I ferret out interesting and eclectic events in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, so you don't have to do all the hard work. You can subscribe to my articles just for your city by clicking on Best of Brisbane, Sydney Selections or Marvellous Melbourne under Writer Topics below and then hitting the subscribe button at the top of the topic page.
Do the words flash pots, gerbs, comets, wheels and airbursts mean anything to you? Unless you're a display pyrotechnicia... [more]
I've never understood the whole degustation thing. Why be confined by a set menu when you can choose dishes to suit your... [more]
Top 5 Events for Queen's Birthday Long Weekend, Sydney 2012
Queen Elizabeth II's full official title is "Queen Eli... [more]
There were no red carpets, paparazzi, posing celebrities or fawning fans to be seen at the opening night of Nash Theatre... [more]
Top 5 Events for Queen's Birthday Long Weekend 2012
Rejoice Queenslanders. This year we have an extra public holida... [more]
Unless you're a history buff you probably think of Napoleon as a short French guy in a funny hat with his hand curiously... [more]
The grooving, swinging, scatting, zinging Melbourne International Jazz Festival is in town from Friday 1 June to Sunday ... [more]
What's not to love about Italy and Italians? We love them for their food, their history, their language, their music and... [more]
You won't see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or Notre Dame Cathedral but you'll still feel like you're in France ... [more]
You know the scenario. Friday night, 6.50pm. You're running late for the show / movie / restaurant booking, it's raining... [more]
Five Free May Events in Melbourne
Give your credit card a rest this month and get out and about in awesome autumn. ... [more]
Five Free May Events in Sydney
Whoever said the User Pays principle should rule your social life? At Weekend Note... [more]
Five Free May Events in Brisbane
Keep those coins and plastic under lock and key this May. Whether the winds of May... [more]
Coldie, tinnie, amber ale, pot, brew, middie - a beer by any other name would taste as sweet, or perhaps that should be ... [more]
Anzac Day, recognised as one of Australia's most important national days, has been commemorated continuously in Australi... [more]
There's more to Mexico than tacos, mariachi bands, sombreros and tequila. Brisbaneites can lick, sip and suck up all tha... [more]
Come on Brisbane. It's time to awake from The Big Sleep, put on your Top Hat and Red Shoes, jump on The Band Wagon and g... [more]
What once-loved but now discarded items lurk in the depths of your garage? A Ken Done jumper? Wham! records? A tyre swan... [more]
If you subscribe to the theory that art should be for much more than merely "art's sake" then Brisbane's mega annual cha... [more]
Cool. Epic. Rad. Awesome. That's the kind of entertainment kids want in the school holidays and you don't want them beco... [more]
Up until now Melbourne's Docklands has been a pretty unlikely place to have a run-in with a gladiator, catapults or batt... [more]
Five Free April Events in Sydney
There's a surprising and eclectic mix of free events in Sydney this April. Beer, art... [more]
The silver gleam of flashing swords, the smell of leather helmets, the heavy clank of armour, dashing tales of derring-d... [more]
Five Free April Events in Brisbane
My last "Free" article gave you some tips for freewheeling your way through March ... [more]
Start with a flavour base of history, culture and community, pour sponsors, local businesses and charity partners into t... [more]
Five Books to Make You Laugh
In these days when scientists are constantly declaring specific genes responsible for ce... [more]
When Rihanna, George Clooney and Justin Bieber tweet, the world apparently takes notice. Although surely any moderately ... [more]
"Good morning, intrepid film crew. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make a musical or western film fe... [more]
Move over Melbourne and Sydney. All the fun, fashion, excitement and glamour of first class Australian horse racing is c... [more]
Jazz - smooth, sultry, or swinging? Shiraz - mellow or full bodied? However you like your jazz and your shiraz you'll fi... [more]
Transport yourself back in time to the glittering gaiety of Paris in the late nineteenth century. With Modern Woman: Dau... [more]
Free L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival Events for Real Women
We've all seen them in the magazines and on the catwalk... [more]
The Archibald Prize, Australia's richest, most famous and controversial art prize and exhibition, is once more stirring... [more]
Four Free March Events in Sydney
Give your piggy bank and your credit card a rest this March and get out amongst the Au... [more]
