Travel

Australian actress Georgia Blizzard on her career breakthrough: The Singapore Grip (Part 2)

By Jamie Durrant September 1, 2020

Essentials’ editor Jamie Durrant talks with Australian actress Georgia Blizzard on her new starring role in the BBC First/Foxtel Now Australia TV Series, The Singapore Grip. Adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton from J.G. Farrell’s classic novel, The Singapore Grip is an ambitious and exotic family saga set in Singapore during World War Two. Visit: Georgia Blizzard Part One: Sealing the Deal Georgia Blizzard Part Two: World at Her Feet Georgia’s performance throughout the series…

Australian actress Georgia Blizzard on her career breakthrough: The Singapore Grip (Part 1)

By Jamie Durrant August 31, 2020

Essentials’ editor Jamie Durrant talks with Australian actress Georgia Blizzard on her new starring role in the BBC First/Foxtel Now Australia TV Series, The Singapore Grip. Adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton from J.G. Farrell’s classic novel, The Singapore Grip is an ambitious and exotic family saga set in Singapore during World War Two. Starring Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and Luke Treadaway (Ordeal by Innocence), the 6-part EV series …

Singapore Focused on a Clean Tourism Recovery

By Belinda Jackson August 27, 2020

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…

Get into the Swing of the Sydney Sling

By Belinda Jackson August 23, 2020

The story of the gin-based Singapore Sling is well known: invented by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel around 1915, there are plenty of variants on the original recipe. The Fullerton Hotel Sydney brings an antipodean fling to the Sling, adding fresh ginger and hibiscus to temper its infamous sweetness. Using Australia’s own Four Pillars Gin from Victoria’s Yarra Valley and the addition of blood orange juice, it’s almost a…

Fullerton Hotel Sydney: From Singapore with love and maraschino cherries

By Belinda Jackson August 22, 2020

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…

The Rise of the Homecation

By Shelley Boyd August 4, 2020

Designer Shelley Boyd, founder of Boyd Blue on why you don’t need to leave home to have a great holiday. With trips abroad out of sight for the foreseeable future (sigh), there is a growing trend towards ‘homecations’. All across the country, homes are being redesigned with a big emphasis on creating a resort style, coastal vibe where everyone in the family can relax and embrace their increased home-time. Whether you live in an inner…

Return to NSW Southern Highlands

By Anabel Dean July 18, 2020

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…

Australian Architecture: Constructing an icon, Art House Townhouses, Bright, Victoria

By Jamie Durrant July 17, 2020

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…

Australian Prosecco: The Ultimate Affordable Luxury Wine

By Richard Cornish July 17, 2020

A generation ago, no one dared pop open a bottle of Italian sparkling wine for the fear of being considered a common, uncultured suburbanite. All we knew was spumante. Most of the stuff that was imported was cheap, sweet and bubbly. Then something happened. Just before the new century, young wine industry professionals and food tourists returning from Italy, brought with them their newfound love of the pretention-free sparkling wine from Veneto called prosecco. Light,…

Jamaica’s oldest rum Appleton Estate & female Master Distiller, Joy Spence

By Jamie Durrant July 8, 2020

Jamaica’s history is both colourful and dark. Voodoo witches, pirates, slave traders, Spanish conquistadors and English invaders are all woven into the fabric of this tiny country’s past. If only one thing has remained constant throughout the turmoil of the years, it is the nation’s passion for, and appreciation of, the local spirit. Made from the abundant sugar cane that is cultivated on the island, Jamaican rum is an institution in itself. Appleton Estate is…

NGV Melbourne Announces World’s Largest Exhibition of Tiwi Art

By Jamie Durrant July 8, 2020

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,…

InFlight: Qantas announces flights to Byron Bay & Orange, NSW

By Jamie Durrant July 1, 2020

As Melbourne grapples with the increase in confirmed corona virus cases and selected postcode reintroduced lockdowns, regional NSW is set to reboot its tourism industry with an announcement today from Qantas celebrating the launch of two new routes to regional NSW. The first Qantas flight between Sydney and Byron Bay (Ballina) in 15 years departed today and the airline has confirmed its first ever flights to Orange will begin on July 20. This comes at…

Back Vintage Tastings at Yileena Park Wines, Yarra Valley

By Jamie Durrant June 26, 2020

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…

Escape to the High Country, Bond Villain Style

By Jamie Durrant June 26, 2020

Unlike other ski resorts, Victoria’s Dinner Plain has a year-round community with a life of its own, and it’s quintessentially Australian. There are no fences and the houses are designed with the old cattlemen’s huts in mind. When people walk around the village, they regain their sense of freedom. Entering the village by crossing the cattle grid signals one’s arrival – it’s time to shed some stress and unwind in style true opulent Bond villain…

Australian Wine: Why Orange NSW is the apple of our eye

By Belinda Jackson June 19, 2020

With lockdown loosening and businesses reopening across NSW, the hottest form of travel right now is the humble roadtrip. And like bees to the honeypot, we’re making a beeline for Australia’s wine regions. Just 3.5 hours from Sydney (a more substantial eight hours from Melbourne), Orange is one of the country’s highest altitude winemaking regions. With more than 60 cool-climate vineyards and 40 cellar doors, its signature pours are chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and cabernet sauvignon,…

