee brews. While Cafe Disco only opens until 2pm, the short and sweet list of Aussie wines — plus four cocktails — makes the diner a top-shelf stop on an afternoon bar crawl in the West End. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] MEEPLE AND MUG, WEST END Although Meeple and Mug feels like a library with its mismatched lounging and modern white-and-dark-green walls, it would be hard to get any work done in such a temptingly fun atmosphere. Nothing says 'hang here all day' quite like a near-encyclopedic collection of nearly 300 board games, featuring classic game night picks, new releases, and staff picks from independent Australian makers. The games start at the doors of this unabashedly geeky cafe, where customers can roll a dice to determine their price. Roll a two for $2 board games all day – just beware the dreaded 12. Enjoy a snack-fuelled marathon with a cuppa, comfort bites (think chicken nuggets, loaded fries, saucy meatballs and even a veggie curry) and sweet treats such as doughnuts and ice cream. If you're sharp enough to keep your head in the game, get boozy with a list of playful board-game-themed cocktails and a solid beer and spirit selection. Plus, regular LGBTQIA+ events and how-to-play evenings creates a space where anyone can feel right at home.
After another helluva year, we find ourselves once again entering the festive season. This time maybe a little more wearily, but still aching to hug our loved ones, and, in many cases, shower them with gifts. We all have that one person we have trouble buying a present for. Maybe it's your stubborn old man? Perhaps a wealthy aunt? Or it could be your partner (who you know got you something awesome and, even though it's not at all a competition, you still want to make sure you got them the better gift). Whatever your motivation, there's never a better gift option than to give someone an experience. If you add travel into the mix, you're also supporting some great regional areas around the country that are home to unique cultural experiences. It's a win-win. We've teamed up with Tourism Australia to put together ten top-notch cultural experiences to help you give a memorable, meaningful gift this holiday season.
This pristine expanse of beaches, national parks and picturesque villages on the New South Wales Central Coast make for one excellent trip, whether you're just driving up from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne. On top of all the nature, there's a growing foodie scene, driven by down-to-earth experts wanting to do their thing without the burden of city rent prices. Ever sipped on a Six String brew? You've already begun your acquaintance with the Central Coast's creations. Now it's time to go deeper with a visit to Patonga, Pearl Beach and Killcare — and, lucky for you, we've partnered with Destination NSW to uncover some the area's dining gems, top-notch activities and luxe waterside accommodation, too. Please stay up to date with the latest NSW Government health advice regarding COVID-19. [caption id="attachment_697582" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Boathouse Hotel Patonga[/caption] EAT In the teeny-tiny, 200-person settlement of Patonga is where you'll find seafood feasts at The Boathouse Hotel Patonga. Nab a spot in its sunny courtyard or inside the restaurant's luxury yacht-like interior, either way you'll have expansive water views. The seafood platter of tiger prawns, oysters, baked scallops, battered fish and salt and pepper squid is a must. Otherwise, you can opt for the likes of burgers, steak, pasta, pizza and a bunch of share-style plates. If you'd rather take your feed even closer to the water, you can grab fish and chips from the takeaway shop next door. For your next meal, make your way to Pearl Beach. It's the first town east of Patonga — a swathe of national park cuts between the two — with Pearl facing Broken Bay. For a fine diner, head to the aptly named Pearls on the Beach, headed up by chef Scott Fox and his partner Melissa for the past 20 years. Housed in a beach cottage just a few steps from the sand, the restaurant is clean and uncluttered, with pastel colours and white tablecloths. The menu is seasonal, but you can expect dishes like marlin carpaccio served with a burnt shallot, jalapeño and coriander salsa, blood orange marmalade and cashew cream; carrot katsu topped with gochujang ketchup, wasabi mayo, wakame oil and pickled shitake; and pomegranate-glazed quail served with beetroot labneh and pickled radicchio. If you're after something more casual, drop into Pearl Beach General Store and Cafe for hearty, healthy breakfasts and laidback lunches. Travelling north from Pearl Beach, the national park withdraws west to make room for the bigger, more connected towns of Umina, Ettalong and Woy Woy. Located on the redeveloped Ettalong