Have a Ferris Bueller Style Day Off in Brisbane
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a ... [more]
If you're lucky, you can leave your wallet and credit card at home this March because Sydney is hosting two unique exper... [more]
Discover Brisbane by Colour: Red
Do you ever think of places as being particular colours? My memories of Paris will a... [more]
Wine. You can think of it in 2 ways. Scientifically it's just a beverage made from the fermented juice of grapes, contai... [more]
We like BIG things in Australia. We have Coff's Harbour's Big Banana, the Big Pineapple at Nambour, Ballina's Big Prawn,... [more]
Love them or loathe them there's no doubting that little instruments are big business these days. Once the butt of jokes... [more]
Brisbane Irish Festival 2012
This year a little bit of Irish magic has transformed Brisbane's traditional St Patrick'... [more]
These films may be short but what they lack in length they make up for with talented storytelling, artistic design, supe... [more]
Cross Bondi Beach with Latin American fiesta this month and what do you get? Bondiesta - a fusion of vibrant colours, pu... [more]
Intelligent beach animals with skeletons, muscles and brain-like control centres or intricately constructed hybrids of e... [more]
OK UK. British comedy's worst kept secret is out. The man with the mop (of hair that is), comedian Alan Davies, has retu... [more]
The countdown to Valentine's Day has begun. Large red hearts will soon be replacing Australian flags in shops, my letter... [more]
Valentine's Day - a celebration or all things romantic or another excuse for commercial exploitation of the gullible mas... [more]
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Cupid is refilling his quiver and sharpening his arrows and the scent of romance i... [more]
Coldie, tinnie, amber ale, pot, brew - a beer by any other name would taste as sweet. My apologies to Shakespeare. Whate... [more]
I've always been a fan of short things - short black coffees, short stories, shortbread, children, and short films. And ... [more]
"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggety-jig". So goes the old nursery rhyme. While thes... [more]
You probably never expected to see the words ukulele and superstar in the same sentence and I bet you think it's unlikel... [more]
A funny thing happened on the way to the Powerhouse, well actually it's going to happen once you get to the Powerhouse. ... [more]
The Year of the Dragon will be ushered in on Monday 23 January 2012, but why confine your celebrations to just one day? ... [more]
Some summer activities are just better al fresco under a canopy of velvet skies and twinkling stars - dining and dancing... [more]
We always complain about Christmas shopping but it's really pretty tame and civilised. But once the turkey has been eate... [more]
Australia Day Cockroach Races at the Story Bridge Hotel
Brisbane has the unique distinction of being home to the wor... [more]
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" If those words, delivered with a distinctly sinister and metallic twang, don't mean anything... [more]
Shakespeare - stuffy, highbrow, intellectual, right?. Not necessarily. Prepare to have your Shakespeare preconceptions r... [more]
What do Play School, the Global Financial Crisis, Underbelly and British politics have in common? Many of you might say ... [more]
I'm a sucker for Christmas. I love it all - the religious significance and traditions, the decorations, Christmas trees,... [more]
If you still think Shakespeare is boring and highbrow, then you haven't seen Oberon - a zany, zealous zephyr of a produc... [more]
"There is NOTHING - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats". So says the Water R... [more]
Want to capture all the colour, freshness, tang and fizz of a Spanish summer in a tall, chilled glass? Then Sangria, a t... [more]
You'll be seeing stars in more ways than one at this summer's Ford Focus Moonlight Cinema in the beautiful New Farm Park... [more]
Brisbane Powerhouse was constructed between 1928 and 1940 and is a fine example of Art Deco Industrial Design. It was or... [more]
You can swing with the chimpanzees, trumpet with the elephants, and hop with the kangaroos this coming summer when Taron... [more]
The Owl and the Pussycat may have "danced by the light of the moon", but I bet it wasn't a glowing, orange moon. On Satu... [more]
Environmentalist and nature writer Rachel Carson once said "If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to pr... [more]
Sand, seashores, buckets and spades are guaranteed to bring out the child in all of us. From 26 December 2011 to 26 Apri... [more]
Slap bang in the middle of Queen Street Mall is this amazing steel and glass construction. As well as providing shelter ... [more]
