I, along with many of my fellow Gen-Yers, am at a unique crossroads when it comes to the creation of deliberately grainy photography. I am just slightly too young to have had the childhood pleasure of making pinhole cameras (damn you disposable cameras, damn you), yet I am just old enough to watch on with dismay as every teenager with a smart phone claims the faux artistry afforded to them by Instagram. Designer Kelly Angood's new project the Pop-Up Pinhole Camera is not only a nostalgic throwback to the good ol' days of the DIY camera that Instagrammers can only emulate but still a source of basic wonder as pictures emerge from little more than a cardboard box. While making your own pinhole camera was often nothing short of a total nightmare, Angood has come up with a way of recapturing that old-timey, do-it-yourself feel but without the stress and strain of countless failed attempts: IKEA-style flat-pack kits. Yes, it's just like one of those build-your-own desk sets, except at the end you are left with a beautiful camera, named the Videre (definitely not a Hasselblad), that can take amazingly high-quality pinhole photographs. Best of all, Angood has already managed to raise over 20,000 pounds online to fund the project, and as such has promised her legions of fans that their very own pop-up pinhole camera should arrive on their doorstep by November. But don't let this stop you from donating: Head to her website if you fancy making a donation or picking up your own camera for photographic playtimes more surprising than anything on the end of an app.
When a decent drink costs almost $20 and a restaurant main is at least $30, it might seem like $100 can't get you very far in Sydney. But we've set out to show you that you can still enjoy a night out without breaking the bank, thanks to Forage The Rocks. The Rocks is chock-full of lively bars, restaurants and pubs offering exciting deals throughout the month of August. From happy hour tipples to decadent dinners, these are the top venues around the historic precinct where you can take advantage of exclusive specials and discounts that happen even when Forage the Rocks isn't on. Consider your next group hang sorted. Pre-Dinner Aperitifs Start the night off right with happy hour at two of the most elegant venues in The Rocks. Enjoy a drink with views of Sydney Harbour at Bar Lulu, the upstairs bar of Asian fusion restaurant Luna Lu. Every Sunday to Thursday between 3–6pm, you can get a beer for only $10 or wine and cocktails for $15. If you're feeling peckish, check out Le Foote's daily happy hour from 5–6pm, which includes a martini, negroni or sbagliato (with prosecco in it, if you know, you know) for $12, a glass of wine for $7 and the signature fish sandwich for $15. Dinner Once you've whet your appetite, it's time for a hearty meal to accompany your drinks — and we've found two deals under $30. Opt to keep the winter chills at bay with a satisfying beef and Guinness pie at The Mercantile Hotel, which is paired with a pint of Guinness for just $25. Meat lovers should head to The Orient on Friday to tuck into a rump steak with chips and slaw for $26 — get in early, as they are only available until sold out. Wash it down with a cocktail at the pub's terrace bar, Mrs Jones, which will set you back only $15 during happy hour from 5–7pm on Mondays to Wednesdays. Dessert No night out is complete without a sweet treat, so we've compiled two options that come in at less than $20. For a hit of nostalgia and comfort, dig into stacks of fluffy buttermilk pancakes at Sydney establishment Pancakes on The Rocks. Go classic with the Lemon Meringue or Apple Crumble, or indulge in chocolate decadence with the Coco Berry, topped with coconut, cream, chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis. Each option is served with a generous helping of ice cream and costs $15.95. If you're after something more luxe, meander along Kendall Lane to reach Pony Dining. The modern Australian restaurant offers house-made truffles for $4 apiece, which you can pair with David Franz Botrytis semillon or Gundog Estate muscat for $12 a glass. Post-Dinner Drinks and Dancing Now that you're full and fed, it's time to keep the night going strong — and maybe even throw on your dancing shoes. Step back in time when you grab a drink at Sydney's oldest licensed pub. Dating back to 1828, The Fortune of War boasts beer on tap, glasses of wine starting from $9.80 and cocktails for $20, as well as live music from Wednesday–Sunday. Next door, you'll find The Fortune of War Lock Up, which is the venue's newly opened, more refined sibling, serving the same drinks and pub fare with table service in a refurbished police station from the 1800s. You can't go to The Rocks without soaking up a view of the harbour, and what better place to do it than with a cold one in hand on the rooftop of The Glenmore Hotel? The Rocks institution hosts DJs on Saturday night and acoustic sets on Sunday, with daily meal and drinks specials, trivia and live sports during the week. It's beats and bass until the early hours at The Argyle. The versatile venue has been a mainstay of Sydney's nightlife for over 15 years, housing six bars, a courtyard and a nightclub within its heritage digs. There's a $20 cover charge for headline DJs on Friday and an RnB club night on Saturday, or you can drop in during the week to avoid the entry fee. Find more ways to Forage the Rocks at the website. Top image: Kristoffer Paulsen
Nestled into the bend of Paddington's iconic strip along Oxford Street, UNSW Galleries is a key supporter of multi-discipline art and artists in Sydney — and Australia, too. Nurturing a focus on learning through exhibition-making, the venue offers a space to champion integrated projects, and to encourage an ongoing conversation between its practitioners and audiences as well. All of the above aims can be seen in its recent lineup — including the LGBTQI+-driven exhibition Friendship as a Way Of Life, which explores queer kinship. Other previous standouts span everything Indigenous photography to art from across the Pacific region, plus the interactive installation Snoösphere.
Since first opening its doors back in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has played host to a wealth of performances, spanning far further in genre than just the art form that gives the venue its name. But it was only during Vivid Live 2016 that the iconic locale serenaded visitors into an evening-long slumber, all as part of Max Richter's live recital of his eight-and-a-half hour work Sleep. Across 31 tracks comprised of 204 movements, the German-born British composer's concept album unfurls music based on the neuroscience of getting some shuteye. In its intonation, the ambitious yet soothing piece favours the range that can be heard in the womb for much of its duration. When performed for an audience, it is played overnight, with beds set up — and doing as the work's title suggests is highly encouraged. Attendees recline, listen and let Richter's blend of strings, synthesisers and soprano vocals lull them into the land of nod. If they'd prefer to stay awake, that's fine as well, but soaking in Sleep's ambient sounds while you're snatching 40 winks is all very much part of the experience. In its live version, Sleep has echoed through spaces in London, Berlin and Paris, too; however, it's the first openair performance in Los Angeles' Grand Park in 2018 that takes pride of place in the documentary Max Richter's Sleep. A filmmaker was always bound to be so fascinated with the concept that they'd turn their lens Richter's way, and that director is Natalie Johns (an Emmy nominee for Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert), who endeavours to capture the experience for those who haven't had the pleasure themselves. The resulting film doesn't run for more than eight hours, or anywhere close — but those watching and listening will quickly wish that it did. As a feature, Max Richter's Sleep isn't designed to advertise its namesake. Rather, it documents, explores and tries to understand it. Still, the movie so easily draws viewers into the music, and so deeply, that making its audience want to snooze in public while Richter and his band plays is a guaranteed side effect. In its observational footage, Max Richter's Sleep wanders and peers as Angelenos arrive, settle in, turn their attention to the stage, get comfortable and drift off. It keeps gazing their way as they slumber, as Richter and his fellow musicians keep playing, and, later, as a change in pitch in the music and the dawning sunrise both eventually herald the morning. Johns and editors Michael Carter (Dayveon), Matt Cronin (the Arctic Monkeys' 'Four Out of Five' video) and Dom Whitworth (Lily Allen and Friends) weave in footage from other concerts, too, including Sydney. The film also flits between interviews with Richter and Yulia Mahr, his partner and an artist and filmmaker, plus other collaborators. And, it speaks to ordinary folks who've signed up for a night of music — some knowing exactly what they were in for, others not quite as aware — and been moved by the experience, As a concert film, Max Richter's Sleep is entrancing; again, viewers won't want those segments of the documentary to end. And if the feature had simply played the Los Angeles concert in its entirety, or as an abridged glimpse, it would've conveyed many of its points without further explanation. So much of the music's power — and the live performance's as well — is evident without words. An eight-plus-hour album that's engineered to be listened to in a sleeping state is a clear anomaly in popular culture, and in our non-stop world. Every artwork demands an investment of time, whether it's a song that plays for just a few minutes, a movie with a two-hour duration or a painting that requires more than a moment to soak in its beauty, but when something takes up a third of one's day, it forces a shift in engagement. Mindfulness, meditation, slowing down, switching off — all of these words and phrases apply to Sleep, both as a record and as a gig, and that always comes through in Max Richter's Sleep's concert footage. When Richter speaks about Sleep, he mirrors these aforementioned ideas, and stresses how much he wants his listeners to disengage from the regular hustle and bustle while they're taking in his music. First released in early September 2015 and initially played live later that month, the album was obviously ahead of its time. The documentary is too, after premiering in November 2019, then playing Sundance in January 2020. Viewed now in the middle of a pandemic, it feels like a calming balm for the soul — as it was clearly always supposed to, even long before the world dissolved into its current status quo. The interviews in Max Richter's Sleep aren't superfluous, of course, and neither are the film's dives into Mahr's Super 8mm-filled personal archive. Hearing not only about the immense amount of work that went into Sleep, but the ways in which Richter had to alter his own thinking to even compose it, ensures that viewers appreciate the magnum opus for its artistry and effort, and not just its effect and prescience. The tales that flesh out these chats, including Richter and Mahr's frank admissions about struggling to make a living as artists, and to afford to raise their family, help put the massive quest to bring Sleep to fruition into context. Also known for scoring films and television shows, Richter has everything from Waltz with Bashir, Perfect Sense, Lore and Wadjda to The Leftovers, an episode of Black Mirror, Mary, Queen of Scots and Ad Astra on his resume, but Sleep is undeniably a labour of love. This tranquil cinematic examination of his lengthy lullaby makes that plain, and plunges its audience into the album's dreamlike state. The ethereal and insightful movie's soundtrack is a highlight as well, naturally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb9PBr7Qhec Top image: Stefan Hoederath.
Before summer's out, western Sydney will have a new rooftop bar, complete with pool, sun lounges, cabanas and panoramas of 300 acres of greenery. It's called The Chiltern and you'll find it atop the five-star William Inglis Hotel in Warwick Farm, which is set to open in January 2018. In between taking dips and gazing out at the views, there'll be cocktails and light bites. Should you work up an appetite, head downstairs to the Newmarket Room, a paddock-to-plate restaurant headed by chef Samuel Bull (The Stables, North Bondi Italian). The menu is yet to be released, but he's promising a mix of "rural soul" and "refined elegance". If you have any whisky-swilling mates, you'll probably notice them heading straight for the mezzanine level, where the 1867 Lounge will be serving up high-end spirits, Champagne, fancy cocktails and boutique wines. The $140 million hotel precinct is named after the founder of William Inglis and Sons, one of Australia's best-known thoroughbred companies, and has been funded through thoroughbred horse sales. It's located across from the Warwick Farm racecourse. Anyone who happens to have too good a time in the whisky bar will be able to sleep over in one of 144 uniquely-designed rooms. The hotel is an MGallery by Sofitel, so you can expect decadence galore, including über-comfy beds, luxe bathrooms, picture windows, racing memorabilia, a state-of-the-art 24-hour gym and a posh day spa. The William Inglis Hotel is set to open at 155 Governor Macquarie Drive, Warwick Farm in January 2018. For more information or to book in advance, visit williaminglis.com.au.
If you're heading to Bondi Beach to catch some waves, soak up the rays or enjoy a quick dip this month, you may notice a new addition to the familiar beach-facing stores. From Thursday, December 7, you'll spot a limited-time pop-up store at 80 Campbell Parade that'll be offering up Ksubi's coveted denim goods until Saturday, December 30. Open from 10am to 6pm daily, you'll be able to explore a limited-edition range of the brand's products, from its signature denim staples and kidswear to previously archived designs that are returning as Aussie exclusives — and that's not all. Ksubi was born in the Northern Beaches in 1999, and to celebrate its return to Sydney, the pop-up will also be hosting free parties every Friday and Saturday throughout December. To kick off the celebrations, the globally renowned brand is partnering with Kosta's Takeaway on Saturday, December 9, where the beloved sando deli will be slinging its famed creations from 1–3pm. The following week, Momentum Mag will be spinning tunes from 4–7pm on Friday, December 15, and then the Ricos Tacos crew will take over the Saturday food slot from 1–3pm on Saturday, December 16. Lovejoy will handle the sunset music session on Friday, December 22, with Burger Park joining the pop-up's food lineup on Saturday, December 23. And to round out the year, Bodega Collective will curate the soundtrack on Friday, December 29, while Pizza Oltra's slices will close out 2023's culinary lineup on Saturday, December 30. And if you just can't get enough of Ksubi, don't fret. It'll be back in March of next year with its flagship Australian store at 113 King Street in Sydney's CBD.
In a city where coffee reigns supreme, launching a specialty hot chocolate brand could've easily flown under the radar. But in 2012, the team behind Mörk Chocolate, husband and wife duo Kiril Shaginov and Josefin Zernell, saw a gap in the market. "Back then, Melbourne's attention was firmly on specialty coffee," Kiril tells Concrete Playground. "But specialty hot chocolate was still overlooked. We set out to change that." What began as a niche wholesale business-to-business operation supplying chocolate powder to cafés and restaurants has grown (quietly and organically) into five Melbourne venues and a strong, local business. In partnership with the business solution experts at Square, we sat down with Mörk Chocolate's co-founder and director, Kiril, to learn more about how they scaled a retail brand into a booming hospitality business. [caption id="attachment_1024588" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Mörk Chocolate Centre Place[/caption] From little things While it may be surprising to hear, Mörk Chocolate never set out to have brick-and-mortar cafés. "The core of the business has always been wholesale," says Kiril. "We sell our blends to cafés and restaurants. That's what we set out to do." Mörk Chocolate's first store opened in North Melbourne a decade ago and quickly became a destination for sweet tooths across the city. However, the ensuing venues in the CBD, Queen Victoria Market, and Chadstone weren't the result of any intentional expansion strategy. "They kind of just happened by accident," Kiril says. "We don't have investors. We don't go and borrow lots of money. All the expansion comes from cash flow, and so for us to [launch] a venue, it's a big deal, it doesn't matter how small or big. That's why it happens with time naturally and organically." The challenges Of course, organic growth doesn't equal easy. With five venues in four different suburbs (two are in the CBD), Kiril notes that anticipating what each customer needs is a big part of the work. "Each venue reflects different concepts, archetypes, and customer habits, which means anticipating customer responses and needs is always part of the journey. Each of our locations is tailored to its market; no two stores look or feel the same. Our focus remains firmly on quality and on sharing knowledge about chocolate. We've found that Mörk Chocolate customers truly value this approach," Kiril says. Across every location, the brand's focus remains clear: offer an exceptional hot chocolate experience, without overcomplicating it. "We specialise in hot chocolate — that's what we do. We just focus on that and we don't try to do lots of other things." [caption id="attachment_1024589" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Mörk Chocolate Queen Victoria Market[/caption] Advice for new business owners Kiril notes that having that "pure vision" of knowing what you believe in and excelling at the one thing is really important. "I think a lot of new businesses try to do too many things to capture a bigger part of the market, but then the concept gets diluted a little bit." When asked if good products or good service take priority, Kiril says that both are equally important. "One cannot exist without the other. The key message is maintaining consistency across both." One way that Mörk Chocolate maintains this service consistency is through Square. "Consistency and customer experience are our priorities. We're streamlining POS systems to improve reporting and create a more seamless back-end operation," Kiril says. In the end, Kiril recommends focusing on what you love and believe in. The café side was born from Kiril, and the specialty chocolate side from Josefin. As a business, Mörk Chocolate has proven that focusing your efforts on one well-made product can compound over time. And maybe, a decade later, your business-to-business brand will become a hospitality legend. Square empowers local businesses to thrive by making it easier to run, manage, and grow their operations. Find out how Square can help your business grow.
