AustraliaBlogs we like

  1. HOT Alert: HOT Gig List

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 26 December 2009

    Today we say hi to my new guest blogger CC, a cool ex-Melburnian who now calls East London home. Skinny jeans aficionado, mosh pit veteran, classical pianist now electric guitarist, CC will be bringing you news of upcoming HOT gigs in Melbourne. Her motto is ‘with great musical wisdom, comes great musical responsibility’ and this [...]

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  2. Three Ravens and a Goat

    Blog: thebeergeek.com - 23 December 2009

    After three great days in Victoria’s High Country, it was time to move on. Our next destination was the capital of Victoria, Melbourne. There we would part with Ute and Wolfie who were flying home to Germany the next day. We had heard that Australia’s second largest city had a better beer culture than Sydney [...]

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  3. HOT: In Search of the Perfect Rice Paper Rolls

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 23 December 2009

    Lin Tan and I journey into Melbourne’s own piece of Saigon in the search for the perfect rice paper rolls, in pushy, exotically fragrant, fishwife-shouty Victoria Street, Richmond. Joyce: Before commencing the rice paper roll marathon, I asked my Vietnamese friends for recommendations amongst a choice of over 20 Vietnamese/quasi-Vietnamese restaurants. Surprisingly, they [...]

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  4. A Little Tradition…A Unique Christmas in Australia

    Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 23 December 2009

    Images of Christmas traditionally evoke thoughts of a toasty log cabin with a flickering fire and cup of hot chocolate all while the snow quietly falls outside. Perhaps there’s even a twinkling Christmas tree nestled in the corner. Well, that’s not the case in Florida -it was 82 F here last week (about 60 F now)– but, you know, at least it is winter here! Last year I found myself in the Southern Hemisphere for Christmas – Australia to be more exact. The sun was baking down outside and it was, ...

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  5. HOT: Aria, 1 Eagle St Pier, Brisbane

    Blog: BNE: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Brisbane - 22 December 2009

    If you get a Christmas bonus from the boss this year, Aria is the place to spend it.  I’m struggling to think of a better in venue in Brisbane when it comes to food, service and scenery. If you got sucked into the reality TV extravaganza that was MasterChef Australia, then you’ll know that the [...]

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  6. HOT: In Search of the Perfect Gelato

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 22 December 2009

    Lin Tan and I go hunting for the finest gelato in Melbourne. Joyce: When you think about ‘Italian culture’ in Melbourne, you think Carlton. Hence, the perfect place to start our, ‘In The Search For The Perfect Gelato’? – Lygon Street. So what makes a perfect gelato? In our view – small batches, taste, texture [...]

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  7. Blog Update: London, Hong Kong and Sydney

    Blog: The Amazing Dawdle - 22 December 2009

    LondonWe were scheduled to fly into London from Santiago via Madrid Spain at 2pm. As we pulled into the check-in, the agent looked at us and told us that our flight was delayed until 6pm, at least, which meant delays of over four hours. At least we had the lounge to chill out in. Once we landed in Madrid, we had about a half hour to spare (after immigration and navigating their massive train system) before hopping a flight to London. We were lucky enough to have our friend Mel pick us up at the airport, as we were staying with her and her husband and baby.

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  8. HOT: In Search of the Perfect Mince Pies

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 21 December 2009

    In our own personal advent calendar, Lin, Billy and I went on a trip around Melbourne’s CBD in search of the perfect mince pie. “On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me….12 mince pies and 2 macarons in a pear tree.” Joyce: We had optimistically planned 12 tastings in keeping with our self-penned [...]

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  9. HOT: Onyx Bar and Restaurant, 1/12 Park Rd, Milton

    Blog: BNE: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Brisbane - 21 December 2009

    The festive season has well and truly kicked in and to be honest I really enjoy the vibe on Park Road at this time of year.  Balmy Friday afternoons are none better spent than at the bar of a funky venue that is only a short stroll from the office or the train station. Onyx isn’t [...]

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  10. australia: the low-down

    Blog: The Road Forks - 21 December 2009

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  11. Victoria High Country Brewery Trail – Part II

    Blog: thebeergeek.com - 20 December 2009

    After a good nights rest, we were back on the Brewery Trail the next morning. Our plan was to visit the two northernmost breweries on trail before coming back to Beechworth for a hike. But before we sampled some beer, we had the one more piece of Hume Highway kitsch to see, the giant Ned Kelly [...]

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  12. HOT: Nicolangela, Level 1, Shop F174, Melbourne’s GPO, 350 Bourke St, Melbourne

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 20 December 2009

    When I was a young grad, fresh out of uni, I used to do walk up to Nicolangela’s delightful Greville Street shop (which is no longer) and peer inside longingly, just like Holly Golightly drinking her coffee outside Tiffany’s. The store was a treasure chest of beautiful dresses designed and made in Melbourne, from sleek [...]

