Travel & Lifestyle

Opened this past weekend, vintage-inspired European restaurant Bert’s is the latest edition to The Newport, Merivale’s sprawling Northern Beaches destination. Taking design cues from the grand hotel rooms of the 1930s, the new addition is headed by Executive Chef Jordan Toft and Head Chef Sam Kane who lead a team from a centre kitchen, flanked…

Nike will be highlighting the benefits of a lifestyle shoe that uses 100% Air technology when they launch the new Air Max 270 in Australia on the 1st of February. The latest innovation of Nike’s iconic Air Max series, the 270’s will be adapting a big part of their running shoes to their lifestyle brand,…

Switzerland is full of exciting day trips no matter which city you choose as a base. For access to the Northern part of the country, the most popular option is Zürich: the country’s largest city and one of its most well-known. It’s for this reason that Swissotel is one of the best options for either…

Across two stages and three days, punters who attend the remote Air Festival in Indonesia appear destined to experience an event unlike any other. Now in its fourth year, the event merges underground dance music culture with ceremony and sacredness, promising a three day experience ” in which friendships are forged, hearts are opened and…

Recently linking up with New Caledonia Tourism, Australian band Crooked Colours headed out to the South Pacific hotspot as part a new destination marketing campaign established to boost the number of Australian travellers out to the area. Crooked Colours wound up recording music inspired by their travels and even locked down a music video when…

United have introduced a direct nonstop flight between Sydney, Australia and Houston, Texas on a new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, joining Los Angeles and San Francisco to become the airline’s third direct route from Sydney to the U.S.A. The service will serve as competition to Qantas’ direct service to Dallas, Texas and is the fifth US…

Award-winning Sydney pub The Unicorn will be continuing their “My Australia” guest chef collaboration series next month with “Back to the Future”, the fourth edition of the program which will welcome Lee Ho Fook into the kitchen as the popular Melbourne restaurant’s head chef, Victor Liong, takes the reigns. Set for Sunday 4th February, the…

In what should come as some very welcome news to discerning wine lovers in Sydney, hospitality juggernaut Merivale have announced that they have added the full set of Penfolds Grange to their premier wine collection. For those not already up on Penfolds, the label is one of the country’s most iconic and prestigious, known for…

Little Creatures are switching things up as we head deeper into 2018, giving their range a facelift with some experimental design. And though they have delved into a big packaging makeover, the brewers have had the good sense to leave the contents as is, with the beer remaining unchanged. The packaging refresh is the biggest…

Don’t make the mistake of assuming Adina Apartment Checkpoint Charlie is right next to the famous historic crossing point of Berlin. It’s not; this particular Adina Hotel – one of three dotted across the enormous city – is around a 10 minute walk from the area, a welcome distance seeing as Checkpoint Charlie is teeming…

It was Christmas night in Abu Dhabi, and a surprise Business Class upgrade at the gate (thanks to my Platinum Velocity Status and an overbooked aircraft) was nothing less than a Christmas miracle. It’s nothing short of a dream for a 14 hour flight – among the longest in the world. My first time flying…

With its card deck design, three-acre SkyPark and impressive fifty-five storey height, Marina Bay Sands is by far one of the world’s most unique resorts and is an unmistakable symbol of opulence in Singapore. But when there are queues on a Wednesday night just to go up to the bar, CÉ LA VI, and additional…

After the dates were secured for Bonnaroo in June 2017, we’ve all been itching to check out the lineup. Some of the festival headliners include massive names such as Eminem, The Killers, and Muse – but what’s really got our attention are the massively anticipated Australian artists who are making huge names for themselves. Featured…

With the fiery single “Oxide”, indie-pop artist Phia has returned home from a successful tour through Europe and the UK. The single, taken from Phia’s The Woman Who Counted the Stars, represents an exciting phase for Phia, who has explored a new, heavier direction with her music through it. Phia will be playing the Grampians Music Festival in Victoria…

The Star Gold Coast will welcome a new rooftop restaurant and bar led by acclaimed Gold Coast restaurateur Simon Gloftis and entertainment expert Billy Cross ahead of this year’s Commonwealth Games. Set to open in March, the yet to be named venue will sit atop The Darling, the property’s new luxury suite hotel. Co-managed by…