If we had to pick one thing we love most about Japan, the food and drink experience would be a strong contender. For one week only, Sydney foodies can be transported to Japan, as one of the country's greatest exports – Suntory – a leader in Japanese drinks, is setting up right here in Surry Hills at the Suntory Bar takeover from Wednesday, November 13 to Sunday, November 17. Suntory has partnered with Itō for a week-long takeover of the Surry Hills Japanese Restaurant as it celebrates 125 years of leadership in Japanese drinks culture, bringing renowned brands including Toki Whisky, Roku Gin, Haku Vodka, Minus 196 and BOSS Coffee to the world. You can expect a delicious food and drink menu crafted by Itō executive chef Erik Ortolani and ESCA Group Executive Chef Luca Lonati in collaboration with guest chef Khanh Nguyen of King Clarence. Along with your favourite Japanese flavours, creative Suntory highballs and cocktails make up the drinks menu designed by Kerry Burgess, ESCA Group Bar Manager. The star of the show, the Toki Highball, shows off sweet and spicy notes of whisky alongside a grapefruit peel for added citrusy fragrance. Other innovative creations include a Japanese take on the espresso martini bringing together Haku Vodka and BOSS Coffee as well as a Maker's Mark Milk Punch infused with hojicha and dark chocolate and coffee liquors. The four-course paired menu highlights seafood prominently with dishes including Ora King Salmon Sashimi, Hiramasa Kingfish Collars, Mayura Station Wagyu skewers, Miso Aquna Murray Cod, and a BOSS Coffee Mochi Ice Cream Sandwich. Experience 125 years of history and taste the legacy of Suntory, all the while enjoying delicious highballs at the Suntory x Itō takeover in Surry Hills. If you miss out on tickets for the three events, there will be specials on the food menu and Suntory highball menu available for regular bookings and space for walk-ins from Friday to Sunday. Book your Suntory Bar experience here. The Suntory Bar Takeover at Itō runs from Wednesday, November 13 to Sunday, November 17. For more information and to secure your seat, visit the website. Images: Mark Sherbone
There's a craze sweeping the nation, it's taking off like a wildfire, and it's got people hitting the courts in droves — and for once, it's not something straight off of TikTok. No, it's the great game of Pickleball. Curious? Cautious? Short of a hobby that's summer-appropriate? This game of champions is making a home for itself all January long at South Eveleigh's Innovation Plaza. If pickleball is just a buzzword or a reputation to you, it's as straightforward as games can be. Two players, two rackets, a plastic ball and a hard court — you can master the rest easily. With a mix of long rallies between rivals and frenetic strikes among frenemies, a pickleball master is a player who can control their decision-making as much as the ball. It's not backyard cricket either; pickleball goes all the way from casual weekend games to Australian masters competitions and nationally ranked players. Who knows, you could be Pickleball's next superstar. Innovation Plaza is welcoming rookies and experienced players alike. For the former, weekly instructor-led sessions for up to four players will cost you $10 per player and 45 minutes of free time. The courts will be open for free-play sessions outside the lesson times, free of charge. The courts will be open from 7.30am to 7.30pm daily until Sunday, February 1. Bookings are recommended for lessons as spots are limited. Free-play sessions are allotted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each year, thousands of travellers from near and far make their way down to the bottom of Australia to get a taste of gorgeous locations — the type that Tasmania just seems to have an endless supply of. And while it's nice to experience many of them under the sun, winter offers a whole new perspective that visitors will love just as much. From wild ancient forests with awe-inspiring frozen lakes and waterfalls to rocky mountainsides that take on a thick coat of snow, Tasmania's landscape offers something that'll warm everyone's cockles. So, here are six beautiful sights that seem to get even better once the winter chill grabs hold of the scenery. Pack a beanie and scarf and start planning your wintry escape. [caption id="attachment_718788" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Russell Falls by Tourism Tasmania and Michael Walters Photography.[/caption] MOUNT FIELD NATIONAL PARK Mount Field National Park is Tasmania's first and oldest national park, and many consider it to still be the best. If you're looking to get the most out of the Tasmanian winter, then this rugged landscape might just fulfil all your hopes and dreams. Across this sprawling region, there are plenty of highlights to choose from. But don't look past Russell Falls and its alluring tiered cascades, which are widely considered the centrepiece of the entire park. Elsewhere, Lake Dobson's shimmering waterfront can be taken in from many a great nearby hike. And at just over 90 minutes from Hobart, Mount Mawson takes on a brilliant cover of snow that offers skiers and snowboarders a challenging but worthwhile experience — to get to the summit, you'll need to hike 30-minutes uphill through alpine forest then jump on a rope tow. We promise, it's worth it. [caption id="attachment_720512" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ben Lomond National Park by Tourism Tasmania and Brooke Saward.[/caption] BEN LOMOND NATIONAL PARK Located in Tasmania's northeast, Ben Lomond National Park towers above the landscape, reaching up an imposing 1500 metres. The rugged landscape features sharp cliff faces and sheer drops that make it appear almost insurmountable. But once winter arrives, the mountain comes to life with skiers making the most of the steep scenery — and the variety of exciting downhill skiing routes that come with it. If you're not much of a skier, you can also drive up Jacobs Ladder, Ben Lomond's winding ascent, and experience the wonderful alpine plateau from its summit. Up here, you'll catch quite the surreal sight as you peer out upon the distant countryside — looking down on the rocky mountainside and its dramatic outcrops makes you feel completely mesmerised. [caption id="attachment_718784" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cradle Mountain by Jason Charles Hill.[/caption] CRADLE MOUNTAIN There's never a bad time to visit the famed Cradle Mountain, but winter is when this incredible spot truly comes into its own. Part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the mountain and its surrounds feature ancient rainforests and grasslands that sweep across its boundaries, as well as some remarkable glacial lakes and bubbling creeks that careen between the nearby mountaintops. While exploring, keep your eyes peeled as the surrounding Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is full of native wildlife, including wombats, echidnas, wallabies, quolls and pademelons. Don't forget about the low-lying lakes here either — in particular, Dove Lake, which is circled by an easy-to-access six-kilometre walking track. You might recognise it from photos (like the above) but, in real life, it's something else. As you wind your way around the lake, the trees get denser and the lookouts get quieter, and you'll feel like you've left the country for a European retreat. On a clear day you'll be able to see right across the lake; on a stormy one you'll be able to watch the sky do its thing. If you're lucky, you'll get to visit twice and see both. [caption id="attachment_718789" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arthur River by Jess Bonde.[/caption] THE TARKINE As the second largest cool-temperate rainforest in the world, The Tarkine should be at the top of the rugged adventurer's list. Set in Tasmania's northwest, the scenery here is largely varied and only becomes more extreme and breathtaking in the winter months. Start your adventure at the Edge of the World (actual name) and look out over the Arthur River — the water here is intense as it's where it meets the Southern Ocean. Or head inland and find shelter by venturing deep into the rainforest at the upper end of the river and discover the spectacular multi-tiered Philosopher Falls. [caption id="attachment_718786" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mount Wellington lookout by Tourism Australia and Graham Freeman.[/caption] KUNANYI / MOUNT WELLINGTON PARK Just a 20-minute drive from Hobart, kunanyi / Mount Wellington is probably the easiest way to immerse yourself in Tasmania's most beautiful sights. kunanyi /Mount Wellington Park showcases more than 18,000 hectares of remarkably picturesque scenery and links Hobart's outer reaches with world-class native bushland. You can drive right up to the Pinnacle, or take the challenge to walk to the summit. Do the whole 14 kilometres from Hobart — stopping at the Cascade Brewery along the way — or choose one of the smaller loop routes to conquer. On the way, you'll be able to enjoy sub-alpine flora and fauna that dots the towering landmass's upper reaches. Winter is a particularly special time to visit as the mountaintop is often dusted in snow (making it prime for snowball fights). Afterwards, warm yourself up with something hot at the Lost Freight Cafe, a shipping container coffee spot halfway up the mountain at The Springs. [caption id="attachment_718785" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Currie Lighthouse on King Island by Andrew Wilson.[/caption] KING ISLAND Set halfway between Tasmania and Victoria, King Island is a hidden gem. Which means you'll be able to nab the island's best (and most secluded) spots all to yourself. Currie is the island's main hotspot. Here you can explore the historic lighthouse built in the 1870s and wander the seaside town's quaint streets. It may be too cold to have a picnic outdoors, but you can do one indoors at the Boathouse. Described as a restaurant with no food, this stunning waterfront dining room if free for you to use as your own — you just have to bring your own nosh. Step things up a notch and see King Island from one of the country's most impressive saunas at Porky Beach Retreat. You'll be able to look out over the beach, wine in-hand, from the warmest spot on the island. King Island is only accessible by plane — but with flights coming in from Melbourne multiple times a day, it's an easy and rewarding place to visit. Top image: Cradle Mountain by Emilie Ristevski.
More than once in Farming, Enitan stares into a mirror and loathes his reflection. Born in Britain to Nigerian parents, fostered out to a white working-class family and constantly taunted about his race, he even tries to scrub away his darker pigment while glaring daggers at himself. When that doesn't work, the boy (Zephan Amissah) cakes his skin in talcum powder, such is his desperation to see anything but his usual likeness looking back. By the time that Eni becomes a teenager (now played by Damson Idris), his self-hating gaze has solidified, and yet it has also taken on a different tone. As he peers forward, he shaves his head, buttons up his collared shirt and pops his suspenders over his shoulders, all to fit in with the local skinheads. Farming depicts Eni peering intently at a mirror again and again for a reason: no matter which cruel names are spat his way, the feature makes plain that it's his own opinion of himself that matters most. Sadly, he internalises the surrounding resentment and prejudice, so that's all that he can see in his own reflection. But, the fact that Farming even exists is proof that something changes. The film itself is a mirror — and in a more literal sense than most movies. Written and directed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, this picture relays the actor-turned-filmmaker's own childhood. Known as Enitan as a kid, he once tried to scratch off his own skin, then joined forces with the very thugs that made his life hell — and now, after a two-decade on-screen career that's seen him feature in everything from Oz, Lost and Game of Thrones to The Bourne Identity, Thor: The Dark World and Suicide Squad, he shares that story. In Farming, Akinnuoye-Agbaje's tale begins with the actor and director playing his own father, Femi — who, alongside his wife Tolu (Genevieve Nnaji), is tearfully handing over baby Enitan to Ingrid Carpenter (Kate Beckinsale). It's 1967, and the practice that gives the movie its moniker is common. Kids like Eni are left with white families while their birth parents study and find work, with couples such as Femi and Tolu hoping their children will get better opportunities in the process. As Farming steps through Eni's Essex-based youth, showing him weather threats from Ingrid and torment from everyone else around him, it demonstrates the impact of this decision — a hard choice made with love by the people who brought him into the world, and one with significant repercussions. Eni transforms from a smiling infant, to a shy kid happily lost in his own head, to a self-loathing outcast who believes that his only path forward is to embrace the hatred he keeps being made to wear like a second skin. In scenes such as the aforementioned soap and talcum powder incidents, it's clear that Farming is directed by an actor, as well as by someone with a personal stake in this bleak and challenging story. This is a highly physical and expressive film that often feels like memories transposed onto the screen — and frequently highlights strikingly framed images and visceral, palpable emotions over dialogue. Thankfully, that's a mode that suits the talented Idris, who takes on that most difficult of tasks: not only playing a real-life figure, but playing the teen-aged version of his director. Raw pain doesn't just burn in his eyes, but infects every move that he makes, whether Eni is lashing out at his self-centred foster mother, himself or the only person (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, in a one-note role as a kindly teacher) who sees past his skin colour. That said, Farming is also a forceful movie — building its confronting, compelling tale one horrific moment at a time, and hitting as bluntly as the blows directed Eni's way. As a boy, he may turn his skin a shade of grey, but the movie he's in only paints in black and white. Of course, that's how this experience clearly felt to Akinnuoye-Agbaje. There's nothing subtle about being told by your foster mother that you come from 'Wooga-Wooga Land', or being expected to grin through daily teasing from neighbourhood kids, or getting stripped naked and spray-painted with racist statements by the Tilbury Skins, after all. There's nothing nuanced about Eni's time among his violent bullies, either, where he's treated like a pet by vicious leader Levi (John Dagleish) and never considered an equal, even as he desperately hopes otherwise. It's tough viewing, but Farming's great achievement — like the hallmark British race-relations drama of the 21st century, This Is England — springs from its willingness to stare unflinchingly at its grim contents. That Akinnuoye-Agbaje treats his adult successes as a mere footnote is telling; who he has since become is important, but what he endured to get there, and the ugly attitudes he faced that still echo today, are far more vital. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xWwFfT5jak
Sydney has just scored another stunning boutique hotel, in welcome news for both locals and travellers alike. 202 Elizabeth is the sleek new 38-room accommodation spot that's just joined the likes of The Ace Hotel and Paramount House Hotel in Surry Hills. Each of the guest rooms spread across this refined six-level hotel is uniquely designed, providing an elegant accommodation option in the heart of bustling Surry Hills — and just a few minutes walk from Central Station as well. Hotel owner Diana Ren and designer Lisa Madigan have created a relaxing space filled with organic hues and constructed with sustainability in mind; it's built using cross-laminated timber, a carbon-negative structural material. Each room at 202 Elizabeth is brought to life by playful wallpaper from Kingdom Home Design. On arrival, guests will find a complimentary welcome tea waiting for them in their room. From there, patrons can discover a series of simple pleasures around each room, including robes from Australian designer Piyama, toiletries from Hunter Lab, and a mini bar stocked up with complimentary organic sodas and snacks (both sweet and savoury). Shared spaces around the hotel include a rooftop hangout spot boasting views of the surrounding inner-city streets, a ground-floor courtyard, and a soon-top-open new outpost for Handpicked Wines that will allow you to head in for a wine tasting and take a bottle back to your room or up to the rooftop. The sky-high space will also welcome in locals for morning neighbourhood yoga sessions, ensuring that Surry Hills residents get the opportunity to soak in its panoramic views. Plus, a stay at 202 Elizabeth won't mean leaving Fido or Spot at home. The accommodation is dog friendly, with General Manager Adam Males' french bulldog Sochi appointed the official Director of Pet Relations at the hotel. Puppy turn-down treats will be on hand for any four-legged guests, and Soci has ensured the staff know where all of the best dog-friendly cafes and restaurants are in the area. 202 Elizabeth is now open at 202–210 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. 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.