So, you want a great vantage point for the fireworks this New Year's Eve but you're tired of the battle for good places,... [more]
There's nothing cheery about the works of nineteenth century American author, Edgar Allan Poe. His poems and short stori... [more]
How did one of the world's most ancient games recently become one of the hottest and fastest-growing sports on the plane... [more]
Remember when chefs were anonymous back-room people with silly hats, toiling tirelessly over a hot stove? Well those day... [more]
This year's Brisbane International Film Festival, or BIFF as it's fondly known to Brisbane's cinema enthusiasts, will re... [more]
Would you settle for 15 second bursts of fame rather than the 15 minutes so prophetically allotted to us all by Pop arti... [more]
In this age of special effects, wizardry and CGI it's often difficult to find a film with real life suspense. You know, ... [more]
What do you get when you mix artistic enthusiasm and interpretation with complex scientific concepts? Welcome to Concept... [more]
Keep a sharp eye out for Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the Dormouse this October, because I suspect they'l... [more]
Regular patrons of this Woolloongabba establishment have perhaps been protecting their stylish turf and keeping it a sec... [more]
If you're a serious punter or a member of the horse racing fraternity you could be forgiven for thinking that horse raci... [more]
Ladies, dust off your frock finery, dig your pearls out of the jewellery box and find yourselves some white lace gloves.... [more]
French film icon Francois Truffaut once famously stated that " film lovers are sick people". So, how are you feeling? Ar... [more]
You've often heard the saying "Life begins at 40". Brisbane's Bistro Allure is testing this theory from now until 9 Octo... [more]
Barbecues are quintessentially Australian right? Well, not exactly. While Australians probably love barbecues more than ... [more]
That magical, mirrored marvel, the The Courier Mail Spiegeltent, is back in town for three weeks as part of the Brisbane... [more]
If mountain biking through the Andes, fly fishing in Eastern Russia or skateboarding in Afghanistan seem a little beyond... [more]
While it may not be clear where the word cocktail originated, it's certainly easy to see why cocktails are so enduringly... [more]
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's cautionary tale of one man's descent into decadence and iniquity has been brou... [more]
What do the letters QI stand for? Quiet Interlude? Quack Intellectual? Quaint Idea? Actually it's the name of a Quirky, ... [more]
Shocktober will soon be upon us. The Gallery of Modern Art's Australian Cinematique is stepping outside its comfort zone... [more]
What can't you get by without? What are the things that make the world a more pleasant place for you? The ones that woul... [more]
How do you like your jazz? On the river? With food and wine tastings? Played by legends? In the woods? At the 19th Noosa... [more]
I'm a Sydneysider by birth and lived the first twenty-five years of my life very happily there. Now I'm an infrequent vi... [more]
I have to say right up front that I've never lived in Melbourne. I'm a Sydneysider by birth and a Brisbaneite by choice ... [more]
Don't know your pastels from your pastiche or your charcoals from your chiaroscuro? It doesn't matter because Manly Arts... [more]
How do you like your poetry? Pretty or pacey? Pedestrian or passionate? If your ideal is sitting in a comfy chair readin... [more]
The man with the mop (of hair that is), comedian Alan Davies is returning to his stand-up roots. After more than ten yea... [more]
Basking on the sundeck of a 17m catamaran, sea breeze in your hair, salt spray in your face, dolphins gambolling alongsi... [more]
Are the winter blues getting you down? There's nothing like a spot of redecorating to cheer you up and brighten up your ... [more]
Many people will tell you that in polite conversation one shouldn't talk about politics, sex or religion. Some also thin... [more]
If you're over fireworks, and the starry pleasures of the night sky or the possibility of a UFO sighting have lost their... [more]
Queensland's passionate footy supporters are an interesting bunch, with very definite ideas about code superiority. When... [more]
Thought you couldn't combine a passion for fine wine and decadent chocolate with an interest in science? Well think agai... [more]
"It is a truth universally acknowledged..." that Jane Austen's best novel is Pride and Prejudice. Okay - so it's probabl... [more]
Pedal power will take over the streets on Sunday 9 October when Queensland's biggest bike ride, the Wilson HTM Brisbane ... [more]
How do you like your poetry? Pretty or pacey? Pedestrian or passionate? If your ideal is sitting in a comfy chair readi... [more]
