> Events and Festivals

Events Archive (30)

Adelaide Festival of Arts
The biennial Adelaide Festival of Arts is renowned throughout Australian arts circles and in many cultural centres of the world.

Adelaide Festival of Arts 2008
Here are some highlights of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Anzac Day: We Will Remember Them
Australia and New Zealand honor their soldiers who fought in the wars, from Gallipoli to the presentday.

Australia Day
Australia commemorates the establishment of the first white settlement at Sydney Cove.

Australian Open 2008
The Australian Open, the first of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments during the year, takes place in Melbourne Park from January 14 to 27.

Blue Mountains Yulefest
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.

Bowral Tulip Time Festival: Springtime in the Southern Highlands
The Bowral Tulip Time Festival is held each spring in the New South Wales Southern Highlands southwest of Sydney.

Boxing Day
It's the day after Christmas Day, a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

Chinese New Year in Sydney: Pictures
Sydney celebrates the Chinese New Year with a festival each year. Here are pictures of the 2006 festival.

Christmas in Australia
Christmas in Australia is celebrated in the first month of the southern summer, so forget the snow and forget the sleighs.

Christmas in Sydney: Photo Gallery
Christmas in Sydney occurs in the Australian summer, so there's no snow and no sleighs but there seems to be everything else.

Darwin Beer Can Regatta
The Darwin Beer Can Regatta is a yearly event with boats made out of beer cans racing on Mindil Beach.

Easter in Sydney
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 Ekka
The Royal Queensland Show held in Brisbane is Queensland's biggest annual event and is one of the top three agricultural shows in Australia.

Floriade: Canberra Flower Festival
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.

Labor Day
This public holiday in Australia and New Zealand is celebrated on different dates in different states.

Melbourne Cup
Australia's premier horse racing event is run on the first Tuesday of November at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.

Moomba Festival
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.

New Zealand International Arts Festival
The 2008 New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington showcases the works of more than 800 artists and performers from 29 countries.

Queen's Birthday Holiday
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.

Rugby World Cup 2007
Australia and New Zealand teams are competing in the 2007 Rugby World Cup being played mostly in France.

St Patrick's Day in Sydney
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.

St Patrick's Day Parade in Pictures
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.

Sydney Festival 2008
The Sydney Festival, a celebration of arts and culture, is held in Sydney each January.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
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.

Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2007
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.

Sydney Royal Easter Show
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.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race: Danger and Death at Sea
The danger-fraught Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts at Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, December 26, and finishes in Hobart, Tasmania.

Waitangi Day
New Zealand's national day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between Pakeha and Maori.

Whaleshark Festival
The Whaleshark Festival is held in early May at Exmouth, Western Australia.

Wildflower Week
Wildflower Week is held at the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Victoria, in the spring.

AA New Zealand Events Guide
AA Guides New Zealand events calendar provides up-to-date information on New Zealand's annual festivals and events, entertainment, shows, sports.