About Briar
Briar Jensen is a Sydney-based freelance travel writer. Her blog covers travel tips, reviews, insights and inspiration, travel accessories and gadgets.
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Love this sculpture called Waitukei, by Lyonel Grant in the Government Gardens @rotoruanz depicting the melding of Maori and European cultures. The male and female figures took over two years to craft from bronze. @purenewzealand @escapesnaps #rotoruanzMud volcanoes, sulphur pools, boiling water, bubbling mud and spitting lakes @hellsgatenz in @rotoruanz has it all. It’s not surprising it is named #hellsgate and it’s important to stay on the path. However, you can experience the ‘health-giving’ mud and healing waters at their Mud Spa. #rotoruanz #geothermal #astw_inc @escapesnapsWhen you fly to White Island, New Zealand with @volcanicairnz for an extra $100 you can include a stop on Mt Tarawera too. This mountain was split open in the 1886 eruption, leaving gaping wounds in the harsh, dry mountain top. Barren and beautiful, it is pretty windy up there! @rotoruanz #rotoruanz #mttaraweraWhite Island, off shore from New Zealand’s North Island, is an active volcano (apparently there were 183 earthquakes recorded in a 24 hour period last week) that you can visit by air or sea. Today I flew out to #whiteislandnz from #rotoruanz with @volcanicairnz in a helicopter. We landed on the island and spent about an hour wandering around the stark sulphur encrusted landscape and steaming crater lake. What an incredible trip, and remarkable topography. #activevolcano @rotoruanz @purenewzealand @escapesnaps #astw_incZip lining guides have a knack of pushing your boundaries. Here I am before the gorgeous girls at @rotoruacanopytours had me plunging backwards off this platform to zip backwards through the forest! (I look way calmer than I felt.) What I love about this tour is the conservation aspect. Between zipping through the trees they teach you about the forest and the native birds, along with their pest eradication program. An exhilarating and educational few hours. @escapesnaps @rotoruanz @purenewzealandWhat is this? Looks a bit like a flying saucer from a Sci-fi movie. But it is one of many art installations st @treewalknz in #rotoruanz Nightlights light up the redwoods for a magical experience in the forest after dark. If you don’t like heights, it’s a good time to visit, as you can’t see how high the suspended walkways are above the ground! @rotoruanz @escapesnaps #treewalknz- My Tweets
Category Archives: Food & Wine
Toe-tapping retro fashion fun in the Blue Mountains
Love retro fashions? Like a bit of toe-tapping on the dance floor? Enjoy lingering with friends over delicious regional food and wine? Then you’ll love the Roaring 20s Festival. Held in Sydney’s Blue Mountains this year’s event takes place on … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Events, Fashion, festivals, Food & Wine, New South Wales, Sydney
Tagged Blue Mountains, Blue Mountains Vintage Cadillacs, Charleston Challenge, Charleston for Charity, Charlotte Smith Collection, Charlotte Smith Fashion Collection, Dress up, fashion, festivals, Food and Wine, Hydro Majestic, Hydro Majestic Long Lunch, Plate Up, retro fashion, roaring 20s, Roaring 20s fashions, Roaring 20s Festival, vintage cadillacs
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Event: Sydney Tomato Festival Royal Botanic Garden
Love tomatoes? Then mark the Sydney Tomato Festival in your diary for this weekend 20-21st February 2016 – to be held at The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. I didn’t realise Sydney had a Tomato Festival, so I’m disappointed to know I’ve … Continue reading
Learn healthy cooking at Sprout
It starts with a cheese so blooming beautiful it’s almost too good to eat. Encrusted in finely chopped herbs and adorned with delicate pastel petals it awaits on a platter at Sprout Cooking, Adelaide Central Market, in South Australia. Sprout … Continue reading
Posted in Cooking School, Food & Wine, South Australia, Travel
Tagged Adelaide Central Market, cooking school, food, healthy cooking
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Sydney’s top pub grub
More than 100 reviewers ‘risked life and limb’ to visit over 500 pubs in New South Wales, says Keith Austin, editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Pub Food Guide, which was launched in Sydney last night. But only about … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Food & Wine, New South Wales, Travel
Tagged Dining, Food and Wine, Hotel food, Pub food, Pubs, sydney
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Easter chocolate game for grown ups
Got chocolate on your mind this Easter? Then I’ve got a hilarious game for you to try around the dinner table or campfire, thanks to Murray Langham of Schoc Chocolates, an artisan chocolate company in New Zealand. Langham established the … Continue reading
Posted in Chocolate, Food & Wine, New Zealand, Travel
Tagged Chocolate, Easter, Greytown, New Zealand, travel
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Nudity in Outback Pub
There’s nudity-a-plenty at this family outback pub. But don’t let that put you off – it’s only of the artistic variety, from the likes of Clifton Pugh, Russell Drysdale and other artists of the bush. The walls of the Tooles Family Hotel in … Continue reading
Posted in Accommodation, Australia, Food & Wine, Outback, Tibooburra
Tagged accommodation, Food and Wine, outback, travel
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Pick me! Bite me! (Hawkesbury Farm Gate Trail)
‘Bite Me!’ screams the shiny red gala as I pluck it from the tree. I oblige, crunching into the crisp white flesh, juice dribbling down my chin. The flavour is far sweater and fresher than any store-bought apple I’ve tasted recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Food & Wine, Hawkesbury, Travel
Tagged Farmgate, Food and Wine, Hawkesbury, travel
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