You're at the bar. You get stuck in with a beverage, and a few minutes later your song comes on. Is there any better feeling? Newtown newcomers DeepGroove are turning that elation into a regular occurrence at their newly opened vinyl record bar where the patrons choose the tunes. The bar occupies prime real estate along King Street, taking over the space of the short lived Nordic B. As of this week's final paint job and signage turn over, DeepGroove is officially open for business. The joint venture between hospitality veterans Steven Sparshott and Mai Polic follows a simple, yet genius concept: come in, grab a drink at the bar and thumb through the extensive selection of vinyl. Pop your favourite on the turntable and let your song or full record play out. Their collection has something for everyone and spans everything from Beyoncé to The Beatles and Justin Bieber to Guns N' Roses. For the vinyl illiterate, they also have an iPad full of over 15,000 songs to scroll through — but, honestly, where's the fun in that? The small bar is set up casually with high tables and stools, along with the requisite rock posters and vinyl sleeves on the wall. To give patrons an even bigger reason to smile, they're running a $10 cocktail happy hour everyday from 5pm to 7pm. Their signature, the Deep Groove Yuzu, sounds especially tasty, with the Japanese inspired concoction combining sake, gin and yuzu. For bar snacks, think traditional finger food like sweet potato fries and antipasto platters. Of course, DeepGroove isn't the first bar in Sydney to focus on vinyl; the city also boasts The Record Crate just over in Glebe and the ever popular Mojo Record Bar in the CBD. It is, however, the first of its kind in Newtown and seems to be the only one of the three that's focused on in-bar enjoyment rather than records for purchase. Any bar that brings more tunes to the neighbourhood is alright by us. DeepGroove is located at 191 King Street, Newtown and is open daily from 4pm until late. For more information, check out their Facebook page. Images: Bodhi Liggett.
The team that made Sydney fall in love with the Taiwanese street food gua bao have a new home. Following jaunts on the food market scene and at Hudson Ballroom, Belly Bao have settled at a standalone shop on King Street. With a bigger kitchen up her sleeve, owner Sylvia Tran has expanded the menu. Whereas, at Goodgod/Hudson Ballroom, there was just one baoger offered each night, four options are now available all the time: The Baoger (Angus beef patty, cheese, cos lettuce, onion, pickled radish, Baoger sauce), as well as one with eggplant, chicken and chopped cheese. A baoger, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is a Western hamburger, but served Asian-style, with bao as bread. Newtown's vegan crowd are well-catered for across all menu categories, including the bao noodles. "They're made with exactly the same recipe as bao, but rolled out, shaped into noodle form and boiled," says Sylvia. "We're serving them with house-made satay chill oil,". For dessert, the famous Gaytime bao makes its return alongside pandan baonuts. Its liquor licence is pending so for now, the venue is BYO. Regardless, the food bill won't be a shock: the namesake belly baos are only $7. The space itself is warm and inviting: think browns, oranges and greens. There's an L-shaped bar, a banquette for large gatherings and round tables for twos and threes, surrounded by old-school Chinese restaurant chairs, newly upholstered. Keep an eye out for the Mahjong table and the dreamy, tropical-inspired feature wall by local artist Simon Wheeldon.
If you're looking for a unique Las Vegas experience, this is beautiful in every single way: an Airbnb hosted by Christina Aguilera, with the entire weekend booking designed around the the 'Dirrty', 'Genie in a Bottle', 'What a Girl Wants' and 'Lady Marmalade' singer. She'll chat with you over drinks. You'll hit up her favourite Vegas restaurant. You'll also see her intimate show in the Nevada city. And, of course, you'll spend two nights making the most of your reservation, including slumbering just off the Vegas strip. Missed Aguilera at her one-night-only gig in Melbourne in 2023, which was her first Down Under since 2007? This is your chance to go one better — and head to her, too. Here's hoping that your calendar is blank in the near future, however, because the Airbnb stay is only on offer from Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2. [caption id="attachment_942172" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dennis Leupold[/caption] "Welcome to Las Vegas! I'm a big believer in self-love and embracing your true, authentic self, so I'm thrilled to host a stay in Sin City for fans to let loose and give themselves some much deserved TLC for the weekend," said Aguilera about her hosting gig. "This glam stay is all about empowerment, pleasure and play. Get ready." Included in the booking, which covers up to four people: that conversation with Christina while drinking cocktails; staying in the luxe four-bedroom, four-bathroom Airbnb for the weekend; a private burlesque lesson from choreographer and dancer Sarah Mitchell, who has worked with the singer for more than a decade; and VIP seats to Christina Aguilera at Voltaire, the star's current Las Vegas residency. You'll also score that restaurant experience; a glam session with Christina's team to learn about — and don — her looks — as well as a boudoir photoshoot. Thanks to Christina's sexual-wellness brand Playground, you'll take some goodies home with you, too. The one-of-a-kind Aguilera-focused stay is the accommodation platform's latest such once-in-a-lifetime experience. Shrek's swamp, Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse, the Ted Lasso pub, the Moulin Rouge! windmill, Hobbiton, the Bluey house, the Paris theatre that inspired The Phantom of the Opera, the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, The Godfather mansion, the South Korean estate where BTS filmed In the Soop, the Sanderson sisters' Hocus Pocus cottage and Santa's festive cabin in Finland have all featured before (and the list goes on). For you, if this is what a girl (or guy) wants, needs, will make you happy and set you free, you'll need to try to nab the free booking at 5am AEDT / 4am AEST / 7am NZDT on Friday, February 23. Whoever gets these special kinds of Airbnb reservations is usually responsible for their own travel, including for this one. So, making the trip to Las Vegas and back is on your own dime. The rest? Money really can't buy it. For more information about the Christina Aguilera-hosted Las Vegas Airbnb stay, or to book at 5am AEDT / 4am AEST / 7am NZDT on Friday, February 23 for a stay across Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, 2024, head to the Airbnb website. Images: Victor Leung. 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.
2017 has proven a big year for art thus far. Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has just cut the ribbon on an extensive exhibition of Van Gogh's work, Sydney has launched The National, a new biannual multi-gallery exhibition of new Australian art, and Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) has Dark Mofo coming up in June. This year also marks the tenth anniversary of Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA). They've already started the celebrations with a birthday exhibition (which featured a furry wall and Carsten Höller slippery slide), and, at the end of the year, GOMA will also be getting a new permanent work: a brand new light installation by artist James Turrell. You might be familiar with the Arizona-based artist's work if you've been to Mona or the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). He's the one behind the sky-centred installations at both galleries — at Mona, the gazebo-like Armana lights up at sunrise and sunset each day, and at the NGA in Canberra, Within without acts as an outdoor viewing chamber to enhance your view of the sky. All up, Turrell has created 80 'skyspaces' like these around the world. Brisbane's Turrell piece won't be a standalone structure like these other two Australian works; instead, the work will light up GOMA's eastern and southern white façades from within the building with a pattern developed by Turrell especially for the location. The plan is to light up the gallery at dusk each evening — when lit, it will make the gallery visible from across the river and around South Bank's cultural precinct. The work has been commissioned by GOMA with contributions from the Queensland Government, leading benefactors and the 2017 QAGOMA Foundation Appeal. It's set to be installed in early December 2017.
Over the past decade, streaming has become a firm part of every film and TV fan's life — providing more viewing choices, more places to find movies and television shows, and more excuses to while away hours and hours (and then a few more hours) on the couch. But, it has also sparked a familiar dilemma. Too often, thanks to all of the options available, it's easy to spend more time deciding what to check out next than actually watching something. Netflix has just released its intended solution to this problem, via a new feature called 'play something'. First revealed earlier in 2021, and now available globally across the platform, it's basically a shuffle function — and will automatically pick something for you to watch, rather than letting you keep scrolling and scrolling (and scrolling) while you're trying to make a decision. Here's how it works: when Netflix subscribers hit the 'play something' option — and therefore tell the service that they don't want to browse right now — they're instantly met with something new to view. It'll be either a series or film, and it could be something brand new, something you're already watching, a title that's on your list, or a show or movie you hadn't gotten around to finishing yet. Obviously, Netflix will be drawing upon its algorithm — as aided by your past viewing choices — to take your selections out of your hands. And, while it isn't called "I'm feeling lucky", that's the approach Netflix is basically asking subscribers to go with in terms of finding something to watch next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2djp46FeY If you don't like the first choice that the new function thrusts in front of your eyeballs, you can click 'play something else'. What happens then is self-explanatory. And, if you're keen to tun the 'play something' function on, you'll find it underneath your profile name, on the tenth row on Netflix's homepage and in the navigation menu on the left side of the screen. The company has been testing this type of functionality in various forms over the past few years — and the concept is hardly new, as users of music streaming services know. In France at the end of 2020, Netflix also trialled a linear channel, which just played films and shows one after the other in the way that broadcast television does; however, there's no news yet as to whether the latter will become a permanent function worldwide. The idea behind these new features — whether they've been implemented or they're just being trialled — is to keep people watching and encourage more folks to join up as subscribers, of course. More and more new streaming services pop up all the time, all vying for your eyeballs, or so it feels at least. That's also the reason that Netflix introduced its Top Ten lists in 2020, if you've been wondering why the platform started telling you that everyone was watching Tiger King, The Queen's Gambit and The Midnight Sky. Netflix's new 'play something' feature is active on the platform now. For more information about, head to the streaming service's website.
In a bid to encourage more families, tourists, and elderly Sydneysiders to venture into the city into the wee hours of the morning, the City of Sydney Council plans to install hydraulic, self-cleaning, pop-up pissoirs. Part of the initiative Open Sydney, the toilets follow on from last year's successful trial of portable loos in popular night spots such as Kings Cross. Councillors hope that these more effective and aesthetically pleasing urinals will help revitalise the Sydney nightlife and promote a safer, more welcoming city after the sun goes down. And how would pop-up pissoirs help achieve these aims? These rather sophisticated toilets, which have already been used in parts of Europe for a number of years now, disappear completely during the day only to be hydraulically lifted (in two minutes) by the simple press of a button on a remote. Rather than having to be installed each night and removed each morning as portables loos are, the pop-up sort can simply be run by neighbouring bar staff and street cleaners. The self-cleaning function also means that the nifty machines clean themselves to magically become good as new at the beginning of each night. Each stainless steel contraption has four cubicles and is hoped to significantly reduce public urination, particularly in areas already identified in the council's research. According to the Council's manager of late-night resources, portable urinals "diverted 5000 litres of wee in Sydney this Summer, otherwise that would be in people's front doorsteps and on our streets". The pop-up urinals are hoped to assist this even further by being more inviting and more numerous. The council's long-term strategy hopes to ensure the success of the Sustainable Sydney 2030 commitment and is centred on developing Sydney's night-time economy. It will also involve encouraging businesses and retailers to have later trading hours, particularly during festivals such as Vivid Sydney or Chinese New Year; doubling the number of Nightride bus services travelling around the city; opening our first 24-hour library; increasing police presence; and providing local tour guides for tourists. Essentially, the key goals are for Sydney to become more global, more connected, increasingly diverse and inviting, and to be locally responsive. Sydney is renowned for its fantastic culture and alluring nature by day. This vision wants to ensure the development of that belief by night as well. Via Sydney Morning Herald and City of Sydney Council.
There's no need to feel the cold this winter. Whether you have a date with skis or you'll be trying to get as cosy as possible going about your usual routine, Aldi's snow gear sale is back to keep you warm. Making a beeline to the middle aisle to rug up has become an Australian tradition, and this year marks the first time that the supermarket chain has held two of the sales in consecutive years since before the pandemic. In budget-friendly news, too, nothing will set you back more than $100. Winter is coming, as the country is just beginning to feel — and this batch of bargains, spanning everything from gloves to thermoboots, is on its way as well. Ski trips, snowboarding sessions, building snowmen: there's attire for all of the above, plus just not shivering at home. Mark Saturday, May 18 in your diary, then make a date with your nearest Aldi supermarket. Also, prepare to have ample company. Every time that this sale happens, it draws quite a crowd — and 2024's run again includes more than 70 products, with prices starting from $4.99. Available at stores across the nation, and made to withstand extreme weather conditions, the latest range of gear includes ski jackets from $59.99, both ski pants and hoodies from $49.99, and fleece jackets from $39.99. Or, there's also balaclavas from $9.99, snowboard and ski gloves from $14.99, touchscreen gloves for $9.99, ski socks for $8.99, and scarves and beanies for $6.99. Ski goggles cost $17.99, ski helmets come in at $29.99 and thermoboots are $34.99. Need a heavy-duty boot, shoe and glove dryer? Decided that you do now that you've just read that sentence? They're also on the list, for $79.99. Because layers are pivotal, Aldi's Merino thermal underwear range is also back, with items such as adult tanks and camisoles for $19.99. Kids clothing is part of the deal, too, if you'll be travelling with younger skiers — including being able to dress a children for the snow from top to toe for under $100. 2024's Aldi Snow Gear Special Buys range is available from Aldi stores nationally from Saturday, May 18.
