Public holidays and festivals - what's happening where and when - are a focus of national and local celebrations.
The biennial Adelaide Festival of Arts is renowned throughout Australian arts circles and in many cultural centres of the world.
Here are some highlights of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts.
Australia and New Zealand honor their soldiers who fought in the wars, from Gallipoli to the presentday.
Australia commemorates the establishment of the first white settlement at Sydney Cove.
The Australian Open, the first of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments during the year, takes place in Melbourne at Melbourne Park from January 18 to 31, 2010.
Australia's medal winners at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
In a country where Christmas takes place in the summer, it seemed only a matter of time before people started enjoying the spirit and the trappings of Christmas in the middle of the Australian year, which is when it's winter in Australia. So was born Christmas in July and Yulefest in the New South Wales Blue Mountains.
The Bowral Tulip Time Festival is held each spring in the New South Wales Southern Highlands southwest of Sydney.
It's the day after Christmas Day, a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand.
Sydney celebrates the Chinese New Year with a festival each year. Here are pictures of the 2006 festival.
Christmas in Australia is celebrated in the first month of the southern summer, so forget the snow and forget the sleighs.
Christmas in New Zealand, in common with other countries in the southern hemisphere, occurs in the southern summer.
Christmas in Sydney occurs in the Australian summer, so there's no snow and no sleighs but there seems to be everything else.
The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is a yearly event with boats made out of beer cans racing on Mindil Beach.
The Easter in Sydney festival encompasses the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the four-day Easter long weekend, the start of school holidays, various Group 1 horse races at Rosehill and Randwick, football matches, and theatre and other cultural events.
The Royal Queensland Show held in Brisbane is Queensland's biggest annual event and is one of the top three agricultural shows in Australia.
The Canberra Floriade, an annual flower festival redolent with the scents, sounds and sights of the Canberra spring, is held from around the middle of September to around the middle of October.
This public holiday in Australia and New Zealand is celebrated on different dates in different states.
Australia's premier horse racing event is run on the first Tuesday of November at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.
This year's Melbourne Cup is the seventh race in a 10-race program at Flemington Racecourse on November 4, the first Tuesday in November.
Matariki is the constellation of stars known in many parts of the world as The Pleiades. It's also known as the Seven Sisters. Matariki's appearance in New Zealand skies marks the start of the Maori new year.
The Moomba Festival is a huge outdoor Melbourne event of several days which had its start in 1954 as a focus of city celebrations and activities. Traditionally it ends with a colorful street parade with floats, costumed participants, and a crowned Moomba Monarch.
The 2008 New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington showcases the works of more than 800 artists and performers from 29 countries.
Here are New Zealand's medal winners at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to date.
It's a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand but celebrated on different dates. In New South Wales, it also marks the start of the ski season.
Australia and New Zealand teams are competing in the 2007 Rugby World Cup being played mostly in France.
With Irish Australians comprising close to 10 per cent of Australia's population, it is no wonder that Irish traditions, including the holding of St Patrick's Day parades, continue to the present day.
Irish Australians (and Aussies of Irish descent a number of generations removed) make up a substantial sector of the Australian population. So it is no surprise that Irish traditions and customs pervade much of Australian life. In Sydney, strong manifestations of this culture are evident in the festivities surrounding St Patrick's Day.
The Sydney Festival, a celebration of arts and culture, is held in Sydney each January.
Usually held in February and early March, the festival embraces a broad spectrum of activities and culminating in a massive evening parade and an all-night party.
Australian maxi yacht Wild Oats XI is aiming to equal Makybe Diva's feat in the Melbourne Cup by winning line honors in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in three consecutive years.
Super maxi yacht Wild Oats XI is in contention to win its fourth line honors victory in the 2008 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
The 2009 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race starts in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, December 26.
The Sydney Royal Easter Show is held each year at Eastertime in the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, and includes carnival shows, rodeo, stunts, races, competitions, fashion shows, food stalls, and a showcase of new and popular products.
The danger-fraught Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts at Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, December 26, and finishes in Hobart, Tasmania.
New Zealand's national day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between Pakeha and Maori.
The Whaleshark Festival is held in early May at Exmouth, Western Australia.
Wildflower Week is held at the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Victoria, in the spring.
AA Guides New Zealand events calendar provides up-to-date information on New Zealand's annual festivals and events, entertainment, shows, sports.
