This spring, fashionistas will flock to Melbourne to experience The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture, a never-before-seen exhibition at the National Gallery Victoria.
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In celebration, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, the NGV’s official accommodation partner, has created a series of couture cocktails, each highlighting a particular design theme synonymous with the House of Dior.
With collections spanning 1947-1957, for instance, Christian Dior developed a series of distinct lines that shaped the silhouette of his designs. The Zig-Zag, Tulip, Oblique, H and Y lines are just a few of his defining shapes.
The Sofitel’s matching cocktail — The Line — contains spiced rum, pedro ximenez and Mozart Dark, garnished with fresh fig.
“The sharp lines of the martini glass, paired with the soft curve of the fig, give the cocktail a signature silhouette,” said its creator, bar manager Marc Dasan.
The hotel’s ‘So Cultural package’ is priced from $315 per room per night, and includes breakfast for two at No 35 Restaurant plus two tickets to NGV’s The House of Dior exhibition.
Canberra’s Floriade — the Southern Hemisphere’s largest flower show — will celebrate its 30th anniversary from 16 September to 15 October with a number of major additions to the program.
The introduction of an evening opening event — the Floriade Twilight Concert — on Friday 15 September heralds the changes. It will feature an open-air performance by the David Bowie Tribute band supported by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and will also offers an opportunity for visitors to see the flowerbed designs before the gates officially open.
Floriade’s after-dark experience, NightFest will run across two separate weekend dates of 22-24 September and 29 September-01 October, from 8-11pm each night.
It will feature an increased offering of lighting designs and interactive installations, plus more live music, roving entertainment, local food-and-beverage options and a large new, designated stage for comedy performances.
Visit www.visitcanberra.com.au
Book a three, four or seven-night Murray River cruise more than 60 days prior to departure and save up to 15 per cent with Captain Cook Cruises.
The PS Murray Princess has been finished with polished wood and gold trimmings, and features a winding staircase, full-length windows and a paddlewheel encased in glass. In many ways it replicates the paddlewheelers that first cruised the Murray in the 1800s.
Bird watchers will love the abundance of birds along the river, including breeding swans, swamp hens and wood ducks.
The four- and seven-night cruises include visits to a sacred Aboriginal site, a sheep station and woolshed, and a native wildlife shelter.
Follow the food-and-wine trail for tastings at several vineyards and cellar doors, or sample some local food and wine with tastings in the Sturt Dining Room and learn more about the Murray and Riverland regions and their produce.
With the discount, prices for a three-night cruise start at $803 per person twin share.
Phone 1300 729 938 or visit www.murrayprincess.com.au
The iconic White Cliffs Underground Motel — the largest underground accommodation in Australia — has embarked on a major makeover, including subterranean digging to further expand the 32-room hotel in the remote outback town.
To mark the new look, bookings made by September 30 will attract an 11 per cent discount, while a two-day safari tour offered by the motel’s sister company, Tri State Safaris, is discounted by 10 per cent until that date.
Guests at the White Cliffs Underground Motel enjoy a constant temperature of 22 degrees, as well as a licensed restaurant, café, bar and above-ground swimming pool.
The tiny opal township is located in far-west NSW, 1025 kilometres from Sydney and 780 kilometres north-east of Adelaide.
The motel dates back to the early 1900s, when opal miners sought sleeping quarters away from the heat. It later became a family home and opened as a motel in 1989, with new tourism venture, Out of the Ordinary Outback, purchasing the property in 2016 as part of its growing stable of NSW Outback experiences.
Works to be completed by April next year include the addition of ensuites to 12 rooms.
The discounted rates are from $291 per couple for two nights or from $261 for solo travellers. Tariffs include a continental breakfast.
Phone 1300 688 225 or visit www.outoftheordinaryoutback.com.au
Run free in gigantic, lush national parks or down kilometres of beautiful, secluded coast during a visit to South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
Or explore shipwrecks, lighthouses, seaside towns and swim in crystal-clear, aquamarine waters.
A few of the top spots to visit on the peninsula include Moonta Bay, with its Splash Town water park, Troubridge Island and lighthouse, which can become your own private island, and Ethel Beach, where you can discover the secrets of its famous shipwreck.
There are also plenty of family-friendly dining options, such as the Stansbury Dalrymple Hotel, which is famous for its fresh oysters, and Warooka’s Inland Sea Restaurant, Warooka, which specialises in locally caught crayfish.
Accommodation-wise, there are plenty of attractive options as well — the Moonta Bay Caravan Park, Yondah Beach House at Foul Bay, Marion Bay Holiday Villas, and Redwing Farmstay at Weetulta.
Visit www.southaustralia.com
