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.
With Melbourne weather being what it is, comfort food is an absolute necessity. When it comes to keeping warm, our hearty meal of choice would have to be a good old fashioned roast, hands down. The only problem is that cooking one for yourself is no small feat – and if something goes wrong in the process it can lead to lots and lots of tears. So let's leave it to the experts, shall we? Here are ten of our favourite warming roasts in Melbourne. NEIGHBOURHOOD WINE, FITZROY NORTH Any trip to this Fitzroy North gem is nothing but an absolute pleasure, but Sunday lunches are without a doubt our favourite. For $35 you will receive a roast lunch, as well as an entrée and dessert. The roast changes every week, but as an example, think Warialda beef, potatoes sarladaise, green beans and a red wine jus. The roast lunch is available every Sunday until 5pm or sold out. Stick around for a game of pool on their massive billiards table, or kick back and listen to whatever vinyl is spinning. When? Sundays from 5pm. How much? $35. MARQUIS OF LORNE, FITZROY As much as we are drawn to roast dinners, we also crave a pub with a fireplace. Thankfully, the Marquis of Lorne in Fitzroy ticks both of those boxes. For $20 you can have a roast meal for either lunch or dinner all weekend-long. Their beer list is both local and impressive, so grab a pint and settle in for an exceptionally cosy afternoon. When? Saturday and Sunday from midday. How much? $20. ESTELLE BISTRO, NORTHCOTE With the opening of Estelle by Scott Pickett next door, Estelle Bistro has become more casual, more laidback and more affordable. But you'll get the most bang for your buck on their Sunday roast. Served every Sunday for lunch, you'll get an entree, main, dessert and a glass of wine for just $50. The meat rotates every week, and it's quite the refined roast spread. For example, an upcoming Sunday session will feature likes of ham hock terrine, roast pork loin and apple and oat crumble for dessert. Not a bad way to experience Estelle at all. When? Sundays from midday. How much? $50. MIDDLE PARK HOTEL, MIDDLE PARK Rare breed roasts for an exceptional price is what you'll find at Middle Park. Hunks of meat served up by the venue in the past include slow roasted Gippsland lamb leg, pork loin, roasted venison and corn-fed Victorian duck. For $30 you get the roast of the day, as well as a glass of Shiraz or Chardonnay. With a deal like that, you're best off booking in advance. Well in advance. When? Saturdays and Sundays from midday. How much? $30. EPOCHA, CARLTON If you can find a more elegant Sunday lunch than the specialty roast at Epocha, we'll eat our hat. This monster of a feast includes snacks, small shares, the roast with all of the trimmings and dessert, all for just $45. And they really utilise the meat they obtain for each feast — for example, when they teamed up with Greenvale farm they served crispy pig's ear, pork shoulder and pork prune and hazelnut terrine with violet mustard, plus a lemon meringue pie to bring it all home. If you have allergies or dietary requirements you're welcome to call ahead — and bookings are highly advised. When? Sundays from midday till 3pm. How much? $45. THE WOLF AND I, WINDSOR If a Sunday Scandinavian roast sounds like something you could get down with, head straight to Windsor's The Wolf and I. For a mere $20 you can indulge on some delicious roast beef, crispy roast potatoes, broccolini, carrots and pumpkin puree. Live music usually kicks off sometime around 4pm, so once you've wrapped up dinner, grab a drink and find yourself a cosy corner and watch the band play. When? Sundays from midday. How much? $20. LEZZET, ELWOOD Contemporary Turkish cuisine doesn't get much better than Lezzet. Every Sunday for lunch and dinner, visitors are treated to wood-fired lamb and chicken roasts served with bulgur and Turkish salad. Before the meat arrives you'll also enjoy freshly-made dips with warm bread. If this isn't comfort food for your Sunday, we're not sure what is. When? Sundays from 3pm. How much $38. THE GRACE DARLING HOTEL, COLLINGWOOD Sunday roasts at the Grace Darling are the perfect cure for whatever damage you may have done to your liver the night before — and for only 25 bones. Their roast changes weekly, but their last serve included slow-roasted pork belly with winter roast veggies. The roasts here are served in individual cast iron pots to keep all the heat and juicy goodness in the meat. When? Sundays from midday. How much? $25. LA LUNA BISTRO, CARLTON NORTH Feel like some modern Australian cuisine with a Mediterranean influence that's meat-centric and dedicated to sourcing local produce? Firstly, you're oddly specific, and secondly, we've found exactly what you're after. Carlton North's La Luna serves a cracking roast pork with, um, crackling, and roast parsnip, apple, leeks and sage. For those who like to share, there's also a slow cooked lamb shoulder available. The best bit? It's available every day and night of the week bar Mondays. As if you needed another reason to hate Mondays. When? Every day except Monday. How much? $42.50. THE ROAST KITCHEN, KEW Whoever told you roasts were reserved for Sundays had clearly never come across the joy that is The Roast Kitchen. These guys know the true sentimental value of a good roast — and they also understand that, as much as we would like, we can't cook one every night of the week ourselves. That's where they come in. Whether you're craving beef, lamb, pork or chicken, The Roast Kitchen have you covered, whether you want to eat-in or take away. Oh, and their signature red wine-infused gravy is a must. When? Every day of the week. How much? $23.50 regular, $32 large. Top image: Neighbourhood Wine.
When it comes to eating out, many of us have more expensive taste than our bank account will allow. But while Melbourne is full of restaurants offering cheap grub (we're looking at you, $3 tacos and all-you-can-eat wings), if you delve a little deeper you'll find that you can also eat like a king all over town for nothing more than a gold coin. It turns out Melbourne is home to many a venue where you can pick up an oyster for less than the cost of your Myki fare to get there. We've scoured the city for the best value-for-money oysters, so no matter what your income you can sit back and savour the finer things in life — every single day of the week. All you have to do is choose a venue and get shucking. MONDAY PHILIPPE, CBD What's the deal? $2 all day, Monday to Friday, and from 5pm Saturdays It's French, it's chic and, conveniently, it's also smack bang in the centre of town. Phillippe is shucking oysters to order and for almost all of the week, they're going cheap. At the bar here, you can score $2 oysters all day Monday to Friday, and from 5pm every Saturday. The perfect start to a fancy French feed? TUESDAY IMBUE, MARIBYRNONG What's the deal? $1 from 5–9.30pm. Tuesdays might usually be a bit on the quiet side, but at Maribyrnong wine bar Imbue, there's plenty to make a noise about. Every Tuesday, this cosy spot is shucking plump oysters, fresh from the waters of Hervey Bay, for only $1 each. They're available from opening time at 5pm until 9.30pm or sold out. Though this is one oyster feast you'll need to plan ahead — bookings are essential and those shellfish usually get snapped up pretty quickly. WEDNESDAY GALAH, WINDSOR What's the deal? $1 from 5pm until sold out. This Windsor bar's famed for its modern reworkings of classic Aussie flavours, but on Wednesdays, it's juicy, local molluscs that are the heroes. Come hump day, Galah is dishing up natural, freshly shucked oysters for just $1 a pop, from 5pm until close, or until they've all been snapped up. Best of all, there's no minimum order – you don't need limitations when it comes to seafood. THE LOBSTER CAVE, BEAUMARIS What's the deal? $2 from 5.30pm. If some budget-friendly oysters sounds like your recipe for hump day success, consider yourself in excellent hands at dedicated seafood restaurant The Lobster Cave. Nestled in the bayside suburb of Beaumaris, this eatery's giving its inner-city counterparts a run for their money as far as tantalising seafood specials go. Most notably for shellfish-onados, the kitchen's shucking up a midweek storm, offering $2 Blackman Bay oysters every Wednesday, from open until sold out. You've even got a choice as to how they're done – natural, mignonette, mornay or kilpatrick. Bookings are a must. THURSDAY HIGHLANDER BAR, CBD What's the deal? $1 from 5pm until sold out. This cosy Scottish bar might be a favourite for its generous whisky selection, free weekly comedy and budget-friendly burger specials. But come Thursday, there's another choice offering that'll have you saying 'shucks'. We're talking about the Tassie oysters, flying out of the kitchen for just $1 each, from 5pm until sold out. The $5 happy hour drink specials (5–7pm) make for a pretty sweet accompaniment, too, especially if you're playing it frugal. NAKED FOR SATAN, FITZROY What's the deal? 90c from 12–8pm, Thursdays and Fridays While other venues out there are rounding their oyster specials to the closest buck, this Brunswick Street bar's gone and done one better. At Naked For Satan, you can stretch those hard-earned dollars even further, slurping freshly shucked oysters for just 90 cents each. These sharply priced shellfish are up for grabs from noon till 8pm, on both Thursdays and Fridays. Knock back a few serves and wrap up that work week in style, without gnawing too deeply into your weekend budget. FRIDAY [caption id="attachment_740512" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brook James[/caption] THE BLEAKHOUSE HOTEL, ALBERT PARK What's the deal? $1 all day. If devouring oysters just metres from the shoreline sounds like bliss, make a beeline for Albert Park's beachside boozer The Bleakhouse Hotel. Especially if the sun's a-shining and that weekend is about to begin. This modern pub's slinging Friday specials aplenty, not least of which is the $1 oysters, available all day and all night long. Bring a mate and team the shells with a jug of Aperol spritz for full effect. SATURDAY PANAMA DINING ROOM, FITZROY What's the deal? $1 between 6pm and 7pm. Smith Street's loft-style hideaway is a haven for the after-work crowd and foodies alike. Excitingly, Mother Shucker's Oyster Hour happens every night of the week from 6–7pm, so you can gorge on $1 freshly shucked oysters as you gaze out the arched windows at the street below. Once you've had your fill, the trick is to head back down the two flights of stairs as gracefully as possible. SUNDAY MORRIS JONES, PRAHRAN What's the deal? $2 from 4–7pm. If Sunday's got you in the mood for slurping molluscs, there's likely to be a few cheeky weekend drinks on the cards as well. Luckily, bar and restaurant Morris Jones has you covered on both fronts, with its daily happy hour deals, running from 4–7pm. Along with a slew of cocktail, wine and beer specials — including $12 espresso martinis and $6 wines — you'll find fresh oysters priced at just $2 a pop. Yes, that's every. Single. Day.
Spotify had best watch its back, because there's a brand new music streaming service in town. Launching this week, BitTorrent Now is an Android and soon to be iOS and Apple TV app that lets users stream ad-supported music and video, with a special focus on curated content that might otherwise fly under the radar. While BitTorrent is probably best known as a way of sneakily pirating TV shows, the company has actually been helping artists distribute their work for years. Since launching their BitTorrent Bundle service in 2013, they've worked with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, comedian David Cross and countless other lesser-known filmmakers, musicians and miscellaneous creatives. Artists who make their work available via BitTorrent Now can choose whether or not they wish to participate in the ad program. If they opt not to, they can instead make their work available for purchase, or upload it for free without any ads whatsoever. According to the company, artists will receive 70 percent of revenue generated by ads on their videos, and 90 percent of revenue if they chose to place their content behind a paywall. BitTorrent will also make a concerted effort to curate content on the app, in order to help artists find an audience and vice versa. The app includes trending and new release sections, and allows users to build a list of favourites. Nothing too revolutionary — perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the focus on smaller artists, who'll hopefully be able to use the platform to make a name for themselves. No word yet on if/when BitTorrent Now will be available in Australia. Via Engadget.
Local, seasonal and sustainable is the name of the game at Fitzrovia. As St Kilda's answer to the freshest Victorian produce you can find, ingredients at this all-day diner are especially sourced from fine estate suppliers from within 100 kilometres of Melbourne. You'll be hard pressed to find greater quality elsewhere. At the very least, be prepared to start harbouring dreams of harvesting all your own food forevermore once you visit. Where possible, all produce has free range and organic origins; Fitzrovia makes it easy to see why fresh is best. Non-homogenised milk from Jonsey's, salt, olives and oil from Mount Zero, butter from The Myrtleford Butter Factory, buffalo mozzarella from Shaw River, Romsey Range beef, free range chicken and duck from Milawa and St Ali single estate coffee are all used regularly and only just scrape the surface of a veritable pie of foodie goodness. It's no question then that the menu at Fitzrovia changes seasonally, with modern European influences tying it all together. Overlooking Albert Park at the idyllic end of Fitzroy Street, Fitzrovia will draw you in with its expansive glass facade and homely touches. A light-filled atrium extends to a cosy dining room that feels like a slice of the country in the middle of the city. With wooden crates of fruit and vegetables and freshly cut flowers abounding, it's hard not to feel like you've just walked in from the paddock. Big, rough comfort food runs out of the open kitchen regardless of the time of day (take note: it truly is open). A selection of house made breads and mueslis kick things into gear, with breakfast served until 3pm for sleepy souls. Come lunchtime, baked pies, tarts, seafood and pasta enter the equation, and extend to the evening where mains feature quality local meat cuts, inventive salads and some truly stellar polenta chips ($11.50). And Wednesday through Saturday, the lunch menu rolls into the evening — so you can have dinner (and a cocktail) at Fitzrovia too. Thanks to its thoughtful approach to produce, Fitzrovia is the kind of place that pleases visit after visit. If you're hankering for some fresh, local delights and a little contemplation with your meal, this is the place to do it.
What is it? Can I sit on it? Do I put my coffee on it? Mindbending origami furniture that confuses us all is by no means a new idea, but this designer has put a stunning modern spin on a tried and true design tactic. UAE-based designer Aljoud Lootah has created a brand new furniture collection called the 'Oru Series', which both fascinates and terrifies us with its perplexing angularity. But yes, you can put your books, coffee and butt on all of them. Designed for Dubai's Design Days 2015 event, Lootah's series debuted this just week. Taking cues from the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, the bite-sized 'Oru' series is made up of a chair, table lamp, mirror and cabinet; all created from copper, felt and the glorious, glorious badassery that is teak wood. "The name 'Oru' originates from the Japanese words 'to fold', and the idea behind the designs is to show that folding a flat, two-dimensional sheet can create aesthetically appealing functional three-dimensional forms," says Lootah on her website. "The products, with their faceted design looking like complex folds but with sophisticated simplicity, are a modern interpretation of an ancient form of art." Oru collection Oru cabinet Oru lamp Oru chair Oru mirror Via Design Boom. Images: Aljoud Lootah.
Billionaire entrepreneur and possible mad scientist Elon Musk is one step closer to making his Futurama-style transportation system a reality. After first proposing the high-speed, compressed air-powered Hyperloop back in 2012, the Tesla, PayPal and Zip2 cofounder has just put down a lease on a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, establishing the headquarters for Hyperloop Technologies Incorporated. Described by Musk as a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table," the proposed Hyperloop system would consist of a long route of elevated vacuum-sealed steel tubes, through which pressurised capsules ride cushions of air at speeds of up to 1220km/h. Designed to transport both freight and brave human passengers, Musk’s first proposed route would run from LA to San Francisco, cutting the roughly six and a half-hour drive time to just 35 minutes. If you think that this idea sounds awesome, then you’re right — it's straight-up awesome. There are however still a few small details to work out. Despite Musk’s initial assertions that the project would cost a 'mere' US$6 billion to complete, several economists have put the price tag closer to ten times that, if not more. There’s also the possibility that people might be a little reluctant to seal themselves inside a windowless metal pod travelling at breakneck speeds through the desert — although if the proposed US$20 ticket price holds true, it may be a preferable alternative to flying. For those of you who geek out over science, Gizmag published a pretty comprehensive breakdown of Musk’s 2013 proposal over here. The next step in the system’s development will involve an 8km test track, with Musk identifying Texas as a possible location. Hyperloop Technologies CEO Dirk Ahlborn last year estimated that a commercially operable Hyperloop “can be built within the decade.” Via LA Times.
Don't let the name fool you, for Dainty Sichuan Food on Toorak Road is anything but dainty. In fact, this Chinese restaurant in Melbourne packs a hell of a punch. Upon entering the restaurant, you're invited to zen out in the tranquil mood it's created. Water fountains and buddhas greet you at the entrance, while the aromas from the kitchen get your tastebuds on high alert. The service here is what you might expect from a bustling Chinese eatery, it's efficient and fast without being overly cordial. But rest assured, you will be seated with a smile. The order of the day here is Sichuan, and the Sichuan-style pork belly is succulent and full of flavour. It comes with a serving of chillies and boiled rice and is worth the price of admission alone. Another Sichuan special is the spicy beef noodles served in a perfectly spiced broth with bok choy and spring onions. Be sure to wash it all down with a bottle of wine, for this joint is BYO and you're going to need it. A not-too-oaky chardonnay or a soft and fruity pinot gris should do it. Otherwise, a cold beer at hand never hurts. If you want to turn the spice down a notch, then browse the dumpling menu, with pan-fried pork buns and chicken and mushroom dumplings the pick. If you're vegetarian or cutting back on meat, the dry stir-fred beans with boiled rice or the tomatoes with soft scrambled eggs make for a tasty alternative. Dainty Sichuan Food is home to some of the best (and spiciest) Chinese food in Melbourne. It's well worth a trip to South Yarra.