Each of Australia's capital cities has a different shtick. Melbourne's just happens to be a 24-hour culture — or, at least, the closest Australia has to it. It's got all-night public transport on weekends, late-night opening hours for the National Gallery of Victoria's new Triennial and the city's White Night festival will return for its annual all-nighter in 2018. If you haven't been down to White Night before, here's how it works. From 7pm, much of Melbourne's CBD is closed to cars. From then on, the streets give way to pedestrians, who are free to wander between temporary installations, live music and on-street projections — as well as in and out of galleries and cultural institutions — up until the sun comes up at 7am the next day. It's the Australian version of Nuit Blanche, which was founded in France in the 80s. Next year's festival — which will shut down the city for 12 hours on the evening of Saturday, February 17 — features work from a tonne of both local and international artists. Expect to see neon pups, two Burning Man installations and one laneway covered in snow. There are far too many works to list, but here are a few highlights you'll want to look out for. A giant shimming silver net that will hover above Federation Square for White Night (and two weeks afterwards). Drag queens singing from balconies above Collins Street. A laneway filled with virtual neon 'dogs' and another filled with falling 'snow'. A tree that lets you write temporary messages on it with the light from your phone Two installations straight from Burning Man: a fire-breathing serpent outside Melbourne Museum and a giant mechanical insect that doubles at a DJ booth. Mini gigs performed from multiple balconies above Swanston Street. A 360-degree dome in Alexandra Gardens that will feature mesmerising projections. Stories from Australian detention centres projected onto the NGV's façade. White Night will also head out to Victoria's regional centres. It will return to Ballarat on March 17 for a second year, and will take to the streets of Bendigo and Geelong for the first time later in 2018. White Night 2018 will take over Melbourne from 7pm on Saturday, February 17 until 7am on the morning on Sunday, February 18. For more information, visit whitenight.com.au/melbourne.
They say that the reason aeroplane food tastes so bad is because our tastebuds decrease by 30 percent when we're in higher altitudes. Whether or not this is true, it's pretty clear that 47 storeys won't spoil any flavour, because the excellent food and drink at O Bar and Dining is incomparable to that 'beef(?) lasagna' you got on your last flight. An ear-popping 47 floors up George Street's Australia Square building, this sleek bar boasts a breathtaking 360-degree, sky-high view of Sydney, a modern menu and charming cocktails to match. The circular space comprises a restaurant, bar, private dining area and relaxed tapas lounge complete with comfy armchairs for you to gaze out the window at the spectacular blinking lights below. Chef and owner Michael Moore, whose cooking career has spanned nearly 30 years both in London and Australia, oversaw the redevelopment of this prime piece of real estate from an 80s buffet restaurant to a sophisticated social hub in the sky. Moore is passionate about promoting a healthy eating philosophy, so you can take comfort in the fact that you'll find a lot of superfoods (quinoa, agave, chia) substituted for the naughtier ingredients throughout the menus. The cocktail menu will please any palate, featuring classic and signature serves made with fresh and local ingredients. The signature mezcal- and coconut-starring Crema de Coco is a popular choice, bursting with citrus-forward yuzu, while the sweet Bees Knees G&T combines Archie Rosie's honey gin with candied ginger. Plus, there's a premium range of crafted cocktails to choose from, too, including a martini and caviar bump pairing if you're feeling especially extra. There's also an extensive wine menu that focuses on Australian producers, as well as an impressive selection of wine and champagne available by the glass. You can pair your pour with a pick from the savoury and sweet bar menu, available for lunch Wednesday through Saturday and dinner seven nights a week. As for the food, the menu is classic Mod Oz – local produce is front and centre in dishes that take their inspiration from around the world. Lunch highlights include the baked miso cod fillet with a miso marmalade and charred sweetcorn; and rock lobster ravioli in a saffron and tomato broth. The dinner menu features the likes of wakame-crusted Murray cod with miso-braised daikon; and a poached and grilled Margra lamb fillet elevated with smoked and charred eggplant and sumac sweetcorn. There's also a selection of premium hibachi-grilled proteins — the standout is the 500-gram dry-aged Copper Tree Farm grass-fed wagyu, cooked on the bone to your desired doneness. For a decadent date-night dessert to share, our pick is the passionfruit and lime soufflé with coconut cream and passionfruit jelly. O Bar is the perfect spot to impress a date, client or visiting friend, and with attentive service and top-notch food and drink, this is one high that will be hard to come down from. Photo: Leigh Griffiths
The Keystone Group has confirmed speculation regarding the establishment of a new restaurant at 10 Neild Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. Officially set to open in mid-October, the venue will feature the latest culinary creations of renowned chef Martin Boetz. After 20 years at Longrain, his name is synonymous with the East Coast's finest Thai offerings, but this time he'll be turning his hand to a Northern European menu, and bringing in farm-fresh produce from his Hawkesbury-based Cooks Co-Op. "Over the past two years we have broadened our offering through collaborations with exciting industry talent," commented John Duncan, Keystone Group's managing director and partner. "The concept of this venue and Martin's influence brings a dynamic new perspective to our business and allows us to continue evolving the Sydney food offering." Though the menus are still in the finalisation process, we do know that there'll be an array of dining experiences available, all day long, seven days a week. Seasonal availability will play a crucial role, with the emphasis firmly on quality and freshness. "We are excited to join forces with Martin to support local farmers," Duncan explained. "They have been doing it tough of late and this project is the perfect way to support them while offering our guests the best produce possible on the plate in Sydney." Launched in 2000, the Keystone Group runs 15 venues across Sydney, each of which focuses on "unique drinking, dining and entertainment experiences". Kit & Kaboodle, Sweethearts, Sugarmill, Wine Suites, Gazebo Wine Garden, Bungalow 8 and theloft are all in the stable.
If you're travelling to the Sunshine State on a budget, or you're a Brisbanite who knows someone who is, the River City's first pod hotel has opened its doors to give the Queensland capital a new affordable accommodation option. LyLo Brisbane has taken over well-known digs, turning the former Limes Hotel into its first-ever Australian site — and more spots on the Gold Coast and in Fremantle in Western Australia are swiftly on the way. One of EVT's hotel brands — sitting in a stable that also includes QT Hotels & Resorts, Rydges Hotels & Resorts, Atura Hotels and Independent Collection by EVT — LyLo first set up shop in New Zealand in 2022. Across the ditch, you'll find one of the brand's locations in each of Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown. Now, it's Australia's turn, beginning with its debut abode at 142 Constance Street, where a private sleeping pod starts at $69 per night. Limes Hotel's old digs has been given a complete revamp, and now house rooms with either four or six pods, as well as private ensuite rooms, plus family and group rooms. For pod guests, there's a choice of female-only rooms. If you're booking in for the family or group experience, you'll be in a room with a queen bed, two beds and an ensuite. Of course, the pods come cheaper than the rooms — and for the pod experience, you'll get a king single bed with privacy screens, your own lighting and fan in each pod, a mirror, wifi, and power and USB charging ports, as well as an adjacent luggage storage locker. No matter which accommodation choice you go with, everyone gets access to a wellness space with spin bikes and views over Brisbane, plus a coworking space with free wifi. Where Limes Hotel's rooftop bar and cinema previously sat, LyLo has transformed the upper level into a hangout with a communal kitchen and games. Also on offer: wine, self-pouring beer and tap cocktails. For the hotel's look and feel, IndigeDesignLabs and local Meanjin artist Jordache Gage have turned the building's facade into a tribute to the Brisbane River, and the plants and animals found around it, via a blue-, orange- and purple-hued artwork atop grey. Inside, the decor skews light, bright and airy, with greenery aplenty in shared spaces. "From our innovative communal spaces to our commitment to guest comfort in unique sleeping formats, LyLo Brisbane sets a new standard for travellers seeking affordability without compromising on quality. Opening our doors in Brissie is just the beginning of our journey, and we've already got our next LyLo properties in the pipeline to continue expanding our presence across Australia," said LyLo Managing Director Tim Alpe. "We are stoked to be welcoming adventurers, digital nomads, families and more as they embark on a new way to stay, enjoying our innovative pod rooms and immersing themselves in the vibrant atmosphere of LyLo." Find LyLo Brisbane at 142 Constance Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane — head to the hotel's website for further details. Images: Vaughan Brookfield.
If you're looking for a fresh waterside activity for your Sunday mornings, Sydney has been treated to a new outdoor market on the foreshore of the Parramatta River. After opening on November 8, Ryde Wharf market is happening at Anderson Park, Meadowbank, on the second Sunday of each month. The market features over 70 stalls offering fresh produce, hot food, flowers, homewares and a range of gifts just in time for the holidays. You can support local businesses and sample some of the best food and fashion Sydney has to offer. Take your time wandering around the stalls as you enjoy Popelino's Little Marionette Coffee and Brooklyn Boy Bagels. Pick up fresh, local fruit, vegetables, fish, cheese and olive oil from the likes of Veggie King, the Great Cheese Company and Fish Face, or a new addition to your wardrobe at the market's range of fashion and jewellery stalls. The market is run by the same team behind the biweekly Cambridge Markets and Entertainment Quarter's Ultimate Christmas Market happening next month. [caption id="attachment_716408" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brooklyn Boy Bagels[/caption] Ryde Wharf Market runs from 8am–2pm on the second Sunday of each month.
They're taking the hobbits to Isengard at Dendy Newtown this winter, with one movie marathon to rule them all. Round up the Fellowship, stock up on lembas bread for sustenance and hide your finest pipe-weed from the Southfarthing for a sitting of all three of Peter Jackson's beloved OG Tolkien film adaptations in their extended editions. Kicking off with The Fellowship of the Ring and ending with The Return of the King (with The Two Towers in the middle, of course), this cave troll of a marathon will see you making the cinema your home for almost 12 hours — with the journey starting at 11am on Saturday, July 6, and also taking place again on Saturday, August 24. If you make it through breakfast and second breakfast to the final handful of endings, you can pat yourself on the back and smash a ringwraith screech at the nearest person on your way home (note: do not actually screech at people). Tickets are the precious and come in at $35 for the whole ordeal in one of Dendy's regular cinemas, or $60 for a lounge session.
When you don't have time for an overnight getaway, but desperately need a minute's break from traffic and deadlines, then heading to one of Sydney's vast, lush parks for a picnic is the perfect remedy. Given that Sydney and its surrounds are home to dozens of national parks, you're never far from an idyllic forest clearing, a sheltered beach, a rock pool or a lookout, where you can spread out your blanket, unwrap your cucumber sandwiches and crack open a bottle of bubbly (or sparkling water — make sure to check those BYO rules). And after your picnic, clean up any mess you may make — always leave the park how you met it (or even better). We've spent hours lazing about, eating and drinking in various national parks across the metro area to bring you a handpicked selection of the very finest picnic spots. Some are reachable only by boat, some by walking and some by car. However you travel, be safe in the knowledge that after an afternoon spent kicking back, immersed in trees, water and sunshine, you'll feel a whole lot less stressed. [caption id="attachment_647274" align="alignnone" width="1920"] National Parks NSW.[/caption] CLARK ISLAND, SYDNEY HARBOUR NATIONAL PARK Turn your picnic into a Robinson Crusoe-style escapade with a trip to Clark Island. Its hectare of harbour-encircled, inviting grass and shady trees lie just off Darling Point. There are footpaths to explore and mesmerising views of the Harbour in every direction. To get here, you'll need to book a water taxi or, if you're after some extra adventure, paddle your own kayak — just make sure you slip, slop, slap before you get out in the water. The island gets its name from Lieutenant Ralph Clark who, in the 1780s, picked it out as a top spot to cultivate a veggie patch. Keen to get to know some more of Sydney's islands? Check out our handy guide. Note: all vessels (including kayaks) need to pay a $7 landing fee per person by calling 13000 PARKS. Also, don't forget to bring plenty of water with you. [caption id="attachment_649049" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Finn.[/caption] THE BASIN, KU-RING-GAI CHASE NATIONAL PARK Another picnic spot that's best reached by boat is The Basin on the western shores of Pittwater in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. You can catch a ferry from Palm Beach, but if you're looking to be a bit active, take the 2.8-kilometre Basin Track, which starts just off West Head Road. For swimmers, there's a protected beach and lagoon where you can snorkel through seagrass, meeting seahorses, starfish, bream and leather jackets. Meanwhile, walkers might want to do some adventuring along the Bairne Track. Should you find yourself having too good a time, stay overnight in The Basin Campground. BURRAWANG REACH, GEORGES RIVER NATIONAL PARK Pack your kayak; this pretty spot along the Georges River in the Sutherland Shire is ideal for a paddle. In fact, you can arrive by boat or drive to the nearby car park. The roomy, grassy picnic area provides stacks of space, and there are loads of large, shady trees to keep you sheltered on hot days. In between feasting, go exploring on the Ridge Walking Track. Along the 1.6 kilometre track you'll be able to take in some impressive rock formations and river views before you reach another picnic area, Cattle Duffers. There's also quite a few fish around, so you could think about taking your rod and catching your picnic yourself. JINGGA WATERHOLE, DHARAWAL NATIONAL PARK You'll need sturdy legs for this one; it's a steep, one-kilometre walk to Jingga Waterhole, a short trip from Campbelltown. However, the effort will be well rewarded, as you'll be picnicking alongside a freshwater rock pool, complete with waterfall — in Dharawal language, jingga is an adjective that means 'fresh' when referring to water. Several threatened species, including potoroos, have discovered the health-giving properties of this spot, so keep a lookout for them. Even though the water is fresh, drinking it isn't a great idea; be sure to carry in plenty. Also, always make sure to check for park alerts before heading out for a walk or swim. DAVIDSON PARK, GARIGAL NATIONAL PARK Davidson Park lies on the banks of Middle Harbour Creek, a pretty waterway that travels north from Mona Vale Road to join Middle Harbour. Here, it flows through Garigal National Park, near Roseville Bridge in Forestville. There's a car park, tons of space for picnic blankets and croquet matches, plenty of leafy eucalypts and free barbecues. When you're done eating, go for a paddle or take a stroll. If you're fit and have half a day to spare, conquer the 6.8-kilometre-long Natural Bridge to Davidson Walk or the easier 5.2-kilometre trail to Stepping Stone Crossing. Most of these picnic parks charge an entry fee, so ensure you've brought your wallet. Also, make sure you plan ahead for any trip to the national parks to ensure you have the best and safest experience. Check for park alerts, take care along any tracks as not all are signposted and there may be fragile native plant and animal communities nearby and ensure you bring proper gear and plenty of water. Find more information on park safety here. For more inspiration to get outside and explore, visit National Parks NSW and check out their Instagram @nswnationalparks.
