Soo many events on offer over 3 weekends, and there is something for everyone too! I can't wait to…read moresee the Water Ski Show!

So many great events for the family. From KiteFest to Jetty Fiesta.read more

I was so bummed that I missed out on this place on the weekend, but I have a feeling this isn't the…read morelast time I will be on the Gold Coast so I will ensure I go back for an evening sesh. I couldn't find the Marketta Cafe, so I have a strange feeling that the cafe is part the Miami Marketta. We went there to get an iced coffee after the beach. They didn't have Iced Americanos on the menu, but they gladly made them for us. Also, I was short about 1 dollar since we were trying to get ride of all of our Australian coins, and the lady happily said, no worries that's enough. She was super nice and to top it off the coffee was the best we had since our stay on the Gold Coast (better than Zarraffa's, which I am sure is not difficult). The cafe was fully mums and babies (it was Tuesday late morning), and from the menu I saw that there was some delicious smoothies as well as other yummy snacks and cabinet food. Keep doing what you are doing Marketta Cafe!

Gung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Year of the Dragon everyone…read more Chinatown in the Valley is the traditional venue for Chinese New Year celebrations organised by the Brisbane City Council. The festivities usually run over three days and will consist of lion dances (usually several times a day), dragon dances (rarer), fire crackers, market stalls selling Asian paraphernalia and performances from various cultural and musical groups. For a little bit of trivia, the most obvious difference between a lion and a dragon dance is the size of the animal. The lion is operated by two people while a dragon needs many people to form the body. I'm not expert but I'm sure there are other differences as well such as dance steps and probably costuming. The best part about seeing in Chinese New year in Chinatown is the choice of restaurants nearby. King of Kings, Golden Palace and China House are three of the bigger Chinese restaurants on the mall. If you're not fussy about eating Chinese food on the night, then try Singapore Lah or Green Tea for some delicious Vietnamese fare. Make sure you get in early and reserve a table to avoid disappointment. For those who missed out this year, don't worry. The lions will crash through the Chinese gates to welcome Year of the Snake around February 10th 2013.

This was the first time, I had gone to this festival. It is…read morea festival of vintage cars, hotrods and all sorts of motorbikes, based around Ricks Garage.

The line up at Sunset Sounds is usually pretty impressive; the year I went, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,…read moreMoby, and Grizzly Bear were headlining, while local acts like Little Red, Sarah Blasko and Bertie Blackman stole the show during their sets. Staged in the city botanical gardens, Sunset Sounds is a chilled out festival for those who are after a festival experience that is youth oriented without being obnoxious. The main demographic is probably 18-24 year olds who shop at General Pants and wear floppy hats. Most of the attendees are quite friendly and chilled out; no one pushes in an attempt to get to the front of the stage, and when a great song is playing people are generally content having a boogie on their own. What could have been better handled was the lack of good food stalls; besides the usual satay stands and pizza stalls, there wasn't much of a range when it came to dinner, and my festival companions and I were left chewing somberly on cobs of corn. I'd have to say the best thing about Sunset Sounds is the line up, while the worst is probably the amount of young girls wearing shorts so short and so tight they may as well be naked.

Probably the premier winter festival in Eastern Australia…read more * Choose wisely the crowd you choose to mingle with, as youre in Byron. And there is a diverse taste of music for people that come to this festival. Alas it has grown bigger than it needs to from its humble origins

How do you review an eleven-year relationship? We were so young, Splendour and me, when it all…read morebegan. Some might say it was a scandalous start, me at seventeen years of age attending Splendour's first birthday (a legitimate birthday, the first ever Splendour in 2001). We were young, we were crazy, we were in love (with music). It was a one-day event back then, mostly attended by the hippies of Byron and the kids like me heading in because it was a gig we were legally allowed to attend (with our beautiful under-18 wristbands). I followed my favourite band there--Something for Kate had just released Echolalia and I was smitten. (I'm still smitten, though not sure if I'm proud or embarrassed to admit it). That may have been the highlight for me, but it was on par with throwing my hands in the air like I CARED A LOT ABOUT THE WORLD! for Michael Franti, and doing my best trancing to Squarepusher in the doof doof tent because my festival buddy had gotten us both hooked on My Red Hot Car. Also walking past Dylan Lewis and having him throw us the friendly horns after yelling "DYLAN!" at him was pretty great--we were already missing Recovery pretty bad by then. Were I to rate just the 2001 event, it would have scored five stars. Originally in this review I kept going with a recap of each year I attended the festival, but it got too long for the 5001 character count so I decided to nip it in the bud. I'll probably turn it into a blog post instead. You may note I used past tense when I wrote "attended", because I'm sure to not attend Splendour for a very, very long time now (if ever). This is partly because I've moved from Brisbane to Hobart, and partly because Splendour has become a douche-fest full of punters off their faces who don't give two hoots about the music, instead proud to go down in history having been off their face at a festival for an entire weekend. I'm a bitter, jaded old lady now and the music can't overcome the jerks, so it's sideshows and sideshows alone in my future. Were this review for historic events, it would be four or five stars. But I'll stick to being a poopy pants. Our relationship was wonderful while it lasted but in the end, it was a bad break-up... I'll blame it on Other People, but let's face it, Splendour. We grew apart. In its current state... Splendour? Eek! Methinks not.

First time I have been to such a event, it rained early in the morning ,but once the rain cleared,…read moreeveryone came down . It was a great festival / experience . The food was absolutely excellent , it is also a very family friendly experience , with plenty of security and Police. So if you missed this year ,mark it down for next year. BTW the fireworks at the end where spectacular .