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.

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!

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 .

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.

My 2011 review would have been four stars, because while I wasn't a skater, the winter festival…read moregave us something to get excited about and transformed the bleak expanse of King George Square into a wintry dreamland. I spent multiple evenings in the Alpine Ski Hut, sipping on (slightly chemical-tasting) gluhwein from my festival-branded take-home mug and watching the skaters, hoping and praying for a bit of schadenfreude. It wasn't exactly what I'd pictured of winterfest when I'd first read about it, but it was fun. 2012 Winter Festival is less welcoming. In essence, everything is the same (the humblebrag of "more food stalls!" definitely feels exaggerated) and yet the physical layout has been altered a little. In some ways, for the better - no longer do skaters have to do the walk of shame from one side of KGS (where they booted up) to the other (where the rink was), but as far as MY interests lie, for the worse - walking through, it feels like it's harder to view the skaters this year? The Alpine Ski Hut is tucked in behind everything, where last year it stretched out over some of the steps. It doesn't make me want to run inside, find a cosy chair and drink a gluhwein. I've been to the 2012 winterfest twice so far and both times I've not deigned to walk in to last year's stomping ground. The time's gonna have to come, though, and it's gonna have to come before July 1, when the festival packs up for another year. In any case, take advantage of the free Lipton chai during these chilly evenings.

During winter this year, there was a flurry of excitement around King George Square. Over a few…read moredays, there was a team putting together an ice rink and toboggan area on the square itself and everyone I knew who worked or passed through the city was eager to give it a try. Initially, I wasn't keen to go ice skating - it was over priced and the ice had melted partially, but soon enough I was getting into the winter festival spirit. On my way home, I'd stop by some of the stalls for some fresh orange juice, freshly fried cinnamon donuts, and mini pancakes. My friend was visiting from overseas and he joined us on a family expedition out on the ice. We picked up our skates and hobbled over to the rink, which was bustling with people. A few skaters stacked it trying to pull off tricky moves on the small rink, and beginners had plastic stabilisers they could grasp onto as they found their feet. It was a sunny, beautiful day out, and one of the best Sundays I had this year. It was more expensive than ice skating out in Acacia Ridge or Boondall, but the atmosphere - with the stalls from local businesses, the kids excited for their first skate, the couples on their first dates - was charming and I'll definitely be going back next year.

The most magical time of the year is not DECEMBER it is in…read morefact JANUARY (the month of glorious, smelly old books!) Lifeline book fest is akin to Christmas, Hanukkah and my Birthday, In fact every year I come in armed with a trolley bag and steely determination to nab every good book I find. But you ain't got to be no square to enjoy books, from Tolstoy, Dancing Cat's and Bird Watching almanacs to Snoop Doggy Doggs ABC, Bookfest has got you covered. I like to start off in the RARE EXPENSIVE section and gradually wheeze my way to the children's books. (Don't tell me you don't want Roald Dahls BFG on your bookcase.) Bookfest is likely to steal away your whole day so really do try and come prepared. It's best to come on the first couple of days before the best books are nabbed, also PLEASE do account for food stuffs otherwise you'll wind up shaking, confused and clutching the sport biography of Michael Clark (Asiya circa 2010)

It's the night before Lifeline Bookfest and I'm acting like a five year old does on Christmas Eve…read more I'm making wishlists, setting my alarm, and trying to drink as much warm milk as I can manage because I JUST CAN'T SLEEP. I'm too excited. Lifeline Bookfest is held at the Brisbane Convention Centre bi-annually. It's a Save The Date kind of affair. Basically, an entire libraries worth of books is dumped and strewn throughout an exhibition hall and put on sale for dirt cheap prices. There are literally MOUNTAINS of books to sift through. It's not all chaos though, the books are categorised by genre. You'll be able to navigate through the aisles easily enough if you can manage to move amid the crowd. Favourites among the crowd are the HQ (High Quality) section, and the games section. Looking for a backgammon board or a game of Cluedo? You'll find it here. Several of them. You'd do well to get in early. There are hoardes of people that travel all across Brisbane for this event. People use trollies instead of book bags. It is an all out frenzy. You'll only be able to move an inch at a time through the aisles because you'll be immersed in a thick soup of crazed book worms getting high on stale book smell. The best part is listening to the public announcements while you're browsing. There's always calls for missing people and lost children. The guy who does the call outs is sardonic and funny as hell. He alone is worth coming down for.

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.

Usually set to go off the first Sat of September every year, this is something special to Brisbane…read moreand an event everyone should go to, at least once. It's kind of like New Years Eve... but not really. All around the city there are entertainers, performers, things to do, things to see and lots and lots of things to eat. These people sure love to celebrate. The dump and burn is very popular, everyone always looks out for it. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a really really REALLY loud plane that goes and dumps its fuel up in the air so you see a really cool firey thing happen behind a plane flying very very fast. Last year the Australian Defence Forces had a program featuring Blackhawk helicopter flyovers at 3.30pm and 5pm and Superhornet F18 aerial displays at 4pm. The fireworks usually happen at 7:30pm and last for a good 20-30 minutes, it is quite a sight to see.

Call me a kill-joy, but I just don't really get Riverfire. The city becomes a mess of people, all…read moreclambering for the best vantage points, excessive amounts of money are spent on getting to said vantage points and no matter what lasers or music they add, at the end of the day, it's just fireworks and an excuse to go out. I wouldn't say my inner firework-loving child has completely died, but it prefers to see the sky light up in slightly less hyped-up conditions.

Sports bar off one of the strips in Byron bay. Decent happy hour and lots of people watching.read more

Stopped in for a couple drinks on a sunny afternoon. Was craving a margarita and mojito, so tried…read moreboth! Both were mixed well and staff were friendly. No patio or view, but a good place to watch a game and have a few drinks. I didn't try the food but it looked decent.