The annual festival of lights, art and music has revealed the first three installations in its 2021 program. The three installations include an immersive sound and light display in Cockle Bay, a 3D projection encompassing Circular Quay's Customs House and the projection of an artist's creative process in The Rocks. The announcement came 100 days before Vivid 2021 is set to begin, coinciding with the launch of two luminous clocks counting down to the festival's 'lights on' moment on Friday, August 6. You can visit the clocks which are ticking away at First Fleet Park in The Rocks and Wulugul Walk in Barangaroo. Following a breakout year of immersive walkthrough experiences, Sydneysiders will be able to head to Cockle Bay and wander across a floating walkway surrounded by 200 bubble-like spheres and towering structures scattered across the bay. The installation, titled Ephemeral, is the work of Sydney design studio Atelier Sisu and will be the first time Cockle Bay's waters have been incorporated into Vivid. [caption id="attachment_809931" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ephemeral, Destination NSW[/caption] Hong Kong's Treacle Media are responsible for Circular Quay's VORAX, a three-dimensional projection that will tell the story of a mischievous thief's rise to greatness in front of Customs House. Down the road in The Rocks, local artist Brad Robson and Esem Projects will project Robson's spellbinding portraits, as well as his process of creating them for the installation Point of View. "Vivid Sydney is a bright star on Sydney's events calendar supporting the entire ecosystem of the state's visitor economy," NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney said. "It brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city and inspires locals to get out and enjoy Sydney and support our CBD businesses during winter which is typically a quieter period." Vivid will activate a little later than usual this year with the event tipped to run from Friday, August 6 until Saturday, August 28. It follows the cancellation of the 2020 event due to coronavirus. This year's full program is set to be announced in late May. Vivid Sydney 2021 will take place from August 6–28, 2021. We'll update you when the full program is released closer to the event date. For more information in the interim, visit the event's website. Top images: Destination NSW
What would Thor do if he built a badass carvery and whiskey bar today? That's the exact question master barman Sven Almenning asked himself as he opens his latest boozy business venture, Mjølner. Owner and director of The Speakeasy Group — which operates Eau De Vie and The Roosevelt as well as Boilermaker Housee in Melbourne — Almenning is no stranger to fancy digs. Still, it's safe to say that Mjølner is his most audacious project yet. Opening tonight — 'Thorsday', March 30 — in an old tobacco factory on Cleveland Street, Mjølner takes its name from the thunder god's mighty hammer, with Almenning describing the venue as "contemporary Viking luxe". "Imagine that The Avengers are real," Almenning said when we spoke to him last year. "One of the Avengers is Thor, the Norse God, and he's the protector of human kind. So he fights down on earth, but he misses home. So he builds this bar, to recreate the feasts and merriment of Valhalla. And that, my friend, is what we are doing." As for the drinks list, think whiskey — they'll have around 600. "My business partner and I have been wanting to do a heavily whiskey-focused bar in Sydney after we opened Boilermaker down in Melbourne [in 2015]," says Almenning. But as great as that much whiskey sounds, what we're really excited about is the food. "We're running with a carvery, which will kind of happen in your face in the restaurant," he says. "So you'll be able to sit there and we'll have the chefs out with big-ass knives cutting up big bits of meat. It's going to get bloody." The rotating menu will feature one red meat, one white meat, one fish and one vego dish, as well the whole animal, like a whole suckling pig (if you're lucky). When you order, you'll be presented with a leather-bound selection of hunting knives to choose to eat your dinner with. This is just one of the quirks of the venue — you can also drink your beer out of one of the communal horns that sit on the table or purchase a piece of meat and store it in one of their meat lockers for return visits. The 300-square-metre venue, which is part of a new development, will be open from 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and then from midday on Sundays. "Closing at midnight unfortunately, because it's Sydney," says Almenning ruefully. "I'd love a 3am license." Mjølner will open at 267 Cleveland Street, Redfern from 5pm on Thursday, March 30. For more info and to book a table, visit mjolner.com. Images and video: Steven Woodburn.
Do you remember the first time that you saw a pastel-hued facade, ornate interior detailing, or something gloriously symmetrical indoors or out, then thought "that looks like something out of a Wes Anderson film"? For almost three decades now, we've all done it. Since his feature debut Bottle Rocket, the Asteroid City and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar director has firmly established his stylistic trademarks, ensuring that a Wes Anderson movie is always immediately recognisable as a Wes Anderson movie no matter which of the filmmaker's regular actors is in front of the camera. Brooklyn-based husband and wife Wally and Amanda Koval shared this line of thinking to the point of creating an Instagram account around it in 2017. Accidentally Wes Anderson now has 1.9-million followers. The social media feed is a curated selection of images from real life that look like Anderson has staged, styled and shot them, but hasn't — and after taking films as inspiration for an online compilation of images, Accidentally Wes Anderson has taken the IRL route itself via an exhibition. At Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, 200-plus images await — and they're all coming to Australia for the first time. Following past runs in Tokyo and Seoul, and present seasons in London and Los Angeles, the immersive art experience will make its Down Under debut in Melbourne from Wednesday, September 18, 2024, complete with ten rooms. Some of the exhibition's walls feature facades that Anderson must covet, others find landscape that'd make the perfect Anderson backdrop, and plenty highlight either vintage vehicles or enchanting hotels. Yes, pastel tones pop up frequently. So does symmetry, including in the exhibition's presentation. The idea is to make you feel like you're stepping into Anderson's flicks by showing how the world beyond his frames often conjures up that sensation anyway. To borrow from a different filmmaker, is this the Wes Anderson version of Inception? Attendees enter an exhibition of real-life pictures inspired by an Instagram account that's inspired by Anderson's moving pictures, particularly his aesthetic within them that takes cues from real life. Accidentally Wes Anderson has also been turned into a book, too, plus a website with a map spanning almost 2000 spots across the planet that fit the theme. At Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, patrons arrive via the lobby, then explore a space dedicated to portals, then embrace an array of facades. Checking out sections devoted to coastal scenes, planes and trains (and automobiles, of course), sports, accommodation and nature is also on the agenda. There's a space that'll get you watching big-screen travel adventures, too — and, just for Australia, one about Aussie spots that evoke Anderson. For souvenirs, you'll exit through the Accidentally Wes Anderson shop. The place will clearly look the Wes Anderson part. As for visitors, wearing a blazer and red beret, an Adidas tracksuit, a purple lobby boy uniform or khaki while you're spending an hour wandering around is up to you. There's no word yet if Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition will display elsewhere across Australia, or if folks outside of Melbourne will need to pack their matching Louis Vuitton suitcases for a trip to the Victorian capital to see it. Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition displays at 360 Bourke Street, Melbourne from Wednesday, September 18, 2024. Head to the exhibition website to join the waitlist, with tickets on sale from 6pm on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.
Wilding isn't about the butterfly effect; however, those insects do indeed flap their wings in this thoughtful documentary, and the world changes as a result. In 2009, a high-pressure weather system brought a mass migration of painted lady butterflies from north Africa to Europe, and to Britain, in their millions. One of their destinations: Knepp, the 400-year-old West Sussex estate that Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell call home, and that's been in the latter's family for generations. The 3500-acre property had a creeping thistle problem, threatening not only the land but the couple's way of managing it via rewilding, and also their reputations. Enter tens of thousands of painted ladies, which did the trick through no intervention by Tree and Burrell at all. The butterflies laid their eggs on the creeping thistle, then the hatched caterpillars ate away the leaves, with just the plant's shredded stems remaining. At the turn of the 21st century, battling a £1.5-million debt on their farm, Tree and Burrell made a bold move: to stop toiling on the land and instead let nature reclaim the Knepp grounds whoever it saw fit. Refraining from acting and leaving the earth to its wildlife — plants and animals alike — shouldn't be such a radical idea, but it is now and definitely was then. Wilding works through how the pair's "don't just do something, stand there" philosophy has paid off well beyond their wildest dreams or most-ambitious expectations. The film, Tree's book that it's based on and the rewilding project at Knepp overall are each a testament to the power of nature to rebound; to endurance and perseverance; and to finding a way, including by stepping back and allowing the earth to function as it has long before humans walked upon it. The painted lady butterflies and their role in helping to ensure that Tree and Burrell's plans for a new rewilded landscape at Knepp — an initiative that had already garnered backlash before the threat of creeping thistle — didn't crumble comprise just one of the success stories charted in this inspirational documentary. Storks breeding in Britain again for the first time in 600 years, aiding turtle dove conservation efforts, bringing beavers back to the wild in Sussex after 400 years: they're among the others. A five-time Emmy-winner for National Geographic Explorer, Living with Bugs, Nature and The Serengeti Rules, director David Allen is responsible for chronicling Knepp's transformation here. His efforts have paid off, with the film becoming the highest-grossing UK documentary of 2024. "I can't watch it, seeing my huge face pontificating on the screen. It's very much outside my comfort zone," Tree tells Concrete Playground. "But they did a lovely job, particularly of the footage, I think — the wildlife footage." Tree is Wilding's on-screen guide, as she references — but this is a documentary that devotes as many of its frames to roving through the outcome of her and Burrell's life-changing decision as possible. To venture backwards, it also weaves in recreations with actors (such as Call the Midwife's Rhiannon Neads as Tree), where nature again remains the main star. The movie was made in lockdown and, equally from that period, Tree has penned the ultimate companion piece for those who watch along and want to do the same on whatever patch of earth they have: The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small. "We have this incredible mailbag from people who've come to Knepp, as you say, and they don't have thousands or hundreds of acres, but they're so motivated and excited to do something on their own. And so we have questions: 'can I rewild my garden, my window box, my churchyard, my orchard, the verges around my street?'. And of course you can," she tells us. [caption id="attachment_1006056" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Olivier Hess[/caption] "This book really has all that advice. It's about how you can think differently with the rewilding mindset in whatever patch of earth you have influence over. So it's going into your garden and thinking like a beaver when you're building a pond. It's thinking about a grazing pony when you're when cutting your rose bushes — thinking in terms of a free-roaming animal. And it's not less work in your garden. It's probably just as much work, but it is incredibly freeing if you think about the natural processes in the wider landscape and how can you relate them to your smaller space. 'How can you allow dead wood and piles of leaves? How can you create a garden that has perhaps got drier parts to it?'. I mean, we've dumped 400 tonnes of crushed brick and concrete onto our lawn and created these mounds and bumps, because nothing in nature is flat." "Just changing the topography of your garden can create all these little microclimates that benefit different plants. The variety, the mosaic of habitats, is what's important," Tree continues. "When you buy a bird box for your garden — lots of lovely nature-friendly gardeners will buy a bird box. Why are you buying a bird box? Shouldn't there be the habitat for them already in your garden? Because that habitat will also be providing insects and berries and the thing they want to eat, as well as protection from predators. So it's thinking about how you can use nature to provide for nature, for wildlife, in your garden. And get messy. Let's forget the leaf blower and the lawn mower, and use them as sparingly as possible." "We can have wonderful spaces for ourselves, of course, in our gardens. We want to have dinner out there. We want our children to play ball games. But just think about nature, too, and how we could share that space." Viewing Wilding, which opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 22, 2025, means marvelling at what Tree and Burrell have achieved, then often wanting to follow in their footsteps and take Tree's advice. It means seeing how the duo started by letting old English Longhorn cattle, Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs do what they're driven to — and being well-aware of what a risk they were taking by turning their backs on the estate's farming heritage — then witnessing how, yes, nature is healing. Why is Tree and Burrell's approach considered so revolutionary? How much determination, fortitude and perseverance does it take to actively do nothing? How have some naysayers changed their minds about Knepp Wildland over the years? We discussed this terrain with Tree as well, alongside the pandemic's influence on reshaping how humans feel about nature and other topics, such as which of the project's triumphs means the most to her. On Why Humanity Has Become So Resistant to the Idea of Not Doing Anything and Instead Letting Nature Take Its Course "So that's such an interesting question, and I'm battling with it at the moment. I'm writing a book about the return of our white storks. I think it goes back to Plato, actually. It goes back to the ancient Greeks, that moment when we began to divide ourselves as human beings from nature. We saw nature as something that needed to be controlled, to be won over — that our soul and our intellect, our brains, were separate from nature. We were separate from all other living things. And when you look around the world at native peoples, even today, people who — communities, civilisations that have lived for thousands and thousands of years, successfully and sustainably, they never disassociate themselves from nature. Some cultures, there's no pronoun for the self because you are so much part of the living world. And so I think it all began, the rot began then, with the ancient Greeks — and I'm a classicist, so it's taken me a very long time to say that. But I think this mania with control and tidying up also was just exacerbated with science, and how we approach science as a completely different discipline. How we separate zoology from botany, as if plants and animals just don't coexist. It's the way we think in the western mind. And then, of course, we have the industrial revolution, which gives us fantastic machines that men in particular, may I say, love to use — like chainsaws and mowers and anything with an engine that can just get rid of nature as quickly as possible. So we became fantastically obsessive about tidying up, and that has been nature's downfall, I think — is our disassociation and our mania with tidiness. As well as agriculture, but I'm just thinking about our own personal space." On the Determination, Fortitude, Ambition and Perseverance That It Takes to Actively Commit to Doing Nothing "It's very difficult because it's a shift in mindset, I think, and we've got so many cultural prejudices about what we consider to be responsible or even beautiful. We're often nostalgically tied to these very controlled landscapes because we grew up with them as we were children. We have them in picture books as that's what nature looks like. And so to let go of all that is very, very difficult. And I think that's what we found here at Knepp, is that once we embarked on this experiment and it got very messy and very untidy very quickly, it was a challenge to us. I remember seeing a tree right in our sightline outside the windows that was dying — a huge oak tree that had just succumbed to the amount of chemicals that had been flowing down into that corner of the field over all the years that we've been intensively farming, and it just gave up the ghost. And we watched this tree die, and my husband was saying 'oh god, I know we've committed to not doing anything, but that is right in our sightline. Perhaps we could make an exception?'