Singapore’s tourism businesses are currently reopening under the government’s SG Clean Quality Mark. While looks like Australians won’t be jumping on Asian flights any time in the very near future, it’s worth noting that Singapore’s tourism businesses are currently reopening primarily to a domestic market. Nearly 30 of its key attractions are now open, including the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay, the new Jewel Changi Airport’s Canopy Park attractions, Raffles Hotel and Tiong…
From clock towers to afternoon tea towers, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney lives up to high expectations. Was there ever a drink more intrinsically linked to a city than the Singapore Sling? The pineapple, the maraschino cherry, the gin… Mix it wrong and it’s a write-off of sugared-up cough medicine. But mix it right and you’re transported straight back to the streets of Little India flicking through saris in a street stall and photographing the eye-popping…
It’s a frigid winter afternoon in the Southern Highlands and the Wingello Village Store is closing. ‘Come back tomorrow,’ calls a chirpy adolescent through the diminishing space in the door jam. ‘We serve good breakfast.’ Then he’s gone. The warmth inside is palpable even through the window. There’s a wall papered with newspaper clippings: local celebrities and feats of heroism. Shelves are filled with cutesy-kitsch teapots and homemade biscuits in big glass jars. An open…
Steve Graves is one of High Country Victoria’s most respected and awarded builders. His company Bright Alpine Builders has a long history of working with select-grade Australian hardwood timbers, crafting beautiful buildings which combine a carefully chosen range of structural components such as local granite, steel, concrete block, brick and other modern composites. The commercial accommodation and retail development, Art House Townhouses, situated in the CBD heart of Bright, Victoria, is a recently completed project…
Holly Kilntworth is one of Australia’s finest distillers, yet her original plans concerning the drinks trade were motivated by her good nose for business, rather than to create products. Armed with a Master of Business Administration from RMIT, she landed a job as Global Brand Assistant at Treasury Wines Estate, but much later discovered the joys of product development visiting Cognac distillers in France. In 2016, she was invited to take over from her father…
One of the most exciting world exhibits of indigenous art is coming to The National Gallery of Victoria later this year as it will launch TIWI – on show from November 13 to March 8, 2021 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. The Tiwi, the original inhabitants of Melville and Bathurst Islands, are known for their extraordinary art and cultural practices, distinct from those of mainland Aboriginal people. Located 80 km north of Darwin,…
For those lucky enough to either make a road trip or book newly-launched Qantas flights from Sydney to Byron Bay this winter, a recently opened boutique hotel choice awaits. The Surf House (boutique hostel/hotel) strikes a new balance in beachside accommodation, marrying comfortable private suites with some shared rooms, open-plan backpacker-styled living spaces and open-air rooftop bar. Located in the heart of Byron Bay town centre, just a few streets back from Main Beach, The…
Once the hidden gem of Steels Creek, near Yarra Glen, Yarra Valley boutique winery Yileena Park has become one of the region’s must-visit cellar doors. These days, the winery hosts couples and small groups of eager wine aficionados vying for the best pre-booked limited seats in the luxurious Tasmania oak-lined parlour-style tasting room for Yileena’s detailed complimentary wine education and tasting presentations. Entertaining, educating and sharing wines is all in a day’s play for Bob…
If you’re keen to get skiing on mountain this year, take a step back and read the fine print before leaving home, as Victoria’s alpine resorts are preparing for a very different start this winter season. While overnight stays are possible within Victorian resorts, visitor facilities at Mt Buller, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Mt Stirling, Mt Baw Baw and Lake Mountain are likely to be limited as tobogganing, downhill and cross country skiing is not…
Take a seaside stroll on a wild shore, feel the pulse of an ancient forest, find views that have inspired some of Australia’s great painters and iconic novelists. Who’d have thought it possible a month ago? As the loosening of lockdown continues across the world, Victorians can now stretch their legs and travel within the state. Nature has been the big winner of the COVID era, and our cleaner, greener, open spaces are beckoning. Sorrento-Portsea…
