The Top 5 Places to Stay on the Gold Coast
Published by Luxury Travel
Words by Nicole Bittar
It’s called the Gold Coast for a reason…
Playing host to more than 13 million visitors annually, the beachcomber’s paradise that is the Gold Coast is as popular as ever, and remains a favourite destination among Aussies and international visitors for sun-and-sand holidays. Read more
Five best ways to plan a holiday on the Gold Coast
Published by Australian Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
Preparation is your golden ticket to enjoying an effortless, relaxed beach sojourn in the scenic surroundings of Surfers Paradise and beyond. The solution? Pick your perfect Gold Coast hotel.
Contrary to ‘going awry’, the ‘best-laid plans’ will ensure a winning holiday on the wondrous Gold Coast. Preparation is your golden ticket to enjoying an effortless, relaxed beach sojourn, while soaking up the pristine conditions and scenic surroundings of Surfers Paradise and beyond. Read more
Grower Success Stories
Published by The Vegetable R&D Levy
Publication content written by Ross McGravie and Nicole Bittar
For Tasmanian vegetable grower Jono Craven, his overall experience of attending the 2018 International Spinach Conference in Murcia, Spain, encompassed far more than the sum of its parts.
From growing on flat ground and de-risking production in polytunnels to better understanding physiology, seed production costs and biosecurity issues, the Farming Manager at Houston’s Farm in Cambridge wholeheartedly embraced all learnings from the eight-day tour in February as part of a 14-strong Australian contingent of researchers, agronomists and producers Read more
Grower Success Stories
Published by The Potato R&D Levy
Publication content written by Ross McGravie and Nicole Bittar
Bryan Hart is always thinking outside the square when it comes to potato production.
As Senior Crop Manager of one of New Zealand’s biggest potato growing operations, A.S. Wilcox & Sons, Bryan is responsible for planning and managing its potato program throughout the supply chain. Read more
Buy better, buy less
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
NICOLE BITTAR talks to decorating guru and homewares store owner Tara Dennis about her top tips for decorating, maintenance, lifestyle choices and craft projects for the whole family.
I’m all about starting with good classic pieces. Buy the best you can afford at the time. If that’s Ikea, then that’s OK. Just make sure you go for good neutral colours that you can key up or down, according to the seasons. Go for comfort and size. A lot of people forget to measure before they go into a place. Read more
Moonstruck
Published by Jetstar Magazine
Words by Nicole Bittar
The best way to get a taste of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, set to kick off mid-month, is to sink your teeth into a mooncake.
Imagine a humble cake inciting a full-scale revolution. In one of the many fables surrounding the orgins of the mooncake, this is precisely how the Ming revolutionaries thwarted Mongolian rulers at the end of China’s Yuan Dynasty (1271 -1368). A lotus syrup or bean paste-filled cake was distributed to the Han Chinese with a secret message hidden inside, directing the people to revolt on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Read more
Heavenly at Heatherlie
Published by Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
The basics Operation Maldon was in place long before we set foot in the quaint gold-rush town. A crack force of key decoys was arriving from interstate for 24-hour hand-over duty of our four-year-old, leaving us free to soak up the Provence-style delights of Heatherlie.
The stunningly redeveloped 1880s Victorian house and effortless hospitality of Robyn Slattery beckoned. With husband Ian and a dedicated team of architects, master builders and craftsmen, they have created a glamorous French and Italian villa-style main house, for three couples, and an imposing stand-alone pool house, our quarters, which could have been transported from a Tuscan postcard. Read more
Crown Metropol, Southbank review: Sleek and popular
Published by Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
With world-class dining on-site, the Crown Metropol is setting the hotel scene alight, writes Nicole Bittar.
Excellent weekend rates are drawing the Saturday-night crowd in droves to the new and futuristic Crown Metropol, austere in gloss-black, steel and soaring glass. The welcome, however, is warm. Read more
Soothing the nerves
Published by Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
Nicole Bittar falls for the Spanish charm of one of Melbourne’s newest hotels.
It’s impossible to have a room without a view at the swanky Hilton Melbourne South Wharf. And view is an understatement for the floor-to-ceiling triptych of industrial foreground, high-rise development and natural backdrop seen from every window. Read more
The seasoned professional
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
Winning isn’t everything to landscape design star Charlie Albone, but it has laid the foundation for a blossoming career, NICOLE BITTAR discovers.
If you thought gardening was a relaxing pursuit, you haven’t met Charlie Albone. Contrary to the practice of patience, trial and error in embracing the seasons and their natural elements, the multi-awarded Chelsea Flower and Garden Show recipient, LifeStyle Channel’s landscape design expert and television hose of Selling House Australia. Read more
Rice Power
Published by Jetstar Magazine
Words by Nicole Bittar
Singapore’s national culinary treasure is a humble bowl of meat, broth and rice. Ready, set, slurp.
