Luxperience Travel Event

Luxperience 2013 has been the largest luxury travel trade event in the Australia and Pacific region. It is a great trade show for connecting luxury and high-end travel providers with specialist buyers from around the world. The show was already up 50 per cent compared to the the first one in 2012. Over 300 buyers met with 148 exhibitor companies during the 3 day event. The list of exhibitors included Monaco Government Tourist Bureau, Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, Coco Collection Maldives, Viceroy Hotels, Luxury Lodges of Australia, Great Walks of Australia, Tourism Fiji, Mountain Landing New Zealand, The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, Blanket Bay in New Zealand, Berkeley River Lodge North Western Australia, State and regional tourist offices, and more.

Whisky Live Sydney 2013

Very unique and informative event Whisky Live Dinner was held at the at the Four Seasons Hotel with world whisky expert Martine Nouet a French national based in UK. Martine spent weeks designing the menu with the head chef and what a match it turned out to be. Present were some prominent foodies and I got to meet Natasha from East Side Radio who has a food program on Saturday afternoons. The combination of scotch and Tasmanian whiskys with the Nant sherry wood matching perfectly with the chocolate plate divine. And during the weekend Sydney had great collection of whiskies to taste and buy, all under one roof at Paddington Town Hall. It was a fantastic treat to taste whiskies from traditional and new distilleries from around the world.

            

Sydney Film Festival 2013

Vivid Sydney comes to Darling Harbour

With winter on its way, the city has once again been transformed into a canvas of light, music and ideas by Vivid Sydney. And this year, Darling Harbour is the backdrop for a spectacular show never before seen in Australia. Every night during Vivid, Aquatique Water Theatre is transforming Cockle Bay into a 20-metre wall of water, light, colour, projections and music inspired by the fountains of Versailles. When you visit Cockle Bay Wharf for a drink, grab a movie and pizza at the IMAX Theatre complex, view the rooftop projections at the Australian National Maritime Museum and catch Luminous at Darling Quarter.

Vivid Sydney 2013 Opening Night Party at MCA

There was a full moon to accentuate the opening night of the Vivid Sydney Festival. The rain was ineffectual in dampening the enthusiasm of the attendees of the launch event at the level six balcony at MCA and those on street and water level. The count down by the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade Andrew Stoner and turning of the switch to light up the Sydney landmarks gave a new year’s eve type feel to what was about to visually astonish us. And it was spectacular. The creativity and ingenuity in the moving light displays were captivating. Seeing the Opera House in a way I had never experienced before by artistic lights combined with the Opera House being visually flanked by a cruise ship in port and a cruise ship heading out alongside the Botanic Gardens made for a never-to-be repeated moment. In a word, spectacular!

Cavalia Premiere in Sydney

Cavalia is a magnificent show for everyone. It combined dressage horse riding with stunts, dance and acrobatics, all in the one show. It was like getting three shows for the price of one. And the live band were extraordinary. Having cast members face horses hurtling towards them, risking serious injury doing acrobatics on the backs of horses and riding upside down on them were just part of the exciting action-packed performance. The falling of autumn leaves and other effects inside the theatre added such variety and perspectives to the experience.

Many celebrities were spotted attending including Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Larry Emdur, Alan Jones, Claudia Karvan, Kirk Pengilly and Layne Beachley to name a few. They could be seen also in the Rendez-Vous Lounge enjoying the food and drinks before the show, at intermission and the reception after the show. It’s a great event for adults and kids.

Walk on the Wine Side

It was an impressive Monday afternoon at the Intercontinental in Sydney. The hotel was hosting one of the largest trade tasting event of Australian and international wines. Featuring over 300 wines I had a rather difficult choice to cover all areas. There were just too many great wine brands. In conclusion my attention was diverted to great selection of premium French and Italian wines from Luxury Beverage Group and Franc About Wine. 

Luxury Beverage Group with premium French wines

Franc About Wine - specialist in Italian and French wine regions

David Jones Australian Derby Day 2013

Saturday saw Sydney's finest punters and partygoers at Royal Randwick to be part of the festivities at David Jones Australia Derby Day. It was a beautiful day. The new accessible sections of the new grandstand provided new levels of comfort and service for guests to the track, with the Chairman's Club being opulent. Tabcorp had a beautifully presented marquee with many guests including celebrity attendee Danielle Spencer, enjoying the French bubbly and nosh. Black Caviar was in its element delivering to the watchful crowd another victory. The Members after party was in full swing with a disc jockey pumping out tunes that had the dance floor full and others left to groove in their seats. We look forward to more excitement throughout The BMW Sydney Carnival.

