Tag Archives: Australia

One-night stand: naked brews

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Any half-decent maker of alcohol with a naked man as its logo was always going to get a look in on TTB.

Coldstream Brewery boutique beer

Coldstream Brewery, nestled in the heart of the Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia, is more than half decent. It’s the kind of establishment where you can to cozy up to that special someone, next to the fire, over at least 10 different types beers and ciders. Yep, you’ll be spoilt for choice on a night out at the Coldstream brewery, and not-so-spoilt with a cozy hangover the next day, thanks to a drinks menu that sports ciders, seasonal lagers, ales and pilsners. Continue reading →

Travelgasm: a massive night out

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I certainly don’t need a reason to have a night out, but I’ve now got a regular excuse to drink cocktails on a school night. For the past five months I’ve stamped the last Thursday of every month in my calendar RESERVED: Travel Massive.

Brisbane Travel Massive crew

Travel Massive started as travel networking drinks at a backpackers in Sydney, Australia and has now spread around the world. It’s grown from being just a few travel-lovers sharing beers to a global travel meet-up. Travel Massive is now connecting the travel industry with start-ups, bloggers and socially engaged travellers in cities like New York, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Melbourne and Singapore. Continue reading →

One-night stand: Holy shirt!

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Shirt Bar, Kent Street, Sydney CBD.

Many a shirt has been taken off after a rowdy night in a bar, but have you ever taken an extra shirt home with you? You can do just that at Sydney’s Shirt Bar.

I’ve spoken about my fascination with clever concepts and unique interiors before here and here but this bar is not just a hipster hangout, it’s a slashie establishment: cafe/bar/shirt shop. Yep, shirts. Forgot to wear a shirt to work this morning? Never mind! You can just pop down to Shirt Bar and buy one with you morning latte. Clever and practical. My kind of place.

At Shirt Bar – which by the way is conveniently located a stone’s throw from some of Sydney’s biggest corporate offices – apart from the usual café/bar fare, you can get measured for, and buy a shirt. It’s not just for the lads either – there are plenty of cute lady’s tailored shirts there too. Chances are you might need a few new shirts if you make a habit of eating Shirt Bar’s scrumptious dark chocolate and raspberry brownies too often. Continue reading →

Travelgasm: when the festival’s rockin’, do come a knockin’

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For the past 15 years, the hospitable people of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, Queensland, Australia, have been allowing fans of everything retro to get their rocks off at Cooly Rocks On.

The celebration of all things 50s and 60s (known as Wintersun until 2010) has a long history on the Gold Coast. This festival was rocking long before it was trendy to be retro, but with the resurgence of all things nostalgic in the past five years or so, crowds continue to grow each year.

I was corrupted at a young age by nostalgia. My first birthday was at a car show. Being a first-born daughter didn’t stop my father – a total old car nut – from taking me out into the garage every chance he got to teach me the ropes. Mum and Dad took me along to rock ‘n’ roll dancing lessons, and I was MORTIFIED when I was picked up from school in our 1964 Pontiac Parisienne. (I later realised this was actually pretty cool). Continue reading →

One-night stand: a Stitch in time

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Stitch Bar, Sydney, Australia

The doors of Stitch were wide, wide open – so we* slipped right in.

Actually, wide open might be a bit of an exaggeration because the doorway of Stitch Bar is actually a haberdashery shop front, complete with a rack of clothes. Oh, and a dark mysterious man playing the electric guitar. (Yes, really. We later find out he’s security.)

Stitch entrance

Despite feeling like, so not hip enough to walk into this bar, we pushed forward through the doorway. As we descend down the darkened stairs, I spotted 20 or so vintage Singer sewing machines holding the bar up. Very clever. If I didn’t know better (and if there wasn’t Johnny Cash blasting from the speakers) I’d have thought I had just walked into my grandmother’s sitting room. But Nan didn’t own multiple sewing machines and she certainly wasn’t a Johnny Cash fan. She was a fan of the lampshade though, as are the owners of Stitch, with many vintage-style light covers softening the glow around the bar.

Sew cool - the Singer

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One-night stand: Melbourne

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Melbourne, Australia. She’s a saucy minx of a city.

Given she was named after the rumored lover of Queen Victoria of England, Lord Melbourne, it’s really no surprise.

One-night stand: MelbourneI missed out on the organisation gene, so I regularly find myself somewhere new without enough time to do everything I’d like. I like to see the sights without it feeling like a night of bad speed dating, rushing from one half-baked experience to the next.

With the awkwardness of three-minute dates in mind, I’ve made sure the following is a regular day, not too short and not too long, just right. By that I mean six to eight hours, not a ridiculous list you couldn’t possibly do in a day. I don’t know about you, but when I travel, especially if I’m on holidays, I do not get up before 6am.

9am – Coffee: the breakfast of champions

As my fellow caffeine addicts will know, it’s hard to start any day without a coffee, and luckily enough, Melbourne has the best brew in Australia.

A local introduced me to a funky laneway café which boasts tasty coffee and an interior not unlike stepping back in time to the 30s and 40’s. Complete with a barber and shoe-shiner, Captains of Industry is on Somerset Place, just a few left turns off Elizabeth Street, in Melbourne’s city centre.

Continue reading →