The origins of Singapore’s national dish are ancient, and undeniable. But it took American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain to put Hainanese chicken rice (HCR) on the international foodie map. Read more
Shades of Venice
Published by Destinations Australia
Words by Nicole Bittar
Fancy circumnavigating Noosa Sound in Venetian style? Gondolas of Noosa make this unlikely scenario possible, Nicole Bittar writes.
My charming coxswain Richard Wilschke, the founder of this 20-year-old luxury riverside enterprise, greets me with a flourish at the Sofitel Jetty as I step on board his customised gondola for my solo cruise. Read more
Big picture
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
A view on the full decorative scope does not mean eschewing fine detail. Windows are not only frames of visual relevance and reference, but also the portal to our soulful imaginings.
Dress them in luxurious style with this arresting array of designer drapery, where the linear metre is an all-important yardstick to decorative perfection. Read more
It’s all in the detail
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
Less has always been more. Victorian-era dramatist/poet Robert Browning may have coined the phrase, which was also famously adopted by architectural luminary Mies van der Rohe to define the minimalist movement. Yet, regardless of etymology, these statement pieces have been designed to shine without the aid of interior co-stars.
Designer sofa, standout chair, a rug to floor you and appealing sides take centre stage and prove irrefutably that the decorative impact is always in the detail. Read more
World of Art
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
Traversing and possessing a piece of the world is within reach.
With social media’s proliferation of artistic talent in full view and at one’s fingertips, selecting a choice creation to adorn your walls has never been easier. Read more
Home front
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
Construct from the ground up, building your dream home is infinitely easy to achieve.
The premier properties of Melbourne’s master builders, in sprawling single-level luxury or sky-high penthouse style, are within reach and on budget. Read more
Turning the tables
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
A solid base and four legs provide the central point for convergence in most home.
Ancient Egyptians introduced stone platforms for raising their belongings above ground level. Early Chinese created tables for the noble pursuits of writing and painting, but the Greeks and Romans gathered their loved ones around tables built of marble, wood or metal, with richly ornate legs, for the universal pastime of breaking bread while breaking the ice. Read more
Mellow yellow
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
The colour of sunshine in its hue of warm promise speaks of spring with zing.
This golden collection of designer lighting to dazzle the senses, ruched sofa and lounge, and armchairs to soothe winter-frazzled nerves, wall hooks to hang lightweight coats upon and rugs to run your toes through, says “hello” to the mellowest of yellow. Read more
Art for heart’s sake: A guide to buying art and building a collection
Published by Domain
Words by Nicole Bittar
So you’ve amassed a nest egg with growth potential, but don’t have quite enough for a house deposit. If investing in stocks and shares seems soulless, the art market could provide the basis for a beneficial long-term relationship – certainly aesthetically, but perhaps also financially.
Think of the Vogels, a penny-wise New York couple, who achieved “proletarian art collector” status by acquiring a collection of emerging minimalist artists in the 1960s and ’70s, paying just a few hundred dollars for each work, which proved too priceless to sell (valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars). Read more
A legacy of love
Published by The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
Emily Muszynski’s death recently left her family pondering the role of food in their shared lives. Nicole Bittar wrote and read this eulogy at her grandmother’s funeral.
NAN didn’t often have the words or perhaps even the emotions to articulate her love. How she expressed her nurturing was through the tending of her impeccably maintained vegetable garden, and the care, preparation and finesse of her professionally trained cooking. Read more
Living happily ever after
Published by The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
Nicole Bittar finds the perfect setting for her own fairytale.
Locking yourself away at the secluded Olive Grove Retreat is like starring in a fairytale, albeit a real-life scenario, which has featured time and again among the most romantic getaways in the world in American Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller and Italian interiors bible Bravacasa. Read more
The Poh show
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
Creating art on a plate or canvas is a necessity for Poh Yeow. She tells Nicole Bittar that a balanced palette primes the delighted palate.
For someone who appears so prominently in the public eye, chef and TV personality Poh Ling Yeow is, first and foremost, an artists who craves “large slabs of alone time”. Not that she ever, if rarely achieves it. Read more
Seeing is believing in the virtual world
Published by Urban Life
Words by Nicole Bittar
The virtual experience is all around us, but its unreal status, coupled with perceived claims on actuality, poses my questions.
For starters, will it ever surpass expectations of reality? Read more
Safe as houses
Published by Herald Sun
Words by Ross McGravie
Next-generation construction materials increase levels of protection for those living in bushfire-prone areas.
In an age when environmental credentials and energy savings are valued justas highly as aesthetics, builders are responding to the demand. Read more
One-track mind
Published by Herald Sun
Words by Ross McGravie
Strategically placed train lines are linking growth areas and giving commuters greater lifestyle options.
It was a Room with a View author E.M Forster who remarked that ‘Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown’, and he wasn’t far wrong. Read more
Forward planning
Published by Herald Sun
Words by Nicole Bittar
Technology, architecture and shared resources are bringing communities of the future together for all the right reasons.