. And we decided we wouldn't. And that tree largely changed the way we thought, because living with it and watching it die slowly, and actually seeing the life that had attracted — the sparrowhawks that started nesting in it, the whole community of short-tailed voles that were living in its exposed roots, the fox that used to sit there waiting for the rabbits to come by, the perching places for herons — there was life and death. And suddenly we saw the point. That is fantastic habitat. And we learned to love it as a thing of life and beauty. And that skeletal thing became something we thought of as beautiful. So I think it's about changing your aesthetic, and that is a very tricky thing to do. But we had, in the early days, a letter from a woman who was furious and wrote us a kind of 'yours sincerely' disgusted tirade saying 'what you've done to your farmland is an abomination. You've turned something beautiful into a riot of ragwort and thistles. It's hideous. It's depressing'. And about five years ago, she wrote us another letter saying 'I walk at Knepp every week and I have to apologise for that letter I wrote to you back in the day. I now realise that Knepp is beautiful. It's just beautiful in a different way'." On How Knepp Has Changed Perceptions — and Whether Past Naysayers Reassessing Their Thoughts Is Common "Totally, because I think we're so unused to seeing this landscape. When people walk through it, it looks more like the African bush or even the Australian outback. It's scrubby, it's messy, there's animal tracks through it, and people think 'my god, this is just like Africa'. No, it's not. It's like Britain used to be. We just haven't got it anymore. And so, you quite often take someone on safari and they go 'aaah'. Or you take them into our rewilded garden and they kind of brace themselves. And slowly, they begin to relax into it. It's something that I think you have to feel through the heart. You can't just read about it or learn about it in a school classroom — you have to be out there in it and feel that birdsong vibrating in your lungs, literally echoing in your in your guts. And the surprise of turning a corner and finding a beaver or some piglets, then you suddenly have that 'aha!' moment. So that's the power, I think, of having places like Knepp, is that people actually come here and that transformation in their heads begins from their hearts." On If This Response — the Attention, the Books That Tree Has Written About Knepp and Now the UK's Highest-Grossing Documentary of 2024 — Was Ever Expected "Absolutely no idea. We couldn't believe it. We did something because we were forced to do it financially, because the farm was essentially bankrupt. It was one-and-a-half million pounds in debt. We were getting ourselves out of a terrible financial situation. We were doing the wrong thing on our land. And turning it over to nature appealed to us because we felt we could do it — and it would be a wonderful experiment to do. Both Charlie and I love nature. We travelled the ends of the earth to find wildlife, ironically, and never wondered why we didn't have it in our own backyard. So doing something for nature felt incredibly positive. We had no idea that it would — we thought 'if we could increase biodiversity just a little, if we could get just a little wildlife back on our land that had been chemically soaked for decades and decades, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?'. We never thought that we could have nightingales, turtle doves, purple emperor butterfly, some of the most endangered, critically endangered species in Britain, breeding here at Knepp, and increasing every year. We never expected the abundance of life. It's interesting because it's shifted the shifting baseline in the opposite direction. Ecologists come here and they now are really ambitious, more ambitious, for the kind of life they should be having in their nature reserves — if they just got a bit wilder and perhaps used free-roaming animals, and used some of the ideas of rewilding in their own space. Because you simply can't believe you could fit any more life in here, and yet it still comes. So I think we've been amazed. We've been certainly amazed by the attention, which we're not naturally sort of extrovert, table-thumping bandstanders. And so that's been a surprise. But we do feel passionate about communicating this message of hope, because the joy that it's given us. And the thrill of seeing how it galvanises and excites other people, who then go off and do their own amazing thing — we just can't stop. So we've become those kind of people, I suppose." On Whether the Urge to Connect with Nature Post-Lockdown Gives Wilding and Tree's Experiences a Greater Sense of Timeliness Since — and If People Are Having a Stronger Response as a Result "I think absolutely, definitely. I would even say it was a little bit before COVID, funnily enough. I think my book came out in the UK, Wilding, in 2018. And I always felt that if I'd written it six years earlier — I was busy with another book that was taking me far, far, far much longer than I thought, and I was longing to get to this book about Knepp, but I had to wait to finish the other one. Luckily, because I waited an extra six years, not only did that mean that we even more results and even more proof — we've always been very careful about the science, so we had the proof here that we have this amazing biodiversity uplift. But it also, I think, chimed with stuff that was happening at the time. Greta Thunberg was suddenly bursting onto the scene. We had Extinction Rebellion in the UK. David Attenborough was finally coming out and saying 'this is a massive problem'. His films were getting more radical. We had the plastics problem suddenly hitting the headlines. Suddenly it felt like the zeitgeist, that people were feeling eco-anxiety properly for the first time and not trusting governments to change, to take that worry seriously. And so I think that's why the book did well. And then I think that the film was actually filmed during lockdown, and so I think those audiences were definitely feeling that need for nature in a totally different way. We know how being in nature, now we really appreciate — the first thing we did when lockdown was released was find a patch of nature anywhere. And not just a kind of billiard-table lawn in the middle of a city, we needed something heaving with life that was going to connect us to our living selves again. And so I think definitely that appreciation has helped. Our busy daily lives take over, of course, and we forget. But I think that the reminder is: when we can, ourselves, do something. And if we can remind people that your garden, your window box, could be wilder. We can all rewild. And that is the most-powerful way not only to help the planet even in a tiny way — you can feel part of this movement — but it is also very reassuring and comforting to oneself to be able to plant a particular plant and attract a butterfly. It's magic." On Whether Tree Had Any Specific Aims for Wilding as a Documentary "I think we were really in the hands of Dave Allen, the director, who's wonderful and a friend. And so we trusted him. I have no idea how to make a film and what the arc needs to be, but he was amazing how closely he followed the book. I was really impressed and grateful for that. All we did know — we had so many film companies approach us to make a film about Knepp, and none of them, to our minds, apart from Passion Pictures, took the nature transformation seriously. They wanted it to be about us or about I don't know what, but they weren't interested really in the science. And what I so love about the film is how you see under the soil with the mycorrhizal fungi, that universe. You see the huge migration of painted lady butterflies. And bringing that to life, I think, is so wonderful because I think visuals can show a story in much shorter — it's shorthand, really, for what I was writing. And it's very, very powerful, I think. And when you can actually see on the screen the transformation of our land from farmland to this heaving exuberance of life, that's, I think, where the power is in film. So I always hoped it could do that, but I was absolutely amazed by how brilliantly Dave and Passion Pictures were able to do it." On the Highlights That Stand Out From Tree's Knepp Journey Over the Past Quarter Century "I think always that the bird that I find most moving is the turtle dove, because when I was growing up in the 1960s, we had 250,000 turtle doves in Britain — and we've lost them largely because of intensive agriculture. And also dirty water, we have polluted water everywhere now, and they need clean water. So now we have just a few thousand left in the southeast of England, and they are predicted to go extinct in the next decade or so by the Royal Society for Protection of Birds. And so the fact that we have turtle doves here and you can still hear them — they are still increasing in numbers every year. We probably have about between 20 and 30 singing males every year. And on a lovely summer's evening, like tonight when I go out for a walk, if I'm lucky I will hear that gentle 'turr turr' that Shakespeare listened to and wrote about, that Chaucer wrote about. And it's a bittersweet sound, because it's such a melancholic sound and it's so soothing at the same time, and reassuring, and I don't know if we've done enough quick enough to turn around the fortunes of the turtle dove. Knepp might be the last place where you ever hear it in Britain. But, we have extended its stay and I'm forever grateful that my children have heard a turtle dove." Wilding released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 22, 2025.
A top contender for best lunchtime pho in the CBD, Madame Nhu's underground Vietnamese takeaway joint in the Galleries Victoria went overground in late 2012. Opening across from Bar H on a corner in Surry Hills, Nhu has a permanent pop-up bar look, the Viet version of El Loco. Sit in and drink up seems to be the message, with a cocktail bar offering eight different tipples and a restaurant menu split between starters, pho, and mains. The team behind Madame Nhu also own fellow Viet restaurant Xage on Crown Street, although this is a more relaxed affair, with its simple bar stool, table arrangements, and inexpensive menu. Madame Nhu was the first lady of the pre-Communist South Vietnam in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her namesake clearly wants to be the first lady of Vietnamese pho franchises in the city, although in Surry Hills, she's a grungier version of the quick and business-like CBD Nhu. The entrees are familiar terrain for Vietnamese foodie lovers. The small goi cuon summer rolls ($8.50-$9.50) range from tiger prawn filling to bbq duck fillet with three dipping sauces. The baby banh mi ($5.50) is a baguette slider with tasty chicken pate, mayo, salad, and soy dressing and is a simpler version of the kind of miniature snacks that Dan Hong churns out. The pho noodle soups ($12.90-$15.90), for which city workers queue up each weekday in the Galleries Victoria basement, are brewed for eight hours, and although a little sweet for some tastes, have a loyal following. The mains are a spicy collection of salads and rice and noodle dishes, from a simple bun bo grilled beef vermicelli ($15.90) to a carmelised slow-cooked chicken ga kho ($16.90). The cocktails, as the menu cheekily boasts, "are not for sissies". The punch is more in the flavour rather than the alcoholic hit. Our picks are the mango lychee slushy ($10) and the Red Under the Bed ($14). Madame Nhu fits into Surry Hills' on-the-fly bar scene with its simple set-up and quick-and-easy service. With Spice I Am and House just around the corner, the area has become a great triangle of south-east Asian dining.
When Betty's Burgers and Concrete Co started dishing up burgs, fries and shakes, it gave hungry (and grateful) Australian tastebuds a Shake Shack-style burger experience. The chain has done well with that approach, unsurprisingly, expanding from its Noosa beginnings to now boast joints in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth — and a trio of ex-staff members are aiming for the same success with new venture Slim's Quality Burger. There's plenty that's familiar about Slim's template, in fact. Swap out the Shake Shack nods, substitute in a 50s and 60s-inspired setup that takes its cues from American diner culture, and that's the concept. Once again, the focus is on classic-style burgs rather than OTT numbers in this new spot from Michael Tripp, Nik Rollison and Betty's founder David Hales; however, the burgers here are paired with old-school ice cream sundaes instead of Betty's frozen custard 'concretes'. Now open in Marrickville in Sydney, with other stores set to come around the country — details of which haven't yet been revealed — Slim's is all about a lean menu of options made with simple but quality ingredients. Burger-wise, customers can choose between original, cheeseburger, deluxe cheeseburger and 'the works' burgs all made with angus beef, plus five different chicken varieties — including with crispy fried or grilled chook — and a veggie option using a plant-based patty. Sides focus on fries either with sea salt, loaded with cheese and grilled onion, or also featuring maple-smoked bacon. As for those sundaes, they come in hot fudge, salted caramel and strawberry flavours. And to wash it all down, there are spiders — because plonking a scoop of ice cream in some soft drink never gets old — plus post-mix from the fountain, and chocolate, vanilla and strawberry thickshakes. And with its vibrant red bench seating, the same hue beaming up from the chequerboard-tiled floor and a curved order counter — in the Marrickville setup at least — the decor clearly takes Slim's chosen retro aesthetic seriously. Also a feature in Sydney: outdoor dining, plus a blast from the past-meets-modern overall feel. Slim's Quality Burger has opened its first store at 20 Smidmore Street, Marrickville, with more locations to come across Australia — we'll update you when new sites are announced.
Get ready to unleash your inner Keanu Reeves or Kate Bosworth: the largest surf park in the southern hemisphere is on its way. Western Australia is already home to top-notch beaches, including the third-best beach in the world for 2023, Australia's best beach for 2022 and the best beach in the South Pacific for last year as well — plus all that coastline and plenty of beloved sandy spots, of course — but global surf park brand Aventuur has earmarked it for a massive site in Perth, too. And that site has just received official development approval. Going as big as possible with its $100-million WA venture — which will feature 25 different types of waves, and is forecast to welcome in a million visitors a year — Aventuur's plans were first announced in 2022. Now, however, Perth Surf Park has one round of go-aheads, thanks to the Metro Outer Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP). The project also received a decision by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority that it didn't need EPA assessment because it won't have a significant impact on the environment. More regulatory approvals are needed, but the venue is now another step closer to starting construction in late 2023, working towards a late-2025 opening. "This is an incredibly exciting day for Western Australians, and for the Aventuur team," said Aventuur Chairman and Chief Development Officer Andrew Ross, announcing the development approval. "We've been working closely with the WA Government and the City of Cockburn to design an authentic, inclusive and sustainable surf park, and I couldn't be more stoked that we're one step closer to delivering a new community asset for Perth." Clearly, providing breaks and barrels that everyone can surf — no matter your skill level — is one of big aims of Aventuur's Perth Surf Park, which'll take over a 5.8-hectare site on Prinsep Road in Jandakot, adjacent to the Kwinana Freeway and the Cockburn Central train station. That'll include what it's calling a Wavegarden Cove, aka the huge 56-module surfing lagoon that'll be the key drawcard — and will constantly whip up perfect waves. Also set to feature: accommodation, which'll be handy for anyone making the trip west just for some manmade surf action; a beach club; and bars and restaurants. A wellness and recovery centre and a fitness studio will feature as well, and so will a co-working lounge and spaces for functions with waves as a backdrop. Plus, out-of-the-water facilities also include a skate park, pump track and gardens. Start looking forward to for personalised coaching, fitness and surf skate programs as well, and regular events such as outdoor surf movie nights and photography exhibitions. Yoga and meditation retreats will also make the most of the site, as will live music and cultural festivals — and, naturally, professional surfing competitions. Already an avid surfer? Know someone who might be the next Mick Fanning or Stephanie Gilmore? Then get excited about Perth Surf Park's high-performance surf academy. Whether you're a future superstar or just learning, there'll also be a hire store doing board, wetsuit and equipment rentals — so you won't have to bring your own gear with you. While surfers won't be able to live out their Point Break and Blue Crush dreams until the summer 2025, Aventuur signed a long-term ground lease with the Western Australian Planning Commission for its Perth Surf Park site in 2022. With approval now granted by the JDAP, it'll keep progressing towards starting work to transform the Cockburn Gateway precinct into a hub for tourism, sport and entertainment. The venue will also feature five-star Green Star-rated buildings, which'll help it notch up another achievement: being the first surf park in the world with that classification. Manmade waves have been having their moment Down Under of late. Urbnsurf opened Australia's first inland surf park near the Melbourne Airport in 2020, then revealed plans for Brisbane, Sydney and Perth sites. New South Wales' Hawkesbury region is also getting a giant wave pool and luxury resort, the Sunshine Coast is due to welcome Kelly Slater's second surf ranch, and the Gold Coast has been earmarked for an Endless Surf wave pool. And if you're wondering why surf parks keep popping up — especially in a country girt by sea, and therefore surrounded by so many glorious beaches — they're able to provide controlled and reliable conditions, including waves that aren't daunting for newcomers. Perth Surf Park will feature knee-high whitewater for beginners, for instance, as well as ideal waves for experienced surfers. Aventuur's Perth Surf Park is due to open on Prinsep Road in Jandakot, Perth, Western Australia, in 2025. For more information, head to the venue's website.
