Showing posts with label The Emporium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Emporium. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Alla Moda Fabric Collection


My husband and I stayed at the Emporium Hotel, on our way to Hamilton Island, and I stumbled across this beautiful fabric store! Alla Moda Fabric Collection stocks the most exquisite collection of English Wools, Swiss Bouclés, Italian textured and plain wools, and to-die-for French laces.

The tiny store is in the Emporium oasis, at Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia. If you are ever in Brisbane and love fabric, it is worth the effort to visit this store... and while you are there, try the French Restaurant, Belle Epoque- Fantastic!

Friday, July 31, 2009

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!