The Adelaide Fringe is the second-biggest fringe festival in the world, the largest open-access arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere, and Australia’s biggest ticket-selling arts festival.
It completely takes over Adelaide and its surrounds from February 16 to March 18.
Venues big and small, pop-up and permanent, house thousands of artists from all over Adelaide, Australia and the world.
Around most of Adelaide’s corners, whether in an alleyway, a tent, a pub, a laundromat, or an abandoned hospital, you’ll be bound to find Fringe goodness in some shape or form.
Each year the skies above Canowindra come alive with the roar of the burners and the visual spectacular provided when mass hot-air balloons take off in competition, joy and commercial flights.
During the Canowindra Balloon Challenge, which this year will be held from April 21-29, the town receives over 10,000 visitors to see the balloons.
The wide-open spaces, ideal weather conditions, and friendly local people make this an ideal area for hot-air ballooning.
The challenge is just one of a raft of activities to be held this year in Central NSW. See www.visitcentralnsw.com.au
The experience at Western Australia’s Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse has dramatically improved following extensive renovations worth over $1 million, with visitors able to take in panoramic ocean views from a new observation platform.
Other improvements include landscaped lawns, availability of refreshments from the new café in the restored lighthouse-keeper’s cottage, and a nautical-themed playground.
The café offers expansive decking, featuring old wooden pylons from the Busselton Jetty, overlooking the playground. Nestled in the playground’s sandpit is a 1930s wooden clipper boat, restored with the assistance of the Dunsborough Men’s Shed.
Half-hour guided tours of the lighthouse are available for $15 per adult.
A new interactive interpretive centre, housed in the remaining lighthouse-keeper’s cottage, is scheduled to open this July.
Oaks Hotels & Resorts is offering deals at a range of Australian properties with price tags less than $50 per person per night.
Properties available include Oaks Oasis Resort on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Oaks Embassy in Adelaide’s West End, and Oaks Elan Darwin overlooking Darwin’s harbour.
A stay at Oaks Lagoons in Port Douglas is priced from $49.50 per person per night based on two guests and a minimum two-night stay in a spa apartment.
It’s the quintessential tropical resort destination, blending deluxe, self-contained accommodation complete with private balconies, outdoor spas and swim-out facilities, plus six lagoon pools.
All the specials are available for selected nights in February.
Leisure Inn Penny Royal, at Launceston, is offering packages in conjunction with the adjacent Penny Royal Adventure Park where you can enjoy cliff walks, rope bridges, and indoor and outdoor rock-climbing walls.
The offer includes free wi-fi, $80 worth of Penny Royal Adventure Park Vouchers so you can enjoy all of the on-site attractions, and a pre-paid discount off the best flexible accommodation rate.
