Bloomin' Marvellous

Nothing says spring like bountiful blooms and if you feel like heralding in the season with a splash of colour, you'd be mad not to take advantage of the Council flower give-away this weekend.

This Sunday, the City of Sydney will be giving away thousands of plants and flowers in support of the White Ribbon Foundation and around 30,000 pots of marigolds, begonias, salvia, lobelia, lamium and dianella are on offer in exchange for a teeny-weenie gold coin donation.

There's been nothing this cheap since Eliza Doolittle was flogging her posies!

The plants are left over from the latest Living Colour display which had a bicycle theme and floral blooms dotted around Sydney shaped like spokes, wheels and bikes, to celebrate the Sydney Rides spring bike riding festival.

White Ribbon Australia is the charity partner of Living Colour 2013 and is dedicated to preventing male violence against women.

For a small donation you receive a beautiful plant and help White Ribbon Australia deal with a problem that affects so many women - one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner and one in every three women over the age of 15 reports physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Living Colour has brightened Sydney’s streets for the last 10 years and uses water-wise, native and edible plants which are always re-homed after the event.


WHEN:           Sunday 3 November 2013 .... 8-11am

WHERE:         Cathedral Square, in front of St Mary’s Cathedral


Sydney Local says.....go the early and tack on a church service at the Cathedral, a swim at Cook + Phillip, or a feast of Yum Cha at Bohdi's to round out the day.

Sydney Festival 2014

Get excited! The Sydney Festival line up has just been announced and it's action packed with SO MUCH to choose from!

Go here to get your BROCHURE and start planning the festival fun!.. ... MUSIC, THEATRE, DANCE, CLASSICAL, OPERA, CIRCUS & CABARET.... there's a new map design to help plan you get around from festival A to Z...

The Festival Village is situated right in the centre of the City in Hyde Park, northside near the Archibald Fountain, and has a wide selection of of food and drinks, It's also the venue for the Circus Ronaldo Tent and the Spiegeltent.

8 - 26 January, closed Mondays

Family performances from 10am, licensed bars open from 5pm.

sydney - ringed by fire

It's not yet summer downunder but it looks like bushfire season has come early this year...today was a whopping 34 Celsius and Sydney is ringed with bush fires.....the city has taken on an apocalyptic look today....my friends are all over the place and posting pics from Bondi to the Blue Mountains...praying that everyone stays safe this weekend

spring finery

it's a little bit windy today, but my favourite spot was out of the wind and bathed in sunshine.... added to that, this canopy of green.... with a sweet angel to watch over me!

Mystery Road

Great to see an exciting newAustralian film on the horizon. If you like the sound of a western style thriller, with an enigmatic cop hero at the centre of a murder mystery, shot in the great Australian outback then Mystery Road is your kind of show. It got quite a rap last week from David and Margaret (At The Movies) and has been chosen as the opening night movie at the 2013 Sydney Film Festival.

From one of Australia’s most acclaimed directors Ivan Sen (Beneath Clouds, Toomelah)  Mystery Road stars Aaron Pedersen as Jay, an Indigenous detective who returns to his outback hometown to investigate the murder of a teenage girl.

Alienated from both the white dominated police force and his own community, Jay quickly finds himself out of his depth but steely in his determination to fight back for his town and his people.

Mystery Road’s all-star cast also includes Ryan Kwanten, Jack Thompson, Tasma Walton, Damien Walshe-Howling, Zoe Carides, Robert Mammone, Samara Weaving and Roy Billing.

In cinemas from October 17.

International Fleet Review

Get ready Sydney....the Navy is coming to town - and not just our Navy it seems like EVERY Navy is on it's way, with the International Fleet Review taking place over this long weekend. Two years ago the invitation was sent out and, from tomorrow onwards, we will have around 40 warships coming into town to say g'day.  There will be pomp, there will be ceremony, there will be admirals and rear admirals and epaulettes and even a prince called Harry.

The Tall Ships arrived today and tomorrow Sydney will welcome a combined fleet of 40 warships from Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, France, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, the UK, and the US.

With its proximity to the Cross, Garden Island has always been a popular port

I'm thinking the Warship arrival (all day Friday) and the RAAF Roulettes (9.45am Friday) the Helicopter display team (Saturday 10.45) and the Fleet Review (Saturday 11am) are going to be highlights and the fireworks on Saturday night are rumoured to be bigger and more fabulous than NYE with many ships acting as the launching pads all around the Harbour!

For more information on the International Fleet Review, visit the NAVY website

And for updates go LIKE them on FB HERE

Not sure if the fireworks are simulcast, but if they are I hope they play this song:

Good Food Month

It's October which means it's Good Food Month   and a good excuse to eat your way around town with over 500 events listed around Sydney and right across regional NSW. There are plenty of opportunities to revisit old favourites, try new hotspots, stroll the night noodle markets, meet the providores at the growers market,  picnic with the kids, look at art, learn how to grow your own and take a class or two. (it's your turn next month, Melbourne)

Check out this ingenious ad campaign developed for this year's event..... can you guess the food/country pairing?

PS: did you notice that almost every country HAS RED in their flag?