Max your summer in Sydney

Calling all cost-conscious brides! If your wedding budget is blowing over, we’re here to help. From Saturday, March 29 until Friday, April 4, the Vinnies Waverley store will transform into a wonderland of discounted delights, with a huge selection of new and pre-loved wedding gowns, suits, bridesmaids’ dresses, formalwear, and accessories (including jewellery and shoes). According to Vinnies, the average Australian wedding now costs $36,000 – so any cost-saving measure to lighten that load is a welcome gift. Back in 2023, Vinnies launched their first ever bridal expo, attracting 674 customers over three days of shopping, and helping to raise money for the organisation’s charitable mission. Later this month, the mega sale is coming back – bigger and better than ever. This year’s event will feature more than 500 wedding dresses, 200 of which are brand new, plus outfits for your bridal party and accessories galore. Mapping out your budget? All brand new dresses will be priced at $300, and all pre-loved dresses will be priced at $50. You’ll find the Vinnies bridal expo at Vinnies Waverley, 253-259 Bronte Road, Waverley. The store will be open from 9.30am until 5.30pm Monday through Saturday and from 10am until 5pm on Sunday. It’s a first-in, best-dressed situation, with last year’s event attracting queues down the street as budget-savvy brides-to-be waited to snap up their cut-price finds. Our advice? Grab a coffee and a sambo from Frank’s Deli (a few doors down), and get in...

Calling all Inner City art fans. For three inspiring weeks this autumn, Neon Playground – Sydney’s largest Asian-Australian cultural arts festival – will transform Haymarket into a luminous wonderland of neon light installations, comedy shows, art exhibitions, incredible live performances and excellent food.  After a hugely popular first year, Neon Playground is back for round two, kicking off this Saturday (Saturday, March 15) with the epic Chinatown Block Party (taking over Dixon Street in the centre of Haymarket). The opening-night event will be headlined by Korean-Australian rap group 1300, with a super-strong line-up (featuring Hong Kong-Australian rapper Tommy Gunn, Taiwanese-Australian pop artist tiffi, CRIMSON dance crew and more) soundtracking the streets from 5pm until 10pm.  Throughout the duration of the festival, a carefully curated program of Asian-Australian artists will perform at a range of free-to-attend and ticketed shows, and the streets will be buzzing with vibrant art exhibitions and light installations. Showcasing a rotating roster of established and emerging Asian-Australian artists including Chris Yee, Kentaro Yoshida, Pei Kwang, Andrew Yee, and Samuel Kim, a magnificent sculpture formed of 14 luminous towers will act as Neon Playground's visual centerpiece. The 4-5 metre towers of light will feature 80 lightbox illustrations; use 1km of neon; and integrate more than 100,000 individual LEDs. Produced in collaboration with world-renowned creative...

There’s always a lot going on at Sydney’s favourite house. So much so that it can be hard to keep track – with new headliners dropping every other week, and huge events taking over the various venues seemingly out of nowhere.  Keen to go to a show under the sails over the next few months? We’ve rounded up a few top picks in the Sydney Opera House autumn season:  The Opera House’s May cinema season Sydney’s outdoor cinema season wraps up in the cooler months, but if you’re keen to catch a movie in a unique location, the Opera House is here to help. From Thursday, May 1 until Sunday, May 4, the Playhouse will screen a series of new and classic films. The line-up includes a sing-along screening of Wicked, the latest release from Parasite director Bong Joon Ho Mickey 17, the late David Lynch’s iconic Mulholland Drive, Studio Ghibli's cherished Howl’s Moving Castle and a special screening of The Correspondent with a live Q&A.  Tickets start at $30. Generations and Dynasties, a celebration of First Nations talent Following its debut last year, this powerful series showcases creative First Nations families through conversation, storytelling, and performance. The 2025 program will take over the Utzon Room on Tuesday, April 29, Wednesday, May 14, Thursday, August 7 and Thursday, August 14, showcasing the musical talent, creativity and resilience of four First Nations families. Tickets start at $25. You Are Here, a creative play designed to encourage storytelling between children...