Escaping the big smoke every now and again is crucial to many a city dweller's survival. But weekends away don't always come cheap. Luckily for Melburnians, Victoria is dotted with stacks of free campgrounds where you can pitch your tent without forking out even a cent. Here, we introduce you to ten of the best free camping spots near Melbourne. Whether you want to surround yourself with ancient forest, sleep over in a volcanic crater, stay within a stone's throw of a tumbling waterfall or use your pitch as a base for exploring wineries and restaurants, your mission is, indeed, possible. Recommended reads: The Best Dog-Friendly Places to Go Camping, Swimming and Hiking in Victoria The Best Beach Campsites in Victoria The Best Multi-Day Hikes Near Melbourne The Best Glamping Sites in Victoria [caption id="attachment_841072" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Uriel Mont via Pexels[/caption] Butts Reserve, Maldon One free campground near Melbourne that makes for a handy base is Butts Reserve, on the outskirts of Maldon, a gold rush town about two hours northwest of the city. From here, you can wander among Maldon's beautifully preserved 19th century architecture, grab some fresh produce from the farm gate at Maldon Cherry Farm and delight your gourmet side by exploring the local food and drink haunts. For epic vistas across the region, follow Mount Tarrengower Road to the Tarrengower Lookout. The campground itself is better equipped than most free camping sites in Victoria — features include loos, water taps, bins, fire pits, woodfired barbies, picnic tables and a large shelter. [caption id="attachment_669874" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Walker via Flickr[/caption] Plantation, The Grampians If you want to spend your weekend among the dramatic sandstone formations of The Grampians, park your tent at Plantation. Despite being the biggest campground in the Grampians National Park, it's free and dog-friendly (as long as they are leashed). By day, you can go sightseeing in your car, checking out well-known landmarks like The Balconies, Mackenzie Falls and Mount William; or conquer an idyllic hiking trail or two. Meanwhile, Halls Gap is just nine kilometres south, so you're not far from good coffee, friendly pubs and cosy restaurants. There's room for 30 pitches at Plantation, which is in The Grampians' northern section, about three hours' drive northwest of Melbourne. Among the facilities are non-flush toilets, bush showers, picnic tables and fire pits fitted with barbecue plates, though you'll have to take any rubbish back out with you. But if you prefer a little more comfort, we've also created this guide to the best Airbnbs in the Grampians. [caption id="attachment_669765" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Stevensons Falls, Otway Forest Park This idyllic campground is sheltered in a valley in Otway Forest Park, just over two hours' drive southwest of Melbourne. On the Colac Water Pipeline Track, it's a lovely stop along the Great Ocean Road and a springboard for adventuring around Great Otway National Park. Here, 50 pitches perch on the banks of the Gellibrand River, where you're welcome to fish or swim. Be sure to stroll along the closest walking track, which follows the river to a platform overlooking Stevensons Falls. Dogs are permitted as long as they're on lead, and facilities consist of composting toilets, picnic tables and wood-fired barbies. [caption id="attachment_669864" align="alignnone" width="1920"] px_0205 via Instagram[/caption] Andersons Garden, Mount Disappointment Another quick getaway is Andersons Garden, located in Mount Disappointment State Forest, just nine kilometres off the Hume and a 70-minute drive north of the city. It's a pretty, grassy campground on the banks of Sunday Creek, which is filled with swimming holes that are ideal for cooling summer dips. There are plenty of walks to keep you busy, taking in Strath Creek Falls, Sunday Creek Reservoir and the Summit of Mount Disappointment. If you'd prefer to drive, then jump in your car and cruise along the Mount Disappointment Forest Drive; a three-hour scenic adventure. Back at the campground, you'll find facilities including composting toilets, wood-fired barbies and picnic tables. [caption id="attachment_669873" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nathalie Dessing via Instagram[/caption] Meredith Park, Lake Colac This expansive, flat, grassy campground hugs the shores of Lake Colac. So prepare for tranquil water views and dreamy sunsets, which will make you feel as though you're worlds away from offices and trams. If you're keen on fishing, throw in a line and try your luck at catching a redfin or trout. Or, jump on your bike and cycle the entire foreshore along the shared path that circumnavigates the lake. This dreamy spot is easily one of the best free camping spots in Victoria — but do note that you'll need to apply for a permit now if you are staying longer than 24 hours. There are also botanic gardens and the Colac Bird Reserve sanctuary to visit. Meredith Park is on the northern edge of Lake Colac, about two hours' drive southwest of Melbourne. It's kitted out with toilets, fireplaces and a boat ramp. [caption id="attachment_669891" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Parks Victoria[/caption] Kurth Kiln, Dandenong Ranges If you're desperate to immerse yourself in trees, but don't have much travel time to spare, make a beeline to Kurth Kiln, one of the closest bush campgrounds to Melbourne and a dog-friendly one at that. This site is about 90 minutes west of the CBD in Kurth Kiln Regional Park, offering around 40 pitches across its two camping areas, Scout Loop and Magazine. Facilities are limited to bush toilets and Parks Victoria encourages you to take your own firewood with you; though the tranquil, leafy surrounds make any small hassles worth the effort. While there, go wandering through mountain ash and heathlands, looking out for wombats, swamp wallabies, echidnas and yellow-tailed black cockatoos. As the name suggests, there's also a historic kiln, built during World War Two to make charcoal for cars. [caption id="attachment_669768" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Takver via Flickr[/caption] Mount Franklin Reserve, Near Daylesford This rather spectacular free camping spot in Victoria puts you in the middle of a volcanic crater. You'll find Mount Franklin — known as Lalgambook by the Djadja Wurrung people — located 11 kilometres north of Daylesford and about 90 minutes northwest of Melbourne. The free campground here is filled with towering deciduous trees, which are particularly beautiful during autumn. It's easy to spend your whole weekend wandering about, taking in the scenery, or you can treat Mount Franklin Reserve as a base for exploring Hepburn Springs. Given all the money you'll be saving on accommodation, a long soak at the Hepburn Bathhouse might be tempting. In terms of facilities, there are composting toilets, wood-powered barbies, picnic tables and access to washing water. [caption id="attachment_669878" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] Gunbower National Park, Murray River Make a proper escape from the city with a visit to Gunbower National Park, on the banks of the Murray River, about three hours' drive north. This precious strip of forest dotted with billabongs and wetlands is actually an island, made up of 26,400 hectares of flood plain. The area is famous for its birdlife, which is extra active after heavy rainfall. If you're a keen walker, conquer one of the park's idyllic walking tracks. Alternatively, take a canoe with you and paddle along the five-kilometre Koondrook Canoe Trail. There are loads of free Victorian camping areas here, home to a hefty 139 pitches, which you'll find dotted along the Murray and Gunbower Creek. Just keep in mind that many have limited facilities. [caption id="attachment_669892" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Parks Victoria[/caption] Aberfeldy River, Baw Baw National Park For picturesque, sub-alpine scenery and proximity to some of the fastest white water rafting in Victoria, head for Baw Baw National Park to camp gratis beside Aberfeldy River. The campground is in Baw Baw's northeastern section, about 17 kilometres north of Walhalla, where you can tour a 19th century gold mine. Spend your time swimming and gazing at wildflowers or hike to the summit of Mount St Gwinear, passing through snow gum forests and heathland. You'll be well rewarded with extraordinary views of the Australian Alps. The free Victorian campground has pitfall toilets, fire pits and picnic tables, and offers some primo fishing if you're keen to cast a line. [caption id="attachment_841073" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toolangi State Forest, russell2pi via Flickr[/caption] Toolangi Recreation Reserve, Yarra Valley To pitch your tent near both stunning old-growth forest and wineries, make tracks to Toolangi, which lies about 90 minutes' drive northeast of Melbourne. The campground, kindly maintained by a bunch of local volunteers, is beside a cricket oval on the banks of Yea River. For adventures by day, don your hiking boots and explore Toolangi State Forest, where the enchanting Tanglefoot Track carries you through lush fern gullies and majestic mountain ash woods; or hop between some of the famed wineries and villages of the Yarra Valley. Campsite facilities include flushing toilets, gas barbecues and picnic tables. Top Image: Uriel Mont via Pexels
Charging your smartphone will soon be as foolproof as placing it on your coffee table. Taking already existing technology and fusing it into your own home, Swedish retail giants and regular media-baiting happening creators Ikea have jumped on wireless power capabilities to release built-in wireless charging furniture. According to the Wall Street Journal, this will be the first time built-in wireless chargers are available to consumers from a mass-market furniture retailer. Ikea made the big announcement on Sunday at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress. They've recruited the likes of Qi for the collection, a wireless power standard from the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). Alongside two other standards, this is one of the companies responsible for the wireless charging technology you would have already seen in airports, cafes and hotels and generally lost your shit over a few years ago. But until now, major furniture stores haven't taken advantage of the downright convenience of the technology, or the logic in embedding the charging capability in surfaces you already rest your smartphone on during charge times. So how does it work? Qi does away with all those dastardly cables and the annoyance of choosing between model connections, as the furniture itself is the one plugged in. When switched on, the lamp base, coffee table or side table's energy or bookshelf transfers to your smartphone or tablet (yep, maaaaagic), depending whether or not it supports Qi charging — there's 81 Qi-compatible types of smartphone, but iPhones aren't one of them, sorry Apple fans. Apparently the wireless charging-capable furniture will cost a mere $22 more than regular furniture from Ikea, proving the Swedish homeware giants truly have money to burn and credibility to gain. If all goes well with the embedded furniture line, you could be able to buy a wireless charging kit to fit to your existing, beloved dining table soon for about $34, which is a lot cheaper than replacing all those lost, broken chargers of yours. The wireless-charging furniture collection will hit Ikea shelves in Europe and the US on April, 15, followed by a global roll-out, so keep 'em crossed. Via Wall Street Journal.
Evie's Disco Diner is everything you hope it'll be when you first hear it's name mentioned. It's bright, unapologetically eighties, loud and queer friendly. With Queeraoke every Thursday and bingo every Wednesday, there is no shortage of fun to be had here. Whether it's (badly) belting out your favourite tune or polishing off a bucket of bingo wings, grab a group of mates, put on your dancing shoes and prepare to boogie. The food at Evies Disco Diner is described as vegan friendly comfort food, taking inspiration from a classic New York diner. Vegan options include classics such as pickles, corn chips with guac, beer battered onion rings and jalapeño poppers for entrees. Mains include nuggets with house dipping sauce, celery sticks with ranch sauce or a range of hot dogs which can be either vegan or not. If you're a carnivore, the 1kg bucket of fried chicken with bread, pickles and ranch is hard to pass up, while the Philly cheesesteak with onion, green capsicum and provolone cheese is another hit. For dessert opt for the fried apple pie with vanilla ice cream or the New York cheesecake with berry compote. Cocktails include classics such as Aperol spritz and espresso martinis, while house options include the Coco Chanel with Coco Pops, creme de cacao, vodka and horchata, or the leamington martini with wildflower and lamington vodka. The drinks are fun and visually impressive, so be sure your phone is fully charged as there'll be plenty of pics. On Saturdays they offer up a bottomless brunch, with four hours of vego food plus two hours of mimosas, bubbles, wines, beer and seltzers. But once the night comes, the dining tables at Evies Disco Diner are pushed aside and this space becomes more of a club, full of the usual Smith Street crowd of party-goers staying up late and getting rowdy. Appears in: The Best Vegan Restaurants in Melbourne of 2023
Headphones aren't your crappy, service station-bought, tinny pieces of shit anymore. They can help you get high, they can edit the sound around you, they can even respond to your own damn ear. An Australian-based startup called Nura has raised over a million bucks on Kickstarter to develop a new pair of headphones that respond to the listener's various ability to perceive sound — and they casually tailor your music to fit your inner ear perfectly. The project has just hit an unbelievable AUD$1.2 million on Kickstarter (people reeeaaally want a good set of headphones) and is headed up by a Melbourne-based team. Kyle Slater, Luke Campbell and Dragan Petrovic dreamt up the scheme before teaming up with engineer Wilson Shao. Together, they're the A-Team of futuristic cochlear science. Slater has a PhD in psychoacoustics, human machine interfaces and helped design the first bionic eye. Campbell is an MD who's spent his life studying the mechanics of hearing, performing surgeries (on, you guessed it, ears!) and has a PhD in hearing science. Dragan is an electrical engineer from Berkeley with experience in product management. What a dream squad. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXU3cZSJ2wg[/embed] So how does it work? "Some headphones sound tinny and lack beat, others have too much bass which drowns out the detail," says the Nura team on Kickstarter. "The acoustic separation of Nura's design allows for the deepest bass and clearest tones. "The over-ear cup delivers bass you can feel through your skin. The earbud prevents the bass from drowning out the detail and delivers crystal clear notes directly into your ear. Your brain combines the sensations into a fully immersive experience — you hear and you feel the music." The laundry list of achievements is probably one of the reasons their Kickstarter went off — these boys aren't playing around. But they're not the only ones getting serious (and weird) about audio quality. The future is now, so go right ahead and throw away your $2 pair of temporary headphones and prepare to hear a whole new woooooorldddd. Uh. Sorry. EAR-FREE HEADPHONES Earlier in the year, Sony unveiled their latest gadgetry: ear-free headphones. Concept N (very sci-fi name, you guys) sits around your neck and, using a series of multi-directional speakers, directs sound up towards the ears. It's a device for people who don't want to zone out completely, but still want to listen to their tunes. HEADPHONES THAT GET YOU HIGH Then, of course, there's the offering from Nervana, a startup from San Diego — a pair of headphones that gets you high. A low-power electric stimulation is synced up with whatever music you're listening to, triggering the release of dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin in the brain, which sounds like the perfect way to listen to music. The product has also been crowdfunded and isn't quite on the market yet, but testing is going well. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzpqWMM_HrY[/embed] SOUND-PERFECTING HEADPHONES Finally, there's Doppler Lab's crowdfunded Here earbuds. They're not exactly headphones, but 'sound perfectors'. The technology aims to equalise the noise of the world and perfect your experience of sound without the noise. They allow you to turn up the volume, bass and treble, mute sounds you don't want to hear (like crying babies on planes). Best bit? There's an 'Instagram your ears' function with premade filters to overlay your hearing with selective enhancements. Only in 2016.
Scenario: you’re having a few drinks with friends, eating corn chips, playing Cards Against Humanity and really trying to connect with your dark side… like, really trying to let all those politically incorrect thoughts out so they may guide your horrifying choices towards a CAH victory. There’s nothing too gross or inappropriate and everyone is cackling like ghouls and bonding over mutual evilness. And then there’s one friend who’s really uncomfortable. That one saintly friend with so much moral fibre they can barely stand the game and tut disapprovingly at all your funniest card drops. A real wet blanket. Imagine for a second that this party pooper was in charge of the entertainment for the evening and, in an attempt to foster neighbourliness and goodwill to all men, brought a new game... Cards for Humanity. “It’s fun, you guys! It’s a real winner!” they say, pouring virgin margaritas and placing a fruit tray down on the table. “I got it from Kickstarter, it’s meant to spark meaningful and insightful conversations!” “I have to go,” you scream, swiftly running off into the night “I left my hairdryer… in the oven.” And fin scenario. We don’t mean to alarm you but this could be a reality soon. Cards For Humanity, a card game that trades on your innate goodness, is in the works via the maker of dreams, Kickstarter. It was created by two good kids called Betsy and Hannah. Just look how goodhearted and sunbeamy they are: Although it lacks the nasty appeal of Cards Against Humanity, we concede that it would be good to play in any scenario where you can’t be your most evil self, such as work, church or with your grandparents. The pack includes such horrifically warm and fuzzy questions such as “What’s the craziest thing you have ever done for love?” and “If happiness was the national currency, what would make you wealthy?” and (oh god) "What would you wish on a shooting star?" that will really highlight your moral corruption and make you question your entire life. However, Cards For Humanity doesn’t include an answer deck allowing you craft warm, meaningful answers… or use a Cards Against Humanity answer deck to really spice things up. Check out Cards for Humanity's Kickstarter page over here.
You might've missed out on a Splendour in the Grass ticket in yesterday's ticketing tornado, but that doesn't mean the show's over. This morning, ten Splendour artists announced sideshows in cities around Australia. For a start, Sigur Ros will be touring the Australian debut of their show, An Evening with Sigur Ros. There's no support act, which means you're in for two sets, covering material old and new. Catch the Icelandic trio at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on Tuesday, July 25 and Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena on Thursday, July 27. Meanwhile, Two Door Cinema Club will be hitting Australian capitals with their third studio album, Gameshow, recorded in Kopanga Canyon, California with producer Jacknife Lee. Get a dose of their electro-indie-pop at Metro City, Perth, on Wednesday, July 19; Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, on Friday, July 21; and Festival Hall, Melbourne, on Tuesday, July 25. Supporting them will be triple j favourites Last Dinosaurs and The Creases. To catch HAIM outside of Splendour, you'll have to get yourself to Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Thursday, July 20 — it's the only show they're doing. Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana scored a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist for their 2013 release, Days Are Gone, and have been working on their hotly anticipated follow-up. 23-year-old English singer-songwriter George Ezra is returning to Australia after selling out his 2015 tour here. His debut album, Wanted on Voyage, sold three million copies and, yes, you can expect to hear hits 'Budapest' and 'Blame It On Me'. Ezra will be at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on Tuesday, July 18 and Melbourne's Forum Theatre on Wednesday, July 19. Another songwriter to catch is Sweden's Tove Lo. She's been writing hits — for both herself and others — for more than ten years and inspired one million album sales in the process. Her latest album Lady Wood is best known for single 'Cool Girl'. She's also lent her pen and ear to a bunch of chart toppers, including Flume's 'Say It', Coldplay's 'Fun' and Broods' 'Freak of Nature'. See Tove Lo in Sydney at the Metro Theatre on Wednesday, July 26 and in Melbourne at the Prince Bandroom on Friday, July 28. English blues man Rag 'n' Bone (Rory Graham), who mixes the blues tradition with hip hop and beats, will be making his Aussie debut at Splendour, before setting off for Sydney's Metro Theatre on Friday, July 21 and Melbourne's 170 Russell on Monday, July 24. Meanwhile, Maggie Rogers, discovered by Pharrell Williams at an NYU masterclass last year, will be playing her headline shows at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne, on Sunday, July 23 and the Factory Theatre, Sydney on Tuesday, July 25. Her debut EP, Light is Fading, is out now and its single 'Alaska' has racked up 31 million views on YouTube. LA-based songwriter Bishop Briggs, known for her gritty vocals and unique songwriting, will be at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory on Thursday, July 20 and Melbourne's Howler on Friday, July 21, while rock 'n' roll duo The Lemon Twigs will be landing in Australia after appearances at Coachella and Glastonbury, to play the Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, on Saturday, July 22 and The Curtin, Melbourne, on Tuesday, July 21. Finally, catch LANY from LA, whose track 'ILYSB' won hearts and minds online, at Max Watts, Melbourne on Friday, July 21 and Metro Theatre, Sydney, on Saturday, July 22.
