Sydney is entering winter, the night falls earlier and there’s a chill in the air. But now, Sydney is also graced with the Vivid Festival… A celebration of light, music and ideas, Vivid Sydney seems to be getting bigger ever year. Around the city and the harbour, the night walker is greeted by eerie and colourful creations. Sydney Harbour plays host to a range of wild creatures and thought-provoking installations.
I’m a baker. I have done a lot of cooking in my time but I have a strong preference for creating desserts and sweets. It has come to the point where I have to have three or four small desserts when I host a dinner party. Therefore, I’ve been on the lookout for a baking-related creative outlet and decorated cookies have come to my attention. I took a cookie-decorating class with Miss Biscuit in Melbourne, read on to see what it’s all about.
How long do you have to live in a city before you can feel you’ve seen everything there is to see? I’ve been living in Sydney for fifteen years, and for a long while, I spent my weekends hungrily exploring and discovering everything: neighbourhoods, beaches, parks, markets… Recently, I have decided to look for new things to explore and I came across the Beaches Market, in Sydney’s North.
The Grampians National Park is located 260kms west of Melbourne and hosts a spectacular sandstone mountain range. Also known by their Aboriginal name Gariwerd, the Grampians offer a wide range of activities and sights, including camping, bushwalking, rock climbing, rock art, waterfalls and wildflowers (in spring). The Grampians emerge as a mountain range coming out of nowhere in a flat rural valley and offer spectacular views over jagged peaks and stacked sandstone piles. Looking for some peace, I decided to do some solo travel in the Grampians National Park.
I love a good market, and I love anything handmade. To me, an object is so much more genuine and valuable when it has a background, a story. I love the way contemporary artisans are exploring textures and upcycling existing objects. Also, I always feel like I’m touching something unique, something carefully designed, that has caused sweat and tears, and also immense joy to the artisan. This morning, a notification popped up on my Instagram feed and what do I learn ? The Finders Keepers Markets are on this Mother’s Day weekend. I have a selection of twelve handmade things to buy at the Finders Keepers Market for you to do some last minute shopping !
Sovereign Hill is an outdoor museum, spread over 25 hectares, on a site linked to the richest alluvial gold rush in Victoria. Some 60 buildings have been reconstructed according to photographs to depict life during the Gold Rush. Incredibly, Sovereign Hill is a functional township, with workshops and old-time stores. The township is complete with a Main Street full of shops, two hotels and a theatre, a Chinese camp, a gold-panning area and two gold mines. Whilst the town is a tourist attraction, it is very lively and realistic thanks to the presence of staff and volunteers dressed in costumes
Hands up who doesn’t think New Zealand is incredibly beautiful? Can’t see many hands from here… I love New Zealand, I find its landscapes diverse and spectacular. My husband and I chose New Zealand as a honeymoon destination, there was no argument, the choice was obvious. I’ve tried skiing in New Zealand but my very favourite thing to do is a good road trip. This year, we opted to discover some of the North Island. Our road trip resulted in 5 North Island highlights, and 2 epic fails ! Read on…
For me, a big part of the travelling experience is to explore handmade crafts. I love to observe and document how skills and craftsmanship go from one generation to another. My trip to Sri Lanka gave me a great opportunity to discover what handicrafts are practised and which quality items to seek. Throughout my trip, I sought the handicraft work of local artisans and I found 5 handmade crafts you must shop for in Sri Lanka.
Kandy is a former royal capital in Sri Lanka, and is therefore an important centre for Arts & Crafts. Following a day visiting the Temple of the Tooth Relic, some exploration of handmade crafts was in order. As a fabric addict, I was keen to discover an ancient yet contemporary technique for fabric transformation: the Art of Batik !
There are many things to see and do on the Road to Kandy in order to discover the secrets of beautiful Sri Lanka. One thing that immediately tempted me when I began reading about Sri Lanka, were the Spice Gardens. I stayed in Colombo in a neighbourhood called Cinnamon Gardens, so I wanted to look into the “spice connection” of Sri Lanka…