Beach foreshore, The BOX on the Water is one of the go-to spots around. The sleek building capitalises on its absolute waterfront position, with floor-to-ceiling windows that disappear during warm weather. Here, you'll find an assortment of share-style plates, with an emphasis on seafood — think chilli garlic prawns, lemon zest-dusted baby squid, barramundi with a side of coastal greens and seafood paella. Now, we're going to jump across Brisbane Water to Killcare, one of the southernmost villages on the Bouddi Peninsula. It's here that boutique hotel Bells at Killcare stretches across 8.5 acres of gardens, housing its rebooted restaurant Wild Flower Bar & Dining. Famed chef Sean Connolly is behind the menu, which makes as much use of the 500-square-metre kitchen garden as possible. Tuck into whole-grilled fish, rigatoni with king prawns, eggplant moussaka, seafood bouillabaisse or Berkshire pork chop with salsa verde. Or, go for the $120 chef's tasting menu, with the option to add paired wines, too. Drive over the hill and you're back beside still water in Hardys Bay. Here you'll find fun-loving Southeast Asian eatery The Lucky Bee, located right on the water, as well as The Fat Goose Bakery, Deli and Cafe, which dishes up a mean bacon and egg roll, plus pastries and other breakfast fare. [caption id="attachment_789513" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Distillery Botanica, Destination NSW[/caption] DRINK Your first port of call for a drink should be the award-winning Distillery Botanica in Erina for an afternoon G&T. The stunning garden distillery is from Philip Moore who just so happens to be the man behind Mr Black cold drip coffee liqueur — which you can sample and purchase here, too. The distillery's gins are made using botanicals grown in the garden, including murraya, jasmine, orange blossom and coriander. You can either stop in for a gin tasting, or head to the on-site Bar Botanica for a gin-based drink. If you need a pick-me-up after you imbibe, it also does a great cup of joe. Or, you can grab an ice cream from the Mr Goaty gelato bar, also located within the gardens. Just down the road, old mates Chris Benson and Adam Klasterka have been revolutionising the Central Coast's craft beer scene with their Six String Brewing Company. According to the guys, when they first started back in 2012, people on the Central Coast only wanted to drink Carlton Dry. And that wasn't the only challenge — the duo grappled with three years worth of red tape before setting up for good at the current site. Fast forward to 2020 and their brewery and taproom is buzzing almost anytime of day. Plus, the venue's small kitchen is whipping up southern US-style snacks like buffalo wings, nachos, brisket and burgers. On weekends, live music is a nice addition to the good brews and grub. If you're after a refreshing spritz or bottle of minimum-intervention vino, Young Barons in Woy Woy is sure to satisfy. And, while you're sipping away, it'd be remiss not to try some of its freshly made pasta. [caption id="attachment_790154" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bouddi National Park, Destination NSW[/caption] DO Between all that feasting and carousing, you might want to consider doing some moving. If you're keen to give surfing a crack, then book a lesson with the Central Coast Surf Academy at one of NSW's top surfing beaches, Umina. While dragging your board through the whitewash, instructor Peter Hayes will give plenty of tips for novices and intermediate surfers alike. On land, there are walks and bike rides aplenty. For the best trails in Bouddi National Park, visit our guide over here. Meanwhile, Ettalong's shared path gives you 7.5-kilometres of waterfront bike riding, walking or running. Or, if you don't mind sharing the road with traffic (and tackling a few hills), the epic, 14-kilometre Putt Putt to Putty ride carries you from Wagstaffe's Mulhall Street Wharf all the way to Ettalong Wharf. Alternatively, should your ultimate weekender mean laying horizontal and doing absolutely nothing, check into the Central Coast Day Spa at Bells. Don a bathrobe and sip on complimentary tea before being led into a candle-lit room. There's a range of spa treatments available, but we recommend you book in for the signature Kodo massage, which comes with Australian essential oils and a smoking ceremony. It's inspired by Indigenous techniques and based on rhythms aimed at balancing the body and the mind, too. If you can muster enough energy for a post-massage wander in Killcare, the handful of shops are worth exploring. Among them are the Central Coast's only Aboriginal art gallery, Bouddi Gallery. Most of the paintings, jewellery, carvings, ceramics, weaving and glassware you see come from non-profit, Aboriginal-owned art centres in the Kimberley, Central and Western