The year 2048 may seem light years away, but Melbourne’s urban landscape could change in a design and functionality sense sooner rather than later. Read more
Germany Travel Guide
Published in Scenic
Words by Nicole Bittar
Rembrandt retrospective
Published nationally by News Limited
Words by Nicole Bittar
The streets and canals of Amsterdam are paved with gold. Not literally, of course, but for a time in the 17th century, the cultural, financial and artistic life of the city was so rich, it is referred to in the art world as the Golden Age. Read more
The ultimate food on the fly
Published in Good Food
Words by Nicole Bittar
Chefs on tour, the notion is decidedly rock star, and many of Australia’s top guns are hitting the road, forging a deeper connection to a destination, or returning to their birthplaces to seek culinary inspiration. Read more
Inside Gary Mehigan’s Kitchen
Published in Good Food
Words by Nicole Bittar
If you’ve turned on a television in the past few years, you’ve probably seen Gary Mehigan, most well known as a judge on MasterChef Australia. What you mightn’t know is that the 47-year-old British-born, Australian chef trained in London at the Connaught and Le Souffle in London under the auspices of Michel Bourdin and Peter Kromberg. Read more
Turner and the Promised Land
Published in Broadsheet
Words by Nicole Bittar
Turner From The Tate: The Making of a Master, the winter blockbuster at the National Gallery of Australia, will warm the heart and enliven the senses. Read more
24 hours in Tokyo
Published in Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
An earthquake rocks our world and provides an unmistakable wake-up call on our first morning in Ginza. Tokyo is always full of surprises. Amid the teeming hub of humanity, a singular view of consideration for the next person prevails. Spirituality replaces superstition as a force for faith. Read more
“No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world.” Robin Williams
Ravesi’s Hotel, Bondi review: Bring bikinis and bling
Published in Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
A January long weekend in Sydney is all about economies of scale. Opt for a few extra nights after its world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations and what goes up must indubitably come down. Read more
Monet’s Garden Blooms at the NGV
Published in Broadsheet
Words by Nicole Bittar
Once eliciting ‘shock horreur’ from the conservative art world, the beauty and luminescence of Monet’s paintings are as awe-inspiring today as they were a century ago. Wander into the Monet’s Garden, a true art blockbuster, now showing at the NGV. Read more
Recipe for change
Published in Good Food
Words by Nicole Bittar
He has cooked for US senators and toiled in the corporate towers that were New York’s World Trade Centre. But Jersey boy Tad Lombardo finally found the lure of a career with chocolate irresistible. Read more
“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner.” Diane Setterfield
Frames of reverence
Published in Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
There’s no escaping John Olsen. His vivid abstract paintings enthral at the State Theatre the night before our visit to the Olsen Hotel. At this fashionable South Yarra address, I am again surrounded by his distinctive landscapes – a willing captive for 24 hours. Read more
Spring into action
Published in The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
THE Russell Place car park was the unlikely venue for the hottest ticket in town last night: the opening party of the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week. Read more
Establishment Hotel, Sydney: An affair to remember
Published in Traveller
Words by Nicole Bittar
The adage “we’re here for a good time, not a long time” is never more apt than on a luxurious weekend away. Read more
“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect.” Tom Stoppard
Miranda Kerr dazzles at DJs’ spring-summer launch
Published in The Sydney Morning Herald
Words by Nicole Bittar
The antidote to winter’s ills is a healthy dose of spring-summer fashion, of course. And David Jones’ latest collection of Australian designs signals a return to colour and form. Read more
All frocked up and ready to give
Published in The Sydney Morning Herald
Words by Nicole Bittar
In corporate parlance it’s called “giving back” and when, like the iSelect Fashion+Aid gala for the Make-A-Wish Australia foundation, it happens amid an extravaganza of fashion, entertainment and fine food, the karmic energy is electrifying. Read more
Valentino Retrospective: Past/Present/Future
Published in The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
BRISBANE was abuzz at the weekend for the preview of the Queensland Art Gallery’s first haute couture exhibition, which was curated and first shown in 2008, the year of Valentino’s retirement, at Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Read more
“Words are more powerful than anything.” Jennifer Donnelly
Tomorrow’s ballet dancers sparkle
Published in The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
The future of ballet in this country is in safe hands (and on fleet feet) if the Australian Ballet School’s end-of-year gala performance is any indication. Read more
Bombshell or goddess, spring fashionistas take their pick
Published in The Age
Words by Nicole Bittar
Even in the fashion capital, the new-season designer collections are only one sum of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week’s parts. Read more
Market wrap
Published in Woodards Carlton newsletter
Words by Nicole Bittar and Ross McGravie
Since the dawn of time, buying and selling goods at market has epitomised a thriving community, and we’re spoiled for choice or the freshest foods, handmade arts, crafts and clothing. Read more