Soi 38 in Melbourne's CBD is an authentic Thai street food eatery, with an atmosphere that perfectly mirrors the vibrant hustle and bustle of a Bangkok market. With plastic stools and brightly coloured tables, this is the kind of place you come to experience classic yet tantalising flavours with genuine Thai ambience. The menu features several papaya salads, including Tum Thai Khai Kem with dried shrimps, peanut and salted eggs as well as Tum Phon La Man which is a seasonal mixed fruit salad. The raw menu includes black tiger prawns with a spicy chilli sauce and a king fish ceviche. If chilli isn't your thing don't be scared away, the Yum Salmon Zap with fermented fish sauce is probably the pick of the bunch. Then you've got grilled meats and seafood, soups (all spicy) and a deep fried selection of delicious marinated chickened pork knuckle. Soi 38 rounds itself out with a couple of hot pots featuring a mix of seafood, meat, vegetables and rice. The menu never seems to end at Soi 38, staying true to the inventiveness of Thai street food. Soi 38's beer list features favourites such as Chang, Singha and Leo, and they are basically mandatory for those over eighteen — considering the amount spice you're bound to ingest. Appears in: The Best Thai Restaurants in Melbourne for 2023
While we were pushing through our first autumn Monday — fittingly caffeinated to the nines — the best actors, directors, cinematographers and costume-makers were walking the red carpet leading to Hollywood's Dolby Theatre. And they were collecting a slew of well-deserved gold statues on stage, too. At the 90th Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel didn't shy away from discussing #MeToo, Weinstein and last year's Best Picture fiasco, Jodie Foster took the stage on crutches (and blamed Meryl Streep) and Frances McDormand made a rousing speech, encouraging the telling (and funding) of more women's stories in Hollywood. On the awards front, some hot favourites battled it out for the 2018 titles. There were big winners — The Shape of Water, going in with a massive 13 nominations, took home four — and others you may believe were cheated (Timothée Chalamet is a winner in our hearts), but, regardless, this year's Oscar winners make for a stellar must-watch list. Here's who took home the gongs, and who you should be watching on the big (or little) screen. Some are still in cinemas, so hop to it tout de suite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYWazblaUA THE SHAPE OF WATER Won: Best Picture, Directing (Guillermo del Toro), Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), Production Design (Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin) What our critic said: "Equally vivid and violent as it jumps between matters of the heart and moments of espionage, the film entrances with its sweet, soulful, delicate approach while never shying away from weighty themes of persecution or oppression." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In cinemas. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aZ3r-84EQc THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Won: Actress in a Leading Role (Frances McDormand), Actor in a Supporting Role (Sam Rockwell) What our critic said: "Packed with dark, hilarious, nigh-unprintable dialogue, McDonagh's script mightn't be subtle, but it is teeming with complexity... Taking his cues from gunslinging revenge tales gone by, the filmmaker crafts a complicated rumination on humanity's contradictions." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In cinemas. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKvpSr7p1g DARKEST HOUR Won: Actor in a Leading Role (Gary Oldman), Makeup and Hairstyling (Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Mlinowski and Lucy Sibbick) What our critic said: "While both Churchill and Dunkirk are clearly no strangers to cinemas of late, Darkest Hour has one particular weapon all of its own: recent Golden Globe winner Oldman. The veteran actor gives a captivating performance, even coming hot on the heels of Brian Cox's excellent work in Churchill just months ago."— Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In cinemas. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ9J1FgA0A8 DUNKIRK Won: Film Editing (Lee Smith), Sound Editing (Richard King and Alex Gibson), Sound Mixing (Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landarker, and Gary A. Rizzo) What our critic said: "Unrelenting from start to finish, there's never a moment that's easy to watch, but there's never one devoid of hope either. This is an astonishing feat of storytelling, aesthetics and emotion, one from which you will not be able to look away."— Sarah Ward Where to watch it: Rent or buy on iTunes. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DIm1PyBSwc COCO Won: Animated Feature Film, Original Song ('Remember Me') What our critic said: "Coco enchants with warmth and authenticity from start to finish. In fact, as bright as its images shine, as high as its heartfelt emotions soar, and as perfectly as its voice cast fill their roles — including Gael García Bernal stealing scenes as a dead prankster — it's the film's embrace of its setting and culture that truly makes it sing." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In cinemas. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCYB28iknIM PHANTOM THREAD Won: Costume Design (Mark Bridges) What our critic said: "Every textile metaphor you can think of applies to Phantom Thread. It's a film that's carefully woven from the fabric of human urges, teeming with hidden layers and positively bursting at the seams with emotional detail. It's also one made by the finest possible craftspeople, with Anderson and his three stars fashioning the cinematic equivalent of haute couture." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In cinemas (but the run is almost over). Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJHex4ZitgA A FANTASTIC WOMAN Won: Foreign Language Film What our critic said: "It can't be overstated how wonderful it is to see transgender representation on the big screen (no offence Eddie Redmayne, but this is how it should be). Vega's performance as Marina feels authentic, in no small part because it is authentic. Every movement, every delivery is subtle, considered and real." — Imogen Baker Where to watch it: In selected cinemas. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGa3M0hfTCo BLADE RUNNER 2049 Won: Visual Effects, Cinematography (Roger A. Deakins) What our critic said: "For a film that overwhelms with its extraordinary sights and echoing sounds, Blade Runner 2049 revels in the little things, and in the potent cumulative toll that they can have...Villeneuve achieves the cinematic equivalent, making each moment resound with meaning while honouring the legacy of the original." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: Rent or buy on iTunes. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=AHEl7Pji0f8 GET OUT Won: Original Screenplay (Jordan Peele) What our critic said: "One of the most assured, astute, entertaining and intelligent horror movies to creep out cinemas in years." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: Rent or buy on iTunes. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0UgXrhCPHo CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Won: Adapted Screenplay (James Ivory) What our critic said: "Weaved from quiet, tender, everyday encounters that pepper every love story, it swells and surges, taking both its characters and its viewers on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Think of it as perhaps the greatest example of cinematic show and tell there is: to watch it is to experience the same heady, heated feelings as its central couple." — Sarah Ward Where to watch it: In selected cinemas (but the run is almost over). Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZQ5DfSAAc I, TONYA Won: Actress in a Supporting Role (Allison Janney) What our critic said: "I, Tonya seems intent on reversing the popular consensus around its title character. The real Harding appeared at premieres of the film in the US, standing alongside Margot Robbie on the red carpet. But while she might finally have gotten the chance to prove she's not just the butt of a joke, you can't help but feel that the filmmakers – intentionally or not – treat her abuse as exactly that." — Kat Hayes Where to watch it: In cinemas. Read our full review.
If there's one place in New South Wales — well, besides Sydney — that's embraced the state's newly liberated small bar culture, it's Wollongong. Like that of the harbour city, The Gong's night life used to be all about rowdy pubs and dance clubs. Now, we're not saying there's anything wrong with that — sometimes, there's no better way to end a working week than sinking a few and tutting like you're Taylor Swift in utter anonymity — but, like the great Latin writer Publilius Syrus quipped: "The most delightful pleasures cloy without variety". And during the past decade Wollongong, which you'll find just a 90-minute drive south of Sydney, has diversified. In the city's easily walkable centre, you'll stumble across a bluesy whiskey den, a laneway warehouse plastered with street art, a pocket-sized wine bar with a giant-sized wine list, a hatted hideaway serving French degustations and a waterfront pub championing microbrews. And that's just the start of it. Beyond the streetscape, there are beaches, mountains and woodlands galore. In one weekend, you can ride a horse through rainforest, picnic by a waterfall, cruise clifftops on the back of a Harley, loop de loop in a WW2 biplane and, needless to say, take your pick of beaches to swim at. Speaking of which, Wollongong's sandy coastline gives you two options, north and south of Flagstaff Point. On one side, there's the calm, swimmer-friendly North Beach, while on the other is the wild, 3.1-kilometre long City Beach. For more, skip town to visit the string of seaside villages that make up the outer northern suburbs, watched over by the spectacular, 400-metre high, sandstone Illawarra Escarpment. Here's your guide to eating, drinking and adventuring your way through a Wollongong sleepover. [caption id="attachment_569010" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Sage Hotel via Wotif[/caption] STAY To wake up just a stumble away from a swim, check into the Sage. Once known as the Chifley and taken over by Silver Needle Hotels in 2015, this four star, 11-storey, 168 room hotel is across the road from City Beach. For fantasy novel-inspiring panoramas of a morning mist-enshrouded Mount Keira, ask for a north facing balcony room or suite. Wherever you are, you'll get invigorating ocean breezes, a super comfy bed, a 40-inch tele and cosy armchairs. When the surf's too rough for a dip, plunge into the spacious lap pool. Buffet brekkie — served on the hotel's Five Islands Terrace — comes with dazzling ocean views, while downstairs at Cold Water Creek Restaurant and Bar, you can slip into a red-cushioned booth anytime and build your own burger. [caption id="attachment_569278" align="alignnone" width="1280"] South Coast Bike Hire[/caption] DO To make zipping around town a cinch, rent a bicycle from South Coast Bike Hire, who'll deliver the bike to your doorstep. Stick to scooting from one bar to another or, if you're keen to counter your excesses with a workout, conquer the waterfront cycleway, which runs between Port Kembla and Thirroul, where you can cool off in a 1930s ocean pool, grab a coffee at Gidget's, browse local art or take a surfing lesson with Illawarra Surf Academy. All in all, Wollongong has 42 kilometres of shared paths. For more scenery (at a much faster speed) take a High Adrenaline Ride and Fly Tour. Just Cruisin' Tours' Steve Melchior will roll up at your hotel, pop you on the back of his Harley and lead you on a twisting, turning, coast-hugging journey along Grand Pacific Drive, which runs as far north as the Royal National Park. Hold on when you hit Sea Cliff Bridge, a dizzying series of curves suspended 665 metres above the ocean, backdropped by sheer cliffs. If you're travelling with a mate, book the Boom Trike. [caption id="attachment_569088" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Southern Biplanes[/caption] Afterwards — or perhaps before — Steve will transport you to Southern Biplane Adventures, where you'll jump aboard a fire truck-red biplane known as Lilly Warra. She's a bonafide World War Two veteran, built in 1943 to perform military aerobatics. Your pilot will strap you into the open-air cockpit and take you soaring hundreds of metres above the Illawarra coastline. Just how gnarly things get is up to you; settle in for a straightforward right-way-up joy flight or order as many tricks as you can handle, from a wingover (a steep climb followed by a sideways fall) to a loop de loop (a 360-degree, upside down turn). To see the Lilly Warra — and hundreds of other stunt planes — in action, head to Wollongong on the weekend of April 30 for the annual Wings Over Illawarra Air Show. And, for a journey through Australia's aviation history, swing by the nearby Historical Aircraft Restoration Society Museum, where you can sit in the cockpit of a Vietnam War fighter jet. [caption id="attachment_569102" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Otford Farm[/caption] Done with the adrenaline pumping? Make tracks to Otford Farm to explore at a gentler pace. This Lords of the Rings-esque property is home to 40 or so horses, who spend most of their time roaming freely across its 300 acres, but will cheerfully take you for a ride if you ask nicely. The three-hour Bald Hill Adventure trail ride is a magical journey through dense rainforest, alongside babbling creeks and across open woodlands. You'll stop at the hang gliding mecca of Bald Hill Lookout and the pretty Kellys Falls Picnic Area on the way. Short on time or not ready to commit to 180 minutes on horseback? Book a one- or two-hour stroll instead. [caption id="attachment_569091" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Caveau[/caption] EAT UK-born Peter Sheppard was just a kid when he decided to become a chef. Some years later, after training at Sydney's Banc, he moved to Wollongong, where he opened Caveau in 2004. In 2005, his French-inspired creations earned a Good Food and Travel Guide Chef Hat — and they've won one every single year since then. Any day of the week, plonk down on a turquoise polka dot chair in one of the hushed, dark dining rooms and work your way through a seven-course degustation. Like the furniture, the plates are splashed with bright colours, from brilliant purple baby beets to bright red heirloom tomatoes to vibrant warrigal greens. Sheppard sources local, organic produce and pursues a nose-to-tail philosophy, ensuring nothing is wasted. Vegetarians can expect to be treated with equal respect as carnivores; the meat-free degustation is not just an afterthought, but a masterpiece in itself. For a more casual chow down in an epic setting, there's Three Chimneys. Hidden down an alleyway and covered in street art, it's a former warehouse turned hospitality kingdom, incorporating not only a restaurant and bar, but also a coffee roastery, bakery and live music venue. Flop onto a corner couch and keep to yourself, get loud at a communal table or hit the dancefloor. The share plate menu is made up of tasty, tasty morsels in generous portions, from 12-hour braised lamb sliders to crumbed camembert with cranberry sauce. [caption id="attachment_569139" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Diggies[/caption] Several cafes serve up high quality breakfasts and lunches. To start your morning right — that is, overlooking North Beach — reserve a spot at Diggies. Local brothers Stan and Aaron Crinis have been feeding ravenous surfers in this airy, heritage-listed, former cottage for more than a decade. Dig into brioche toast with strawberry compote and mascarpone cheese or sweet corn fritters with a poached egg, sour cream, smoked salmon and a rocket and zucchini salad, and you'll be ready for anything the day throws at you. [caption id="attachment_569133" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Humber[/caption] At Humber, a three-level, triangular cafe-bar in an 80-year-old building, slide onto a jade banquette and tuck into a plate of slow-baked ocean trout with eggs, or a dish called Mushroom Thyme, which features five types of local mushies. At least 50 percent of all produce comes from within a 100-kilometre radius. On the third floor, there's a lovely, laidback rooftop bar serving cocktails and tapas by evening. Throughout April, the eatery will hold Humberfest, which will see a slew of special events, from yoga lessons to mixology classes to movie nights, come to life. [caption id="attachment_569143" align="alignnone" width="1280"] lee and me[/caption] Just down the road in an 1890s terrace house, you'll find lee and me, recognisable from the bicycle in the window. There's a cafe downstairs and a retail space called THE STORE upstairs. So, you can contemplate buying fresh flowers and cool furniture, in between nibbling away on a shredded chicken sub with pickled carrot, or a roast lamb toastie with baba ghanoush, onion jam and Gruyère. Owners Benny and Naomi Hudson have a second outpost in the form of laneway burger joint His Boy Elroy, which turns classics into fun new inventions. The Heisenburg-er, for example, is packed with southern fried chicken, iceberg lettuce, hot sauce and a secret blue sauce. Take the Grand Pacific Drive back to Sydney to stop in at Thirroul (we recommend Postmans Quarter in an old 19th century building that used to house a bank) and/or one of the most spectacularly-located pubs in Australia, The Scarborough Hotel. Passing by on a clear day? Bags a table on the top floor terrace, order a seafood plate and a bottle of sparkling, and don't make any plans to go anywhere else until sundown. Should you miss out on the terrace, a table in the vast, grassy beer garden is a happy second prize — and there are Pacific Island-style thatched huts for groups. [caption id="attachment_569136" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Throsby[/caption] DRINK For a pre-dinner wine or a quiet chat, slip into The Throsby, a 50-seater bar that's been keeping locals hydrated since December 2014. Owners Erick Zevallos and Maddie Sullivan have taken care of every detail, from the Scandi-style high stools to the hanging plants to the 53 variety-strong wine list showcasing small winemakers from all over the world. Later on, venture to dimly-lit Howlin' Wolf to sample the ever-changing 100+ whisky collection — and if you visit on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, you'll be able to kick back to live music. [caption id="attachment_569137" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Illawarra Brewing Co.[/caption] Meanwhile, you'll get a view with your brew with a view at The Illawarra Brewery, just opposite City Beach (and not far from the Sage Hotel). Claim an outdoor seat and work your way through a tasting paddle, which covers a handful of offerings from the Illawarra Brewing Company brewhouse. In-house bistro Smoking Barrels dishes up a stack of exceptionally moreish American-style creations, including a salt and chilli-fried soft shell crab burger and sticky barbecue hot wings with smoked mayo. If you're wondering why the meat's so full of flavour, it's all slow-cooked in their custom made, Texan-style smoker. To find out more about the brewhouse, drop by its headquarters in North Wollongong, where you'll meet brewer Dave McGrath, watch the brewing process in motion and taste to your heart's content. Walking in, you'll notice a basketball hoop — manage three slam dunks and you'll be taking home a free growler, filled with your beer of choice. The Chuck Norris is very, very hard to go past. [caption id="attachment_569280" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Jonathan Mueller via Flickr[/caption] LET'S DO THIS; GIVE ME THE DETAILS Wollongong is about 90 minutes south of Sydney. You can drive or take the South Coast Line train from Sydney's Central Station to Wollongong Station. Jasmine travelled as a guest of Destination NSW. Top image: Maksym Kozlenko via Wikimedia Commons.
As Melbourne emerged from its latest lockdown to enjoy its first weekend of freedom, photographer Julia Sansone hit the streets to capture the sights of a city in celebration mode for Concrete Playground. Not even cloudy skies could contain Melburnians' excitement for IRL catch-ups, brunch dates with mates and pints at the pub. Punters were out in force to enjoy some well-deserved meetings with those closest to them, and to support local businesses that have been closed for months. GABRIEL, FITZROY Smashed avo was back on the menu as cafes enjoyed the company of dine-in customers again. PAPIRICA, COLLINGWOOD Owner Yutaka Matsuda said he was excited, but nervous, to have people back into the cafe. He said the space is "so much warmer when people are in it". The venue will stick to takeaway until November 5, which was Melbourne's original reopening date. SALLY'S RETRO FASHION, FITZROY This Smith Street vintage store is one of the businesses offering outdoor retail until indoor retail is allowed again. Owners and staff say they're very excited to be able to give people some fun and excitement — and to be part of the community again. TERROR TWILIGHT, COLLINGWOOD This group of friends were happy to finally swap the Zoom catch-ups for IRL hangs — and to tick this Collingwood cafe off their list, together. Terror Twilight owner Kieran Spiteri said his team was feeling relaxed and happy to be back. THREE MONKEYS, PRAHRAN Merlette enjoyed a well-deserved rose and said she was loving being around people again. ARCHIES ALL DAY, FITZROY Gertrude Street came alive again, with brunch-goers flocking to fill its streetside beer gardens and parklets. THE GRACE DARLING, COLLINGWOOD Many hard-earned beer garden pints were sunk across the weekend. UNION HOTEL, WINDSOR BUILDERS ARMS HOTEL, FITZROY PEPE'S ITALIAN & LIQUOR, CBD Bartender Allie said she was stoked to be able to get back behind the bar and do what she loved. Josh, Persia and their pup Pepe celebrated Josh's birthday in the beer garden and are looking forward to returning to all their favourite dog-friendly venues. They fittingly kicked things off with a bar that's got the same name as their doggo. CHINATOWN, CBD Chinatown fired up once more, with punters happy to wait streetside for a spot at their favourite eateries. SECTION 8, CBD This famed laneway bar threw open its door to patrons who soaked up DJ sounds from Disco Mediterranea. PIDAPIPO, CARLTON Celebratory post-lockdown scoops were on the menu at Lygon Street's Pidapipo. Images: Julia Sansone for Concrete Playground.
The old nine-to-five routine can be a bit of a grind — work, personal admin and trying to stay on top of your must-watch TV shows and films before someone spoils them for you — certainly takes a toll. That's why, when the weekend comes around, sometimes the only solution is to shake it off and leave your troubles behind while you dominate the dance floor. Nightclubs can be great for this, but there are times when you want something a little more chill. Thankfully, Melbourne's ever-changing bar scene has a roster of new and old venues offering up the goods for when you're ready to drop your bag off at the cloakroom and bust some moves. So, here's our list of the best Melbourne bars where you can shake off the working week and dance late into the night. Recommended reads: The Best Bars in Melbourne The Best Bars in Melbourne's CBD The Best Pubs in Melbourne The Best Wine Bars in Melbourne
Mamas Dining Group (Hochi Mama, Straight Outta Saigon, Kiss and Tell) brought Windsor Wine Room to Chapel Street in June 2024, adding to the precinct's growing number of stellar wine bars. Chef Michael Stolley (ex-Ish Restaurant and Eazy Peazy) is running the kitchen, plating up a mix of small and large sharing plates that are loosely inspired by a range of European cuisines — mostly Italian, German and French creole. Start off with small plates like mussels escabeche paired with a fennel aioli and potato crisps, kingfish crudo with kumquat, cucumber and mint and burrata served with a vodka-spiked sauce. Bigger bites include a reasonably priced $38 bavette steak with a roast tomato butter, jerusalem artichoke gnocchi with hazelnut, sage and pecorino and a hearty cauliflower pie with French onion gravy. As is in the name, wine is the star of the drinks list. And there's plenty to get through here. An impressive 23 drops are available by the glass, while the eight pages of bottles span Australian, New Zealand and European varietals. These cover a vast range of vinos, with plenty on offer for both traditional wine lovers and fans of new-wave natty numbers. Cocktails, beers, and a pretty far-reaching collection of spirits round out the booze options. Images: Threefold Social
At the end of 2023 we sadly bade farewell to Baby Snakes, one of the best wine bars in Melbourne. But just as soon as the team packed up, a trio of Melbourne hospo veterans stepped in to create a new bar in its wake. Jacob Bell (Whitehart), Jerry Poon (The Operatives) and Amber Hahipene (Section 8) have revived the space with some splashes of paint, new floors, house plants and more refined decor. Where Baby Snake edged towards dive bar, Misfits is considerably sleeker and more put-together. The new bar isn't losing any of the community feels, as it hosts workshops, panels and live recordings, alongside a weekly selection of local and international DJs. The team even uses the square behind Misfits for laneway parties, local arts and community festivals. Hahipene notes, "we want Misfits to be a platform for new talent, a stomping ground for the local community and a home to people who love music and hospitality." Bevs are an all-round affair as opposed to specialising in just one spirit or type of booze. Plenty of wines are up for grabs, plus limited-release beers and some cocktails. Those wanting a feed are also free to get pizzas delivered from the downstairs Slice Shop Pizza. A casual affair, this space remains. Just with a little more spit and polish. Find Misfits at 30 Chambers Street, Footscray, open 5–late on Thursday to Saturday, and 3–11pm on Sunday. For more information, head to the venue's Instagram page.
