30 Of Australia's Best Wine And Beer Festivals

Whether it’s red or white, craft beer or crisp cider, this regional wine and drinks festival guide will have your ‘poison’ covered (and keep your calendar full throughout the year). Happy travels and cheers!

Crush Festival, Adelaide Hills, January

Why? Celebrates local wines but also branches out comprehensively into cuisine, fashion and art shows in intimate Hills’ venues. See: Crush Festival

The Harvest Festival, McLaren Vale, January

Why? South Australian epicurean delights (‘Joys of the Fleurieu’) blended with a relaxed outdoor Australian summer ambiance. See: Harvest Festival

Cellar Door Wine Festival, Adelaide

Why? Sample a wide range of drops from Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley et al and then maybe plan a trip afterwards to visit your favourite. See: Cellar Door Festival

Wine Time, NSW Southern Highlands

Why? Check out crisp cool climate wines in around 15 boutique cellar doors dotted around the chocolate-box picturesque highlands. See: Wine Time

Wine Harvest Festival, Canberra

Why? Visit the harvest of one of Australia’s most underrated wine regions, featuring a solid variety of drops from 140 vineyards and 33 wineries (all within 35 minutes of the capital)

Grampians Grape Escape, Victoria

Why? As far as regional wine fares go, it doesn’t get more indulgent than this, with around 100 of Western Victoria’s wine and food artisans vying for your palate in a suitably dramatic national park setting.

Noosa Food & Wine Festival

Why? Okay, so this one is famous for its food, but wine is certainly not ignored either. And it doesn’t get any bigger than this on Sunshine Coast’s social scene. Great for celeb-chef spotting!

Food, Wine & A Taste of Port (Douglas)

Why? We love an open-air tropical vino-fest and this one unfolds under the stars (and illuminated palm fronds) on Port Douglas’s foreshore.

Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend

Why? A fabulously relaxed wine region, a grape pip’s throw from Adelaide, which knows how to execute seriously international standard Riesling. Why wouldn’t you?

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High Country Harvest, Victoria

Why? An alpine twist on your usual wine and food events with energetic activities thrown in, from horse-riding to bee-keeping classes, set in the sublime autumnal High Country landscape.

McLaren Vale Sea & Vines Food & Wine Festival

Why? A Mediterranean-style climate, a choice of 65 cellar doors, some of the most awe-inspiring coastal views in Australia and a long weekend… hmmm, tough one! See: Mc Laren Vale info

Glenrowan Wine Region Trails, Tastings & Tales Food & Wine Festival

Why? Intimate but comprehensive festival with plenty of quirky hands-on highlights, such as Muscat blending workshops, in a region that knows its way around a full-bodied red.

UnWINEd, Riverina

Why? Combine a long-weekend roadtrip to this region, full of family-owned vineyards, that claims to produce one in every four bottles of wine sold in Australia. Prepare your for farm-fresh produce too.

Caxton Street Seafood & Wine Festival, Brisbane

Why? For the delectable challenge of matching Queensland wines with juicy seafood from 20 Brisbane food outlets on a lively thoroughfare – it draws the long-weekend crowds! See: Caxton Street Seafood & Wine Festival

Winter Reds, Adelaide Hills

Why? Flamboyant and hearty reds, misty mornings, blazing open fires, and the aroma of baking food – it all feels a little Continental. Rug up and go forth! See: Adelaide Hills Wine

Mudgee Wine & Food Festival, NSW

Why? Tree-changers’ paradise and honey capital Mudgee has blossomed into a wine region in its own right. If for some reason the wine is not to your taste, the rolling landscape and gourmet produce may be.