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  13. HOT: Ponyo, Ford Fiesta Moonlight Cinema, Royal Botanic Gardens, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 19 December 2009

    Over the years, RM and I have been to Moonlight Cinema many times together – as friends, as friends-dating-other-people, as kinda-a-bit-more-than-friends and as boyfriend-girlfriend. It holds a special place in both of our memories of Melbourne, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d proposed on a picnic rug at Breakfast At Tiffany’s (a sure [...]

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  14. Victoria High Country Brewery Trail – Part I

    Blog: thebeergeek.com - 18 December 2009

    We left ‘bustling’ Canberra early Sunday morning for what I thought was going to be a three to three and a half hour drive to the Victoria High Country, the northeastern part of the Australian state. We were headed to the self-proclaimed “premier craft brewing region in Australia” and their seven stop Brewery Trail. The [...]

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  15. We made it to Tropical Cairns!!!

    Blog: A Travel Around the World - 18 December 2009

    Yeeehh! Finally we are here in Tropical Cairns. It feel a bit weird though: maybe it’s because we are reluctantly aware that this amazing trip is getting closer and closer to its end, on the other side, it feel like we just conquer the whole Australia, though we only had driven a small part along the East Coast embarking on this roadtrip in Melbourne. Can’t believe we actually made it to the Far North Queensland all in one piece with our van still running!

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  16. Indian Pacific 3: Cook to Perth

    Blog: Aerohaveno: A Travel Blog - 17 December 2009

    The final chapter of my three-day journey from Sydney to Perth aboard the Indian Pacific, the train that traverses a continent...Friday 4 December 2009 10am, Cook

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  17. HOT: Eco Innovators Showcase, Cnr Little Collins and Swanston St, Melbourne

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 16 December 2009

    Melbourne is riding a pop up store wave and the Eco Innovators Showcase is about as ‘pop up’ as a pop up shop can get. In the morning: one unremarkable, poster-plastered news stand pillar standing innocently on Swanston Street. In the afternoon: the pillar has been transformed, Tardis-like, into a shop stocking over 25 Melbourne made, eco-designed [...]

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  18. Australia roadtrip top 6 thumbs down

    Blog: A Travel Around the World - 15 December 2009

    I know you all want to make your friends green with envy telling how great is your big loop around Australia, amazing landscapes, great wildlife, friendly Ozzies, but let's be honest, after being touring for a bit, we can tell you there are few little downsides of a life on a road that sometimes could annoy even you. Here are our 6 thumbs down list for an Australian roadtrip.

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  19. HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours (Part 2), Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 15 December 2009

    Read Part 1 of the tour here. Another quick train ride to Spotswood then St John’s Op Shop (612-614 Melbourne Rd, Spotswood). ‘Great variety of household goods’ is an accurate description, with ‘variety’ being the operative word. This is an OCD sufferer’s nightmare. The rabbit warren of a shop was full of surprises – an extensive collection [...]

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  20. CanBEERra

    Blog: thebeergeek.com - 14 December 2009

    From each person we met in Sydney on the first day of our trip we heard, “Why are you going to Canberra?” Our traveling companions, Ute and Wolfie, were asked the same question. They really didn’t have a reason, except they were riding with us. We, on the other hand, had two reasons to go [...]

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  21. HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours, Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 14 December 2009

    Fashionistas know that the surest way to score a one-of-a-kind outfit is to scour old shops and vintage stores. Melbourne Op Shop Tours helps you take up the op shop challenge by running small group (max 10 people) tours through various areas of Melbourne. What makes it different from other op shop tours is that [...]

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  22. Our escape to the Whitsundays

    Blog: A Travel Around the World - 13 December 2009

    In some cases, a picture is worth way more than any words and this is the case for the Whitsundays, this dreamy archipelago in the Coral Sea off Queensland’s coast.

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  23. Our First Day Down Under

    Blog: thebeergeek.com - 13 December 2009

    Merideth turned 40 this week and she is not really embracing the milestone. Instead of making our normal holiday pilgrimage to Europe, I decided a trip to Australia was what Merideth needed to cure the turning 40 blues. This would be our first beer adventure outside of North America or Europe. The onset of winter in [...]

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  24. A Little Payoff…Salvation in Kings Canyon Australia

    Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 13 December 2009

    Huddled under one lone awning in the middle of the Outback, as the rain poured down around us, we all looked forlornly at the broken down tour bus while Jess presented us with a choice: admit defeat and return to the previous night’s campground near Uluru head a couple hours down the road toward Kings Canyon in hopes that the river hadn’t overflowed – if it hadn’t we could hike the Canyon in the morning. At this ...

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  25. HOT: The Palace by Luke Mangan, 505 City Rd, South Melbourne

    Blog: MEL: HOT OR NOT - The decisive guide to Melbourne - 13 December 2009

    Since returning to Australia after two years overseas, I’ve developed a hypothesis that Australian food trends lag behind the northern hemisphere (especially the US and UK) by 1-2 years. That means that I’m expecting to see a flurry of gastropub openings in Melbourne in the near future (probably macaron specialists and ramen stalls a year [...]

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