Stay tuned. More info coming soon. Images: Julia Sansone
Summer is fast approaching, and you know what that means: warmer weather, fewer layers. Although it seems like thongs and shorts become the uniform of the season for many, the style-conscious woman saves those for the beach. This may be the most exciting time of year for fashion, with all the bright colours, light fabrics and fun shapes. And it looks like it's going to be a good season for all of those things. Here at Concrete Playground, we've rounded up some of the best current looks for every taste. We've also got a style guide for men. Here it is over here. Top image by Oroton. CLASSIC Offering a mix of both ladylike and masculine looks, this season offers the traditional dresser something different. Minimalism has been a huge theme this season, but not necessarily when it comes to length. Think classic styles, clean shapes and funky prints. Matchy-matchy Suits Popping up in fun prints and wearable colours such as navy, pink and white, summer suits are finding their ways to more places than the office. If you're not feeling the pants, these colourful combos can be found in skirt and short options for a warmer weather alternative. Mix them up with a fun printed blouse, roll up the sleeves and throw on a fedora for an instant cool-girl touch. Images: Street Style from PFW ’13 by Victoria Adamson Suit from Dianne Von Furstenberg’s AW 13/14 collection. Catwalking Street Style Stripes at Paris Fashion Week by Lee Oliveira Full Skirts If the weather has you feeling extra cheery, try out fuller, mid-length skirts and dresses in flirty florals, girly ginghams and preppy pinstripes. Throw on some stilettos and cat-eye sunnies if you feel like channelling a little Hollywood glamour. Images: Stylist and fashion editor Viviana Volpicella in an Equipment blouse and Stella Jean skirt at Men’s Fashion Week in Milan by Lee Oliveira Marine Deleeuw modelling mary Katrantzou’s Spring 2014 RTW by Marcus Tondo Street Style at MBFWA ’13 by Diego Zuko Sleek Chic While last season was all about colour blocking, this is the time to clear your slate. Simple, well-tailored pieces in white, black or pastel are anything but boring. Go for the monochromatic edge by pairing similar coloured accessories and shoes with your clothes. Images: Street Style at Milan Fashion Week 2013 by Lee Oliveira Look from Camilla and Marc’s SS 13/14 collection by Breakfast With Audrey Sienna Miller in Carven at the BFI Gala Dinner by RCFA TRENDY For those who like to keep things current, there are some playful new looks that have gracefully transitioned from the catwalk to the sidewalk. Crop Tops The ultimate staple this season, these fun little numbers have matured beyond denim shorts. Try a crop top with a draped suit jacket and a high waisted, mid-length skirt for a vampy look. Or, keep it casual with slouchy trousers and flat sandals. The possibilities really are endless. Images: Street Style from MBFWA ’13 in Sydney by Petra Rudd A new suit from Ginger & Smart’s SS 13/14 collection. Getty Images and Mark Metcalfe Blogger Margaret Zhang of Shine by Three at MBFWA ’13 in Sydney Petra Rudd Slouchy Trousers The popular harem-style pants have gotten a more flattering update this season. Designers have done away with the drop-crotch yet maintained the delightful flow. In tailored shapes and sleek fabrics, these comfy pants have made their way from the beach to the streets. By the end of this season you’ll have forgotten what skinny jeans are. Images: Organic by John Patrick Spring 2014 RTW collection by Imaxtree and Alessandro Luciani BCBG Max Azria SS 13/14 RTW by Vogue UK Blogger Zanita Morgan of Zanita in Cue Clothing pants. Photo by Rebecca See-through Sheers Transparency was a huge theme on runways all over this season, especially in Australia. See-through tops and cut-out frocks from the likes of Karla Spetic to Dior are drawing attention to what is (or isn't) underneath. If you're bold enough to test this trend, you better be wearing your best knickers. Images: Street style during New York Fashion Week Spring 2013 by Mr Newton Sheer panelling from Karla Spetic’s SS 13/14 RTW collection by Lucas Dawson for Vogue Australia Actress/Dancer Julianne Hough in Jenny Packham at the 2013 Emmy Awards by Getty Images MAVERICK This season has seen some pretty out-there stuff. Whether with boudoir-to-boulevard ensembles or striking sunnies, those who are aching to stand out on the streets won't have a problem catching stares. Silky Separates We’ve all been guilty of making a Sunday morning coffee run or two in some sort of pyjama article. With designer approval, fashionistas are now strutting the streets in full-on getups. Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton have sent pyjama-inspired separates and chemises down the catwalk in sultry silks and satins. If you’d feel ridiculous in a matching polka dot blouse and pant combo, try just the blouse over a more structured skirt or pant. Images: Blogger Nicole Warne of Gary Pepper Girl in ASOS by Carin Olsson Edie Campbell modelling for Marc Jacobs’ Fall/Winter 2013 RTW collection Joanna Hillman, Market Editor at Harper's Bazaar by Beauty Frizz Voluminous Sleeves Futuristic with a tinge of '80s, the big shoulder look is not for the faint of heart. Last season we saw sharp shapes, but this season's silhouette is much more giving, with a softer, airy look. Pair a blouse with a mini skirt or try a dress for some serious statement making. Images: Alice McCall SS 13/14 by Lucas Dawson for Vogue Australia Connie Cao of K is for Kani. Photo by Rowena Ellery SS 13/14 at MBFWA 2013 by Getty Images Obnoxious Sunnies We’ve seen sunnies in all sorts of sizes and shapes, from round to rectangular. Now, circular and cat-eye frames are getting some serious makeovers in bold patterns, coloured lenses and dimensional flowers. Images: Elle Fanning in Karen Walker’s ‘Siouxsie’ shades. By FameFlynet Look by Shakuchi ‘s SS 13/14 collection at MBFWA ’13. Getty Images Streetstyle. By Style Creeper
Movie World might've badged itself as Hollywood on the Gold Coast, but it's no longer the only big tourist attraction giving visitors to southeast Queensland — and locals as well — a chance to explore their on-screen favourites IRL. Come November 2024, Brisbane will welcome Bluey's World. Get ready to hear "wackadoo!" constantly, and "for real life", too, at this immersive installation that lets you step inside one of the River City's and Australia's biggest hits of the past six years. Yes, that'd be the award-winning animated favourite that is Bluey. Missed out on staying in a replica of the Bluey house when it was temporarily up for rent in the Queensland capital in 2022? The home of the family-friendly animated phenomenon is now getting a Bluey attraction so that you have another chance to experience the global sensation beyond the TV. Announced in 2023, originally to open this August, but now launching on Thursday, November 7, 2024, Bluey's World will get you walking around life-sized sets that recreate the beloved series. The Heeler house and yard are part of the setup — and as seen in just-released images of the new attraction, they look the part perfectly. Maybe you'll be taking your little ones along, or your nieces and nephews. Perhaps you know that appreciating the adorable Aussie show about a family of blue heelers isn't just for kids. Either way, this is big — including literally. Opening at Northshore Pavilion in Northshore Brisbane, the space itself is sizeable, spanning across 4000 square metres. When Airbnb listed its Bluey abode in 2022, the response was massive. Expect the reaction to Bluey's World to be the same. Already, it has extended its season, sticking around until September 2025. Once you take the stairs up to the family's porch and enter through the front door, the Heeler home awaits, including the living room. So do recreations of recognisable scenes, characters and even games from the show. And yes, as seen in the series, you can arrive via CityCat. Visitors can expect to spend 70 minutes bounding through the experience — and will also find a playground and a cafe onsite, with interactive play a focus, taking cues from Bluey episodes in the process. There's a soundscape to match, plus a gift shop, all in a purpose-built venue. And, for big Bluey birthday celebrations, the site is hosting parties as well. Bluey's World is exclusive to Brisbane, making it a tourist attraction to fans not only locally and nationally but worldwide. Unsurprisingly, that's a big part of the push from both the Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, who are supporting the BBC Studios- and HVK Productions-produced experience. Bluey's World opens at Northshore Pavilion, 281 MacArthur Avenue, Northshore Brisbane on Thursday, November 7, 2024 — head to the attraction's website for more information and tickets.
Was it invented in Belgium or France? Can you eat it and still call yourself left-wing? Which potatoes should you use? The steak frites might have inspired many debates over the years. But one thing is clear: we can't get enough of it. The folks at Dolly in Le Meridien Melbourne are well aware of this fact. And that's why they've launched Wednesday steak frites nights. That's right, you can now end hump day with a hearty plate of meat and potatoes, cooked French-style. Executive Chef Hervé Borghini has taken a refined approach to the classic dish. His steak is a 250-gram, MB2-grade porterhouse sourced from Victorian grass-fed cattle, topped with a disc of traditional Cafe de Paris butter. On the side comes a generous pile of golden, double-cooked frites. Usually $44, Borghini's steak frites is $32 on Wednesday nights. Plus, you can order matching wines at just $10 a glass. Bon appetit!
Where do artists find inspiration? The answer to that question is virtually endless, as perusing the Archibald Prize finalists every year illustrates. For the acclaimed Australian portraiture award, sometimes actors, musicians, comedians and filmmakers provide a spark. Authors, footballers, the folks doing the painting themselves: they all fit, too. Frequently, though, fellow artists inspire others to get the creative juices flowing. Among recent Archie winners, that was true for Tony Costa with Lindy Lee, Blak Douglas with Karla Dickens and Peter Wegner with Guy Warren, for instance — and, in 2025, it's also the case for Julie Fragar with her likeness of Justene Williams. This year's pick for the prestigious prize, Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene), is also an instance of one Brisbane artist painting another to claim the $100,000 award. Fragar's win makes it three in a row for women at the Archies since 2023, following Laura Jones in 2024 with her portrait of author Tim Winton and Julia Gutman the year prior for a depiction of Montaigne. That said, Fragar is still just the 13th woman to win the 104-year-old art accolade. Even with recipients who've emerged victorious more than once — Judy Cassab in 1960 and 1967, and Del Kathryn Barton in2008 and 2013 — this is still only the 15th time that the prize has gone to a female talent. [caption id="attachment_1003358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Winner Archibald Prize 2025, Julie Fragar 'Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene)', oil on canvas, 240 x 180.4 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter.[/caption] "You work your whole career imagining this might happen one day. Thinking back to myself as a 17-year-old showing up at the Sydney College of the Arts — a kid from country New South Wales — it's incredible to think I have won the Archibald Prize," said Fragar about her win. "Portrait painting wasn't taken as seriously in the 1990s as it is today. I have always regarded the Archibald Prize as a place that understood the value of portraiture. To be the winner of the Archibald Prize is a point of validation. It means so much to have the respect of my colleagues at the Art Gallery. It doesn't get better than that." Fragar is the Head of Painting at the Queensland College of Art and Design, where Williams is the Head of Sculpture. "Justene is incredible. I feel very fortunate that she allowed me to do this portrait. There is nobody like her. The work is a reflection on the experience of making art to deadlines, and the labour and love of being a mother," said Fragar of her now-Archibald Prize-winning subject. "Here are two of Australia's great artists in conversation about what matters most to them. Julie Fragar has a sumptuous ability to transcend reality and depict her subjects technically but also psychologically. Justene Williams is a larger-than-life character, a performer — cacophonous and joyous," noted Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Maud Page about 2025's pick. "In this work, she is surrounded by her own artworks and, most important of all, her daughter Honore as a tiny figure atop a sculpture. It speaks to me as a powerful rendition of the juggle some of us perform as mothers and professionals." Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene) was selected from a pool of 57 finalists, including another awarded two-artist combination in Abdul Abdullah's portrait of fellow creative Jason Phu, aka 2025's Packing Room Prize recipient. Other contenders included likenesses of Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Boy Swallows Universe star Felix Cameron, Miranda Otto, Grace Tame, Vincent Namatjira, filmmaker Warwick Thornton and comedian Aaron Chen, as whittled down from a total pool of 904 Archibald Prize entries for 2025. AGNSW also awards the Wynne and Sulman prizes at the same time as the Archibald — and across all three, from 2394 submissions, 2025 marks the first year that there were more finalist works by women artists in the accolades' history. [caption id="attachment_1003359" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Winner Wynne Prize 2025, Jude Rae 'Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal', oil on linen, 200 x 150.4 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio.[/caption] For $50,000 Wynne Prize, which is all about landscape painting — and is Australia's oldest art award — Sydney artist Jude Rae's Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal was picked from 52 finalists and 758 entries. This is the third time that Rae has made the top batch of Wynne contenders. She's also been an Archie finalist four times (in 2014, 2019, 2021 and 2022) and was a Sulman finalist in 2021. "There is something compelling about the constantly flashing gantry lights and the floodlights blasting away in those hours just before dawn. I am up at various times and love to watch the pre-dawn light, when the sky is just starting to change colour. From my bathroom window on the fifth floor of my building, I have a clear view of that scene. There is no way to photograph it — it's too subtle and too fleeting. It's a big sky and we're all really little," Rae said about her piece. [caption id="attachment_1003361" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Winner Sulman Prize 2025, Gene A'Hern 'Sky painting', oil and oil stick on board, 240 x 240 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio.[/caption] The Sulman rewards genre painting, subject painting and mural projects, with Gene A'Hern 2025's pick for the Blue Mountains-inspired Sky painting, getting the top nod for the $40,000 gong from this year's 30 finalists and 732 entries. "Painted with expansive movements to capture a sense of scale and colour, this painting unfolded as I immersed myself in skywatching, while reflecting on the ceremonial choreography of the surrounding environment. It conveys a sensation of nature's gestures, composed to resonate from within, translating an omnipresence that comes from dust and returns to dust," said A'Hern. "The work draws on charged memories — birds singing in harmony, branches sighing in the wind, the closing curtain of the setting sun, all forming a living landscape that I breathe with and through. For me, the sky and the Blue Mountains intertwine and reveal themselves as a place of origin, deep memory and belonging." 2025's winners and finalists across all three prizes are on display at AGNSW from Saturday, May 10–Sunday, August 17, 2025, before touring to Geelong Gallery, Gosford Regional Gallery, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Mudgee Arts Precinct and Shoalhaven Regional Gallery over the 11 months afterwards. Archibald Prize 2025 Exhibition Dates Saturday, May 10–Sunday, August 17, 2025 — Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW Saturday, August 30–Sunday, November 9, 2025 — Geelong Gallery, Victoria Saturday, November 22, 2025–Sunday, January 11, 2026 — Gosford Regional Gallery, NSW Saturday, January 23–Saturday, March 7, 2026 — Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, NSW Friday, March 20–Saturday, May 3, 2026 — Mudgee Arts Precinct, NSW Saturday, May 16–Sunday, July 19, 2026 — Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, NSW 2025's Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prize-winners will display at various locations around the country from Saturday, May 10, 2025. If you can't make it to any of the above exhibition dates, you can check out the winners and finalists of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes on the Art Gallery of NSW website. Top image: Excerpt of winner Archibald Prize 2025, Julie Fragar 'Flagship Mother Multiverse (Justene)', oil on canvas, 240 x 180.4 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Justene Williams. Excerpt of winner Wynne Prize 2025, Jude Rae 'Pre-dawn sky over Port Botany container terminal', oil on linen, 200 x 150.4 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio. Excerpt of winner Sulman Prize 2025, Gene A'Hern 'Sky painting', oil and oil stick on board, 240 x 240 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio. Installation images: Installation view, 'Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2025', Art Gallery of New South Wales, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio.
Collins Street restaurant Freyja has been doing things differently since it opened in 2022, quickly rising to prominence in Melbourne's dining scene with its unique cuisine that celebrates hyperlocal ingredients and time-honoured preservation techniques. Now, the restaurant has reinvented itself with a new dining concept. Rather than forcing guests to choose from static à la carte or set menus, diners are encouraged to share their preferences with the culinary team, who'll put their heads together to serve a completely bespoke four-course chef's selection depending on each table's predilections, for a fixed cost of $99 per person. This innovative idea is guided by executive chef Jae Bang, the boundary-pushing chef renowned for his fermented, pickled and cured creations. Bang mastered his trade at several Michelin-starred restaurants around the globe, including Norway's acclaimed Re-naa, New York's Daniel and the legendary El Bulli — and for his next trick, Bang is flipping the very concept of dining out on its head. Bang has become known in culinary circles for his distinct approach to ingredients. Working with produce both at the beginning and end of its lifecycle, Bang occasionally puzzles his suppliers with requests for the most unripe fruit available. He also takes extended foraging trips to locations on the edge of Melbourne, gathering wild garlic and other intriguing herbs and edible flowers to elevate his dishes. Freyja's kitchen houses more than 100 fermented, pickled and cured ingredients — and some of these might be the perfect addition to your bespoke menu. As well as the new bespoke journey, Freyja has also introduced new à la carte lunch dishes like cauliflower with hazelnut and cauliflower paste, featuring comte, ras el hanout, kaffir lime oil and a sourdough miso that takes a staggering six months to prepare. Similarly, the market fish with unripe blueberry capers, brown butter and mushroom garum puts unripe fruit through a three-month 'caper' process before it's ready for plating. "Sustainability isn't a trend for us – it's woven into the very DNA of Freyja," says Bang. "It's a fundamental principle guiding every aspect of our operation, from sourcing to kitchen practices. Beyond finding the best seasonal produce that Victoria has to offer, we stay deeply connected to the ingredients that shape the dishes on the menu, honouring every part of it." This progressive ethos is also reflected in how the kitchen operates. No team members work more than four days a week, while hands-on experience is provided in foraging, winery harvests and farming. It's no surprise, then, that Bang is continuing to push boundaries by reimagining the possibilities of dining with the introduction of personalised menus that put the power back in diners' hands. Freyja is open for lunch from Tuesday–Friday from 12–2.30pm and dinner from Monday–Saturday from 5.30–9.30pm, at 477 Collins Street, Melbourne. Head to the venue's website for more information.