Victoria’s Alpine Resorts Open for Overnight Stays, Snow Play & Hiking

By Jamie Durrant June 6, 2020

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…

For Art’s Sake: Art House Townhouses open in Bright, Victoria

By Jamie Durrant June 3, 2020

Looking for the ultimate cure to your lockdown isolation blues? Step inside High Country Victoria’s just opened contemporary, architect design accommodation properties: Art House Townhouses, Bright.  Situated in the heart of Bright’s food, wine and distillery district, these five luxury appointed townhouses offer a new standard in designer comforts married with individual collections of fine Australian art prints produced by celebrated contemporary artists Margie Sheppard and Dean Bowen, plus key works by John Olsen. Exteriors…

Free to Roam – National Parks a Safe Bet as COVID-19 Lockdown Loosens in Victoria

By Jamie Durrant May 29, 2020

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…

Australian Wine: Tallis Wines Riesling

By Jamie Durrant May 15, 2020

Winemaker and proprietor Richard Tallis of Tallis Wines in Dookie, Victoria, is a mighty talented, down-to-earth bloke whose knowledge, understanding and connection to the land though grape growing and winemaking is admirable. His Tallis 2017 Riesling is a class-leading wine that features bright lifted aromas of cumquats and melon, coupled with a rich, round mouthfeel that’s layered with mixed citrus, the best of summer’s stone fruit flavours and a deeper buttery, ripe pear element It’s…

Live from Aus: The Best ‘Bites’ of this Weekend’s Tourism Australia Livestream Event

By Belinda Jackson May 14, 2020

Australia’s dining scene may be in COVID-induced hibernation, but our fascination with food will be (virtually) well-fed this weekend in a one-off livestream feast starring the country’s best produce. Live from Aus is a round-up of the country’s best travel adventures by Tourism Australia: in between koala love-ins and taking a virtual dip in the waters of Moore Reef off the coast from Cairns, our most famous faces dish up a range of culinary explorations…

Dare to Dream: International Travel Destinations We Miss the Most

By Jamie Durrant April 18, 2020

Dare to dream – we suggest you do it. For us, simply imagining a time in the future when it’s again safe to jump on a plane, dine with friends and explore the world’s gifts is very much worth the mental exercise – to keep our hopes alive. In memory of some of our favourite destinations, dining experiences and unique world beverages, here’s a list of the international (and local) travel destinations we miss the…

Morgan’s Sorrento Raises the Bar

By Jamie Durrant March 14, 2020

Given the changing season, cooler days and easing of summer crowds, now’s a good time take the drive to Victoria’s glamours Mornington Peninsula. While inland Red Hill winery restaurants in recent years have captured the crowds and won many of the accolades, seaside towns like Sorrento and Portsea have shared less of the limelight. But with this summer’s opening of Morgan’s Sorrento, positive change has arrived making a firm footing and marking a line in…

Lavish Lapland – Lapland Hotels Bulevardi Helsinki

By Belinda Jackson February 22, 2020

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…

For Love of Zweigelt

By Jamie Durrant February 22, 2020

A fine wine collaboration between Australian and an Austrian winemakers Andrew Peace and Georg Weinwurm. Third generation Austrian winemaker Georg Weinwurm manages a diverse vineyard of different varietals located in Austria’s northernmost wine growing region Weinviertel. The area is well known for the white varietal Grüner Veltliner, which can produce wines comparable to a Chardonnay made in Burgundy, yet with dry and spicy, peppery notes. In the 1950s, Georg´s grandfather Anton planted the first vineyard,…

Capital Region Farmers Market returns this Weekend with Bushfire Appeal

By Jamie Durrant January 11, 2020

Canberra’s Capital Region Farmers Market has this week revealed many of its stallholders have been severely affected by the Australian bushfires across several regions, and vows to do whatever it takes to help and support the Farmers Market community. The market returns this weekend to support fire affected stallholders with Bushfire Appeal. ‘We are deeply saddened that a number of our stallholders have been affected across several regions including the NSW South Coast, Snowy Mountains,…

Morgan’s Sorrento Launches New summer Menu by Paul Wilson

By Jamie Durrant December 21, 2019

This Summer restaurateur/hotelier/developer Julian Gerner of Morgan’s Sorrento is making a fresh start at the bayside eatery with the help from long term chef collaborator Paul Wilson (Botanical, Albert Park Hotel Oyster Bar & Grill, Icebergs, Wilson & Market). Revered as one of the country’s great culinary talents, Paul has recently launched a new menu at Morgan’s that celebrates the great Aussie fish café; delivering sustainable, market fresh seafood daily. Focusing on sustainable fisheries, guided…

Best Asian Food 2019: Donna Chang Brisbane

By Richard Cornish December 14, 2019

The kitchen at Donna Chang, Brisbane feels like a frontier. A place where two cultures slam into each other at a breathtaking pace. Bubbling furiously is a wok in a broth laden with deep red, crimson chilli peppers. A young chef from Hong Kong tosses some rice around in another wok, his arm working like a piston on a locomotive. The air is filled with the aroma of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise along with…

Best Regional Food 2019: Botanic Wine Garden

By Jamie Durrant December 14, 2019

It’s deceptively simple in appearance yet there are delicately nuanced flavours that take me by surprise – it’s a rare delight. This is my first little tasting plate at Botanic Wine Garden, Port Macquarie; it will be one of a pleasurable many. The dish is presented in an elegant shallow bowl that’s painted with ingredients: sashimi kingfish, buttermilk, apple, basil oil, green chilli and fennel – it looks beautiful and the wine match is stellar.…

Best Hotel 2019: Veriu Central Sydney

By Jamie Durrant December 14, 2019

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…

Best Food 2019: Ian Curley’s French Saloon

By Jamie Durrant December 14, 2019

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.…