Belinda Jackson checks into a Lapland-inspired hotel in Helsinki’s chic Design District. During winter, snow-laden winds sweep across lakes and tundras of Finnish Lapland, freezing all in their wake. Reindeer forage for lichen in the chilled earth, and the brief minutes the sun rises above the horizon are bookended by a deep blue twilight that heralds the return of the polar night. A thousand kilometres south, there’s no snow on the footpaths of the Finnish…
Quest Albury on Townsend has taken the art hotel concept several steps further by partnering with leading Victorian art gallery Aboriginal Exhibitions. The new partnership sees a display of more than 170 original pantings and prints within a series of hotel gallery spaces. Also recently launched are the new Studio Art Suites – a collection of four premium rooms that include original paintings from celebrated Lockhart River (Cape York) artists: Fiona Omeenyo, Patrick Butcher Jnr,…
New Australian hotel group Veriu is carving out a fine niche in the boutique accommodation market. We check in, to check out, the ‘millennial modern meets 1920s Hollywood’ gentrification of Sydney’s Wentworth House, reimagined as Veriu Central. With Australia’s increasing demand in smaller-scale boutique hotel experiences comes a gentrification of inner urban historic properties; and with this we should be thankful. These previously forgotten gems of our cities are often well positioned, offering great convenience…
It’s been a long focus of Essentials to celebrate the many landmark icons of Melbourne, Australia – its sensational cafés, historic restaurants and art galleries; including its people: chefs, artists, designers and all the creative minds who have collectively shared in building the culturally rich tapestry that is the city we know and love today. British-born, Melbourne-based chef Ian Curley, like many before him, brings a wealth of knowledge and artisan colour to the region.…
Josh Niland’s collection of prized line-caught delights are a limited catch, delivered with an intensified flavour born of unique dry-ageing and curing techniques. You won’t find farmed or over-fished species at Sydney chef Josh Niland’s Fish Butchery. Rather, sustainable line-caught specialty gems hand-cut and presented in a central display cabinet that looks like it belongs in a museum: a collection of rare prized artefacts; its sliced and whole fish carefully arranged within their marble and…
Freeman on Ford is Beechworth’s first, and only five star accommodation, having remained so for the past 15 years. Accredited with numerous national awards for excellence, including winning Trip Advisor’s coveted award for Australia’s best bed and breakfast in 2013. Part of its charm is the individually decorated rooms and suites, well known for providing an unmatched level of luxurious respite within its central Beechworth location. We step inside one of the two 1930s deluxe…
The sky had a ‘threatening look’ about it when Georg von Neumayer and his party reached the summit of Mount Kosciuszko on the morning of 19 November 1862. Neumayer, a Bavarian scientist of exacting standards, was conducting a geomagnetic survey of Victoria, a colony which, under the influence of Governor Charles La Trobe, avidly supported the advancement of science and the arts. Travelling as a private guest of Neumayer was the Vienna-born painter of Romantic…
New York is set to launch a new sky observation deck, Edge at Hudson Yards. Announced as the Western Hemisphere’s highest outdoor observation deck, Edge will open to the public on March 11, 2020 offering visitors the opportunity view never before seen 360 degree views of New York City. Piercing the sky at a soaring 100 floors from its record-setting height of 345 metres, Edge will enable outstanding views of Manhattan, Western New Jersey and…
This weekend, celebrate spring in Victoria’s High Country by joining the Festival of Short Walks. Showcasing their local charms, the villages of Beechworth, Chiltern, Yackandandah and Rutherglen have been stepping it up during the weeks of 14 – 20 October, 2019. An Australian first, the seven day short walks festival features over thirty guided walks and forty self-guided walks, each designed to give you an evocative experience, rich in nature, arts and culture, food and…
Melbourne artist Ivan Durrant, who reminisces about the wild child SoHo heyday of the great Super Realist art movement. It was the end of 1975 and the leading American Super Realists, Chuck Close and Janet Fish, had just exhibited at Tolarno Galleries in St Kilda with my then dealer Georges Mora. Georges had already sold one of my Super Realist (photorealist) paintings through a leading gallery in New York. I said to my wife: ‘Let’s…