Whether you're a lover of gin, a noodle fanatic or just pining for a trip to Japan, Kid Kyoto in the CBD is hosting a week-long pop-up that you're going to want to nab a seat at. Kyoto gin distillery KI NO BI is coming to Sydney for a six-night takeover of the Bridge Lane restaurant that's spotlighting two heroes of the menu: gin cocktails and nagashi-sōmen noodles. Nagashi-sōmen is a unique Japanese style of eating with a participatory twist. The thin noodles are delivered to your table via little bamboo waterslides that the noods shoot down for you to catch and then dip in a bowl of broth. If you need a visual representation to wrap your head around it check out this nagashi-sōmen vlog on YouTube. A favourite in Kyoto, this playful way of enjoying noodles will pop up at Kid Kyoto courtesy of KI NO BI alongside a four-course menu and gin cocktails. It's not just noodles on the menu. You'll also enjoy dynamite snacks like charred edamame, ocean trout sashimi, chicken tsukune, braised lamb rump and a white chocolate Japanese custard pudding with rhubarb sorbet dessert. When it comes to the cocktails, expect combinations spotlighting various KI NO BI gins paired with the likes of green tea and sake, Tio Pepe Fino sherry and Bianco vermouth, or grapefruit, ginger and yuzu. Rounding out the menu is three special flavour-packed broths that have been created to pair with the noodles as you collect them from your bamboo chute. The dining experience is running from Tuesday, June 6–Sunday, June 10 with two sessions on each weekday (6–8pm and 8.30–10.30pm), three on Saturday (12–2pm, 5–7pm and 7.30–9.30pm) and two on Sunday (5–7pm and 7.30–9.30pm). Tickets will set you back $150. [caption id="attachment_903772" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Christopher Pearce[/caption] Top image: Christopher Pearce
Paying a monthly subscription fee to ride public transport, order Ubers and catch taxis will be the way of the future in Sydney — well, according to NSW Minister for Transport Andrew Constance anyway. Today — Friday, December 20 — Constance unveiled his Netflix-like vision for Sydney's public and private transport networks and announced its first step: digital Opal cards. Over the past two years, Transport for NSW rolled out contactless card payment across the entire public transport network, which allows you to pay for trams, ferries, buses and the light rail with your physical debit, credit or Amex card or via the digital wallet on your smartphone. Come 2020, you'll be able to add a digital Opal card to this Apple or Android wallet as part of a trial. If you've already ditched your physical Opal and are thinking "why would I want its digital cousin?", bear with us — there are benefits. You'll get all of the same travel perks as you do currently using an adult Opal — including off-peak fares and the Weekly Travel Reward — and you'll able to use the card to pay for taxis and Ubers as well. While exactly how that'll work (as Ubers currently need to be linked to a debit or credit card) and what travel benefits will surround private services haven't yet been broken down, the digital Opal will be linked up to something called Opal Connect. Billed as TfNSW's new "single-mobility payment account", it's basically somewhere that you'll be able to pay for and track all of your travel. For next year's digital Opal trial, Opal Connect will have both 'pay as you go' or 'pre-paid' options, but, in the "not too distant future", it'll also have a subscription service option. When that happens, Constance says you'll be able to "pay a nominal fee each week or month for unlimited access to all public and private public transport providers". We'll be interested to see how much a subscription would cost. For now, the digital Opal card trial is set to kick off later next year and will be available to "thousands of transport customers". A travel "companion app" will also be launched — but only adult Opal card will be part of the trial with no concession cards as yet.
This article is part of our series profiling the perfect Brisbane weekends of the city's creative personalities. Brisbane is a place that embodies exactly what Queensland is about: the sun, the outdoors and wearing flip flops all year round. It's the kind of city that has so much on offer but, a lot of time, the best finds are passed along through word of mouth. So where do you hear about the best of Brisbane? From a local, of course. Over the next few weeks, we're speaking to some of the most switched-on Brisbane creatives we could find for the low-down on the secret haunts where they spend their weekends. First up, it's architect and event organiser Morgan Jenkins (below left). "I love living in Brisbane because it’s got a sense of humour as a city," he says. "I don't think it could ever take itself too seriously in the climate that we live in. We live outside for the majority of the year and the ocean and the ranges are just a short drive away. There's a lot of great stuff starting to happen because instead of complaining about things, interesting people are investing their time into doing interesting things." This enterprising spirit is shared by Morgan, who created The End of the Line festival, which celebrates the eclectic area of Woolloongabba. "It’s a really different area to anywhere else in Brisbane — it is a real mishmash of a neighbourhood which has always been a convergence point for a huge number of different urban networks," he says. Planning is currently underway for the next End of the Line Festival, which will be held on October 24. Outside of going to that, here are Morgan's five steps to the perfect Brisbane weekend. To experience them for yourself, head to the Visit Brisbane website and get booking. SURF AT NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND I’d start with a surf at North Stradbroke Island. The ferry is only a 30-minute drive from my house in Woolloongabba. This is one of my favourite spots on the planet. Leaving the mainland, even for a couple of hours, is often much needed after the week of work. BREAKFAST AT PEARL CAFE Pearl Cafe is a pearler of a cafe in Woolloongabba. The little Logan Road cul-de-sac is just a short stroll from where I live and it's my go-to for an easy weekend outing. The food is hearty but contemporary, so you might end up having duck eggs and bacon for breakfast. BEERS AT THE BOWLS CLUB Warm afternoons definitely call for beers and a spot of bowls at Merthyr Bowls Club on the river. This is the perfect place to enjoy living in our city as it's outside in the sun, right on the river and it has an incredible relaxed atmosphere (at 1970s prices). DINNER AT CROSSTOWN EATING HOUSE Do dinner at Crosstown Eating House in Woolloongabba. This place has always been my go-to dinner destination locally. Relaxed dining but really unpretentious, great service and food quality, good tunes and a good atmosphere. SEE A LIVE GIG A weekend isn't complete without live music somewhere: a small gig at The End in West End, something mellow at The Tivoli or The Triffid, or something a bit heavier at The Zoo. These places are all golden venues for live music and a good time. Book your own Queensland weekender at the Visit Brisbane website or follow them through the Visit Brisbane Facebook page or Twitter at @VisitBrisbane and hashtag #brisbaneanyday. Top image: Pearl Cafe by night.
Ayam Goreng 99 has been an eastern suburbs mainstay since opening way back in 1998. Its 20-year career of serving authentic Indonesian eats to Kingsford locals has continuously centred around the fried chicken — which happens to be the English translation of ayam goreng. The marinated chook is served with a signature sambel terasi sauce, which combines spicy chilli and prawn paste. It's cooked in a wok for several hours to achieve a true depth of flavour that diners cannot get enough of. To accompany your fried chook, order plates of nasi goreng, fried egg noodles and stir-fried greens. Be sure to make tracks before December 16, as the restaurant will close down for one month over the holiday period. It will re-open on January 16, 2020. You'll find Ayam Goring 99 in our list of the best fried chicken in Sydney. Check out the full list here. Appears in: The Best Fried Chicken in Sydney for 2023
It's a question that film festivals face each and every year: how do you kick off? For the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2025, the answer comes courtesy of an award-winner with Australian ties that'll enjoy its Aussie premiere in the Victorian capital. The movie opening the fest on Thursday, August 7: If I Had Legs I'd Kick You starring Rose Byrne (Physical). The dramedy initially debuted at Sundance to significant acclaim, then made its way to the Berlin International Film Festival — and saw Byrne take home that fest's Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance. Scoring the opening-night slot at MIFF is no small feat, either, with attendees set to watch its lead portraying Linda, a psychologist struggling with balancing her clients, an ill child and an abyss on her building's roof. [caption id="attachment_1011660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nick Robertson[/caption] Fellow Aussie Danielle Macdonald (The Last Anniversary) co-stars, as does Conan O'Brien (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Christian Slater (Dexter: Original Sin) and A$AP Rocky (Highest 2 Lowest). Also among the cast: If I Had Legs I'd Kick You's writer/director Mary Bronstein (Yeast). "I am beyond thrilled to be bringing If I Had Legs I'd Kick You to MIFF. That would have been enough, but I am further honoured and gobsmacked to have been selected to open the festival," said the filmmaker. "My film is built around an unprecedented performance by one of the most-talented actors that has ever come out of Australia: Rose Byrne. It is all the more meaningful for me to be able to personally share Rose's soul-shattering work, along with the stunningly raw co-starring performance of fellow Australian Danielle MacDonald, with such celebration and reverence in their home country." "This New Yorker has never been to the other side of the globe before and I can't think of a better way to first experience beautiful Melbourne than through such deep appreciation for not just my film, but cinema in general, as MIFF is known around the world for." [caption id="attachment_1011661" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nick Robertson[/caption] Added MIFF Artistic Director Al Cossar, "I'm so thrilled the electrifying If I Had Legs I'd Kick You opens this year's MIFF with some of the most intensely accomplished filmmaking you'll see this year. Urgent, funny, and audacious, we couldn't be prouder that Bronstein's singular vision will set the start to MIFF's 18-day immensity of cinema-going, as we welcome Melbourne audiences back once more to our 300-plus film adventure through the world's imagination." Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 24 in 2025, and began announcing this year's lineup back in June, ahead of the full program dropping on Thursday, July 10. Other highlights so far include Parasite composer Jung Jae-il coming to Australia to conduct the movie's score live in an Aussie exclusive, Jafar Panahi's Cannes Palme d'Or-winning It Was Just an Accident, almost-100-year-old masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc with a new score by Julia Holter performed live, an Australian time-loop comedy involving tequila, a Baker Boy- and Hugh Jackman (Deadpool & Wolverine)-narrated tribute to David Gulpilil, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind filmmaker Michel Gondry's latest and the world-premiere of natural disaster-focused virtual-reality documentary When the World Came Flooding In. The 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 7–Sunday, August 24 at a variety of venues around Melbourne; from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 17 and Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 24 in regional Victoria; and online nationwide from Friday, August 15–Sunday, August 31. For further details, including the full program from Thursday, July 10, visit the MIFF website.
The evocative lyrics of Oh Mercy's new album Great Barrier Grief has had listeners hooked from the get-go. The band is currently touring Australia to promote the new release, exciting existing fans and attracting plenty of new ones as they go. The band relates the experience of listening to the album to "sailing on a beautiful boat on a calm blue sea in a cloudless sky." Sounds peaceful right? Except there is a shadow lurking beneath the water, a dark twist to each song that presents a challenge to accept and overcome. This one's an emotional rollercoaster. The acoustic pop sound of the album was inspired by the Australian way of life and makes for an energetic live show. Singles 'Keith St' and 'Stay, Please Stay', already familiar favourites from the album, will be brought to life with a new sound throughout the tour to keep fans guessing. https://youtube.com/watch?v=oYMSJFwtmcM
Australia is set to receive a healthy dose of 1920s razzle-dazzle, as record-breaking Broadway favourite Chicago shimmies onto stages across the country later this year. An Aussie production of the smash-hit musical will debut at Sydney's Capitol Theatre in August, before heading to Brisbane's QPAC Lyric Theatre in November and wrapping up at Arts Centre Melbourne from December. The longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history, the original Kander & Ebb musical has reached the eyeballs of over 31 million people worldwide. Inspiring 2002's Academy Award-winning film of the same name, it tells the tale of a Chicago housewife and nightclub dancer who twirls through a whirlwind of murdered lovers, jail-time, fierce rivalries and tabloid sensationalism set in the decadent 1920s. Taking the stage for Chicago's local run is a cast of well-known Aussie names — catch acclaimed all-rounder Natalie Bassingthwaighte in the lead role of Roxie Hart, musical theatre veteran Alinta Chidzey as her rival Velma Kelly, and ARIA-winning superstar Casey Donovan playing Matron 'Mama' Morton. Based on a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, the production showcases music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and choreography by Tony Award winner Ann Reinking. Hot on its black patent heels are two more award-winning musicals heading Down Under. Saturday Night Fever will head to Capital Theatre in Sydney this August, before Waitress hits Aussie shores in 2020. Chicago premieres at Sydney's Capitol Theatre in August 2019, before heading to Brisbane's QPAC Lyric Theatre in November and the Arts Centre Melbourne in December. You can score tickets for the Sydney show or sign up for the Melbourne and Brisbane waitlists over at the website. Images: Paul Kolnik, Peter Brew Bevan, Jeremy Daniel
If your daily life consists of more screen time than time spent outdoors, you're probably itching for a next-level escape — somewhere you can truly disconnect. With such a diverse and lush landscape right at our fingertips in NSW, why not switch up your daily routine, switch off your devices and get off the grid in the great outdoors? We've highlighted some top-notch experiences across the state where you can achieve a true sense of freedom. We're talking floating high above the Byron Bay hinterland as day breaks and hanging out with sea life on the far south coast. Your digital detox starts here.
Since the first jabs started being put in arms around Australia at the beginning of 2021, two words have monopolised the discussion about the country's COVID-19 vaccine rollout: AstraZeneca and Pfizer. They're two of the companies with jabs approved for use in Australia so far, and it's their shots that folks who've been vaxxed to-date have been receiving. But from September, a third company's vaccine will be available to everyone rolling up their sleeves. On Monday, August 9, Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration gave the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine approval to be used in Australia. As announced in a press conference by Prime Minster Scott Morrison, the TGA "has given provisional approval for the use of Moderna for Australians aged 18 and over." In its own statement explaining its decision, the TGA advised that "the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has shown strong efficacy preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 in clinical trials." Elsewhere around the world, the vaccine has also received approval or authorisation to use in emergency situations in countries such as United Kingdom, Canada, the European Union, the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (@TGAgovau) has provisionally approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia.https://t.co/Yr7dj0G0ja pic.twitter.com/Kp0EMpck7V — Australian Government (@ausgov) August 9, 2021 Partly funded by a donation from the one and only Dolly Parton, Moderna's vaccine is actually the fourth to get the nod in Australia, following AstraZeneca, Pfizer and a jab from Johnson & Johnson — the latter of which hasn't been included in the country's vaccine rollout so far. Like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna jab is an mRNA-based vaccine. So, it uses a synthetic genetic code called RNA, which tells the cells in our bodies how to make the coronavirus' unique spike protein. Then, once our bodies have done just that, making the protein that's encoded by the mRNA vaccine, we're able to recognise the spike protein as being foreign to our system and launch an immune response against it. Two doses of the Moderna vaccine are required — and while the AstraZeneca jabs are recommended four–12 weeks apart, and the Pfizer jabs three weeks apart, Moderna's should be administered within 28 days of each other. Wondering what that the Moderna approval means in terms of boosting Australia's vaccine ability (because actually getting a jab isn't particularly straightforward as part of the country's slow-moving rollout)? The Prime Minister advised that Australia will be adding 25 million doses of Moderna to the 125 million doses of Pfizer and 53 million doses of AstraZeneca that are already part of the vaccine campaign. "We will have ten million of the Moderna doses arriving before the end of this year. The first one million doses is on track to arrive next month and will go to pharmacies. Then we will have three million in October, three million in November and three million in December," he said. With the addition of the Moderna vaccine, the Prime Minister also noted that he expected that 70-percent of eligible Australians would be fully vaccinated by the end of 2021 — the threshold at which the second phase of National Cabinet's National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response is set to kick in. At that stage, which applies both when Australia reaches that figure and each state and territory does as well, restrictions will be eased on folks who've had the jab, including around lockdowns and border controls. Lockdowns are expected to be less likely, low-level restrictions will still help minimise the spread of cases and assist contact tracing, inbound passenger caps for unvaxxed returning Aussies will be restored to previous levels and more vaccinated returning Aussies will be allowed to come home. For more information about the Therapeutic Goods Administration's approval of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, head to the TGA website.
