Carnival comes to Cairns

Cairns takes centre stage in Tropical North Queensland from Saturday August 25 when the region’s largest annual community event kicks off for 22 days of action, culminating in a 24-hour finale on Saturday September 15.

Festival Cairns is now in its sixth year, and each year the event adds even more spice to the city’s natural ambience, beautiful scenery and balmy spring weather.

Making its debut in Festival Cairns’s 07 programme, Sportsfest will start in adrenalin-charged style as athletes take their marks on the Esplanade in a contest of the fittest.

Across town at Cannon Park Racecourse, another event newcomer, the annual TimeOut Concert promises a rather large dose of music including Aussie hip-hop crew, the Hilltop Hoods and Melbourne funk outfit, The Cat Empire.

And while all this is going on, the good life crowd will be gathering on the northern end of the Esplanade — at this year’s Food, Wine and All That Jazz event.

For those who enjoy a flutter on the horses, the Cairns Amateurs Spring Race Carnival is part of the festival, and takes place on September 7 and 8. It's popular for the highly contested Fashions on the Field, socializing and celebrity spotting – and, of course, the horses.

Melbourne dives into festival mood

A fantastic free festival is set to attract even more people to Melbourne during the upcoming 12th FINA World Championships in March.

The main focus of the FINA Festival will be the weekend of March 23, 24 and 25, when the area around Federation Square and the nearby Birrarung Marr riverside park will come alive with music, street theatre, spectacular light shows and roving circus acts.

The festival will start with a live concert to be held straight after the FINA opening ceremony at Rod Laver Arena on March 17 and then fire up again on March 23 when more than 60 local and international performing arts companies descend on the city to entertain crowds.

More than 180 free events will include world music concerts, striking street theatre performances, dramatic flame and fire shows along the Yarra River. The BMW Edge theatre at Federation Square will host late-night cabaret, circus and DJ acts.

Food and wine will also feature prominently during the main festival weekend as organisers are working closely with the Melbourne’s Food and Wine Festival (March 16-30) which coincides with FINA.

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival

The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is a major event that attracts more than 250,000 foodies from around the world. They come to the Victorian capital to take part in a full calendar of food and wine events – more than 150 happenings across two weeks.

If you’d like to join their ranks, the dates to remember for this year’s festival are March 16-30.

Highlighting Melbourne as a culinary hot spot, the programme will include events such as the World’s Longest Lunch (March16) where 5,000 people will sit down to lunch at 25 scenic locations across Victoria; and the Cellar Door at Southgate (March 24-25), showcasing some of the state’s finest wines on the banks of the Yarra River.

The Original MasterClass Series is also back on the with a star-studded line-up of international chefs and wine experts.

One of the hot new events this year is the International FLOUR Festival (March 24 celebration of multicultural Melbourne, with the state’s best pizza, bread, naan, roti, noodles, pasta, piadina and gozleme on show.

And if that is not enough to make you break with dieting, Wicked Sunday on March 25 will be a day of decadence where everything from boutique chocolates and Victorian sticky wines to award-winning cheeses and “the best darned coffee on the planet” will be on offer.