From 2025, what will Burleigh Heads have in common with Los Angeles, New York, Cannes, Bordeaux, Ibiza, Singapore, Seoul and Hong Kong? As Miami, Doha and Mexico City boast, too, it'll become home to a Mondrian hotel. Alongside fellow upcoming openings in Tulum and Dubai, the LA-born chain is launching its first-ever Australian outpost, heading to a breezy patch of the Gold Coast. For vacationers, the brand's debut Aussie site will feature 208 hotel rooms — some suites, some studios, some two- and three-bedroom beach houses. Also available for travellers: the venue's Sky House at its apex. Mondrian Gold Coast will also include residential apartments, however, if you're cashed up and looking for luxe new digs. Mondrian calls its hotels creative hives — and values its guests not just swanning in and feeling like they could be anywhere in the world, but becoming immersed in their surroundings. The 24-floor Burleigh Heads address will boast views that do plenty of heavy lifting in that regard; if you're not peering at the pine tree-lined beach, you'll have hinterland vistas. "Australia has long been a strategic focus for Mondrian's growth, and the Gold Coast was a focal point thanks to its phenomenal natural setting, rich cultural landscape and vibrant social scene," said Mondrian Hotels & Residences's Brand Chief Operating Officer Chadi Farhat. "Over the last couple of years, we have seen a rising demand for lifestyle brands, where locals and international guests are looking for authentic, creative and immersive experiences — all the hallmarks of the Mondrian brand. It felt a natural choice to bring Mondrian to the Gold Coast and we believe it will resonate strongly with the local market and lend something entirely new to the hospitality space," Farhat continued. Art, architecture, design and culture are also at the forefront of the chain's approach, with Mondrian Gold Coast skewing sleek courtesy of Australian architects Fraser & Partners and Studio Carter — the latter taking cues from the sand and pandanus shrubs for the hotel's textures and tones. Architecture and design practice Alexander &Co joins in with the as-yet-unnamed ground-floor restaurant, which will be just one of the location's spots to eat. Here, think: a space that sprawls both inside and out, complete with a sunny terrace. Up on the third floor, visitors will be able to eat with a vantage over the ocean, or enjoy kicking back at the hotel's pool club. While there's no menu details as yet, local produce will take the spotlight on the menus across the site. And for relaxing, the hotel will also feature a wellness space and sp. For partying, there'll be an events space as well. Find Mondrian Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads, Queensland, from sometime in 2025 — and head to the hotel's website for more information.
Change is brewing in Prahran — or simmering, perhaps. Italian espresso bar Officine Zero is preparing to unveil its new identity: Officina Gastronomica Italiana, or OGI for short. Relaunching sometime this spring, OGI will operate in a space twice the size of Officine Zero, creating more room for culinary exploration. But the real game changer is the addition of a dinner menu. If you're worried about suffering caffeine withdrawal though, don't be — Officine Zero is still operating in its espresso bar and deli capacity for breakfast and lunch. It will close briefly before reopening mid-spring with dinner service under its new moniker. Owner and Emilia-Romagna native Claudio Casoni leads an all-Italian headline act, with OGI set to serve handmade pasta by Turin-born chef Gabriele Coniglio and artisan wines selected by front-of-house manager Armando Al Khatib, who hails from Florence. The menu at OGI will be a tribute to locally sourced seasonal ingredients. And those wines? They'll span a carefully curated selection of Italian vino to match. The heart of OGI is its central bar, a versatile space where patrons can start their day with a caffeine jolt, transition into a laidback afternoon with a glass of wine and conclude the evening with a relaxing dinner. The bar will also feature a tempting array of small plates, ideal for sharing. "When I originally opened Officine Zero in 2014, I always planned for it to be more than an espresso bar," said Casoni, announcing OGI. "I wanted to share my passion for Italian artisans, commitment to sustainable producers and good old-fashioned hospitality with the local community. Now, with the opportunity to expand our footprint and relaunch Officina Gastronimica Italiana, I have my chance." Officine Zero will relaunch as Officina Gastronomica Italiana in mid-spring 2023 at 532/534 Malvern Road, Prahran — we'll update you with an exact date when one is announced.
As the accompanying bar to Vue de Monde, it might be all too easy to think of Lui Bar as an afterthought, a mere staging area for the dining room it's connected to. But instead, Lui Bar makes the case for restaurant bars as destinations in their own right. The bar is perched 55 floors above the city in the Rialto — Lui Bar is named, in fact, after Luigi Grollo, whose construction company built the Collins Street tower in the 1980s. It's home to an impressive drinks offering, with cocktails that champion Australian flavours (much like its fine diner sibling). The drinks do more than just feature local ingredients, though: the list is a celebration of Melbourne's cocktail history, with tipples that take inspiration from the city's first cocktail boom during the Gold Rush, right through to today. The venue also takes the concept of drinking snacks to new heights thanks to its Vue de Monde-designed menu, which showcases clever technique as it reimagines classic local bites — think seafood rolls, handmade beef sausage rolls with a spicy ketchup and a chocolate lamington filled with raspberry gel. Add to the mix a standout wine list, incredible views from 236 metres above the city and live jazz on Sundays, and an evening at Lui Bar is no mere afterthought.
Conscious consumerism and shopping sustainably are hot topics at the moment. That's where independent markets come in handy — aside from the joy of uncovering rare, one-of-a-kind (or, at least, one of a small number) finds, they're also great for discovering quality vendors that specialise in ethical practices and products. And when it comes to rolling out the creme de la creme of local producers every season, the Finders Keepers market knows its stuff. For over a decade, the twice-yearly mini-festival has been championing small-scale producers. So, sustainable shoppers and knick-knack connoisseurs, we've got some good news — Finders Keepers is back for another season. The first stop on its autumn/winter circuit is Sydney, running from Friday, May 3 to Sunday, May 5 — just in time for you to snag the perfect Mother's Day gift. It's then popping up in Brisbane between Friday, June 21 and Sunday, June 23, before wrapping up in Melbourne across Friday, July 12–Sunday, July 14. As always, Finders Keepers has pulled together a high-calibre of art, fashion, beauty and design stalls. And, to help you figure out which ethical vendors to make a beeline towards, we've trawled through the huge Finders Keepers directory to find eight brands doing good for the world — and making even better products. [caption id="attachment_718857" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Finders Keepers. Captured by Mark Lobo.[/caption] YALU APOTHECARY Yalu Apothecary will be gracing the markets this year with its simple ethos — nurture with nature. This philosophy perfectly captures its offerings of sustainable, handmade beauty products. Yalu Apothecary promotes holistic wellness with specialty naturopathic herbal tea blends, crystal-infused botanical perfume oils, face masks and bath products. The products are handcrafted by Rhiannon Mapstone, who sources the finest natural and organic botanicals from local gardens in Australia and from around the globe. Skip the damaging chemicals of mass-produced beauty products and opt for a Yalu perfume, made with pure plant essences, organic infusions and supercharged with crystal healing power. Yalu Apothecary will be at the Sydney and Melbourne markets this season. MISTER TIMBUKTU Secretly hoarding two draws dedicated to activewear for all days of the week? Yep, we're guilty too. Make your yoga tights habit a positive one by grabbing a pair from Mister Timbuktu — an apparel store saving plastics from landfill and the ocean and turning them into outdoor and fitness apparel. A simple yet brilliant idea, Mister Timbuktu began as a crowdfunded debut collection before officially launching in June 2018. In addition to being a recycled and high quality material, these plastics use less energy, water and chemicals to produce compared to traditional fabric. The business ensures ethical and sustainable practices all the way from above-minimum wage for its factory workers in Indonesia to home-compostable bags for deliveries. For stylish and sustainable active threads, Mister Timbuktu will be open at all three city's Finders Keepers markets. CORNER BLOCK STUDIO Avoid scraping Blu Tack off the walls of your rental at the end of each lease and display your favourite artworks in a frame from Corner Block Studio. This modest store combines innovation with handcrafted woodwork to bring you simple and stylish adjustable frames for your artwork. Whether you want to display your band poster, record covers or beautifully illustrated coffee table books, Corner Block Studio has a frame for every purpose. With respect to the planet, all products are made from recycled Australian hardwoods that have been reclaimed from decommissioned buildings. Each piece is crafted in Brisbane and features unique characteristics in the timber, so you'll walk away with a one-of-a-kind frame. Corner Block Studio will be popping up at the Brisbane and Melbourne markets. EARTH FIBRE Take a piece of the gorgeous Australian natural environment home with Earth Fibre. Each handcrafted piece tells a story of the colourful landscape. Creator Michelle Ohara uses various mediums, carefully selected from the Glass House Mountains area in the Sunshine Coast, to produce her collection of eclectic designs. She utilises the local flora to make her goods, including seeds, environmental earth fibres, paper fibres, wood and environmental weeds. You'll find baskets woven from garden waste, small books made from seed pods and botanically dyed scarves made using leaves. Michelle leaves it to nature to put an individual stamp on each of her designs — with no trace of the chemicals or materials that you might find in goods made in a factory. This season, you'll find Earth Fibre at the Brisbane Finders Keepers market. POSIE Posie provides an alternative to the mountains of mass-produced candles packed with chemicals. Co-founders Ashleigh Sampson and Casie Brooker started the brand from a shared passion for travel, design and the simple things in life — and each candle blend is reminiscent of the people, places and paths that they've encountered in their journeys. The candles are designed and made using 100 percent soy wax and their individual scents come from natural fragrances and essential oils. Each candle is hand-poured into a recycled container in Posie's Byron Bay studio. By working and sourcing materials locally, Sampson and Brooker ensure that every Posie candle upholds their core principles of fair, cruelty-free and sustainable trade. You can pick up a Posie candle for your home at the Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane markets. [caption id="attachment_718864" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Homelea Lass via Pintrest[/caption] HOMELEA LASS Baby, it's cold outside. Fight the oncoming winter temperature drop with cosy, snuggly crocheted textiles from Homelea Lass. Pick up a thick blankie to snuggle in on the couch or a gorgeous snood and matching beanie for all your outdoor winter adventures. Or, better yet, you can become your own grandma with a DIY crochet kit and keep warm inside while you make your own woollies. As an Australian farmer and maker, owner Lynda Rennick is passionate about supporting the Aussie farming industry — which is why she uses 100 percent Australian-grown and -processed merino wool. Homelea Lass keeps business sustainable with its use of locally sourced and ethical materials and tools, too. You'll be able to snag these cosy crochets at Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane markets. NZURI ORGANICS Avoid incorporating harsh chemicals into your skincare routine by switching to products by Nzuri Organics. Founder Nadine Shuma ensures that each and every handcrafted product is made with certified organic, raw materials. From body butters to hand creams, Nzuri provides organic solutions for everything from your face to your feet. Nadine is Tanzanian-Australian and her brand incorporates beauty routines and ingredients from Tanzania, along with locally sourced organic ingredients of the highest quality. Accredited by Choose Cruelty Free, Nzuri Organics' products are handmade and all containers are either 100 percent recyclable or biodegradable. Nourish your skin by giving Nzuri Organics a visit at the Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane markets. [caption id="attachment_675445" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Finders Keepers. Captured by Samee Lapham.[/caption] ARCADIA SCOTT Reusable travel cups are all the rage nowadays. They're much better for the environment, a lot of cafes offer a discount on your morning cuppa if you use one, and they just look so much better than a plain disposable cup — it's a win, win, win. If you're yet to jump on the bandwagon, or you just want to upgrade to something more aesthetically pleasing, stop by Arcadia Scott's stall. The self-taught potter creates a range of ceramic pieces in her Melbourne studio including bowls, vases and adorable glazed travel cups. Each item is handmade, giving your purchase a unique edge — which is exactly why you came to an independent art fair, right? Arcadia Scott will be popping at the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets. Finders Keepers will be at Sydney on Friday, May 3 – Sunday, May 5, Brisbane on Friday, June 21–Sunday, June 23 and Melbourne on Friday, July 12–Sunday, July 14. Entry is $5 and your ticket is valid across the entire weekend. Visit the website here for more information and to find open hours for your city. Top Image: Finders Keepers. Captured by Samee Lapham.
There's no doubting that Death and Other Details loves whodunnits, or that it's made with a murderers' row of them in mind. Playing "spot the nod" is one of this ten-part Disney+ series' games. Sleuthing along with its plot is the other, obviously. So, as an odd couple with an age discrepancy team up to attempt to solve "a classic locked-room mystery" — the show even calls it such — among the preposterously wealthy on holiday, and on a boat at that, where everyone has a motive and a battle over who'll seize control of a family business is also taking place, gleaning what creators and writers Heidi Cole McAdams and Mike Weiss (who also worked together on Stumptown) have been reading and watching isn't a puzzle. Nudges and references are regularly part of the murder-mystery genre anyway; here, they sail into a tale that's also about what we remember and why. Recalling Agatha Christie's oeuvre, its movie adaptations — complete with Kenneth Branagh's recent spate — and especially Death on the Nile is as blatant as knowing that no one onboard Death and Other Details' SS Varuna will be exactly who they appear. Thinking about Only Murders in the Building, Knives Out, Poker Face and The White Lotus is also instantly easy. So is pondering Succession, with narratives about business empires passing down the reins bound to pop up as frequently as detective capers even now that the HBO hit is over. But when other films and shows earn a wink here, Death and Other Details also digs into the purpose behind the minutiae that sticks in our memories. It's a savvy yet risky gambit, getting viewers ruminating on how they spy patterns and filter their perspectives, too, while chancing coming off as derivative. Mostly the series bobs in the first direction; however, even when it sways in the second, it still intrigues its audience to keep watching. That seemingly mismatched pair: Imogene Scott (Violett Beane, God Friended Me) and the Hercule Poirot-esque Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin, Homeland), with the second regularly dubbed "the world's greatest detective". Most folks might believe that label, but Imogene does not. The duo shares a history spanning two decades, from when she was a child (Sophia Reid-Gantzert, Popular Theory) mourning the shock killing of her mother that he couldn't solve. Back then, Rufus was on the case at the behest of the wealthy Colliers, who work in textiles, employed Imogene's mum as a personal assistant to patriarch Lawrence (David Marshall Grant, Spoiler Alert) and took the girl in when she had no one else. Now, both Rufus and Imogene are guests on a cruise chartered by them — she's there as basically a member of the family; he's accompanying the Chuns, with whom the Colliers are in the middle of a billion-dollar business deal. The entire decadent jaunt is in aid of getting crucial signatures, securing the Colliers' future and anointing Lawrence's daughter Anna (Lauren Patten, a Tony-winner for Jagged Little Pill) as the next CEO — she hopes. Death and Other Details doesn't lack in people taking to the seas, though, not only including the aforementioned characters. Chun matriarch Celia (Lisa Lu, American Born Chinese) and her granddaughter Eleanor (Karoline, Dead Ringers), Lawrence's dutiful spouse Katherine (Jayne Atkinson, Baby Ruby) and coked-up son Tripp (Jack Cutmore-Scott, Oppenheimer), Anna's paranoid former-journalist wife Leila (Pardis Saremi, Hell of a Summer) and the Colliers' slimy long-serving manager Llewellyn Mathers (Jere Burns, NCIS: Los Angeles) are all onboard. So is ship owner Sunil Ranja (Rahul Kohli, The Fall of the House of Usher). The unruly Keith Trubitsky (Michael Gladis, The Company You Keep) is also among the passengers, until he's found dead via a harpoon in his cabin. Everyone is eventually a suspect, from a pool that features Washington Governor Alexandra Hochenberg (Tamberla Perry, They Cloned Tyrone), the politically influential Father Toby (Danny Johnson, The Equalizer) and his social-media star son 'That' Derek (debutant Sincere Wilbert), Jules (Hugo Diego Garcia, Touchées) from the vessel's security outfit, and hospitality head Teddy Goh (Angela Zhou, Promising Young Woman) and her sister Winnie (Annie Q Riegel, Kung Fu) as well. But fingers initially point in Imogene's direction, after she's caught on camera in the victim's room not long before he met his end. Rufus, who she's furious to see but has been tasked with looking into the matter until Interpol arrives, can assist — and wants her help cracking the mystery in turn. No one needs to be badged "the world's greatest detective" to pick that their current situation and Imogene's mother's murder have connections. "Pay attention: details matter," advises Rufus early, with Death and Other Details endeavouring to fill its frames with tidbits that prove that notion. And there are tidbits; just like the lengthy list of folks associated with the show's two cases, there's no shortage of backstories, links, twists, detours, motives, secrets, lies, affairs, clues and other finer points. Although not everything convincingly earns its place, the non-stop flow gives Imogene and Rufus plenty to dive into, in the present, common past and much in-between. And while the extravagant ocean liner that the bulk of the current-day timeline is set upon doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere, the series' plot is pacy and bouncy, never letting a moment drag. Death and Other Details' jumps backwards are always tied to memories and, in another choice that could've sunk or swum — thankfully, it's the latter — often insert Imogene into the recollections. Accordingly, the act of scouring one's brain and scrutinising someone's story for aspects that've might've been overlooked receives a visual representation. The underlying idea isn't just a passing theme, either. That almost everything is subjective isn't a unique revelation, but examining the distortions of our minds, what we choose to see and to block, and what recurs again and again, is particularly potent in unpacking grief and trauma. Such is Imogene's tale, which Death and Other Details never forgets even as it luxuriates on an opulent ship, splashes around sunnily and glossily shot sights, and also steams into the eat-the-rich realm. As the investigators sifting through a motley crew of players with their own idiosyncrasies, Patinkin and Beane unsurprisingly leave the biggest imprint among the cast. Ever-reliably great, he's in classic gumshoe and Columbo-type mode, while she's shrewd and determined. The contrast — as familiar as it is — works a charm. Indeed, as the series coasts entertainingly along, wanting more of Rufus and Imogene sleuthing together, and more of them stepping beyond their present boat-bound scenario, is the main takeaway. For now, their maiden Death and Other Details' voyage boasts much to keep audiences wanting to continue breezing along with them. Check out the trailer for Death and Other Details below: Death and Other Details streams via Disney+ from Tuesday, January 16. Images: Hulu.