Heathcote Wine & Food Festival, Vic

Why? Within striking distance of Bendigo and Melbourne (by shuttle), ‘Shiraz Heaven’ offers a fine blend of tasting seminars and master-classes for the budding aficionado. See: Heathcote Wine Growers

Hunter Valley Wine & Food Festival, NSW

Why? Around 30 wineries get involve this Hunter festival, reborn in 2013. There’s also a wide variety of beer, cider and, of course, food on the menu at this Crowne Plaza hosted event. See: Hunter Valley Wine Festival

Orange Wine Week, NSW

Why? A charming higher altitude, cool climate wine region festival set in the crisp spring of NSW’s Central West. Keep an eye out for the week night market and terroir tour. See: Taste Orange

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Toast to the Coast

Why? Why not take a Monday sickie and combine this cool climate wine weekend with a Melbourne Cup soiree, just up the Princes Highway, on the Tuesday. Oh, there are impressive wine, food and music circulating too. See: Toast to the Coast

Margaret River Gourmet Escape

Why? There are plenty of smaller scale events on this world-class wine region’s calender, but the Escape is the go-to festival that most of the wineries and vineyards rally around. A comprehensive program!

Taste of Tasmania, Hobart

Why? The best of Tassie wine (and produce) enjoyed over summer with the hoopla and energy of the Sydney to Hobart crowd.

Beer & cider

Schützenfest, Adelaide

Why? This annual Adelaide event, based on a traditional German festival, meaning Shooting Festival’, is more about celebrating beer than tracing the heritage of its roots. Like a mini-Oktoberfest, German food, beverages, dances and music abound.

Ballarat Beer Festival

Why? For craft beer and cider connoisseurs that like hearty ‘dude food’ and plenty of entertainment (and a kids’ zone to give you a rest), these two are for you.

South West Craft Beer Festival, Busselton

Why? Proof that wine Mecca Margaret River has even more to offer indulgence. Sample the region’s finest beers and ciders from boutique producers such as Cheeky Monkey and Custard Apple Cider.

Great Australian Beer Festival, Geelong

Why? This one is b-i-g, claiming Australia’s largest ‘al fresco beer garden’ and featuring around 150 craft brews of many persuasions. See: gabfgeelong.com.au

BrewsVegas, Brisbane

Why? This craft beer carnival is only in its first year, but there are 35 venues already involved and around 90 beer-focussed events happening across Queensland’s capital.

Bitter & Twisted Int Boutique Beer Festival, Maitland Gaol, NSW

Why? Live music, craft beer and cider, Hunter Valley wines for sampling, all in the ground of an old gaol. Organise a tour of the facilities in the unlikely event that the rest of the action hasn’t taken of you.

Monarto Safari Resort’s new Safari Lodge delivers so much more than a memorable stay; it’s packed full of unforgettable moments.

Just a year after the 78-room Monarto Safari Resort opened, the new Safari Lodge brings a more intimate and exclusive overnight African safari experience to Australia just outside of Adelaide. But just how similar is it to an African safari?

Consider these pinch-me moments I had during my stay and decide for yourself.

1. Cheetah sightings at check-in

monarto safari lodge cheetahs — Spot cheetahs before you even check in.

Safari Lodge is set within the Wild Africa precinct of the expansive, open-range Monarto Safari Park. I expected to see animals, but I didn’t expect to see two cheetahs stalking the fenceline just behind my tent at check-in.

I cross the paddock to get a closer look. Both are now perched like a sphinx on a hill overlooking the 20 premium tents that make up Safari Lodge. I stand here, locked in place, waiting to see if they make a move. After 10 minutes like this, I turn to get settled into the tent but throw a final look in their direction; they’ve slinked back down, now barely visible in the grass. I’m sure I’ll be dreaming about this encounter later tonight.

2. Sipping champagne as a giraffe sips from a waterhole

giraffes at monarto safari lodge — Enjoy champagne while meeting the locals. (Credit: Katie Carlin)

The all-inclusive stay includes a 2.5-hour Sunset Safari that takes guests into the Wild Africa precinct onboard a purpose-built Safari Land Cruiser for a chance to see free-roaming herds of African animals up close.

The safari drive culminates in a champagne and canapé stop in a fenced and sheltered viewing area of the precinct. A chance to watch the sun set as animals gather around one of the many waterholes. And we’re in luck! Two giraffes are stripping leaves from a nearby tree as three white rhinos graze to my right. One giraffe starts galloping, in that funny head-bobbing way giraffes do, to the water’s edge. It splays its legs and bends its long neck down to start slurping up water. I find giraffes endlessly entertaining, and sipping champagne while watching the scene play out is the icing on the cake.

3. A rain shower with views of a waterhole where African animals gather

monarto safari lodge King Safari Tent — Enjoy views from the King Safari Tent.