It’s time to clear your calendar and prepare your body for one helluva gig crawl, because Great Southern Nights is back in action. This means that some 300 gigs are taking over more than 120 live music venues across New South Wales, with a spotlight on major and emerging Aussie artists. This year’s eclectic line-up features Missy Higgins, Lime Cordiale, Budjerah, King Stingray and Mallrat, just to name a few. Other headliners include Winston Surfshirt, Marcia Hines, The Paper Kites, Hoodoo Gurus, Thirsty Merc and Birds of Tokyo.  Here in Sydney, shows will pop up across legendary live music venues as well as more intimate bars and restaurants – with joints like The Lansdowne, Machine Hall, PS40 and Jacksons on George getting amongst the fun. Outside of the big smoke, there are gigs set to take place in Tamworth, Broken Hill, Orange, Newcastle, Woollongong and Byron Bay, to name a few road-trip-worthy locations.  As well as forming part of the government’s plan to amp up Sydney’s nightlife, Great Southern Nights aims to bring a boost to the state’s regional towns, with major names like Sons of the East, The Cat Empire and Ziggy Alberts popping up in small towns across the state. With shows like Bec Sandridge, Boo Seeka and Missy Higgins already sold out, fans are encouraged to secure tickets soon, before they miss out. The series will be brought to life by Destination NSW in partnership with the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).“Great Southern Nights is...

Descend down the escalators in the Art Gallery of NSW’s ultra-chic modern north building, and you’ll see an enormous octopus perched above the entrance to one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the Sydney summer – step inside a futuristic cyber cityscape with Cao Fei: My City is Yours. An unfurling of purple tentacles beckons you to step into the multidimensional world of this influential Chinese contemporary artist, and become totally immersed in playful and inventive multimedia installations. Cao Fei (pronounced ‘tsow fay’) encourages you to jump into an inviting pit of foam cubes, walk through installations embedded with found objects, perch on a yoga chair to watch a short doco, lay down to watch another video projected onto the ceiling, sit in an original 1960s cinema chair from Beijing to watch a sci-fi film, and even strap in for a VR experience.  The exhibition offers a unique blend of virtual worlds and cutting-edge technology, as well as tributes to fallen city haunts both here and abroad. But for many Sydneysiders, the most remarkable sight will perhaps be the pitch-perfect recreation of the Marigold, the much-loved yum cha institution from Sydney’s Chinatown, which sadly closed for good in December 2021. Inspired by the restaurant’s 1990s Canto-decor, original furnishings have been salvaged for this uncanny installation – including the chandeliers and light fixtures, tables and chairs, regal red carpeting, and gold signage. All of this is juxtaposed by some...

Golden Hour is a uniquely magical time in Sydney, when the sun begins to drop below the mountains in the west and casts a honey golden glow across the city. And while golden hour is beautiful anywhere in the city, any time of year, there’s something about an autumn evening by the harbour that hits different.  From Thursday, March 20 until Saturday, April 5, one of Sydney’s prime sunset spots will be upping the ante with its golden hour offering; with live entertainment, delicious (and affordable) foodie offerings and ice-cold goblets of (appropriately golden) Aperol Spritz.Brought to life by the Bars of Barangaroo District, in partnership with everyone’s favourite afternoon aperitif, Golden Hours Barangaroo is a three-week event series designed to bring a whole lot of delight to Sydney’s harbourside precinct before Daylight Savings comes to an end. From 3pm until 7pm throughout the duration of the event, 25 venues across Barangaroo will be serving up two Aperols for $30 (that’s $15 per drink), with excellent food offerings across the precinct and a varied line-up of live entertainment. Inspired by the Italian ritual of aperitivo, Barangaroo favourites including NOLA Smokehouse, love.fish, Sax Bar, Belles Hot Chicken and CIRQ at Crown Sydney will be offering early evening treats to complement your Spritz, ranging from freshly shucked oysters crowned to spicy chicken sandos. On Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the event, expect DJ sets from local...

Perhaps it’s unpatriotic to suggest it, but I’d argue that Australia has produced strikingly few immortal works of art, particularly narrative art. But, we’ll always have Picnic at Hanging Rock – which can make a strong claim for being the most important Australian artistic work of the 20th century, and one that still casts a shadow over the 21st.  The novel by Joan Lindsay first saw the light of day in 1967, but it was Peter Weir’s 1975 film adaptation – a haunting and subtle work and the ne plus ultra of Australian Gothic – that really struck a chord with audiences. This year marks the film’s 50th anniversary, which seems to be the reason behind this haunting new production for Sydney Theatre Company’s 2025 season, the latest of numerous stage adaptations.  STC Resident Director Ian Michael (Constellations, Stolen) and playwright Tom Wright (whose adaptation was first staged by Malthouse Theatre and Black Swan Theatre in 2016) are certainly betting on Picnic at Hanging Rock’s cultural staying power. This Picnic is in no way naturalistic, but it certainly evokes a sense of the uncanny Both Lindsay’s novel and Weir’s film are elliptical and meditative, posing questions rather than offering answers. This production is perhaps more opaque than either, taking an experimental direction that ramps up the themes of horror and suspense. This works a treat in the early movements of the play, keeping the audience off kilter, forcing us to engage with a conceptual realm where time,...