Often cited as one of the rowdiest and most touristy pubs across Sydney’s CBD, the long-established, much-maligned Scruffy Murphy’s could be calling last drinks this year as the site’s new owner has lodged a stage one development application with the City of Sydney. KHG Co Pty Ltd, who along with Scruffy Murphy’s now owns the…

Amidst the Christmas rush you may have missed out one of Nike’s latest releases, the newest iteration of the company’s extremely popular NikeCourt Vapor line. Enjoying somewhat of a showcase at the Australian Open this month, the Air Zoom Vapor X, which first hit shelves in December, is the new expression of that series, designed…

One of Sydney’s finest cocktail bars, Eau De Vie, has just started a new partnership with Star of Bombay that has resulted in an exclusively-designed custom martini trolley that will be available at the venue to reflect the ceremonial ritual of the classic martini services influenced by iconic hotel bars throughout history. The bespoke theatrical…

Rock legends Foo Fighters have announced two pop up pubs in Sydney and Melbourne. The Foo Fighters Hotel in Sydney (aka Hotel Hollywood) and the Fooie Bar in Melbourne (aka Cherry Bar) will stock the bands own “Foo Town” brew, a lager developed by the band and Newtown based brewery Young Henrys. All this is…

In June 2017, one of the most influential and celebrated albums of all time – The Beatles‘ Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band – celebrated its 50th Birthday in the USA. As a self-confessed Beatles obsessive, I took to the skies and headed to the permanent Cirque du Soleil production in Las Vegas, Love, which…

Coming to a hushed located in the CBD this April will be a huge Harry Potter themed bottomless brunch, set up like a Hogwarts dining room with unlimited butter beer and other specially created drinks. That’s the promise with The Wizard Brunch, announced today, well in advance (because of course tickets are going to fly),…

Following a significant makeover for Burger Project venues across Australia, Neil Perry and Rockpool Dining Group are celebrating the Australian Open by partnering up with Vegemite. You know what this means: vegemite burgers; a collaboration between the renowned chef and the iconic Australia spread that may or may not be delicious – on the one…

Australia is getting the world’s very first adults-only pop-up bar made of over one million blocks of Lego. Come Autumn 2018, The Bricks Bar will be built and deconstructed numerous times, travelling around to four major cities including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. The organisers are a bit hush-hush on details at the moment, including…

Located smack in the middle of Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay, Park Hotel‘s Clarke Quay branch is a treat within the heart of the Lion City. Another building inspired by Singapore’s colonial past, its simple yet beautiful layout is pleasing to the eyes. Walking into the lobby, I could see that the interior continues their…

Acclaimed Japanese chef Tomotaka Ishizuka is opening a restaurant under his namesake on Melbourne’s Bourke Street in the hopes of introducing the local food scene to a truly refined and delicate Japanese food art form comparable to Western haute cuisine. For anyone fortunate enough to get into the 16 seater restaurant a unique sensory experience…

Across twelve nights in February, Barangaroo will play host to a brand new festival dubbed Sunset20°N: a celebration blending music, food and culture in the picturesque surrounds of Barangaroo Reserve. Named for a strong woman and independent leader of the Cammeraygal people of Sydney, the enormous program will consist of mostly female artists from across…

Long weekends in Australia are best served with a good ol’ fashioned road trip, which is why Ford are taking heading up and down the east coast with a couple of sweet rides for the upcoming Australia Day Long Weekend. The company is offering up Mustangs for free to loan to Aussies so they can…

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day in Abu Dhabi, on my way home from Canada. Flying with Etihad, who base themselves out of the U.A.E. Capital City, a stop-over couldn’t be made easier – and is indeed encouraged for visitors to the transit hub. With my bag checked through to Australia, I…

When flying around Asia, the difference in price between budget carriers (Scoot, Tiger and Air Asia) and everyone else can be staggering. On the day I was flying, you were looking at flights one-tenth the price to fly with Air Asia versus Malaysian Airlines, or an indirect competitor. So the question is, for a short…

Singapore might be known for its South East Asian street food and buzzing hawker centres, but it also has a thriving café culture well worth exploring. Visitors to the lively city can expect to see familiar faces on the menu like avocado on toast and interpretations of the good ol’ big breakfast, but keep an…