My stay in the Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast, QLD

My husband went to a conference that was held in the Palazzo Versace Hotel, in the Gold Coast, a few days ago, so I tagged along to see exactly what the Versace Hotel was all about!




A few photos before we messed up the room...


The parquetry floor was beautiful, all the furniture had touches of Versace character, they even had glassware that had the Versace head embedded in the bottom of the glass to create a 3D relief on the bottom. The bed spread, towels, soap, etc had Versace emblems on it, but I was most impressed about was the pool-sized bath! It was huge... well, compared to our tiny spa bath we have at home, this spa was massive!


Of course, being surrounded by such a beautiful place meant I wasn't going to walk around in sneakers and track suit pants!

I am wearing the Pink Pencil Skirt, the Alexander Zebra Blouse, and the Venus Floral Bolero! A big mix of prints and colours, but everyoe who knows me knows I love my prints, colour and over the top styling! (which is why I loved this hotel)


The foyer chandelier! The foyer has a lovely area for cocktails and high tea. I could imagine it would be a great place for a girls day out high tea!



The beautiful mosaic floor that sits under the chandelier.


When ever you go to any other hotel, they leave an ordinairy, plain-looking teas set in the cupboard for you, right? Not here! Above is the tea set they leave for you in the Versace.


A little buffet breakfast... for me it is such a nice change to the boring white plates that every other hotel/restaurant/cafe etc serves food on. If I had a cafe/restaurant, I would go op-shopping and buy up big on all the vintage crockery!


It was so hot and humid, that a swim in the pool was necessary!



One of my latest designs, the Vesper Kimono... perfect for lounging around at the pool!

The Valentino Exhibition and Our Queensland Holiday

My husband and I recently had a holiday in Queensland, and he took me to visit the Valentino exhibition in Brisbane- isn't he a sweetheart?!

Such a beautiful inspiration! So many amazing gowns and outfits to drink in and admire... I literally didn't want to leave... I wanted to just sit there amongst them all and stare!

Of course, I couldn't, and unfortunately the exhibition catalogue book is sold out, but I may just have to purchase it from amazon.com!

You weren't allowed to take any photos inside the exhibition, so the following photos are from various websites, including the brisbane times, and abc news. Please take a look at thier websites for more images. You can also see the Valentino exhibition image gallery on the Gallery of Modern Art Website here.










After the exhibition, we had dinner at a lovely restaurant in the Gold Coast, named Verve. Great service, fantastic wine selection, beautiful food, and lovely atmosphere. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys modern Australian cuisine, and who wants something completely different to the tourist-trap offerings in Surfers Paradise. I think that was probably the best part about it- Verve was clearly a locals restaurant!




Oh, and I couldn't help myself... being a fan over the top-ness, I had to visit the Versace hotel... I think my kimono (and me) fit quite well there!

Absynthe Restaurant Review and Dream World!

Last week, my hubbie and I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary in the Gold Coast, Queensland. (You can see pictures of my Wedding Dress here).

We are such big kids at heart! We love to giggle at anything silly (well, I do, Max just encourages me!), and we love our theme parks and rides! So we spent our anniversary screaming and laughing our heads off on all the rides at "Dreamworld", Queensland, Australia.


They also have a section named, "Tiger Island". They have about 5 tigers; 3 of which perform in a show, to help raise money to save them in the wild. Above, they are feeding them milk- how cute!


We went on so many rides, including this one, "The Claw". It acts like a pendulum, gaining momentum with each swing, to go higher and higher. As the pendulum is swinging, the circle (where everyone is sitting) is spinning. It freaked me out!

My favourite rides in the whole park, were the new water rides and slides. I guess with the roller-coasters and other mechanical rides, it is a complete adrenalin rush, and you kind of have to psyche yourself up to go on them. With the water rides, I found them easier to have fun- I giggled the entire time, and just had fun- without being scared at all.

If you have children, there are many kids rides, and there is a "Wiggles World" section which they will love.

Either way, we had loads of fun!

Afterwards, we dined at a beautiful restaurant in Surfers Paradise, "Absynthe".


The atmosphere inside is very intimate and romantic; the service was attentive, but not invasive; the food was beautifully flavoured. You could say that this restaurant adds French influence to a modern Australian menu.



I had an entrée of pumpkin ravioli- very nice with lots of flavours, although for a $30 price tag, I thought it was very small.

For the main, I had steak with an onion jam- it was fantastic! The hubbie had lamb.


I really enjoyed Absynthe. If you are looking for a romantic setting to celebrate something special; if you want fantastic food; if you want good service; then I would recommend Absynthe to you.

Next time I go, I think I will skip the entree, and order a main and dessert- the chocolate fondant sounds divine!



We have had a very busy week, and I will soon be able to post photos from my friend's wedding, which I had the pleasure of going to this past weekend. There is so much to catch up on!

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Our Hamilton Island Holiday

My husband and I have just come back from our short break to Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. It was so beautiful, and I thought I would share some photos with you.

This is the first time I have gone to the Great Barrier Reef, or any of the islands off Australia. So I was quite excited!

Before we flew to the island, we stayed one night in Brisbane, at the Emporium Hotel. I would recommend this hotel to anyone who needs to stay in Brisbane. It is a beautiful hotel, the foyer speaks for itself (pictured above), and the rooms are spacious and well appointed.

It is a boutique hotel, situated in, I guess you could say, an oasis of designer fashion, jewelery, homewares, and restaurants, called "The Emporium". Surrounding the oasis: car yards, home shopping outlets etc. It seems strange that they decided to create the Emporium where they did, but it works.


We had dinner at the French restaurant next to the Hotel, in "The Emporium" complex, named "Belle Epoque".
It was a gorgeous restaurant, fantastic food, and great service. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys good food, and beautiful surroundings!

Try the French Onion Soup, the Duck, and the Souffle'- fantastic!

So we arrived to Hamilton Island on the Saturday morning.... I didn't really know what to expect with the weather, but it didn't disappoint, and it was beautiful basically everyday!


There were many activities, and we decided to do a few: sunset kayak, catamarans, scuba diving (the hubbie only), snorkelling, tour to Whitehaven Beach, and shooting. The pictures are below....

Me having a go at shooting a pistol...I much preferred the rifle!
The sunset kayak tour.



The gorgeous sunrise that we witnessed while eating breakfast.



Me going for a snorkel!
The hubbie swimming at Whitehaven Beach. It is meant to be one of the whitest sand beaches in the world, due to the amount of silica in the sand.

The boat we arrived in for the tour.






So I hope you liked the photos! I feel so lucky to live in this beautiful country, and I am proud to share how beautiful it is with everyone!

Hopefully I will have photos from the scuba and snorkelling soon!