deserts, Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land. [caption id="attachment_789509" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bells at Killcare, Destination NSW[/caption] STAY If you want to kick back in quiet, Patonga is your best bet — and you'll want to check into the aforementioned The Boathouse Hotel Patonga. After a massive revamp, the hotel's accommodation now includes three one-to-three bedroom apartments, each with waterfront balcony views. The trio of rooms sit on the structure's upper level, and also feature separate living and dining areas, marble bathrooms, and either a kitchenette or kitchen. Unsurprisingly, each room is coastal-themed, complete with timber and terrazzo flooring, nautical-inspired fabrics, handmade shell mirrors, and rope and cane pieces. And, should you need to swim immediately, Patonga Beach is across the road. Be warned, though, a night here will set you back a cool $550–1200. Pearl Beach is pretty relaxed, too. Protected by the National Trust, it's reached its maximum capacity, at 600 dwellings. So, while other parts of the Central Coast battle with sprawl, this village, with its sheltered beach and ocean pool, is sitting pretty. Plus, it offers a heap of quaint accommodation options, including this secluded retreat, nestled among the trees and perched just a quick hop from Pearl Beach and a contemporary six-person beach cottage rocking a bright and elegant coastal style, with a primo outdoor entertaining area and a pool to yourself. Or, you could stay right above the water at the luxurious two-level Seabreeze apartment, offering breathtaking panoramic views. If you want to be able to access more northern parts of the coast — and their dining and drinking gems — Killcare is where you want to be. As already mentioned, Bells at Killcare is a bit of an institution and is definitely worth staying at if you have a spare $504 (minimum) lying around. Inspired by the chic designs of The Hamptons, Bells offers a range of accommodation options, from king suits to villas and one- and two-bedroom cottages. Whichever you choose, expect it to be decked out with Ralph Lauren-style furnishings, swish bathrooms and luxe linens. If you'd rather be a bit closer to the beach, both The Nest and Beachviews sleep up to eight people and offer sweeping ocean views. Now that interstate border restrictions have started to ease, start planning a trip to this stunning stretch of NSW coastline. For more details, visit Destination NSW's website. Top image: Pearl Beach, Destination NSW FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Take a Brisbane pub, spruce it up, get the beverages and bites flowing: Australian Venue Co has now deployed that tried-and-tested approach at the Royal Hotel. The Nundah pub has undergone a $1.1-million refurbishment, reopening in July 2023 complete with a 200-person entertainment space upstairs that can host everything from bands to comedy, plus a refreshed bistro that's slinging brisket burgers and doughnut fries. Before its makeover, this watering hole was known as The Royal; however, that hasn't always been its name. A pub has sat at the Sandgate Road location in Nundah since 1888, pouring brews for Brisbane's northsiders. Back when it first swung open its doors 135 years ago, the site was also known as — you guessed it — Royal Hotel. Reclaiming its original moniker, adding that 200-person first-floor entertainment venue, refreshing the food range and outdoor terrace: that's all part of this do-over. The heritage-listed pub's facade remains the same, of course, as designed by the same architect as Crown Hotel all those years back. Now, Mel Porter Design has taken care to blend the pub's heritage features with modern details. The upstairs space has been dubbed Royal Quarters, and will cycle through different entertainment options on different nights. Head along on Thursdays to get giggling, Friday nights for piano bar sessions, Saturday evenings for live gigs and Sundays for bingo. Downstairs, the public bar is also doing trivia on Tuesdays. As for Royal Hotel's bistro and terrace, that revamp spans greenery aplenty, marble-look tables, checkerboard floors and wooden accents, giving the pub a 120-seater — and family-friendly — dining space. The new menu covers pub classics and seasonal dishes, with other highlights including Moreton Bay bug rolls, pressed lamb shoulder, pan-seared barramundi, Stone & Wood-battered fish and chips, and four types of pizzas. Pasta marinara, mini fish ceviche tacos and baked brie cheesecake also feature. And yes, both chicken schnitzel and chicken parmi are on offer, too, plus three steak options. The front bar and al fresco area have also received a new lease on life. Here, five big TV screens show sports t0 80 folks if you're just keen to catch whichever game you prefer over a pint.
