Hector’s Deli is fast becoming a legendary fixture of Melbourne’s inner-east. While its owners have worked at fine dining royalty like Attica, Stokehouse and more, here they have managed to maintain a focus on keeping things simple; an uncomplicated menu features no more than five or six sandwiches at any time, comprising of fairly standard combinations (HCT, schnitzel, fried mushroom).
Yet these sangas consist of fresh ingredients and are meticulously sculpted, so much that this café’s unusually residential setting often has queues snaking through the streets.
Get in early.
*Hector’s were bringing their delicious sangas to a new location in Coventry Street, South Melbourne, mid-year, only to be thwarted by the pandemic.
After some sleuthing on their Instagram it appears this is now scheduled for (COVID dependent) early October.
The best part of this little architecturally designed hideaway is the secret access point through the trees via a swing bridge. As the sun drops and the birds call, you can either sit by a roaring fire or with a wine in your own private outdoor cedar bathtub.
And if you prefer a steam over a soak, don’t worry, because your delightful ‘Nest makers’ at Nest Treehouses (Liz and Andy) have literally thought of everything.
There’s even a luxury cedar sauna you can use with uninterrupted canopy views.
As if we needed another reason to visit Tassie, the team behind Forty Spotted Gin have just gone and opened a bar. Hidden away from Hobart’s main strip, the venue is a work of art, and has been built using thousands of individual pieces of timber joined together to symbolise the nest of a forty-spotted pardalote – one of the Apple Isle’s rarest birds and the gin brand’s namesake.
The entire Forty Spotted range is available to sip and sample, including the just-released half-strength Raspberry and Rose, plus there’s an impressive collection of more than 20 unique gins from right across the world. You can even book a 90-minute gin-blending masterclass at the ‘Ginstitute’, and take home your very own bespoke bottle of the good stuff.
The name says it all, really. Canberra’s cool new bottle shop-meets-bar is a mecca for lovers of quirky, out-of-this-world wines, especially varietals that are natural and organic. With a simple brick frontage it’s unassuming from the outside, and just as relaxed once you step inside, making it the perfect place for a cheeky after work drink or lazy Sunday sesh, or to quickly pop into on your way to dinner, when it’s BYO and you need to impress with a fancy drop.
Nibbles come in the form of marinated olives, La Luna Holy Goat Cheeses, Ortiz anchovies and charcuterie platters, which can be enjoyed at the huge communal table or even across the road at Hassett Park. Our pick of the vinos? You can’t go past the house rosé – thank us later.
Don’t be surprised if the name Slow Lane Brewing rings a bell. You’ve probably seen the cute, candy-coloured tinnies at your local independent bottle shop, and with some luck you’ve even tried – and most likely loved – one of the popular sours or pale ales. If that’s the case, you’ll be stoked to hear this husband and wife-owned brewery has just opened the doors to its Botany based warehouse and taproom.
Be prepared to do a double take at the wall lined with wine barrels (Slow Lane ferment many of its beers in aged oak barrels – it’s a European thing), before settling at one of the tables to enjoy a delicious froff, including a hoppy sour ale brewed using an experimental yeast strain discovered growing on a tree in a Philadelphia graveyard. Yep, that’s a thing.
Just when you thought Melbourne couldn’t possibly have any vacant rooftops left to spare, along comes Harlow. Formerly the Great Britain Hotel, after a handy 1.3 million-dollar refurb this new space is ready to go, and believe us when we say, she’s a real beauty.
With a capacity for 200 people (without restrictions, of course), there are plenty of spots to perch and either sip a Rockstar – an exclusive rooftop-only cocktail of watermelon-infused tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, watermelon simple syrup and chilli salt or knock back a parma or burger. They also do a boozy bottomless lunch, which we all know is the cool thing to do right now. But it’s the sweeping, uninterrupted city views that will have you returning time and time again.
The 80s are back, baby, but this time they’re cool! Neon Palms is a Miami Vice-inspired, pastel coloured fever dream serving up frozen slushies, a synth-heavy soundtrack and guaranteed good times. Located in the trendy Perth suburb of Northbridge, it’s the brainchild of hospitality pals Hayden Carter and Sasha Fagan, who met bartending at the Ritz-Carlton Perth and share a love of the whole Miami-in-the-80s aesthetic.