We’re big fans of Newcastle at Time Out. Located a little over two hours north of Sydney, the seaside city boasts pumping surf and pristine ocean pools – including the largest in the Southern Hemisphere –  and a vibrant township, minus the traffic. The region is the birthplace of some seriously talented chefs (hello, Josh Niland and Brett Graham), and boasts a cracking food and wine scene. It’s also home to Newcastle Food Month – a month-long celebration of the best things in life: great food, booze and your people. The good news? Newcastle Food Month is returning for its fifth year, with the festival kicking off April 1. If it’s been a while between visits – or if you’re due for a weekend getaway – Newy this April is where it's at. This year’s festival will feature more than 80 local venues – including Time Out favourites Arno Deli, Humbug, Flotilla, Frenchie and Alfie’s Italian – spanning newcomers like old-school cocktail bar Roxanne and old faithfuls like on-the-water Scratchleys. More than 70 feature events will come to life throughout April, from fun-loving street parties to boozy long lunches, as well as 50 plate dates. Not sure what we’re on about? Plate date is where Newcastle’s cafés, restaurants and bars put their best foot forward, offering brekkie, lunch or dinner and a drink for $30. It’s a fab way to tick off the places on your hit list, and revisit the OGs, all while doing a food tour of Newcastle. And if you don't feel like cooking for the month (and doing...

Plus ça change as the Alliance Française French Film Festival (AF FFF) returns for its 36th edition with a bold line-up of 42 films – screening across some of Sydney’s most beautiful cinemas from Tuesday, March 4 until Wednesday, April 9 2025. This year’s program will kick off with special screenings of Monsieur Aznavour, the French blockbuster starring Golden Globe-nominated actor Tahar Rahim. Fittingly, the story follows Rahim’s character as he grapples with the task and honour of sharing the best of French culture with the world. Other highlights from this year’s program include Holy Cow – an uplifting comedy that follows a teenage boy on a mission to care for his younger sister (by making an award-winning cheese, bien sûr) – and In the Sub for Love: a love letter to the screwball romantic comedies of the 1940s. “While France is recognised as an avant-garde country in the arts, the festival will explore the real-life stories of prominent French cultural figures—universal and captivating tales of hope, struggles, failures, and extraordinary achievements,” explained newly appointed AF FFF CEO Frédéric Alliod. With no shortage of star power, this year’s celebration of French cinema will see French favourites including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Laure Calamy and Camille Cottin (Call My Agent!), Pierre Niney and Vincent Cassel all lighting up the screen. Sydney francophiles can lap up all this and more as the festival returns to cinemas across Sydney; Chauvel Cinema, Hayden...

There’s something so intriguing about exploring the depths of the ocean, because we don't get many chances to check out what's down there. If you’re not a diver but you’ve always wanted to see what happens underneath the ripples of the water's surface, check out this ocean photography exhibition that's returning to the Australian National Maritime Museum.From November 28, the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024 exhibition will feature all of the winners and finalists of the prestigious prize, which is led by the London-based Oceanographic Magazine.  The exhibition will display 118 of the most awe-inspiring wildlife shots ever snapped, immersing you in the otherworldly magic of the ocean and bringing you face-to-face with some of the sea's most majestic creatures. Particular highlights will no doubt be getting your peepers on the winning image from photographer Rafael Fernández Caballero. His incredible photo of a Bryde whale feeding on a heart-shaped baitball was taken in Baja California Sur, Mexico during the Mexican sardine run. The stunning shot was chosen from more than 15,000 images by a panel of expert judges.  There are plenty of other award-winning photos on display across 10 categories, including the Ocean Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Ocean Adventure Photographer of the Year and the Ocean Fine Art Photographer of the Year.   Tickets are on sale now with discounts available for concessions and children and family passes on offer. All tickets include access to...