There are plenty of ways to pretend that it's the 80s, you live in Hawkins, Indiana and vanquishing a demogorgon is your life's mission. Listening solely to eerie synth tunes, devouring pop culture from the era, playing Dungeons & Dragons — they all fit, and so does binging Stranger Things, of course. But for one morning only, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Bondi Beach, you can go a step further. Always wanted to have an encounter with the Upside Down (well, since 2016, when the hit Netflix series first appeared)? Until 12pm today, Friday, May 27 — aka right now — you can. An IRL Upside Down rift (not to be confused with a Fast and Furious drift) has taken over the famed stretch of sand in front of the skate park, but only for a few hours. Of course, when we say real, we all know that it's a Netflix promotional stunt and not really an opening to a terrifying, monster-filled alternate dimension — but hey, if you've been counting down the years between Stranger Things' third and fourth seasons, you'll be happy to go along with it. Glowing red in its centre — naturally — and filled with branch-like vines that stick out from that luminous void, this rift isn't small. It measures 20 metres by 16 metres in size, in fact. So, again, if you're in the area, you really can't miss it. And if you're a Sydneysider who now wants to take a detour to work, or a mid-morning trip, that's understandable. If you follow the Netflix Australia and New Zealand Twitter account, you might've already made the journey — yesterday, on Thursday, May 26, it teased that something spooky was coming between 7am–12pm today, complete with coordinates (written upside down, of course). That means you may have already seen the scientists patrolling the area in hazmat suits, too, and lifeguards setting up a perimeter. The reason for the Upside Down arriving Down Under: the return of Stranger Things after a three-year gap, with the first seven episodes in the show's fourth and penultimate season hitting Netflix today, at 5pm AEST, as well. Bondi is one of 15 sites in 14 countries getting a taste of the Upside Down — alongside the Empire State Building in New York City, Duomo Square in Milan, Malecon Barranquilla in Colombia, the Gateway of India in Mumbai, Menara Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Al-'Ula National Monument in Saudi Arabia, Cologne Media Park in Germany, XBox Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles, Wawel Castle in Krakow, Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm, the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; and the Telefónica building and Plaza del Callao in Madrid. London and Tokyo are also on the list. It's been a big few years for pop culture-themed pop-ups in Australia, with the Upside Down following in Borat, Nicole Kidman, Homer Simpson and the creepy Red Light, Green Light doll from Squid Game 's footsteps in Sydney. Homer Simpson's huge head made its way to Queensland, too, while Melbourne scored an Everything Everywhere All At Once-style multidimensional laundromat and a massive Timothée Chalamet mural to promote Dune. Find the Stranger Things Upside Down rift at Bondi Beach until 12pm on Friday, May 27. You can also watch the first seven episodes of Stranger Things season four via Netflix from 5pm AEST on Friday, May 27 — and read our full review. Images: courtesy of Netflix and Aquabumps.
According to all reports, climactic temperatures are on the up. So, how best to keep ours down? Air conditioning has been the favoured solution for years, but is it really the most satisfactory? It's a drain on the household budget, it'll leave the air drier than the jokes in an Oscar Wilde play, and it'll make you the natural enemy of asthmatics, athletes and singers. What's more, despite keeping things cool at home, air conditioning contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases. Architects, designers, engineers and scientists the world over are busy in their labs and studios developing more sustainable and attractive methods for making homes and workspaces livable. In Italy, recycled plastic is being turned into insulation; in Germany, maximum airtightness is minimising temperature fluctuations; in the United States, one man has combined heating and cooling his place with building gigantic ice sculptures. 40,000 Plastic Bottles Hold onto your soft drink bottles; you'll need 40,000 of the plastic kind to model your home on this zero energy beauty, titled Tvzeb. Designed and developed by Traverso-Vighy Architecture in conjunction with the University of Padua's Department of Technical Physics, it's hiding in the woods in north-eastern Italy, just a few kilometres outside the World Heritage listed city of Vicenza. The bottles were transformed into a 90mm layer of insulating polyester fibre, which combines with a heat minimising structural design and reflective glass to keep the elements at bay. Plants. Hundreds of Them. Inside. This is model and activist Summer Rayne Oakes' Brooklyn apartment. She keeps temperatures at an equilibrium by living in a vertical garden, with 220 plants filling her kitchen, living room and bedroom. Keeping them alive doesn't require any sacrifice of her hectic eco-awareness promoting schedule. An automated subirrigation system does the job. Pump it Up Minnesota artist Roger Hanson builds gigantic ice sculptures and keeps his home comfy using geothermal heat, which takes advantage of the Earth's stable temperatures. For cooling, a pump sends water underground, where warmth is removed; for heating, the opposite occurs — water is pumped up from the hot surface layer of the Earth's crust. Passive House The Passive House, or Passivhaus, as its German and Swiss originators call it, is all about extreme energy efficiency. To qualify, a building must meet some pretty stringent