If we're to believe any film about pirates, famous shipwrecks or Pixar fish, there are a lot of secret treasures to be found on the ocean floor. But surely, none as grand as this. English sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor has just laid to rest one of his finest works in the Bahamas. Measuring in at over 5 metres tall and weighing a whopping 60 tonnes, this enormous and serene lady is officially the world's largest underwater sculpture. Though it's hard to imagine that dumping 60 tonnes of foreign material in the ocean can be a good thing, this work, entitled Ocean Atlas, actually doubles as an artificial reef for marine life. The sculpture is made of long-lasting, pH-neutral marine cement and was created in consultation with the Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation. "[The work shows] the vital role the local community and especially the younger generation have in conserving the islands' natural resources," said the artist. The artwork's name makes similar allusions to such environmental responsibilities. In Greek mythology, Atlas was condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders — an idea beautifully represented in the hunched female figure just below water level. As the tide draws in and out, locals are reminded of her constant watchful presence off their coastline. Though Sydney in particular is familiar with sculptures by the sea, the idea of underwater sculpture is a bit of a novelty for us. But this artist has been pioneering the concept for nearly ten years; he now has hundreds of sculptures to be found all over the world's most idyllic beaches. His underwater sculpture park in Mexico even features over 400 life-size works — a glorious incentive to take diving lessons. 'Ocean Atlas', on the other hand, is a special case. She is so large she in fact had to be lowered into the ocean in separate portions. Being face to face with this work would be a completely unique experience. Even more so as she gathers spooky seaweed and marine life. Don't be alarmed if you don't hear from us. We're booking flights to the Bahamas and stocking up on snorkelling gear ASAP. Via Forbes and Daily Mail. Photos via Jason de Caires Taylor.
Beach umbrellas aren't new, but they're making a comeback in a big way this spring thanks to the popularity of social-distanced picnics. So, you can enjoy these sun-filled bliss outdoor sessions without worrying about sunburn, we suggest investing in a great shady beach umbrella. It'll be useful now and when summer hits, too. There are enough patterns, prints and fringes to satisfy even your wildest 70s design cravings, as well as clever bamboo and and biodegradable PVC eco designs, laser-prints to create dappled shade where you sit, understated parasols, and many, many, many eye-catching prints. With so much choice, there's really no excuse to be sporting a sunburn this summer. KEN DONE BEACH UMBRELLA, BASIL BANGS It was a hard choice between the many bangin' prints this company has on offer (check out their other options for extra inspiration). But this print by famed Australian artist Ken Done won our hearts. Inspired by tropical reefs with plenty of pinks, oranges and blues, it's a suitably bold park (and beach) accessory. Started by surfer and industrial designer Mike Durante, Basil Bangs has made it its mission to reimagine the vintage beach umbrellas Aussies love. That means the latest fabrics, pop art prints, and hard-wearing fixtures. Oh, and and matching, red-wine-proof picnic rugs. TAKE YOUR PICK FROM SUNDAY SUPPLY CO We couldn't choose between the lush designs at Sunday Supply Co. Each comes with cotton tassels, an extendable timber pole and a sturdy, custom-designed aluminium alloy hinge and hardwares. The premium fabric canopies are UPF 50+ and, with a diameter of two metres, will cast shade aplenty. But apart from all that, they look so damn pretty it's hard not to pick up more than one. BLOCK PARTY UMBRELLA, SUNNY LIFE Sunny Life has a whole range of umbrellas splashed with bold, playful prints. But who could resist this vibrant geometric number to shade their summer beach playground? Like many of the modern beach brollies popping out about the place, this one comes with a carry bag and sturdy, adjustable pole. But it's also waterproof, with a UPF 30 sun protection coating and a nifty 360-degree tilt function. Plus, that bold print is mighty hard to miss, even on a crowded beach. DAYTRIPPER BEACH UMBRELLA, BEACHKIT Here's one for the practical picnickers and beachgoers. While this classic blue-and-white striped number doesn't have quite the same look-at-me factor as some of its bolder counterparts, it does have some great design features that will make your beach trip a whole lot more comfortable. Like the two-piece vented top, designed to stop any gusty winds from flipping it inside out. The Daytripper's also got an extra wide 210-centimetre canopy for full coverage, and a self-anchoring sand lock that should help avoid any fly-away mishaps. WELLEN AND TIER SUN UMBRELLA, LIFE! Available in two hand-drawn prints, these sun umbrellas from lifestyle brand Life! are destined to get a solid workout over the coming balmy months. Each comes with a colour-coordinated carry bag for easy transport and a sand anchor to keep things nice and secure down at the beach. The design also features a UPF 50 canopy coating, a rust-resistant pole and a nifty tilt function to help you stay shaded all day long. Right now, you can even nab one on sale for $80. WHITE COAST, SUNBELLA There's something about the sheer simplicity of this umbrella that we really, really like. A cool white hue reminiscent of those Greek island houses we dream about, a summery cotton-blend canopy, a wooden sand-spiral handle and a UPF rating of 50+. With an 80-centimetre diameter and lightweight frame, this one easily doubles as a personal parasol to shade you while you're strolling around. And shipping to most Aussie locations will only cost around $10. Need more sun shade than this? How about a whole beach tent? Top image: Sunday Supply Co.
One of Sydney's most beloved clubs and live music venues is closing permanently. After nine years of trade, Chippendale's Freda's will host its last event and shut its doors on Sunday, November 21. A mix of lost revenue due to COVID-19 restrictions and the uncertain future of the building Freda's currently occupies are the reasons named for the closure by Owner David Abram, who made the announcement on Instagram yesterday. Freda's will be remembered for its packed dance floors and support for local, boundary-pushing artists. Over the last nine years, Freda's has been a haven for expression and art in Sydney, providing a performance space for artists including Mac Demarco, Rainbow Chan and Sui Zhen, as well as countless DJs, performance artists and rising musicians. The club has played a prominent role in Vivid for the last five years and was one of the first Sydney establishments to receive a 4am extension following the lockout laws. In his statement, Abram said, "The 100-year-old warehouse we have inhabited, as is the way for many grassroots cultural spaces, will eventually become a memory to the high rise construction that is likely to envelop Chippendale in the next 10 years." He also praised his parents, saying "without question the most important people on this journey are my parents Freda and Phil. Both immigrants and holocaust survivors of humble beginnings, they have taught me you can make creativity the centre of your life and succeed." View this post on Instagram My statement on the closing of Freda's in a few weeks. Please swipe right —> A post shared by David Abram (@fireonthedecks) on Nov 1, 2020 at 8:56pm PST Although Freda's won't be able to host one final dance party due to current venue restrictions, it is throwing the Festival of Freda's over the next three weekends. Artists including Rimbombo, Gauci, Fascinator, Simon Cadwell and the Freda's House Band will take the stage performing a mix of live and DJ sets in celebration of the last nine years of Freda's. You can except the Last Night of Disco on November 6, Freda's Final Birthday the following day, a Vibe Positive party on November 20 and The End on the venue's final day. Freda's is located at 107-109 Regent Street, Chippendale. The Festival of Freda's will run from Friday, November 6 until the club's last day on Sunday, November 21. Tickets and more info is available at Freda's website. Top Image: Imogen Grist
If this is the first time you've seen a story about Harvest Rock on Concrete Playground, you're either a first-time reader or you need to pay attention, because we're quite excited. It's the delight of South Australians and visiting festivalgoers alike, and we're here to run you through it one last time — tickets are still available but going fast, so read on quickly to find your ideal package before someone beats you to it. HARVEST ROCK 101 Firstly, some context, in case you haven't been keeping up with the news. Harvest Rock isn't quite a festival mainstay. It's actually a newcomer in the game — this year's festival is only the second iteration. After seeing 15,000 guests per day in 2022, the Festival is returning to Murlawirrapurka, also known as Rymill Park, and Ityamai-Itpina, also called King Rodney Park, Adelaide. Both sites are inner city parks, so this isn't a festival that requires extra travel beyond your flight. When it comes to the lineup, it's all hit and no miss. Starring acts include Jamiroquai, who will be performing their first Aussie show in over a decade, Beck will bring a full band to belt out 90s Californian anthems alongside new hits (both Jamiroquai and Beck are coming to Australia exclusively for Harvest Rock), musical satire and comedy specialists Sparks will draw from 50+ years of repertoire and many more. Expect to be wowed by legends since Harvest Rock is a project of Secret Sounds, one of Australia's leading festival organisers. BUDGET-FRIENDLY Where else to start but good old fashioned general admission tickets? Available in either one-day or weekend options, this is the basic go-to ticket for any first-time or financially-conscious visitor. Single-day tickets for either Saturday, October 28 or Sunday, October 29, are $239.48 for 18+ guests or $169.13 for guests aged 13-17. Two-day passes grant entry for the full festival at $412.79 for 18+ or $290.45. To make the experience even more memorable, you can upgrade to a collector's ticket for an extra $15.29 on either age group ticket fee and get some exclusive Harvest Rock II merchandise — perfect if you're a big fan of Harvest Rock. General admission, of course, grants you entry to the festival precinct and all the activities within, from catching tunes from the 30+ acts, enjoying a celebrity chef experience at the HELLO CHEF stage, accessing food from top-notch South Australian restauranteurs and imbibing in bespoke drinks from SA cellar doors. To unwind between activities, head to The Grape Escape wellness centre, where you'll find hot drinks, tarot readings, massages and more. TREAT YOURSELF There's nothing wrong with a little bit of self-love, as living without an occasional treat is pointless. Treating yourself at Harvest Rock II means booking your experience via the VIP Village or Harvest Lounge tickets. These two tiers offer the same basic VIP experience, with a few minor upgrades on the Harvest Lounge end. Being a VIP at Harvest Rock means you have access to the following: An express entry lane, an elevated viewpoint of the main stage, a concierge, fancy toilets, a cocktail bar, premium food, shading and seating and a complimentary drink daily. That's the VIP Village, comfortable, elevated, worthy of a treat yourself moment. The Harvest Lounge offers all of the above, plus a private lounge bar, an exclusive lawn area by the main stage, exclusive drinks at the VIP cocktail bar, and perhaps most importantly — complimentary phone charging. VIP tickets are only available to guests aged 18 and older. VIP Village tickets start at $341.43, and Harvest Lounge tickets start at $514.74. FEELING LUXURIOUS If treating yourself isn't enough, if you must go absolutely all out for your Harvest Rock II experience, then you've come to the right place. We've arrived at the most luxe and exclusive ticket options. The highest-end packages start with Platinum tickets, perfect to hit Harvest Rock like a rockstar. Platinum tickets include full access to the VIP Village and Harvest Lounge plus a whole range of extra goodies: front row or elevated seats to the main stage, an air-conditioned private bar, complimentary food and drinks, the Wildwood Restaurant dining experience, wine tasting, an exclusive entrance, private parking, lockers and phone chargers. And then, there are the suites. These are luxurious but also quite exclusive tickets — available only to groups of 30 to 50 people. If you have a large group of fellow festivalgoers, this is the ticket for you. Each suite includes elevated views of the main stage, shaded lounge seating and a viewing deck, a private bar, screens and speakers connected to the stages and options for food and drink packages to add on. Both Platinum and Suites are enquiry only, as price varies on the number of guests per booking. For more information on Harvest Rock 2023, including the lineup, how to get there or to book your tickets, visit the website.
Missed out on staying in a replica of the Bluey house when it was temporarily up for rent in Brisbane? The home of Australia's family-friendly animated phenomenon is now welcoming a Bluey attraction so that you can experience the global hit for real life. Set to open in August 2024, Bluey's World will get you walking around life-sized sets that recreate the beloved series — whether you're taking your nieces and nephews along, or know that appreciating the Aussie show about a family of blue heelers isn't just for kids. When Airbnb listed its Bluey abode in 2022, the response was massive. Expect the reaction to Bluey's World to be the same. Opening at Northshore Pavilion in Northshore Hamilton, the space itself will be sizeable, spanning across 4000 square metres. Bluey and Bingo's bedroom, the family's living room and kitchen, the poinciana tree in the backyard: they'll all be a part of the experience. So will hearing "wackadoo!" constantly, we expect. Visitors will also find a playground and a cafe onsite, with interactive play a focus, taking cues from Bluey episodes in the process. There'll also be a soundscape to match, plus a gift shop, all in a purpose-built venue. And, for big Bluey birthday celebrations, the site will host parties as well. Bluey's World will be 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. "Our government has backed Bluey from the very beginning. Brisbane is at Bluey's core and now the show is a global sensation, we want to invite fans from around the world to come and experience Bluey's home," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. "Queensland is a world-class place to live and play and I truly believe that is a big part of why Bluey has captured fans around the world," the Premier continued. "Bluey is a homegrown Brisbane superstar who has captured the imagination of families worldwide. With an audience that spans more than 60 countries, Bluey's World is a unique and significant tourism offering that will draw people to our city from around the globe while giving residents more to see and do here in Brisbane," added Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. Bluey's World will open at Northshore Pavilion, Northshore Hamilton, Brisbane in August 2024 — head to the attraction's website for more information and to join the ticket waitlist.
After giving ramen its own t-shirt range last year, casual-wear retailer Uniqlo has set its sights on another Japanese culinary staple. This time, you can wear your affection for the boozy beverage that goes oh-so-well with a big bowl of brothy soup: sake. The fresh designs showcase prestigious Japanese sake breweries with a long history in making the drink in question, with each brand collaborating on the design. If names such as Suigei, Tengumai, Dassai, Tsukino Katsura and Kenbishi sound familiar from sipping their wares, now you can show your love for them in another way. Eleven different shirts are available — some, like the black option for Dewazakura, feature a green bottle of sake, while others take inspiration from different brewery logos. The sake items all retail for $19.90 as part of Uniqlo's pop culture-focused UT line, which aims to turn simple t-shirts into something more exciting by highlighting different characters, trends, brands and artists. Also currently on offer are a range of super geometric prints, two Mickey Mouse collections, one dedicated to Peanuts, an ode to Dutch typographer Pieter Ceizer, a shirt by Tokyo-based Australian illustrator Grace Lee and a Hokusai-inspired selection. Uniqlo's Sakagura t-shirts are available now for $19.90 each. You can purchase them from all Australian stores or online here.