Before Snow Machine became everyone's excuse to hit up Queenstown for a stint of music and skiing, the festival launched its mix of tunes in wintry climes in Japan. That was back in 2020 and it hasn't been back there since — until 2024 rolls around. Although Snow Machine Queenstown is still to come for 2023, Snow Machine Japan has locked in its return for Monday, February 26–Saturday, March 2 in Hakuba. On the just-dropped bill: everyone from Diplo and Marc Rebillet to Bob Moses and Todd Terje, plus Japanese talents Risa Taniguchi, Satoshi Tomiie and Shinichi Osawa. Snow Machine Japan might return when summer will be shifting into autumn Down Under, but it's one helluva excuse for a frosty holiday during the northern hemisphere's winter — and Japan's snow season. No matter where it's taking place, this is the hottest festival for the colder months, packed with a snow-filled week of music and adventure. Attendees will be treated to action-packed days on the slopes, après ski events, and a hefty roster of international acts against an idyllic backdrop. And, because this is Japan, onsen trips, sake aplenty and yakitori bites are also on offer. Other than the wintry setting, one of the things that sets Snow Machine apart from other music fests is being able to book your entire getaway with your ticket. Packages span five or seven nights of accommodation, and include a festival ticket across the entire event, plus a four-day lift pass for Goryu & Hakuba 47, Tsugaike, Iwatake and Happo One. A word of warning: unsurprisingly, the packages are popular. Although the Snow Machine Japan 2024 lineup has only just been announced, packages are already 85-percent sold out. If you're keen to take care of your own place to slumber and just nab a festival ticket, that's an option as well. Lift passes, rentals, lessons and activities can be then booked on top at additional cost, and you can opt for VIP access including heating and seating while you party if you're feeling particularly cashed up. SNOW MACHINE JAPAN 2024 LINEUP: Bob Moses (club set) Busy P Claptone Denis Sulta Diplo Ewan McVica George Fitzgerald (DJ set) GG Magree Marc Rebillet Nina Kraviz Risa Taniguchi Satoshi Tomiie Shinichi Osawa Todd Terje (DJ set) Reuben Styles and Danny Clayton present First Base Snow Machine Japan 2024 will be held from Monday, February 26–Saturday, March 2 in Hakuba. Presale tickets go on sale from 12pm AEST on Thursday, August 3, with general tickets available from 12pm AEST on Friday, August 4. For more information, visit the festival's website. Images: Pat Stevenson. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
The first phase of the ambitious hot springs-based Gippsland getaway, Metung Hot Springs, officially opened to the public late last year. The $100 million development from the minds behind Mornington Peninsula favourite, Peninsula Hot Springs, is a cool four-hour drive away from Melbourne and well-worth the journey. The 25-acre site is a haven of wellness and indulgence, surrounded by coastal bushland and located within strolling distance of the quaint lakeside village of Metung. It currently boasts two bathing areas with multiple mineral-rich hot springs, a sauna, cold plunge pool, reflexology walk and day spa. For phase one, geothermal springs are open in the Bathing Valley, as well as the Hilltop Escarpment which overlooks the gorgeous Lake King. But the crowning jewel here are the luxurious glamping tents, which come equipped with duo, geothermal bathing barrels. Overnight guests can enjoy private, 24/7 bathing barrels in luxurious glamping tents positioned by the lagoon or along the hillside. If you're keen to explore more of regional Victoria this year, head this Gippsland newcomer for an indulgent weekend of bathing, pampering and glamping. Images: Sharyn Cairn
When Lorde announced that she'd be bringing her Ultrasound world tour to Australia in 2026, Sydneysiders and Melburnians embraced the green light to buy presale tickets. In fact, the demand for the Aotearoan star's Qudos Bank Arena and Rod Laver Arena gigs has been so huge that new shows in both cities have already been announced — before general tickets to the originally locked-in concerts even go on sale. In February 2026, the 'Royals', 'Solar Power' and 'What Was That' singer-songwriter will hit the stage across both Australia and New Zealand, making dates with arenas at every stop across a six-city run. Sydney and Melbourne are now hosting not one gig apiece, but two. Ella Yelich-O'Connor is playing the Harbour City on Wednesday, February 18 and again on Thursday, February 19, then the Victorian capital on Saturday, February 21 as well as Sunday, February 22. These are the final Sydney and Melbourne dates that'll be added to the tour. [caption id="attachment_1012905" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Okpako/WireImage[/caption] Lorde last took her Solar Power tour to Australia in 2023. Her new series of concerts begins in September 2025 in the US — and also includes gigs in Canada, the UK and across Europe before this year is out. When the initial Australian and NZ dates were revealed, they came fresh from Yelich-O'Connor's surprise 2025 Glastonbury set, as well as her fourth album Virgin releasing at the end of June. The latter debuted at number one in Australia and New Zealand alike. This is Lorde's biggest tour of her career in general, too, with nights at the likes of Madison Square Garden in New York City and O2 Arena in London already sold out. [caption id="attachment_1012901" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Thistle Brown[/caption] Featuring the aforementioned 'What Was That' — her first original new track in four years — alongside 'Man of the Year', 'Hammer', 'Favourite Daughter' and 'Shapeshifter', Virgin also hit number one in the UK and number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the US. There might be a three-year gap between Lorde's last Down Under shows and her upcoming Ultrasound tour concerts; however, in addition to writing and recording Virgin, she's been busy making a surprise Sydney club appearance back in May 2025 at a Lorde-themed night. Since 2013, when her debut record Pure Heroine arrived, Yelich-O'Connor has also released 2017's Melodrama and 2021's Solar Power, won two Grammys, picked up a Golden Globe nomination for 'Yellow Flicker Beat' from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 and notched up over 18 billion streams worldwide. [caption id="attachment_1012904" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Okpako/WireImage[/caption] Lorde Ultrasound World Tour 2026 Australian Dates Monday, February 16 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Wednesday, February 18–Thursday, February 19 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Saturday, February 21–Sunday, February 22 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Wednesday, February 25 — Perth Arena, Perth Lorde is touring Australia and New Zealand in February 2026, with ticket presales for the new shows from 2pm local time on Thursday, July 17, 2025 and general sales for all shows from 2pm on Friday, July 18, 2025 — head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Thistle Brown.
Lately Tasmania has been at the top of our list of destinations where food, wine, spirits and scenery are at the heart of the holiday. It is, after all, home to many of Australia's finest producers and makers. In fact, we've been so inspired that we've curated a special travel package to Hobart that's dedicated to culinary indulgence — and you can snap it up now at Concrete Playground Trips. Alternatively, you can just win your way there. All you need to do is enter below right now. We're giving away this fantastic holiday for two in beautiful south Tassie and its many wineries, distilleries and farms (flights excluded). The itinerary includes a tasting experience at Ewenique Tasting House, a signature wine, cider, beer and whiskey tour of the Huon and Coal River Valleys, and a full-day tour sampling your way around Bruny Island, known for producing world-class seafood, cheese, honey and spectacular views. You'll also score four nights' accommodation at the impressive Vibe Hotel Hobart, as well as all-inclusive car rental to make getting around a breeze. Want to win a holiday in Tasmania for you and your best mate, partner or parent? Enter below. [competition]873504[/competition]
A new series of advertisements by Education First, a language-school network based in over fifty countries, makes the case for learning another language in a wonderfully unique light. Not a single word is spoken in the ads, nor do they pitch the school. Instead, you follow the adventures of four students touching down in Paris, Barcelona, London and Beijing respectively. Without speech, they manage to express perfectly how learning a new language helps you experience it. Specially-designed typography accompanies the film, accompanied by phonetic pronunciation underneath, and while there is no translation, they work perfectly. Niklas Johansson's cinematography envelops you in the adventures of the protagonists as they wander through the cities, while Albin Holmqvist's deftly designed original typography and typefaces beautifully reflect the languages of Paris, Barcelona, Beijing and London, and tell you more about the words than dull verb charts ever could. The films don't belabour the process of learning a language, but the benefits of being able to lose yourself in a different culture - the things you discover, the different things to see and do, and the attractive strangers that may or may not come your way. If these films don't make you want to jump on a plane straight away, I don't know what will. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1_QO8LoGNpc https://youtube.com/watch?v=p9isboDgxMM https://youtube.com/watch?v=Nr3gdVkkWzc https://youtube.com/watch?v=QLluxHOOXSw [Via ModCloth]
Tzaki is Alex Xinis' ode to Athens, which brings woodfired food, Mediterranean drinks, and the essence of lively Greek dining to Yarraville. This walk-in-only hotspot is open seven days a week and serves Greek coffee, mezze and contemporary Athenian dishes. From living and working in Athens to being instrumental to some of Melbourne's most well-known Greek restaurants of the past (Hellenic Republic, The Press Club), Alex Xinis knows a thing or two about modern Greek hospitality. For his first independent venture, Xinis set his sights on Yarraville, envisioning "the suburban bustle of Yarraville [to] fit the mould perfectly for Tzaki; an all-day hangout, evoking nostalgia from my lengthy stints living and working in Athens." Part of its attraction is its size, or lack thereof. With only 16 seats indoors and 15 outside, landing a table is an accomplishment you'll feel proud of. Once you're in, celebrate with wines sourced from Greece, Mediterranean beers, or a glass of Ouzo. About the menu, Xinis says Tzaki "showcases Grecian specialities presented in a Melbourne way." With a name meaning fireplace in Greek, it's no surprise the menu relies heavily on the smoky, charry goodness of the woodfired oven. The seasonal Grecian plates change often, but may include the likes of smoked cheese with honey peppered figs, tiger prawns with horseradish dressing, sand crab mousaka and lamb shoulder with lemon thyme potatoes. The allure of the blistered flatbread, served with whatever creation the kitchen has come up with that week (could be whipped cheesy butter, kalamata olive and feta butter, or even kumquat and fennel butter), is enough to draw visitors from all corners of Melbourne to the inner West. And even if you don't snag a table, you can still get a taste of Xinis' Greek fare, with his new takeout chicken shop, Kokoras, just next door to Tzaki, now open. Images: Supplied.
When National Tim Tam Day hit earlier this year, biscuit brand Arnott's gave Australians something we didn't know we wanted: the opportunity to smell like Tim Tams all day long. That chocolate biscuit-scented perfume was a limited-time-only affair, however, but there's now an option for your home, too — or for your mum's, because this a Mother's Day special. To mark 2022's celebration of mums, Arnott's doesn't simply want you to simply give your mother Tim Tams — although it clearly does still want you to do exactly that. To really get everyone's tastebuds in a tizzy, the biscuit brand has also just launched gift packs filled with Tim Tam-smelling candles and diffusers. Try getting a whiff of that and not having instant bikkie cravings. Yes, if Victoria Bitter can make a fragrance inspired by beer, The Louvre can drop perfumes that take their cues from its famous artworks and Messina can release gelato-scented candles, then making the air around you smell like Tim Tams really isn't that outlandish at all. It's the aroma that'll make you hungry all day, and features not only cocoa notes, but also caramel, tonka bean and a hint of sandalwood as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tim Tam (@timtam) The Melbourne-made, cruelty-free and vegan packs cost $100 a pop and are only on sale until Thursday, April 28, and include a 200-millilitre Tim Tam-scented reed diffuser and a 300-gram Tim Tam-scented candle, as well as packs of original and salted caramel brownie Tim Tams. So, if you're buying this as a gift, that means you won't need to take a dessert along to Mother's Day lunch. And if you're purchasing it for yourself instead, well, you're only human. Stocks are limited, though — but delivery is free Australia-wide. The Tim Tam Mother's Day gift boxes are available to purchase until Thursday, April 28.
When it makes its debut this June, Sydney's huge new arts and food festival will help kickstart winter in a big way. Live music paired with stargazing, country tunes in Newtown and moonlit kayaking from Darling Harbour are just some of the highlights among the just-revealed Sydney Solstice program, with the previously announced event slotting into Vivid's usual early-winter berth between Tuesday, June 8–Sunday, June 20. Aiming to reinvigorate the city's hospitality, music, arts and culture sectors after a tough 12 months, the new event will take place across four city precincts. Spaces across the CBD, Darling Harbour, Newtown and Oxford Street will host more than 200 events — in restaurants, bars, galleries, museums, music venues and outdoor areas. In the CBD, highlights include music, dance and theatre events in the YCK Laneways precinct; dancing and late-night dim sum at Mr Wong; International Pride Month events at Metro Theatre; and art installations and dance pop-ups in Chinatown. There'll also be after-dark parties at Sea Life Aquarium, where more than just the aquatic creatures will glow; a world-premiere work by celebrated composer and producer William Barton, which will soundtrack an evening of stargazing at Sydney Observatory; and Queen's Feast, Heaps Gay's multi-sensory dining and art experience at Sydney Town Hall. The latter will feature an all-female chef lineup, including Masterchef alum Sarah Tiong, pastry maven Anna Polyviou, Southside Charmers' Georgia Woodyard and Claire Van Vuuren of Newtown fave Bloodwood. The Sydney Opera House forecourt will become a hub of live music, talks and poetry readings for each night of Sydney Solstice. Head along at sunset, and you'll see this year's Badu Gili, too — a six-minute projection on the structure's eastern Bennelong sails. Or, for two food-filled days, make a date with Opera Kitchen and its Italian- and Japanese-focused festival. Nearby, Darling Harbour will be transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with an ice-skating rink and German-themed chalets. If you'd prefer to hop onto the water, you'll be able to kayak by moonlight as well. Also making great use of the waterfront location: Harbour Garden, an installation of inflatables that's designed for attendees of all ages. Just outside of the CBD, Newtown will host the inaugural (and adorably named) Country and Inner Western Festival, which'll pop up in small bars, pubs and other venues to showcase emerging and established country, alternative country, bluegrass, folk, Americana and blues musicians. And, over at South Eveleigh, a big (and free) street festival will celebrate the growing food precinct — just as Kylie Kwong launches her new restaurant onsite. Meanwhile, fermentation will be in the spotlight on Oxford Street, with Bitter Phew celebrating brewers, winemakers, bakers and cheesemakers for the duration of Sydney Solstice. Plus, Hotel Harry's Altar Danceteria will throw a series of genre-hopping parties — so fingers crossed that dancing is back again by June. And, no, you won't be bored across the festival's 13-day run. Sydney Solstice will take place from Tuesday, June 8–Sunday, June 20. We'll update you with further details when they're announced — and you can keep an eye on the festival's website, too. Images: Destination NSW
Given that The Simpsons Australia episode was more of a Fosters ad than anything else, it sounds clunky to claim 'beer is back Down Under'. When did it leave? So let's settle for the idea that brewers have lifted their socks in the wake of the return of cocktail culture. Hell, the Old Growler is pretty much a hops-filled speakeasy, beer festivals seem to be going off like fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day and home brewing is slowly being wrestled from the cold, dead hands of the river folk. Oh, and Coles now owns a microbrewery, Steamrail, that's exclusively stocked at their Liquorlands across the country. The times they are a-changing. But, with a flood in the market, where should you be directing your attention before the sun cuts back its working hours and we're all staring down those few unmentionable months of winter? Here is a list of (mostly) local beers you've probably glanced over on a menu but may not have taken the risk, forgone your beloved Coopers and forked over those extra $3 for a taste. Let's try them together. Robot Ninja Lager Rice lager is a great way to ease into the wonderful world of craft beer — fruity, light and round, this offering from the Victorian brewery Kooinda is inspired by Tokyo City and the proof is on the palate. Plus, it is something new. You can pretty much taste everything in this tipple (the website even claims a bubble-gum finish), but it is surprisingly smooth and a go-to on those hot afternoons. Though, be warned: this one masks its 4.6 percent booze content with a ricey backbone and shouldn't be treated lightly. For a more traditional rice lager, try out the Koshihikari Echigo Beer. Four Pines American Pale Ale Four Pines comes out of Manly, and offhand there is nothing in their range that isn't worth a look. The kolsch is an absolute winner, but their pale gets on here by virtue of its wide appeal. They use an unusual amount of hops in here, so expect a mouth-filling flavour, but the softness of the pine and bite of the grapefruit wrangle it in and make it a very versatile food match… Admittedly I'm thinking pub food here, but heck go with it. Murrays Angry Man If you are looking for something a little bit more familiar (yes I'm talking to all of you smashing-Sierra-Nevadas-like-its-going-out-of-fashion people) in a pale ale but still interested in broadening those horizons, try out the Murrays Angry Man. It's got a bit more punch and hop, aka bitterness, and will suit a blokier pallet — I swear I am not just running with their ridiculously awesome strong man versus kangaroo label here — but there is still plenty of complexity to the flavour. Keep a few in your fridge and order some unadvisedly hot Thai curry for your next Thursday in. Emerson's Pilsner New Zealand does do a few things well, and one of them is pilsner — in this case German pilsner. Emerson's is a well-balanced beer with a healthy smack of nectarine and then (which those of you easily overwhelmed by ales will appreciate) a long, dry finish that makes this one taste like… well... beer, essentially, which is nice. A clean, crisp mouth-wetter with a few surprising flavour notes to get your tongue wagging. Stone & Wood Jasper Ale It is still an ale, but its not going to blow your socks off with an overwhelming burst of vanilla or pineapple. The Jasper is a great crowd pleasingly thirst quencher, and it is sold in pints which is good news for everyone! Most people who identify as non-beer-likers are actually just not that into hops, but that doesn't mean you have to forgo the whole drink. Plenty of people enjoy peat free whisky, and in the same vein beers that let the malt sing and tone down the hops, like this one, will make a convert of you in no time. For the rest of us, true believers, this deep-red Jasper Ale kicks off fruity, finishes nutty and is very restrained on the carbonation front so it won't fill you up. Young Henrys Newtowner An Australian pale (i.e. they use Australian hops), this critter came out for the 150 years of Newtown celebrations and remains only available in the Inner West — which makes it the perfect excuse for a trip to King Street. Young Henrys is easily one of the most talked about local breweries and this English summer ale is a fair bit drier than their other regular pours, with a golden look and refreshing finish. Head over to The Courthouse for a long lunch with this one before summer's end. Murray's Moon Boy Golden Ale This is a beautifully gentle beer that should have spent all summer teamed up with your favourite pineapple-filled burger. It didn't did it? Do not mistake gentle for wishy-washy or tasteless; there is a lot of wheat in this baby, so expect a dry finish, and there is fruit there too. And if the option to drink a beer with a maroon-sweated, bespectacled werewolf man for a logo doesn't get you high-tailing it to the Trinity Bar on Crown Street, then I feel like I don't even know who you are anymore, man. Feral Brewing Hop Hog If this was 'Ten Beer Names to Appreciate Before the End of Summer', all of them would be from Feral Brewing. These WA beer freaks don't stop at making great beer, no, no; they then give them names like The Raging Flem, Runt and a whole selection of hogs. The Hop Hog is simply a great beer, but there is nothing simple about it: big on the hops, well balanced by malt, and somehow the whole room smells like pine when the top's off. Feral reminds us that some tastes can't be luck and someone, somewhere must know exactly what they are doing. Seriously, hop on a hog. Hargreaves Hill ESB Serious beer drinkers need only apply for this one, an Aussie twist on the Extra Special Bitter (this is normally an English speciality) that brought this Victorian brewery some serious international attention a few years ago. There are hops aplenty, a rich toffee-like malt and tropical wonders on the nose. Yes, I am an unabashed fan of this beer. If you're looking for a bit more oomph, pair it up with sherry casked single malt and sip away the next 45 minutes of your day. Sinha Stout Okay, so stouts aren't particularly summery, but they also aren't particularly Sri Lankan, which is where this mochaccino-worthy bevvy hails from, so go with it. First up, it is smooth (look at how this thing pours into a glass; it's like they've managed to bottle the voice of Laurence Fishburne), and then you sip it and suddenly you've gone to that place Irish Coffee promised but never delivered. It is 8 percent, but honestly, you don't even notice. Well, not while you're drinking it at least. Try this one out for a flavour kick at the end of your next dumpling session at Uncle Mings. Like anything, your appreciation of beer grows in direct proportion to the amount you pop in your gob, so get yourself off to an upcoming beer festival or check out the website of a brewery near you for the grand tour. Yes, it will smell like yeast. Yes, that is pretty much the smell of warm horse feed. Yes, you'll love it. Or else, we'll see you in the beer garden.