standards, including a maximum hourly air leak of only 0.6 times its entire capacity and an annual energy consumption no higher than 120kWh/m2. This is achieved through a 'passive solar' design and airtightness as close to 100 percent as is manageable. About 30,000 Passive Houses can be found in the world, most of them on the European continent. Follow the Sun Australian couple Luke and Debbie Everingham have designed and built a rotating house. Located on the Nowendoc River in the Manning Valley, it's powered by an engine that's only slightly bigger than one you'd find in a washing machine. Access to both sun and shade is optimised and construction costs are on par with those of building a regular home. Caveman Style The troglodytes had it figured out all those thousands of years ago. American couple Curt and Deborah Sleeper built this house into a sandstone cave in Festus, Missouri. Before their purchase of the space, it functioned as a roller-skating rink and concert venue, where the likes of Tina Turner and Bob Seger made appearances. The need for air conditioning is eliminated via a blend of natural insulation, thoughtful design and geothermal heat. Back to Basics Architect Giles Blunden knows about living in hot climates. He spent his childhood in the Australian outback before moving to the American South. In 2000, Natural Home magazine awarded him Home of the Year for this house, which is situated in North Carolina's first co-housing neighbourhood, Arcadia. A moderate temperature is maintained through old-fashioned methods: cross-ventilation, high ceilings, fans, a tin roof and eaves. According to Blunden, “Many of these features are just common-sense things that people have forgotten.” In the Treetops Artists Beth Kraminstein and Roy Levy wanted to live and work in their place without depending on air conditioning. So the environmentally conscious architects at Jersey Devil conjured this one up for them. Cross-ventilation is achieved through three garage doors and seventy carefully positioned windows. A new wing has been built to sit in the treetops, maximising the cooling effect of ocean breezes, while insulation is achieved through a blend of concrete, corrugated steel and Galvalume steel. Go Underground No, it's not a scene from The Lord of the Rings, it's a real-life, tall person's home, to be found in Vals, Switzerland. Certainly inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginary world, this Hobbit Hole is the product of the combined efforts of Christian Muller Architects and SeARCH. Temperatures are kept at a civilised level by virtue of its being underground, but the oval design allows plenty of sunlight to shine through and affords mountain views. Find Some Fans If an architect-designed house is beyond reach, or you can't see yourself catching up with Gandalf underground, you can always opt for a simpler solution: fans. Think of your home as you would your MySpace page. There are loads of unusual ceiling fans on the market these days, and if you want to get really serious about it, you can always consider a mega whole house cooling package, offered by businesses like Breeze Power.
Theatre lovers rejoice, because Sydney is about to bear witness to a Broadway debut: Waitress is coming to town. The long-awaited Australian debut of the production is confirmed for a premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre in July 2026. Sara Bareilles, the creative force behind the musical's original score, expressed her excitement about the Australian premiere. "It's been a dream of mine to see Waitress (finally) find its way to Australia," she stated. "This story is about dreams, friendship and the courage needed to learn to love oneself, which feels so universal, and so timely." The musical, inspired by Adrienne Shelly's beloved film, tells the story of Jenna, a small-town waitress and expert pie maker trapped in a difficult marriage who dreams of escape. When a baking contest and unexpected romance present new opportunities, Jenna discovers that change might be closer than she imagined, supported by her fellow waitresses in a tale of resilience and self-discovery. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2N_svvx-uA[/embed] Producer John Frost from Crossroads Live highlighted the production's impressive credentials, noting its four Tony nominations and six Drama Desk nominations during its original Broadway run. Waitress became a huge hit on Broadway where it played for almost four years," Frost explained. The musical has since enjoyed successful runs in the West End, multiple US tours and international productions, establishing itself as a global phenomenon. The production holds particular significance in theatre history, having made Broadway history with women filling all four top creative positions. Alongside Bareilles' music and lyrics, the creative team features Jessie Nelson's book, Lorin Latarro's choreography and Tony winner Diane Paulus's direction. This groundbreaking achievement occurred when the musical opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on April 24, 2016, running until January 5, 2020. Original producer Barry Weissler acknowledged the lengthy journey to bring Waitress to Australian audiences, stating: "Collaborating with our longtime partner John Frost and his team at Crossroads Live, we are thrilled to finally have the chance to share this story 'baked from the heart' with audiences in Oz." Critics have consistently praised the musical's blend of humour, heart, and memorable music. The Times called it "5 Star musical pie," while New York Magazine described it as "sweet, sassy, passionate & delightful!" The Washington Post praised it as "simply delightful! A glorious reminder that life is messy and wondrous!" Tickets go on sale later this month. Join the waitlist to get yours as soon as they're available.
