Australia, Oz, the land down under, our home country is one of beauty and with a lifestyle that just can’t be matched. To many travelers, it’s on the bucket list but also at the top of the too hard list. Come on people, don’t you know what you’re missing out on? From America, the flight is a little long, clocking in at up to 22 hours from the eastern-most point, but more commonly you can be there in 18 hours (or what’s also known as about nine movies and three meals). It’s basically having a snooze in an undersized armchair, so honestly, get over it because the reward outweighs the pain of travel.
As a country, Australia is a land of extremes. Extremely fresh, tasty food, extremely chill, yet welcoming people and extremely dangerous wildlife – almost everything can bite, sting, poison or maim you. It is also extremely large. Somewhere along the line, the cartographers got things very, very wrong. Most visitors assume that it’s a smallish island. That’s what they were taught in middle school geography. It is in fact almost as large as the United States. In the same state you can experience jungles, alps and deserts. Distances are massive between capital cities, usually taking up to 15 hours to drive. Whatever the experience and no matter where they come from, no one who visits Australia leaves disappointed. Below you will find some of our favorite experiences with a little local “know-how”.
Netherworld Brisbane Arcade bar has transformed the former Shamrock Hotel into a live music venue. For over one hundred years (and long before Netherworld Brisbane, an arcade bar, or computer gaming was a thing), The Shamrock Hotel was a Fortitude Valley icon frequented primarily by journalists and old alcoholic barflies. In the nineties and early noughties, Bernie’s...
See inside the home of the Milton Mango with XXXX brewery tours while you’re in Brisbane. XXXX is Australian for beer There was a time where almost as much XXXX or Fourex beer was sold in England as it was in its hometown, Brisbane. Between the four Xs, Fosters Lager and tourism ads for Australia featuring actor Paul Hogan (at his peak of Crocodile Dundee fame)...
Every August, The Brisbane Ekka, the annual state fair comes to town, bringing with it great food, fresh produce, carnies, rides, and a hideously contagious flu. In the heart of the Queensland winter, the Brisbane Ekka brings a country carnival atmosphere to the big smoke, blown in on the cyclonic August winds. The Ekka means two things – fun and flu. The fun comes...
Mount Glorious offers a breath of fresh air and scenic rainforest walks close to Brisbane City. If you want to experience your first real taste of the Queensland rainforest, Mount Glorious on the outskirts of Brisbane is just within reach. The slow, chilled pace can get to you. Seriously. For all its lazy, Sunday afternoon vibes and notoriously inefficient public...
Eat Street Brisbane represents Queensland’s coming of age as a foodie centre. Hearty wholesome street food has experienced an unexpected growth across the globe as local hot spots like Eat Street Brisbane capture the imaginations of both foodies and young entrepreneurs alike. As quasi New Yorkers, Smorgasburg in Williamsburg has been top of the list of places...
Every major city and sports code has its sacred stadium, the hallowed ground where their premier team has battled it out for immortality. In Brisbane, that ground is The Gabba. For the last 120 check years, the Gabba, more formally known as the Brisbane Cricket Ground has played host to cricketing legends, Aussie Rules dynasties, Olympic finals and rugby matches...
Melbourne’s Fitzroy is an arty precinct heavy on graffiti filled alleys, craft breweries, hip boutiques and rock venues. Centered on Brunswick Street, the area’s main thoroughfare, Fitzroy is only a short stroll from downtown Melbourne. The extra steps will earn you a frosty Little Creatures Rogers or Pale Ale from the Little Creatures Dining Hall. The once craft...
A quaint British style seaside community in the 1900s, a fetid pit of drug abuse and prostitution in eighties and now back to being an upmarket seaside community, St Kilda has more than a few stories to tell. Set on the shores of Port Philip bay, the beaches are a haven in summer, with a cool Antarctic breeze offsetting the extreme heat that Melbourne gets (as one...
There’ are not many images that capture the essence of old Australia quite like the Brighton Beach Huts Melbourne. Beaches are a major part of Australian city life. As an island, with most capitals right on the coast, the populations flock to their local beach in the summer months. For Melbournians, Brighton Beach on Port Philip Bay has been such a haven. Like...
Farm fresh produce, cured meats and fine wines abound at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere. If you’re heading north up Elizabeth Street, you can’t miss the classic façade of the Queen Victoria Market Meat and Fish Hall. For over 150 years, it has been a permanent fixture and home to fresh produce, crafts and...