Situated opposite Parliament and alongside the theatre strip, City Wine Shop is not the place to venture for a beer and happy hour special. On the contrary, this is the place you go for a glass of Chablis, cheese board and a serve of fried artichokes — or even some fine caviar and champagne. Choose from the by-the-glass wine list — which changes regularly — or simply buy a bottle from the on-premise bottle shop and settle in at an outdoor table, overlooking the Spring Street suits. It's a classic setting for year-round romance, whether you're seeking sanctuary from winter inside City Wine Shop's rich wooden warmth, or a splash of sun with your latte on an street-side seat. Appears in: The Best Bars in Melbourne for 2023
Moon Dog announced its plans to transform Footscray's iconic Franco Cozzo building into a huge drinking and dining venue at the end of 2022, and now we finally have news on when it's going to open. Come early March 2024, the team will swing open the saloon doors to its new Moon Dog Wild West brewery bar that's set to be twice as big as the already enormous Moon Dog World in Preston. The new 800-person venue will span three storeys, and have over 100 taps pouring Moon Dog beers and seltzers. Once guests pass through the swinging saloon doors on Hopkins Street, they'll be met with a huge bucking bull surrounded by horseshoe-shaped booths, an old western-inspired arcade and a barrel-ageing room. Up on level two, there'll be a honky tonk bar, live music stage, some pool tables, a balcony and a secret Pianola Bar. On this floor, the menu will be stacked with American barbecue eats — very on theme for the Moon Dog Wild West brewery bar. The new Moon Dog Wild West in Footscray will even have a sun-drenched rooftop with views over the city. There'll be another bar up here, plus food will come in the form of Tex Mex bites and classic gastropub dishes (it seems that no matter how far it leans into the US stylings, it can't get rid of the Aussie parma — and we're not mad about it). "With a venue of this size, we know we could achieve something that hasn't been seen before and really go bigger than we ever have. We're hoping to create somewhere for people to enjoy the outrageousness of it all!" said Moon Dog CEO and Co-Founder Joshua Uljans. [caption id="attachment_880996" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gavin Anderson via Flickr[/caption] [caption id="attachment_744580" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Moon Dog World, Kate Shanasy[/caption] Moon Dog Wild West will be located at 54 Hopkins Street, Footscray and is set to open in early March 2024, operating from 11am–11pm Sunday–Thursday and 11am–1am Friday–Saturday. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: Sam Schultz.
If you've spent the past year with your nose buried in a book, that's about to pay off beyond the everyday joys and thrills of reading. Sydney Writers' Festival's 2023 lineup is here another hefty catalogue of thought-provoking events — 226 of them, with almost 300 writers and thinkers involved. From the recipients of the literary world's brightest honours to some of Australia's household names and faces, a wealth of talent is descending upon the Harbour City, and being streamed nationally thanks to SWF's online program. Every writers' festival converges around an annual theme, with Sydney's focusing on 'Stories for the Future' for its 2023 iteration from Monday, May 22–Sunday, May 28 at various venues around the city — and also beamed digitally. Thinking about what's to come has been an inescapable part of living through the pandemic era, which SWF knows, curating a bill of talks that'll contemplate moving through the chaos of the past few years and into in a different tomorrow. [caption id="attachment_893384" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eleanor Catton by Murdo MacLeod[/caption] Today's most current Booker Prize-winner, plus three from past years as well, top the lineup: Shehan Karunatilaka, who won in 2022 for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida; The Luminaries' Eleanor Catton; The Narrow Road to The Deep North's Richard Flanagan and Girl Woman Other's Bernardine Evaristo. Still on highly applauded attendees, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Colson Whitehead — for The Underground Railroad, which was then adapted into a TV series, and for The Nickel Boys — also leads the bill, arriving between Harlem Shuffle's 2021 publication and sequel Crook Manifesto's arrival this July. Among the international names, the above headliners have ample company. When Trinidad-born UK musician Anthony Joseph isn't talking poetry — he is 2022's TS Eliot Prize for Poetry winner — London restauranteur Asma Khan from Darjeeling Express, and also seen on Chef's Table, will chat about comfort food; Daniel Lavery from Slate, who penned the Dear Prudence column from 2016–21, will run through his best advice; and Vietnamese author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai will introduce her new novel Dust Child. [caption id="attachment_893383" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Colson Whitehead by Chris Close[/caption] On the local front, get ready for two iconic pairings: former Prime Minister Julia Gillard being interviewed by Indira Naidoo, plus Jurassic Park favourite Sam Neill discussing work, life and writing with his Sweet Country, Dean Spanley, Dirty Deeds and Palm Beach co-star Bryan Brown. Also on the must-attend list: Grace Tame chatting about The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner: A Memoir, Heartbreak High's Chloé Hayden doing the same with Different, Not Less: A neurodivergent's guide to embracing your true self and finding your happily ever after, and Stan Grant on The Queen Is Dead. Also, on Monday, May 15 before the main festival, Tim Winton will discuss writing the ABC TV documentary Love Letter to Ningaloo. Under first-time Artistic Director Ann Mossop, opening night will feature Evaristo, Benjamin Law and Miles Franklin-winner Alexis Wright working through the impact that the past has on the present, as well as poet Madison Godfrey performing. At the other end of the fest, novelist Richard Flanagan will look forward, exploring why we need to tell our own tales to shape the future. [caption id="attachment_893385" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Grace Tame by Kishka Jensen[/caption] And, if your main relationship with the printed word is through recipe books, the 2023 festival is going all in on the topic for one day at Carriageworks Farmers Market. Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer will talk with Adam Liaw, while fixing the food system and family recipes will also nab chats by culinary talent. Capping off the bill will be foodie gala The Dinner That Changed My Life, with everyone from Nat's What I Reckon and Jennifer Wong to Alice Zaslavsky and Colombo Social's Shaun Christie-David involved. Among the rest of the program, other highlights include a tribute to Archie Roach and Jack Charles; comedians Wil Anderson and Laurence Mooney; the All Day YA lineup; a deep dive into crime podcasting with journalists Patrick Abboud, Kate McClymont and Hedley Thomas; and The Book Thief and The Messenger's Markus Zusak on bringing the latter to TV. Adaptations in general earn their own session, Shane Jenek aka Courtney Act is part of SWF's stint of Queerstories, Tom Ballard pops up on an OK Boomer panel, Australia's war on hip hop gets its time in the spotlight, and there's a look at AI in the age of ChatGPT. As always free events are a big part of the program as well, with more than 80 on year. And, also in the same category, the spread of venues is hefty — including Carriageworks, Town Hall, and 25 suburban venues and libraries across the Sydney. Sydney Writers' Festival runs at various venues across Sydney from Monday, May 22–Sunday, May 28. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, March 17 via www.swf.org.au.
When he penned The Beach, the 90s-era must-read novel that became a Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)-led movie and started his own working relationship with filmmaker Danny Boyle (Yesterday), Alex Garland told a tale of shattering the Thai holiday idyll. As his backpacker protagonist travelled to Asia, pure shores gleamed, but the supposedly utopian community on a hidden coastline that he sought, and found, was never destined to fulfil the promise of beyond-the-postcard perfection. Garland soon moved to screenwriting, kicking off the 28 Days Later franchise with Boyle and reteaming with the director on the also Cillian Murphy (Small Things Like These)-starring sci-fi gem Sunshine. Grim realities lurk in both, after an escaped virus sparks a zombie pandemic that shatters life as everyone knows it, and on a space mission to attempt to reignite the dying sun. Warfare, Garland's sixth project as a director himself, also has that familiar idea in its sights: that grasped-onto perceptions, facades and status quos always crumble or conceal horrors, or both, as driven by human nature. The same concept has proven a part of his other works as a filmmaker, starting with 2014's tech nightmare Ex Machina, then continuing through fellow movies Annihilation, Men and Civil War, plus TV series Devs — and before them, on screenplays for Never Let Me Go and Dredd. It's reasonable to expect Garland and Boyle's upcoming 28 Years Later, as well as its sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (written by Garland but helmed by The Marvels' Nia DaCosta), to continue the trend. Warfare is that idea put into action, however, by the feature's entire existence and purpose. Co-directed with former Navy SEAL and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, drawing solely upon the latter's memories and those of his platoon during a 2006 mission in Ramadi, unfurling in real time and playing out as almost one entire hellish scene, it is as committed to depicting the nightmare reality of combat, and immersing its cast and audience in it, as is cinematically possible. The picture's singular focus and sensory saturation relies upon a valid assumption: no one is watching this in a vacuum, so no one needs the feature to spell out the context, let alone overtly express anything but total realism. The latter conveys everything anyway, and anything more vocally pointed would be beside the point. Warfare is "simply us accumulating memories, accumulating bits of information and trying to piece together what happened", Garland tells Concrete Playground. "The intention is to try to understand what happened in a sequence of events. There is no hero. There is no protagonist, because at different times different people are doing different things, and sometimes they're doing it concurrently." For D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Reservation Dogs), who portrays Mendoza as the film follows his unit on a surveillance mission surrounded by insurgents, it's pivotal that "we don't glorify anything, romanticise, make anything up. Almost all the words you hear in there are from actual memory. Everything is basically from memory," he shares. "The audience is an adult. This is not a film for children. It's a film for grownups, right? It's a film for people who live in the fucking world, right? And any adult who does not have an understanding of the Iraq War and why it happened and how it happened is an idiot. It is all available to them to find out. It's a huge global event, and if they have no historical and intellectual curiosity, that is on them. That's not on the film," Garland says, chatting about his second movie in a row, after Civil War, where the justified lack of an all-caps-style, shouting, hand-holding agenda has become a talking point, much to his frustration "I think that the concept behind that is so lazy, and it comes from a culture that we exist in at the moment where you are not allowed to offer something into the world unless you're making your private agenda clear. And I don't like that. I object to it. Because what it means is all information that is put out into the world is attached to an ideology, which means that either people are being reassured or they're feeling attacked. And some people like to be reassured and some people like to feel angry that they're being attacked, and it's juvenile, it's childish," Garland continues. "It's important: if you're going to understand something about how horrific war is, you need to be able to look at it and you need to be able to trust the information. And if we attached an agenda to it, it would make the information untrustworthy, and then we would have failed in our objective. It was the same dreary, whiny bullshit with Civil War as well, and I thought it was lazy, I thought it was unsophisticated and I thought it was dishonest. It was effectively people saying 'why aren't you agreeing with me?' — and that is the same [here]. That is what our polarised state is." For Warfare's cast, enlisting for the movie was as close to that — enlisting — as a film production can get. Before the cameras began rolling for the impressive lineup of Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter (Death of a Unicorn), Cosmo Jarvis (The Alto Knights), Joseph Quinn (Gladiator II), Charles Melton (May December), Kit Connor (Heartstopper), Michael Gandolfini (Daredevil: Born Again), Noah Centineo (The Recruit) and more, they went through a Mendoza-led three-week boot camp. During that phase, the group spent every moment together, even when they weren't specifically training. Speaking with us, Woon-A-Tai and Poulter stress how crucial the bond that the actors formed during that experience was, for them and for the picture. Mendoza is equally as adamant. His dedication to authentically recreating what he went through, plus his fellow soldiers like Elliott Miller (who can't remember it due to the traumas of the incident, as viewers witness, and who Jarvis plays), couldn't be more apparent. Enforcing the hierarchies of their characters in the film, mirroring leadership positions and communication channels, shaving each other's heads: that was all built into the boot camp. "Quickly, I think it was very unique and very different on this set compared to others," explains Woon-A-Tai. "First and foremost, I haven't played a soldier prior. I haven't been on a set that had a war — a war set — before. So I'm new and I don't understand it. But what was different that I do acknowledge is that the position that Will Poulter here, and Charles Melton and Joseph Quinn, were in," he continues. "They knew our schedule, which is not common. If I wanted to know what we're shooting that day or when's lunch or et cetera, even to ask to use the restroom, I would go to Will. And that was set up perfectly by Ray and by Alex, and also these gentlemen right over here, who I just said before, who filled in those shoes very quickly, to keep that leadership position going on-screen and off-screen. And that was beautiful." Not its stars, not Garland, not Mendoza — who worked as the military advisor on Civil War, following technical advisor jobs on the likes of Lone Survivor, Jurassic World, Mile 22, The Outpost and The Terminal List — and not audiences: no one should quickly shake Warfare, its like-you're-there naturalism and its distressing-by-reality portrait of war after viewing. With Woon-A-Tai, Poulter and its two directors, we also unpacked that key preparation process, the film's long-take visual style, why its vision of battle stands out, human nature and physically demanding productions, among other subjects, including Civil War's potential premonitions. On the Importance of Warfare's Pre-Shoot Boot Camp in Cementing a Bond Among the Cast and Helping Them Respond Authentically to Such a Testing Experience On-Screen Will: "Absolutely pivotal and central to everything that we did. And the boot camp was really the environment that fostered those bonds and allowed us to develop very sincere, authentic and real relationships and understandings between each other. I think the boot camp really served two purposes as far as us being able to execute the objective of this project. First was the emotional side of things, and those bonds that I mentioned. And then, second I think was the development of a skill set to be able to put our best foot forward as far as accurately representing Navy SEALs. And as actors, we were under no illusions about the massive gulf between us and the real individuals who serve, and the women and men who operate at that level. But Ray is a fantastic instructor — both a great teacher and a great director — and so he really couldn't have put us in a in better stead to replicate seal culture to the best of our abilities." D'Pharaoh: "And plus, if we didn't prioritise working on this bond from the jump, you would honestly see a different result on-screen, I'm sure." Ray: "It was extremely important, actually. It was one of my three critical nodes of what I wanted to do, not only just for the practicality of what you mentioned, and as it contributed to the brotherhood and what we would eventually see on film or on the screen, but I just wanted them to experience something that they could take away for the rest of their lives as well. Just the concept of the team before self, what it means to sacrifice, the burden of leadership, identifying everyone's weaknesses and strengths, and how they can help each other, essentially. There's a concept that we're only as fast or as strong as our slowest or weakest person. And then, applying those principles, all that stuff is what they were using to draw on in regards to their performances, as you mentioned. So it was a super important. It was one of the things I focused on the most." Will: "I think the guys, obviously from the point of signing on, began to just engage in even more physical conditioning and whatnot to make sure that we're all showing up to boot camp in the best shape possible. But, really, I think what we all experienced — at the risk of speaking for anyone, but I feel like I can safely generalise in this by saying that I think physically and mentally, especially, it pushed us all further than we were even necessarily prepared for. And that was absolutely necessary. A fundamental part of the story is a response to things going wrong and loss, and the reaction to that. And it's typical of Navy SEAL training to analyse how people respond to duress, and how they respond to things going wrong, and what their reaction is to things being especially difficult, and that was integrated into the training. So regardless of what individual preparation we've done, the boot camp really became defined by how we'd respond to things that Ray knew would lead us to fail." On Woon-a-Tai's Task Portraying Mendoza — While Mendoza Was Co-Directing the Film D'Pharaoh: "Of course I have a sense of responsibility that I represent this man on-screen for countless of people to watch it. And but in all honesty, though, he had way more pressure on his shoulders than I could ever have. So I don't really want to sit here and tell you how much pressure I had because, yeah I did, but it was also very much a gift. The fact that I was the only one to have to have my guy be there every single day, I can't complain. And as much pressure as it was, I wouldn't have did it any other way or wanted to do it any other way. But really, Ray had way more pressure on his shoulders than I could have ever had. He's telling the story on behalf of his personal story and the people, their personal stories who were there, but also countless other veterans who served in multiple different wars who can relate to that exact same story. And sadly, maybe in Hollywood, the depiction of a lot of stereotypes in the military community that he was breaking down with this film." On How Garland and Mendoza Came to Reunite for Warfare After Civil War Alex: "We got to know each other during the shooting of Civil War. Ray was a military advisor, and the idea to work together in a really concrete way arrived in post-production with Civil War. Ray and I had stayed in touch. Ray had some project he was working on and we discussed it — and I was very interested in some of the sequences that Ray had choreographed, and some of the qualities of realism that Ray introduces because of his experience prior to working in the film industry. And so I approached him saying 'would you be interested in working together to make a real-time movie that attempted to be forensically accurate about combat and removed some of the tricks and devices of cinema?'." On the Cast's Experience Working with Co-Directors with Completely Different Backgrounds and Skill Sets Will: "It's very, very cool to see two very authoritative leaders practise the humility and self-awareness that is required to co-lead a project like this, while never stepping on each other's toes — and both, I suppose, leading in their own ways and based on their own areas of expertise. Alex will be the first to say that Ray naturally ought to lead on anything that related to the experience of being at war, and anything that we were doing, I would say, sort of from an emotional standpoint — and anything that pertained to operating like a SEAL. And then I think Ray would also readily admit that Alex took slightly more of a lead when it came to the camerawork and things that related to technical direction. And they were a brilliant complement to one another." On Using Long Takes, and the Pros and Cons of How One-Shot Scenes Can Immerse Audiences and Create an Unrelenting Sense of Tension Alex: "Right or wrong, that would be, in a way, for other people to decide. But what I would say is that me personally — this is just me — I find that, for example, scenes that are all shot in a oner, where there's no cuts, I find I start to think about the filmmaking more than what is happening on-screen. So I get detached from the characters. I get detached from the narrative. And I start thinking 'where are the secret cut points?' or 'how did they orchestrate this movement through the door or over the car?' or whatever it happens to be. So I find it distancing. And what I think is, while we're talking to each other now, at the moment I'm looking at the screen, so in a way that's a close-up — but sometimes I might look over here and then it's a wide. And actually the grammar of cinema, with edits between mids and close-ups and wides, is very like our experience walking down the street or talking to someone in a room. You're sat opposite someone in a restaurant, but then you see the waiter approach, it's turned from a close-up to a wide. You blink. There are these little sort of interruptions, which are very like edits. So for me, the most truthful version is actually the classical film version of moving between close-ups, mids and wides — whereas a oner, I find slightly artificial, and not how I experience the world, paradoxically." On the Difference in How Warfare Approaches the Depiction of War Compared to Other Films, How It Continues Activist Work and Why It Should Start Conversations Will: "I think one of the things that attracted me to this project was that it seeks to break with the conventions around how war is often depicted in Hollywood. I think the tendency within Hollywood when it comes to war is to mine warfare environments for entertainment. And a lot of the time in the depiction of war, American soldiers and British soldiers especially, their place in warfare environments and their actions are glorified and romanticised. And I was excited to be part of a project that sought to go against the grain in that respect, and really focus more on depicting the real-life events with a degree of objectivity that that rarely, rarely is seen in Hollywood. So that was a process that was too exciting to turn down. I think as a civilian, a lot of our understanding of war is based in these Hollywood recreations, and they don't necessarily optimise for truth and accuracy. So we stand to learn something potentially a bit new and a bit more truthful by watching a film like Warfare. And then also my hope is that veterans feel more accurately represented, and therefore at less risk of being misunderstood by the general public in respect of what they do and why they do it." D'Pharaoh: "So with this film, what I loved about it so much when I was reading the script and while we were shooting it is that we didn't romanticise anything. We didn't make anything up or make anything look cool. And one thing that I hope people will see with this is a sparked conversation on what happened in Iraq. I think that this is a film that doesn't have a bias. I feel like this film is more like a transcript. It just states what happened and that's it. And as audience members, we should leave the theatre talking about what happened over there — yeah, talking about what happened over there. So to answer your question about activism or et cetera, this a good part of that. I don't think I'm steering away from my activism at all. I think this is sparking conversation of what happened in Iraq. It's an important conversation to have. And to have a film that doesn't have a bias or doesn't make a stance, if you may, is a perfect example to have those conversations. Because we didn't glorify anything. We didn't make anything look cool. In my opinion and in my personal opinion only, it makes it seem like this film may not want people to join the military. I don't when I watched that movie." On How Mendoza Looks Back at the Iraq War with Everything That the World Knows About It Now, Including the Claims Used to Justify It Ray: "I think when I first heard, yeah, I mean I felt a little heartbroken about it for sure. Like, I did ask myself 'what was it all for?'. There's a lot of good we did there — besides the mission set of, like 'all right, we're a direct-action force, we get tasks given that we do missions'. But there's a lot of humanitarian effort when you coexist with the people of that country. There's a lot of good humanity. You see the full spectrum, of the worst side of humanity to the best side of humanity, on both sides. And we took a lot of autonomy to do, outside of the scope of our mission, to do as much good as we could. Because when you're there and you see people that are in need — there were people that were being oppressed, whether you agree with me or not; I was there and we saw it — and we helped a lot people. Didn't have to. It wasn't something that was passed down as a policy. We're occupying their country. We would go into these people's homes — and not there for them, but just using it as depicted in the movie, as a position to use, to observe or to operate out of, and you learn a lot about them. I'm not there to hurt them. It's just we're using the home for what we need it for. And so yeah, you just learn and you want to help where you can. And there's a lot of assets we have — or whether it's just providing water or colouring books, or aid stations for battered women or battered children or foster children. So there's a lot of good we did, and that's the only salvageable thing coming out of that. Even though ISIS came back in and took it over, there's a lot of good done there. I guess that's the only way I can really live with it." On What Garland Has Learned About Human Nature Through Interrogating It On-Screen and on the Page Across His Career Alex: "I would say that part one of the answer is in what Ray just said, which is that Ray is speaking from the point of view of someone who's seen a lot of combat, and spent a lot of time at war and involved in the military. But what you can hear is — I can hear, I'm sure you can hear — is a concern for compassion and a desire to have done something good, even amidst a dreadful, horrific situation. Ray said 'this is what I can salvage from this in order to live with it, is that some good was done'. And I think that one crucial part of the human condition is that most people have a desire for goodness. And I think the other part that I've observed is that we seem to all suffer from a kind of Alzheimer's-like dementia, where we are unable to remember things for very long. So important lessons can be learned. I was born in 1970. I thought there were some lessons that were learned from the Second World War that would never be forgotten, and now I'm 55 and many of them have clearly been forgotten. There were lessons learned from Vietnam that should never have been forgotten, and then they were forgotten. And there will be lessons learned from Iraq, should be remembered, have been forgotten. And so it goes on. So a good example for me right now is that you have the leader of the most-powerful democracy in the world rather casually talking about militarily owning their sovereign peaceful neighbour, as Greenland. To me, a world leader, particularly an American world leader, in the immediate memory space of some of these things, would simply never talk like that. You could only talk like that if you've forgotten many important lessons. So goodness and dementia would be my takeaway." On Whether Poulter Enjoys Taking on Parts in Physically Demanding Productions, with Warfare Joining The Revenant on His Resume Will: "I think I do. I've been very fortunate to have those opportunities first and foremost, so I'm grateful for them. That's, I suppose, the overbearing feeling around it. But where possible, I do like to expose myself to those sort of challenges — and comparable in the sense that I guess it definitely was a test from a mental and physical standpoint. And I think that, to a degree, I couldn't necessarily have done this had I not gone through certain challenges prior. But this is totally unique in respect of what a team-orientated and collectivist process it was, and that's what I'm most grateful for. I think that we all practise this idea that we were all a team before we were individuals, and the bonds that we formed are truly unlike anything else I've experienced. So that's what I'm most grateful with in respects of Warfare, and it's the feeling that I'm left with — and I imagine will be left with long after this film was released." On If Anything Else on Woon-A-Tai and Poulter's Resumes Helped Them Prepare for Warfare D'Pharoah: "No. This is such a completely different role for me, and the fact that I had Ray Mendoza there for me by my side throughout the whole process, it would have felt very disrespectful to do anything opposite of what he wanted." Will: "There was only one other role that comes to mind for me. I was involved in a sort of satirical film that was kind of a critique, I suppose, of war, and it was called War Machine. And I played a US Marine and took part in a boot camp. And that was certainly helpful as far as being able to predict, to some degree, how close we would all get over the process and what would be required of me in a leadership position. But also to echo D'Pharaoh's point, this film broke with convention in so many ways and was so unique that really, it sort of exists in a category of its own, both as an experience and as a film." On Whether Garland Feels Like Civil War Was a Premonition — and If It That Was the Sense While Making It Alex: "At the point of writing it, it felt to me like many people were having the concerns that were reflected in the script. At the point of making it, then January the 6th that happened, where American law-enforcement officers were attacked brutally, and the seat of government was attacked brutally by someone who was denying an electoral result. And now that person is floating, in a sort of mischievous but also serious way, about a third electoral term, which means changing the constitution. It's not exactly that it's changed — it's more that it hasn't changed. So all of these conditions existed back then and they still exist now. I think they probably have gotten more serious. I think they probably have gotten more dangerous. The strange thing for me is that the fever hasn't broken. That something as basic as wanting to stick up for Capitol law-enforcement officers is somehow not possible in these conditions. It's a very, very strange situation." Warfare opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Images: Murray Close/A24.