Everyone has heard about — or tried to eat their way through — KitKat's famed range of weird and wonderful Japanese flavours. A cough drop version once existed, and it really wasn't great. The sake version, a perennial favourite, is absolutely delicious. But if you're vegan, none of these varieties will have tempted your tastebuds. KitKats in general won't have either, actually. That changed back in 2021 for Aussies who follow a plant-based, dairy-free and cruelty free diet, and were also keen to sink their teeth into a KitKat. The brand launched a vegan-certified KitKat, as made with a rice-based milk alternative. The result: a KitKat covered in a smooth plant-based milk chocolate — not dark chocolate — which is then layered over the usual crisp wafers. The original run of plant-based KitKats was a limited-time deal; however, they're now back in Australian supermarkets again. This time, they've hit Coles stores — and only for a short period. That means that everyone can now have a break — and a KitKat — with KitKat Plant Based joining other plant-based alternatives among Nestle's products. So, if you'd like to crack open a few fingers while tucking into a glass of plant-based Milo, you'll be able to. The 41.5-gram bars cost $3 and, if you're super keen, they can also be ordered from the KitKat Chocolatory website. When your next sugar craving hits, add them to your list alongside vegan Natural Confectionery Co fruit lollies, vegan choc tops, and vegan Magnums, Cornettos and Weis Bars. KitKat Plant Based is available now at Coles stores around Australia — or you can them from the KitKat Chocolatory website.
As far as next-level design goes, the humble bowling alley has quite the tendency to err on the side of OTT. They either take us back in time to the '50s, milkshakes and the halcyon days when bowling was literally the most fun you could have, or they blast us forward in time to a super luxurious, neon space rave. Sometimes they let you play in an underwater grotto. Wherever they take us, bowling alleys are always an adventure. They're the perfect setting for novelty dates or big group outings because they allow everyone, from graceful sports stars to kidults who need bumper bars, to look cute in bowling shoes. We're getting into the Lebowski-loved art that is bowling this winter (even if we have to use bumpers), so we thought we'd take a little desk trip to some of the most unique bowling alleys around the world. If you've a hankering to drink, bowl and party closer to home, check out your local bowling alley's seasonal deals (like these clangers Kingpin are offering right now). It might just be one of the best date ideas under $50 this city's ever seen. [caption id="attachment_578915" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] WHITE HOUSE BOWLING ALLEY, WASHINGTON The President of the United States may spend his days running the country but you know he spends his nights obliterating pins in his swagged out bowling alleys. That's right, plural. There are two bowling alleys in the White House and one is, naturally, decorated in blue and red (patriotism never sleeps). You can access the bowling alley during your overnight stay at the White House (which will set you back a surprisingly doable US$400 a night). ALL STAR LANES, LONDON Now, All Star Lanes may be a franchised restaurant/bar/bowling alley, but they really turn up the charm. Their Brick Lane location in London is dripping in old-school glam, the Holgate iteration takes it back to retro middle America in the '70s while the Bayswater venue is, rather inexplicably, retro-Western. All the venues include break-away dining and bar areas with a killer menu. Come for the bowling, stay for the grilled cheese (with a stacked shake on the side to make your retro experience more authentic and belt-loosening). UNCLE BUCK'S FISH BOWL AND GRILL, TACOMA Uncle Buck's Fish Bowl and Grill, a family restaurant in Tacoma, may boast one of the weirdest bowling alleys in the world. The whole venue is styled in an under-the-sea theme (because, y'know, they serve seafood) but they've reeeally pushed the boat out (yeah we did) on this concept. Nowhere is this more acute, or disturbing, than in the 16-lane bowling alley. The room shimmers like it truly is underwater and large colourful fish hang from the wavy ceiling. Your bowling balls are spat back to you from the terrifying maws of crocodiles, sharks and octopus. In summary: it's amazing, tacky and we want to go to there. BROOKLYN BOWL, NEW YORK Rolling Stone called it "One of the most incredible places on earth" and we can kinda see why. One of New York's best loved establishments any night of the week, Brooklyn Bowl in New York is a hybrid rock 'n' roll music venue and bowling alley. The alley is decked out with Chesterfield lounges and boasts a menu by the world famous fried chicken institution, Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken. And on the other side of the venue, the stage has hosted bands like Gun N Roses, Elvis Costello and the Roots and frequently throw rockin' tribute and DJ nights. Also, it's co-owned by André 3000. So, we're in. PINEWOOD SOCIAL, NASHVILLE The Pinewood Social bowling alley is a retro, yet minimalist, bowling alley in Nashville and it might be the cutest place on earth. It's not like most bowling alleys with its high ceiling, exposed trusses and complete lack of neon lights, the complex also includes a café, dining area, bar, lounge and outdoor area with bocce ball court and a pool — all gloriously retro without crossing into tacky