Audio Tours Australia

This weekend I finally launched Audio Tours Australia, a site offering guided MP3 walking tours of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Visit Audio Tours Australia for Sydney Tours, Melbourne Tours and Brisbane Tours.

Darling Harbour Capoeira Festival 2010

I headed down to check out the 15th annual Capoeira Festival in Darling Harbour today.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music, and dance. It was created in Brazil by slaves brought from Africa, especially from present day Angola, sometime after the sixteenth century. It was developed in the region of Quilombo dos Palmares, located in the Brazilian state of Alagoas, which was the state of Pernambuco  before desmembrement, and has great influence on the Afro-Brazilian generations, with strong presence in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Participants form a roda, or circle, and take turns either playing musical instruments (such as the Berimbau), singing, or ritually sparring  in pairs in the center of the circle. The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic  play, feints, takedowns, and extensive use of leg sweeps, kicks, and headbutts.

- Wikipedia

Read on for video!

Hoopla: Circus & Street Theatre Festival

Over the Easter long weekend was the free annual Hoopla Circus & Street Theatre Festival in Darling Harbour. There was a lineup of acrobatic shows, buskers, street performers and comedians performing all weekend.

Stalker performing Elevate

Keep reading for video of some of the events!

Earth Hour Sydney 2010

Time for the annual Earth Hour where we all switch off our lights and gizmos for an hour from 8:30pm to 9:30pm.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.
- earthhour.org

Read on for more pics and video...

Sydney Saint Patrick's Day Parade 2010

Wandered into town for the annual Saint Patrick's Day Parade (although Saint Patrick's Day was actually the Wednesday beforehand). The parade started from around Town Hall (which you can see in the background there) and ended up near Hyde Park which is where everyone went afterwards for Irish song and dance performances and a pint or two of Guiness and Kilkenny. Read on for some more pics and video.

Sydney Symphony in Parramatta Park

Pack your picnic and rug and join us for a magical night of classical music including Beethoven’s moving overture to Fidelio and the ‘Emperor’ Piano Concerto performed by French pianist François-Frédéric Guy. Plus a not-to-be missed performance of orchestral highlights from Wagner’s Ring Cycle. This concert is led by the Australian conductor Alexander Briger

The concert will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lachlan Macquarie's swearing-in as Governor of New South Wales, with living history presented by Historica.

- whatsoninsydney.com.au

Greek Festival of Sydney 2010

This happened last Saturday but I just got around to writing it up. Woops... The annual Greek Festival of Sydney kicked off on Saturday March 20 in Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park with food, clothing and jewelry markets, as well as traditional Greek dance and choir performances.

 Free newspaper! Thanks, I guess :(