I am staying in tent 17, one of the best positioned tents for animal encounters, due to its proximity to the waterhole. Not only does the spacious 71-square-metre King Safari Tent feature a king bed, lounge area, separate dressing room with kitchenette, coffee machine, kettle and fully stocked mini bar, and ensuite bathroom. But you can even glimpse the waterhole from the rain shower. It’s thoughtful details like this that keep you connected to the safari experience no matter where you are located.

4. Feeding lions from within a caged dome

Lion 360 experience at monarto safari resort — Step into the Lion 360 experience. (Credit: Katie Carlin)

Monarto Safari Park isn’t a zoo. Set across 1500 hectares of South Australian bushland, it’s an expansive safari experience. It’s been designed to support complex social groupings, natural behaviours and long-term species management. Entry is included for guests, but I’ve decided to upgrade my experience with tickets to Lion 360.

Senior Keeper Rachel Hemming herds 15 of us into a domed cage for the unique lion feeding experience. She leads Monarto’s care and conservation breeding programs for their iconic big cats. “Make sure you don’t get too close to the edge of the cage; the lions like to mark their territory,” she warns.

She starts making cat-like calls to Kubwa, Kashka and Kito, the three male lions lazing somewhere out of sight behind the tree line in the distance. The promise of food eventually lures the lions over. I’m in awe of their size as they pace back and forth, pausing to take the meat as it’s fed to them via tongs.

In her excitement, one lady has inched too close; a lion takes aim and hits his mark before she realises her mistake. I see her leaving the gift shop with a new jacket not long after the tour ends.

5. A swim in a private plunge pool with a floating charcuterie board

Monarto safari Lodge swim in a private plunge pool with a floating charcuterie board — Tuck into a poolside treat. (Credit: Katie Carlin)

The Safari Lodge reception is also home to a restaurant and bar, heated swimming pool and several private plunge pools available to book. After a morning spent at Monarto Safari Park, a dip in one of the private plunge pools sounds too good to skip.

I change into my swimmers and make my way to the lodge. A generous charcuterie board arrives shortly after I slip into the pool. I’m told floating trays are already on order, but picking at the selection of cheeses, meats, nuts and fruit while perched on the edge sipping champagne is just as indulgent as it is having it float in the water. I never make it to the gym or pickleball court beside the lodge, but I have no regrets.

6. A front-row seat to a male rhino rejected by two females

male rhino grazing — Watch a rhino’s unlucky day. (Credit: Lucas Alexander)

Louis Tonkin, our Wild Africa Tour host, is giddy with excitement when he spots the three white rhinos on our Sunset Safari drive. He has an inkling that we’re about to get a show.

He pulls to the side and tells us what terrible eyesight white rhinos have, struggling to spot a motionless animal or object even from a short distance. However, they make up for it with acute hearing and an incredible sense of smell. Which explains why the larger male rhino is methodically creeping towards the two disinterested females grazing metres in front of him, then suddenly freezing on the spot. He’s hoping one will be open to mating with him. He takes another wary shuffle forward and suddenly the smaller of the two turns and charges towards him, butting him hard with her head. It’s a firm no. The male, denied, sheepishly backs away.

7. Watching a dazzle of zebra from the comfort of a luxury safari tent

monarto safari resort zebra — Wildlife encounters abound.

Rain clouds loom, and the wind is howling, but thankfully it hasn’t deterred the zebras. I’m brewing a cup of Monarto’s Serengé-T – a vanilla rooibos blended with Daintree black tea and butterfly pea flower when I spot them. Six zebras are prancing across the plains for a drink at the waterhole. I watch their antics from the deck of my King Safari Tent, wrapped in a merino blanket made by Australian-owned Grampians Good Co. and marvel at the fact I get a front-row show to these wild animals.

After they disappear from view, I sit with the sketch pad and pencils I find in the cupboard and start drawing some of my most memorable animal encounters from the weekend – starting with the two hippos I saw ravenously munching on grass at dusk as we made our way out of the Wild Africa precinct last night. This really is as close to an authentic safari experience as you can get outside of Africa.

Start planning a wild stay in the luxurious Safari Lodge at monartosafariresort.com.