There are private booths to cosy up in, an outdoor courtyard lined with AstroTurf and custom neon signs adorning the walls, while the lurid-looking (and no doubt, tequila heavy) cocktails match the décor perfectly. If hunger strikes, Brazilian chef Marcelo Kretzer is dishing out mean Cubano sandwiches, and his signature homemade empanadas are an absolute must-eat.
What they lack in size they make up for in character, and boy do these tiny houses pack a punch. Tiny Away’s fleet of 75 cute and compact cabins are dotted right across the country, in gorgeous rural locations like the Kangaroo Valley in New South Wales and Boneo in Victoria.
A stay in one of these eco-friendly, off-the-grid homes offers the chance to get back to nature without sacrificing your creature comforts, and all the properties are kitted out with luxurious and modern amenities. Outdoor fire pits, plush linen and coffee machines are just a few of the welcome additions you can expect to find, and some places even welcome pets.
One of our faves would have to be Serenity Abode in Beaconsfield Upper, which is a stylish and cosy lodge (it even has fairy lights!) nestled in lush forest between the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley. And we can’t go past The Clyde – a teeny bungalow perched on the banks of the Williams River in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, where you can go kayaking, fishing, swimming and boating.
With a lockdown-friendly booking policy, the only hard part is choosing one home to visit!
You owe it to yourself to take an Indigenous tour through Wiradjuri country in NSW where visitors are invited to walk in the footsteps of Wiradjuri people.
Water is the backbone of the traditional homeland of the Wiradjuri people – the largest Aboriginal group in New South Wales, where the Wambool (Macquarie), Kalari (Lachlan) and Murrumbidjeri (Murrumbidgee) Rivers meet. The tour is led by Wiradjuri man Mark Saddler and owner of Bundyi Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge tours whose family hails from a country called Euabalong, in Central New South Wales.
Mark’s award-winning tours are personalised for travellers, whether individual or group, and offer deep knowledge of his Riverina homeland around Wagga Wagga.
In Wiradjuri country, a strong culture has been thriving for thousands of generations. Mark shares his knowledge about bush tucker, native animals, and the connection Aboriginal people have to those animals and places.
Discover freshwater middens along the banks of the Murrumbidjeri and learn about centuries-old spears buried in the canola fields. On full and half day tours by bus or 4WD in the Riverina, visitors learn how to map bygone waterways using ancient ‘scar trees’, that are trunks with enormous gashes removed to carve canoes.
A two-hour walking tour is available, inviting visitors to look, smell, touch and immerse in this ancient country and culture. Every part of Australia is Aboriginal country with unique stories and experiences to be told. The word Bundyi means sharing or to share in Wiradjuri and Mark can’t wait to share his country with you!
Discover the beauty of the Kimberley Coast on the Borrgoron Coast to Creek tour with Bardi man Terry Hunter.
The Kimberley Coast is where the world’s largest tropical tides play, and where the Dampier Peninsula’s Aboriginal people have observed nature for millennia. Terry grew up on a remote pearl farm on the Kimberley and is following his ancestors’ lead by existsting in harmony with nature. Terry shares his people’s sustainable approach during a two-hour walking tour through the mangrove-rich landscape.
The Bardi (land) and Jawi (island) people of the Dampier Peninsula retain a particularly special relationship with their land and sea that encompasses in-depth knowledge of bush food, medicine and traditional hunting and fishing practice. Travellers hear Terry’s stories of a fascinating bush childhood, and his deep historical knowledge of the pearling trade. Terry is a fourth-generation pearler and shares his culture on a one-hour tour of Cygnet Bay Pearl farm. This experience includes the Hunter family history’s four generation connection to Cygnet Bay and stories of life growing up on this remote pearl farm.
Forage for oysters, hear Indigenous stories and discover a culture that has lived in harmony with this country for thousands of years and continues to practice traditional ways of caring for the land. Gain cultural insight through storytelling and connection on a personal level on Discover Aboriginal Experiences offerings.
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