territory. You'll also find a mural alongside the lanes made up of specially printed cans. We'll call it, Pinewood Social may be the hippest place in America. SPLITSVILLE, TAMPA Splitsville is not just a place you temporarily populate after being dumped in primary school. It's also a retro-fantastic bowling alley and funtorium in Tampa, Florida, that looks like it's remained exactly the same since its conception in the '70s. In fact Splitsville has had an upgrade (they serve sushi now!) but despite this, it's still a pretty retro joint. You'll be able to see it from a mile away if you look for the two-storey pin (purportedly the largest in the world) on the front door. THE SPARE ROOM You might not think squeaking across a polished wooden floor hurling hefty balls about as a classy activity, but at The Spare Room it can be. Rich mahogany wood finishes, chandeliers and arched windows pair nicely with the bar's ridiculous, but classic, cocktail list. They've complemented their highly resplendent cocktail bowling facilities with other sophisticated pursuits like chess, dominoes, old school bingo, a wooden Connect Four set and an amazing, old school menu. XLANES LA If you're after an integrated, flashy bowling experience, XLanes in Downtown Los Angeles might be just what you need. It's a big (we mean big) bowling alley with 16 lanes and all the flashing neon lights you could ever dream of. But its real value is in the extras, like the full bar, massive gaming arcade (hello Fruit Ninja, we meet again), darts, karaoke and pool and billiards room. It's like a hedonistic adult playground of excess and bowling. Take our money. THE BROADMOOR, COLORADO The Broadmoor in Colorado is a bonkers holiday destination for the insanely wealthy. It's really damn decadent. It's so fancy the bowling alley doesn't even look like a bowling alley — it's decked out in leather couches, chandeliers, gold gilt and affluent smuggery. You will not be ordering a margarita slushie here or entering your name as ASS on in the scoreboard, no. Instead you can partake of adult shaved ice topped with locally made liqueurs and parmesan white-truffle popcorn (seriously, these are things they serve). You might have to sell a kidney to get onto their six lanes or stay the night in their digs, but you can guarantee you'll have the swankiest bowl of your life. SILVER DOLLAR SALOON, MONTANA If you've found another bar in this crazy world of ours boasting stools that are saddles, please let us know. As well as being a rootin' tootin' bar, the Silver Dollar Saloon also boasts a Western-themed, four-lane bowling alley. This kitted-out saloon also features a billiards table, a private theatre, shuffleboard table and darts. It's part of the Rock Creek Ranch in Montana and while a night there will set you back a minimum of US$800, it does include all alcohol and unlimited bowling time so you might just break even. Inspired? If all this reading about bowling has given you a hankering to knock down some pins, let's get you a lane. Kingpin is doing unlimited bowling and laser tag for a cheeky $30pp from 7pm till close. That's quite simply one of the best affordable (and actually fun) date ideas we've seen in this fine city of ours.
They say people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, which is excellent practical advice for when visiting a glass greenhouse, but they never really mention what people in glass houses should do, or even where to find glasshouses. They're pretty common in Europe, where harsh winters prevent many southern hemisphere plants from thriving, nearly every botanical garden boasts a glasshouse full of exotic species. But Australia doesn't get too many chances at glass glory. If you're in the market for a round the world trip full of steamy glass greenhouses, or if you're looking for inspiration for your indoor garden, check out ten of the best and biggest greenhouses from around the world. [caption id="attachment_574059" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Kew Conservatory.[/caption] KEW CONSERVATORY The Kew Conservatory is one of the most well known greenhouses in the world. Established in 1987 by Princess Diana and housing over 30,000 plant species, the conservatory is designed to be energy efficient and uses some passive heating and cooling design techniques to moderate each climatic area. In one of the glasshouses, you'll find giant water lilies that span over two metres and a basement level that gives you a view of the underbelly of the pond. However, you can only visit the glasshouse by purchasing a ticket for the Kew Gardens at large, so we recommend heading over in the spring or summer to soak up as much quaint English garden as you can possibly stand. [caption id="attachment_574285" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] PALMENHAUS AT SCHÖNBRUNN PALACE The Palmenhaus Schonbrunn in Vienna is a glasshouse built in the garden of the royal palace of Schonbrunn. It bucked the dainty white trend to be built with a dusky green steel and, like many glasshouses built before WWII, it's had a long and colourful history. Palmenhaus was partially destroyed in 1945 when the palace was heavily firebombed, but has since rebuilt — and has grown its herbarium to one of the most prestigious in the world. Among the planned chaos of the overgrown garden, you'll find oldest plant in the world, an olive tree donated by Spain in 1974, is estimated to be roughly 350 years old. KAISANIEMI BOTANIC GARDENS GREENHOUSES In the Kaisaniemi Botanic Gardens in Helsinki sit three plump