Melbourne at night
Everyone loves it when they see a celeb out and about, but in Melbourne there are famous faces popping up here, there and everywhere… what better reason than to pack your suitcase and head out on a jet plane?
X Factor judge and pop star Dannii Minogue visited the Etihad Airways stand at World Travel Market in London earlier this month to celebrate the airline’s forthcoming launch of the new route to her hometown of Melbourne.
The service commences in March 2009, with Etihad operating daily flights to Melbourne from London Heathrow, Manchester and Dublin airports, with connections through the airline’s home base in Abu Dhabi.
Supporting the new service, Etihad Airways has extended its growing array of international sports sponsorships to Australia in a new deal that will see Melbourne’s famous Telstra Dome being re-named as the Etihad Stadium.
The five-year deal is the airline’s first major sporting sponsorship in Australia and will come into effect on 1 March 2009, the start of the Australian Football League (AFL) season.
Visitors to Melbourne now have the chance to experience cricket great Shane Warne in three-dimensional form at the city’s state-of-the-art National Sports Museum.
This major new attraction -a permanent addition to the museum- is bringing one of Australia’s most legendary sportsmen face-to-face with his audience, discussing the highs and lows, setbacks and triumphs of a famous sporting life.
Using the latest in simulated hologram technology, visitors will feel they are actually in the room with 'Warnie' as he discusses his career: the cricketer takes the audience into Melbourne Cricket Ground’s changing rooms, sharing some of the great moments of his career (including the infamous ‘Gatting’ ball) and interacting with the set as he moves around the space – locker doors open, cricket bats are picked up and moved and he looks and feels like he is actually there!
Gourmands are invited to experience Melbourne’s iconic food and wine culture at next year’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, where Michelin-starred British chefs will join a dazzling line-up of more than 20 other internationals.
Heston Blumenthal, whose three-Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck in Berkshire has been consistently voted as one of the best in the world for the last five years, will provide insights into his methods and approach during his exclusive ‘Northern Hemisphere Christmas in a Southern Hemisphere World’ class.
Philip Howard, who has won twice the title of Restaurant of the Year for The Square, and Sat Bains, named as one of the UK best chefs in the last two AA guides, will appear at the Langham Melbourne MasterClass, along with Pied à Terre’s Shane Osborn, the only Australian chef ever to hold two Michelin stars.
Melbourne’s globally acclaimed celebration of food and wine -the largest of its kind in the world- attracts over 300,000 attendees each year and features over 200 events, including the world’s longest lunch with over 1,000 guests. Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2009 will take place from 7–23 March 2009.