Golden Slipper 2013

Rosehill Gardens racecourse saw the Golden Slipper run on Saturday. There was a sea of colour with race and partygoers in full swing enjoying the day, festivities, and punting. It made for a fun day with Sydney identities such as John Singleton rubbing shoulders with fellow racegoers. The atmosphere was electric at every race. And the fashions added to the special race event, being one of many to come on the Sydney Autumn Racing calendar. Schweppes catered for their patrons with a range of cocktails, including Mules and Mojitos, and canapés.

Sydney Royal Easter Show

Royal Easter Show is an annual agricultural event held in Sydney to promote and display livestock, produce and rural merchandise. This year the show celebrates 190 years of history. It is one of the largest event in Sydney with 900,000 people visiting Sydney Olympic Park each year to see the show which was first held in 1823 and is run by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW.

Marquee Sydney's Party

Marquee Sydney rocks! Its first birthday event lived up to the venue's "Place to be" image. The place was pumping. Celebrities attending the VIP soiree included supermodel Jennifer Hawkins and Prinnie Stevens just to name a few. The artists mixed tracks creating amazing tunes that had the crowd going off on the dance floors till the early hours of the morning. It was a fantastic night.

Taste of Sydney 2013

Taste of Sydney is fantastic. It's like designing your own degustation menu at a fraction of the price of eating in. You get to eat dishes from top restaurants from Sydney and beyond, taste foods and drinks from around Australia and New Zealand, including cider, wines, beers, ginger beer and top it off with gelato or frozen yoghurt in a wonderful park setting. 
There was entertainment for adults and kids, including live music and disc jockeys, and a foosball table at the Rekorderlig marquee. Celebrity chefs from former Master Chef episodes were sprinkled throughout the venue.
The Miele VIP tent served as a great place to take dishes and drinks back to and chill out with service from the dedicated bar. And the portable loos set a new standard.
Rekorderlig had a marquee with great tunes pumping it out making it an exciting place to hang. And all the cider flavours tasted great.
Food highlights included, Spit Roast Suckling Pig from Four In Hand, Roast Murray Valley Pork Salad from Longrain, Wood Roasted Chicken Radicchio from The Woods, Panko-fried Pork Belly from Sake Restaurant & Bar, Grimaud Duck from Jonah's and Crayfish Croquettes from Biota Dining (Bowral). There were other great sounding dishes from other restaurants that we did not get to try due to selling out. 
Scotch Fillet Cha Kebap on Charcoal Spit from Efendy, Suckling Pig Ragu from Popolo, and Chocolate, Yuzu Curd, Miso Butterscotch from Three Blue Ducks.
Cocktail making displays and tastings were awesome with ingenious vessels to drink from (and take home). 
There was so much to do, you could go to every session and still miss things. So there was always something to see, do and taste. It runs from 14-17 March. 

Wine Odyssey Australia

At Wine Odyssey Australia  wineries visited included:
Bilgavia Estate which had a great Blanc de Blanc and Verdelho.
Mount Eyre which had a refreshing Fiano. McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth and Lovedale were of particular note and the "sticky" wines were fantastic. 
Furthermore, they had a taste of a Taittinger Champagne that the winery can do a special of around $55 a bottle. Margan's Semillon was a delight. Antonio from Puntino Trattoria from 41 Crown Street, Woolloomooloo had sensational meatballs and wonderfully soft gnocchi. Salt Meets Cheese platters were delish with fig jam and tasty crackers. Wine Odyssey Australia had fresh baby spinach and meatball wraps which were very filling.There was a live band adding to the fantastic atmosphere.

Mardi Gras Sydney 2013

Mazda Opera in the Domain

VIP Launch Sippy Sundays

Key points of the venue and the launch party are:

·         Stretch chesterfield makes a cool statement and great for parties
·         Pear, peach and watermelon Bellinis flowing
·         DJ had people grooving
·         Glamorous set
·         Daniel Kowalski the Olympic gold winning swimmer was enjoying the night with his friends
·         Different sections of Mrs Sippy provide different ambiance with a central bar linking the front and back
·         Fantastic canapes including scallops cooked and served on the shell, pork sliders, crab and roe on wholemeal portions.