glasshouses laced with white. They're laid out in a more rambling fashion than traditional greenhouses, with quaint benches and tables scattered throughout, and are used as much as an education facility as a peaceful retreat from chilly Helsinki. The rooms are organised by plant variety and the most striking include the Asian waterlily rooms (think water lilies the size of a picnic rug), the desert room and atmospheric rainforest room. [caption id="attachment_574280" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] ROYAL GREENHOUSES OF LAEKEN In the 1800s, advancements in construction techniques made the greenhouse, a building that's pretty much just a stack of delicate glass panes, possible. Many greenhouses that were built around that time followed the popular art nouveau style of looking like a glorious wedding cake — and those built on the grounds of Laeken, the Belgium royal castle, were no exception. The greenhouses were untouched during WWII and retain most of their original collections, however they're only open to the public for three weeks during the spring, which makes them all the more mysterious. [caption id="attachment_574286" align="alignnone" width="1280"] NYBG.[/caption] ENID A. HAUPT CONSERVATORY New York Botanical Garden's pretty greenhouse is named after Enid Anneberg Haupt, who donated US$10 million in 1978 to save and restore the old conservatory. The conservatory (which is just a fancy way of saying greenhouse, don't be fooled) specialises in unique exhibitions for gardeners who really know what they're doing, including orchid shows (with vertical walls lush with orchids), the flora of the Japanese garden, recreations of Monet's gardens, wild medicine gardens and edible gardens. You'll also find greenhouse mainstays, such as a hot desert room and a steamy tropical rainforest room to get lost in. THE EDEN PROJECT The Eden Project is technically not made of glass, but it's definitely earned a place on this list for its sustainable (and stunning) design and eco-friendly initiatives. It was built in 2000 on a disused kaolinite pit, near the town of St Blazey in Cornwall, after the pit reached the end of its life. The structure consists of multiple linked geodesic biomes that house the largest rainforest in captivity and a rambling garden that cascades down the edges of the pit. An education centre was built in 2005 that includes classrooms and exhibitions to educate visitors about sustainability — the central message of the Eden Project. And in winter, the tropical biome is probably the warmest place in the UK and stuffed full of rare carnivorous plants. [caption id="attachment_574288" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Wiki.[/caption] JARDIN DES PLANTES It's fitting that some of the oldest and prettiest greenhouses are found in Paris. The three greenhouses in the Jardin des Plantes are almost as lovely as the plants they house and are but one element that make up the rich and rambling garden. They were built in the art deco style (similar to the Paris metro stations) and house exotic plants from around the world, including desert plants, tropical plants from New Caledonia, and a greenhouse that tracks the evolution and history of plant life across the planet. [caption id="attachment_574289" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] COPENHAGEN BOTANICAL GARDEN GREENHOUSES If you want to get immersed in greenhouse culture, the Botanical Garden in Copenhagen is your best value for money. Entry to the gardens is free and they have 27 greenhouses (although some aren't open to the public) scattered throughout the gardens that cover every type of plant you could imagine. Put Greenhouse #12 on your list, as it's dedicated to rare and endangered species of plants from idiosyncratic climates, such as Madagascar, the Galapagos Islands and the Mascarenes (which you will likely never see in the wild). Also Greenhouse #10, the succulent and cacti room, to get inspiration for your own succulent garden back home. THE TROPICARIUM IN FRANKFURT'S BOTANICAL GARDEN Germany experiences some achingly cold winters, so it's no wonder the vast majority of their gardens are safely cultivated inside greenhouses. Some of the most glorious of these can be found in the Palmengarten Botanical Gardens in Frankfurt. The Palmengarten is a 22 hectare botanical garden (the largest in the country) that's been open for over 140 years. The Tropicarium and the Palmenhaus (two weird names you won't forget in a hurry) both house tropical plants and cacti from warmer parts of the world inside beautiful architectural halls designed by Friedrich Von Thiersch in 1868. Like all the greenhouses built in the 1800s, it's a visual smorgasbord of greenery punctuated by delicate lattice work and flowery sconces. [caption id="attachment_574290" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] MT COOTHA TROPICAL DOME The Tropical Dome in Brisbane's Mt Cootha Botanical gardens may not be as large or as fancy as the greenhouses of the northern hemisphere. Hell, it might not even be necessary for a sub-tropical city that is constantly humid to build a tropical dome that's even more humid. But people do love it. The bold geodesic dome pattern encloses a lush, if small, forest and pond and makes the perfect photo op. On the rolling landscape around the dome, you'll find a wide array of cacti and succulents (no greenhouse necessary to keep them alive, thank you very much) that look and feel like a tacky Western movie set. It's plant heaven and entry to the gardens is free all year.