Housed within the heritage 1930s Equity Chambers at the Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street, sits dapper destination eatery Luci. A contemporary Australian fine diner with an Italian-Euro twist, it's named after the Roman leader and famous gourmet, Lucias Lucullus. Here, chef Sam Moore (Pier in Rose Bay, Becasse, No.35 at Sofitel Melbourne) is serving a sharp, produce-driven menu across brekkie and dinner. The food strikes a balance between the classic and the modern, while the space boasts a grand, old-world fitout complete with original wood panelling, restored heritage elevators and stonework galore. The menu hits plenty of high notes. For breakfast, there's a fried duck egg paired with roasted squash, hazelnuts and duck ham ($22), along with the likes of a wattleseed bircher ($12) and the smoked ham hock on potato rosti with cabbage ($23). Come dinner, you might find plates like a goat's milk ricotta gnocchi ($22/36), Hiramasa kingfish featuring mango and coriander ($24), and a lamb saddle with cos lettuce and anchovies ($44). The wine list is also a winner, fully stocked with a broad mix of local drops and interesting low-intervention options. Meanwhile, the 1930s-style Douglas Club next door is your go-to for elegantly revamped classic cocktails, with a bar run by Gee Shanmugam (from Windsor's Galah Bar and Mya Tiger at The Espy). Images: Food and interiors by Kristoffer Paulsen; Hilton entrance by Paul Gosney
From continually churning out top professional surfers to scoring a mention in the best surfing heist film ever made, aka Point Break, Australia's surfing prowess is well recognised around the world. Now our island continent has another wave-riding feather in our cap, with a stretch of Sunshine Coast coastline being named the latest World Surfing Reserve. Spanning a four-kilometre area at Noosa — including the beaches and five surf breaks between Sunshine Beach and the Noosa River — it's only the tenth spot on the planet to earn such honours. And, as a land girt by sea (as our anthem reminds us), it's Australia's third entry on the list. Sydney's Manly beach was selected in 2010, while the Gold Coast joined the swell in 2016. World Surfing Reserve status is awarded by the Save The Waves Coalition, with partners National Surfing Reserves Australia and the International Surfing Association, after launching the initiative in 2009. As well as aiming to preserving wave breaks and their surrounding areas, the scheme recognises and works to protect the surfing reserves on an environmental, cultural, economic and community level. It was Noosa's "beautiful pointbreaks and visionary coastal conservation," that got it over the line, according to the WSR announcement made at the dedication ceremony for the ninth reserve in Punta de Lobos, Chile. If heading to the popular Queensland spot wasn't already on your summer itinerary, you now have another reason to channel your inner Johnny Utah and head north for a splash in the sun. Via the ABC. Image: Yun Huang Yong via Flickr
Two Succession brothers facing off in the same category. A musical crime melodrama making history, earning more nominations than any film not in the English language ever has. Brazil's second contender for Best Actress ever — the daughter of its first, in fact. A female filmmaker in the running for Best Director for only the tenth time in 97 years. They're some of the big stories among the 2025 Oscar nominations, involving A Real Pain, The Apprentice, Emilia Pérez, I'm Still Here and The Substance. There's more where they came from — but which of those movies, and the talents involved, will earn shiny statuettes on Monday, March 3, Down Under time? And will Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys and Wicked have any luck, too? Just like in 2022, 2023 and 2024, we've watched everything — many of which you can as well in Australia right now — and singled out who and what will likely be credited as an "Oscar-winner" moving forward. Surveying 11 categories, we've also named which nominees deserve to, and what else might be in with a chance. Best Motion Picture The nominees: Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez I'm Still Here Nickel Boys The Substance Wicked Should win: The Brutalist Could win: Conclave Will win: Anora What a field. Worthy films will always miss the cut among the ten Best Picture nominees each and every year (Love Lies Bleeding, A Different Man, The Apprentice, I Saw the TV Glow, A Real Pain, Challengers, Babygirl, Hard Truths, All We Imagine as Light, Kneecap, La Chimera and Kinds of Kindness are just some absences in 2025), but the current batch nominees still showcase a staggering variety of movies. Sandy sci-fi blockbusters, hit musical adaptations, body-horror, papal thrillers, multiple features that show how stunning that filmmaking ambition and an unflinching vision can prove: they're all there. Brady Corbet's The Brutalist is a towering achievement. It could repeat its Golden Globes glory at the Oscars. It should. But Anora won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, then top gongs from America's Directors Guild and Writers Guild, and is also a tremendous winner. Conclave emerging victorious wouldn't be a miracle, though, after its BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild wins. Best Director The nominees: Anora, Sean Baker The Brutalist, Brady Corbet A Complete Unknown, James Mangold Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard The Substance, Coralie Fargeat Should win: Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Could win: Sean Baker, Anora Will win: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist Some films feel like a force of nature — and like a vision ripped from a filmmaker's mind wholesale to dance and strut across the screen, too — and Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is one such movie. Jane Campion is the only woman to have been nominated for Best Director twice so far (for The Piano and The Power of the Dog), but this shouldn't prove the only nod in Fargeat's career. Likely down to Brady Corbet and Sean Baker, where the field actually goes might depend on which of the pair's features win Best Picture — and if the Academy is in the mood to share the love or consolidate it. Awarding Corbet's achievement for a three-and-a-half-hour film that's had audiences glued to the screen, was made using a format in VistaVision that was favoured by Alfred Hitchcock on masterpieces such as North by Northwest and Vertigo, and brings back intermissions seems the most probable — and well-deserved — bet. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The nominees: Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora Demi Moore, The Substance Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Should win: Demi Moore, The Substance Could win: Mikey Madison, Anora Will win: Demi Moore, The Substance She's been giving stunning speeches around Hollywood, and Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild-winner Demi Moore best have another prepared. Rewarding her for a deeply committed performance more than four decades into her acting career, and after a significant time lacking substantial roles, also rewards The Substance's hefty and blatant fight against women being deemed past their prime when they hit a certain age. If Mikey Madison repeats her BAFTA feat, the Anora star will join the top-ten youngest-ever Best Actress-winner's ranking, knocking Gone with the Wind's Vivien Leigh off the list. The film's final scene alone, in all of its emotional glory after Ani's rollercoaster ride, could nab her the accolade alone. Had Marianne Jean-Baptiste been nominated for Hard Truths, however, it'd be hard to see how anyone else could grasp the accolade. Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The nominees: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Should win: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Could win: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Will win: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Will the youngest-ever winner of the Best Actor Oscar make history again 22 years later, joining the incredibly small list of two-time victors (only ten other performers have one this accolade twice or more)? Or will someone else not only grasp this year's prize, but also that spot as the gong's freshest-faced recipient? The Brutalist's Adrien Brody is the former. A Complete Unknown's Timothée Chalamet is the latter. Neither of their movies would be the films that they are without either actor leading the charge. Intensity simmers in their respective performances alike. Either could take it — but Brody's portrayal wouldn't just be a once-in-a-lifetime piece of work for another actor; it'd be impossible. As for the rest of the field, in other years Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, Ralph Fiennes for Conclave and Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice (or for A Different Man, which he won the Golden Globe for) would be certain winners. Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role The nominees: Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez Should win: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez Could win: Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Will win: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez Emilia Pérez will always be the first non-English-language film to receive 13 Oscar nominations, but its chances of scoring a big bag of trophies have dwindled courtesy of lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón's awful past tweets. As a result, the excellent Zoe Saldaña, portraying the eponymous character's conflicted lawyer, might end up being the movie's only winner — and hers is a powerhouse performance. Or, Emilia Pérez mightn't even be a lock here, despite Saldaña winning the Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award in the lead up. Isabella Rossellini is exceptional in Conclave as Sister Agnes, the nun that's also the Head Caterer for the bickering cardinals — and it'd recognise her for her entire career, and redress the fact that she wasn't nominated for David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Ingrid Bergman, her mother, won three, including in this category in 1974 for Murder on the Orient Express. Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role The nominees: Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Should win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Could win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Will win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain There's no bad picks in the Best Supporting Actor field. There's the vulnerable yet irreverent portrayal that's clearly going to win — the recipient of accolades at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards as well — and there's also the spur-of-the-moment speech that everyone will get to enjoy when Kieran Culkin does, but each one of the five nominated performances is outstanding, including from first-time Australian nominee Guy Pearce for The Brutalist. Jeremy Strong is on another level even for him in The Apprentice. The lifelong Oscar fan will win one of the coveted awards before his career out. He knows what it's like to lose out to Culkin, though, and not just on-screen in Succession — the only time that they were both nominated for the Best Actor in a Drama Emmy in the same year, Culkin won (beating Roy family patriarch Brian Cox, too). Best Original Screenplay The nominees: Anora, Sean Baker The Brutalist, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg September 5, Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David The Substance, Coralie Fargeat Should win: A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg Could win: The Brutalist, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold Will win: A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg Sean Baker took out this category for Anora at the Writers Guild Awards, where Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold weren't nominated for The Brutalist. But at the Oscars, A Real Pain should go home a winner in every field — two in total — that it's up for. The Academy does have a history of pairing the winner of Best Original Screenplay with Best Supporting Actor, including with Django Unchained and Green Book. As a performer, Jesse Eisenberg has only been in the running for an Oscar once, in 2011 for Best Actor for The Social Network — and in a different year, he could've been nominated for starring in A Real Pain as well. His script for the film makes the personal universal, and understands existential angst and anxiety, and how it manifests in different manners, with both intensity and humour. That said, this could also be where Coralie Fargeat gets some love for The Substance. Best Adapted Screenplay The nominees: A Complete Unknown, James Mangold and Jay Cocks Conclave, Peter Straughan Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Sing Sing, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin and John 'Divine G' Whitfield Should win: Sing Sing, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin and John 'Divine G' Whitfield Could win: Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Will win: Conclave, Peter Straughan The possibility that either or both of Nickel Boys or Sing Sing could go home empty-handed from this year's Oscars is a travesty. Each 2025 releases in Australia, where the former sadly didn't get the big-screen date that it deserves, they're already among the year's best for viewers Down Under. Both possess screenplays of deep feeling — one adapting a Pulitzer Prize-winner, the other drawing from a helluva slice of real life. Nickel Boys emerged victorious at the Writers Guild Awards, but over A Complete Unknown, plus three films not in the running here: Dune: Part Two, Hit Man and Wicked. Here, this looks like Conclave's guaranteed time to shine, and the Vatican City-set script based on Robert Harris' novel about electing a new pope after the sudden death of the last one — and what the manoeuvring around it says about faith — is indeed a gem. Best International Feature The nominees: I'm Still Here The Girl with the Needle Emilia Pérez The Seed of the Sacred Fig Flow Should win: The Seed of the Sacred Fig Could win: The Seed of the Sacred Fig Will win: I'm Still Here Once a near lock for Emilia Pérez, Best International Feature now has fellow multiple-nominee — and fellow Best Picture and Best Actress contender — I'm Still Here in its sights. Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles has notched up two nods in this category over his career, and winning for his Fernanda Torres-led account of love, loss and holding onto life under the shadow of a dictatorship would be an extra-nice feat given he was last in contention for Central Station starring Torres' mother Fernanda Montenegro. Dialogue-free animated marvel Flow deserves to win every award that it's nominated for, so this and Best Animated Feature, but The Seed of the Sacred Fig is as powerful as filmmaking gets — with Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil) fighting on- and off-screen against the regime that's long tried to silence his voice. Best Animated Feature The nominees: Flow Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Should win: Flow Could win: The Wild Robot Will win: Flow Flow's title couldn't be more perfect. To watch Latvia's first-ever film to be nominated for an Oscar is to swirl, surge and sweep along with the gorgeous dialogue-free feature, and with the animals — a cat, some dogs, birds, a capybara, a lemur and more — that are trying to survive, and learn how to heal together, when a flood gushes in. It's astonishing. The Wild Robot doesn't scrap chatter, but it too is heartfelt and wondrous as it watches animals carve out an existence — here, with the sudden arrival of a robot (voiced wonderfully by Lupita Nyong'o) disrupting the usual status quo, and also redefining what makes a family. Australian claymation Memoir of a Snail would easily win in many previous years, deservedly so. For big-name animation studios Pixar and Aardman, it doesn't look likely that Inside Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl will back up Inside Out and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit's past Oscars. Best Documentary Feature The nominees: Black Box Diaries No Other Land Porcelain War Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Sugarcane Should win: Black Box Diaries Could win: Porcelain War Will win: No Other Land Fury or hope? What takes home 2025's Best Documentary Feature prize might come down to how voters want to feel. There's no escaping anger while watching No Other Land or Black Box Diaries, both deeply personal docos featuring their filmmakers and telling their stories — one about the Israeli campaign of displacement in the West Bank region of Masafer Yatta, the other about a Japanese sexual-assault survivor taking on the system that won't punish her attacker. In Sugarcane, too, digging into the abuse experienced at a Catholic Church-run mission school isn't just a job for Julian Brave NoiseCat, nor an outrage-free watch for audiences. Porcelain War heads to Ukraine, as 2024's victor 20 Days in Mariupol did — but there's more optimism in its heroing the power of art, even in small acts, amid the fight. It's also among Australia's Oscar hopes for 2025, as an Aussie co-production. The winners of the 2025 Oscars will be announced on Monday, March 3, Australian time. For further details, head to the awards' website. Wondering where to watch this year's Oscar contenders? We've put together a rundown for Australia.
Wander through French Impressionism, NGV International's big winter blockbuster exhibition, and visions of the natural world by iconic artists are among the many sights that greet attendees. There should be no better way to appreciate our planet than engaging with it ourselves, but sometimes art sees what we don't, as this showcase of masterworks helps demonstrate. Also open since Friday, June 6, 2025 and similarly displaying until Sunday, October 5, 2025, Plans for the Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids takes the idea of embracing the environment through art and makes it the sole focus — playfully, and to get young visitors engaging with the topic. Swiss artist Breuning explores sustainability, conservation, pollution and wildlife, aiming to spark new generations to ponder a better future for the pale blue rock that we call home. The art here is interactive, as seen in the animated drawings of forests, lava and more that kids can activate via swipe card. This exhibition also wants children to get creative themselves, courtesy of their own drawings. For instance, a giant tree installation brings the woodlands indoors — and is designed to inspire little art lovers to draw homes for forest animals. Or, via the photobooth, attendees can snap self-portraits, decorate them with virtual objects, and use them to express themselves. At touch screens, too, kids are encouraged to add their ideas for the future, which then become part of the installation. Images: installation views of Plans for The Planet: Olaf Breuning for Kids, on display from 6 June to 5 October at NGV International Melbourne. Photo: Mitch Fong.