The roosters are still crowing as chef Nengah Suradnya rides through his village of Penestanan to the Ubud market. The Lombok-born, Australian-trained chef weaves in and around the already busy narrow streets and lanes, over clear flowing streams and past rice paddies at what seems breakneck speed. ‘We have to get there early as the stallholders are gone by 8.30,’ he shouts above the scream of the engine. I hold on tight as we cross…
The heart of Victoria’s High Country new boutique accommodation operator Big Sky Retreats has just launched a new premium home stay: Big Sky Ridgeview, located in the popular mountainous tourist town of Bright. Designed to encourage longer stays and a retreat to nature without sacrificing an inch of luxury, Big Sky Ridgeview, is one of a select new group of year-round Australian holiday stays that raise-the-bar in terms of features, quality and creative design. Set…
As the weather warms up, there’s no better place to spend a few lazy sunny hours than exploring Bellarine Wineries, with their premium maritime climate influenced wines and incredibly idyllic bayside views. But fact remains, getting there from Melbourne involves a painful journey by road that can quickly break the weekend free spirit. Thankfully Bellarine Peninsula winery Terindah Estate has partnered with Port Phillip Ferries to create the ultimate wine and dine tour package allowing…
The Buds have burst in the high altitude wine region of Orange, NSW and to celebrate the region’s winemakers and foodies have launched the 2019 Orange Wine Festival program; and it looks to be packed with adventure. Running from Friday, October 18 through to Sunday, October 27, events include behind-the-scenes access to wineries, meet-the-maker opportunities, a range of quality culinary experiences paired with the region’s award-winning wines and wine education sessions across a 10-day a…
Encore St Kilda Beach has won triple category awards at this year’s Victoria & Tasmania Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence. Encore operated the Melbourne Hospitality People Group is famous for its beachside food and drink icons: Republica and Captain Baxter (St Kilda Beach) and Mr McCracken within the Essendon Fields Hyatt Place Melbourne hotel complex. The multi-function Encore venue was awarded in the Wedding Caterer, Function/Convention Centre Caterer and Caterer of…
A captivated crowd last night packed the house at the newly re-branded De Bortoli Wines Rutherglen Estate cellar door for the Aboriginal Exhibitions Gallery landmark exhibition titled: Northern Exposure – Stories from Lockhart River and Fitzroy Crossing. Flying in from Lockhart River, Cape York, and arriving to the gallery decked out in a thick winter jacket, woolen gloves and beanie; the cold climate was the only shocking element that Aboriginal artist Patrick Butcher Jnr faced as…
The Van Haandel Group has this week announce its appointment of award-winning chef Oliver Hansford (of Stokehouse Melbourne) as the new Executive Chef of Stokehouse Q, Brisbane. Ollie returns to Brisbane and Stokehouse Q, having been awarded the Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year Award in 2016, and following on from his current role with the Group as Head Chef at Stokehouse St Kilda, overseeing the relaunch of the iconic Melbourne…
In the Footsteps of Tatiana Metanova After an early morning flight over Russia’s vast tundra, laid flat like moss-green jigsaw pieces interspersed with connecting waterways and small lakes, we were finally on descent into Leningrad, or Saint Petersburg, as it is once again known as today. From my window seat I had a perfect view of Lake Ladoga. Here in the winter of 1941 the 219-kilometre ‘Road of Life’, was built on the lake’s 90-150cm…
Painting is a visual language and doesn’t need an explanation. Artists call on all their years of experience, conflict, disappointment, loves and obsessions to create a mood, a feeling that words can’t replace. It’s not necessary to know how the artist arrived at the work, or what was in their mind. Your job as a viewer is just to look – allow the image to wash over you. In my mind the first impact is…
The first exhibition of its kind to be presented in Australia, Northern Exposure – Stories from Lockhart River and Fitzroy Crossing launches later this month at Aboriginal Exhibitions Gallery at Rutherglen Estates. Opening to the public on Friday June 21, the exhibition showcases works from three celebrated Aboriginal artists and will connect viewers with the joys of life on Country, Dreamtime spirits and Aboriginal culture; also showcasing all the colour, movement and textural feel of…