Gilbert Walden

Before booking your flights to Niseko or Queenstown this snow season, creep just over the Victorian border to Falls Creek, a small ski resort park that gives its bigger New South Wales rivals a run for their money. Catering mainly for beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders, it is the perfect destination for families and first-timers. Play Everything you require for your time on the snow bar goggles and gloves can be hired be it for the first-timer or the seasoned pro and lessons are available for all levels of expertise. Falls Creek is home to only green, blue and black runs, but there is plenty of variety in the terrain. Head up the Falls Express to the summit where the chairlift exits converge. From here there is several runs ranging in difficulty with all chairlifts leading back to the same area, making meeting up easy if skill level splits your company between runs. Wombat's Ramble is the trail home and is the longest green run in Australia stretching a whopping 2.2 kilometres down the mountain. Falls Creek also has night skiing between 6-9pm so you're able to make full use of your lift pass. Following a day out on the snow, an après-ski massage from SpaQ will help work out the knots. 17 Bogong High Plains Rd, Falls Creek 3699. 03 5732 8016. Eat Snonuts Donuts is a great little spot to satisfy your sugar cravings, with the owners making fresh dough daily. Slalom Plaza, Falls Creek 3699. For a quick bite to eat, pop into Stingrays which sits at the base of the s

Sure, we’ve got Vivid. And Melbourne has White Night. And the Northern Territory has Parrtjima. But you know who did it first? Canberra. Yep. Canberra. On right now, Enlighten sees many of Canberra's most famous buildings  lit up with spectacular projections for its tenth year running. There are also live performances and a number of light-based pieces around the city. Photograph: Gilbert Walden   Though there’s programming across Canberra, the centre of Enlighten is the Parliamentary Triangle. Here, visitors can wander between eight buildings (Parliament House; Old Parliament House; Questacon; the National Portrait Gallery; the National Library of Australia; the National Archives; the High Court and the NGA) with ease. Starting at Old Parliament House and walking clockwise around the park will give you the opportunity to witness some of the smaller installations like ‘For Heaven's Sake’ – a greenly lit perspex box, filled with angels in faux-pontiff outfits miming their way through a performance. We aren't entirely sure what is happening, but the onlooking children seem to love it.   Photograph: Gilbert Walden   Photograph: Gilbert Walden           The show stopper for us is ‘CLOUD’ by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett – 6,000 repurposed light bulbs arranged in the shape of a three-dimensional cartoon cloud, with several pull-chain switches hanging underneath. The cloud rumbles with light, reminiscent of lightning bouncing around a storm, reacting