The Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre is proud to present the Surry Hills Festival for 2010. The festival’s regular home of Prince Alfred Park is undergoing extensive renovations, so this year the festival will be finding a temporary new home and a new shape. The 2010 festival will be creative, intimate and have a community picnic feel with the entertainment stages limited to two small parks – Ward Park (Devonshire Street) & Shannon Reserve (Crown Street), and possibly other satellite venues.

The festival will present a mosaic of live entertainment and djs, 60 market stalls, free fun activities for kids and families, tasty international food, amusement rides and the famous Surry Hills Dog Show, in a miniature version of the usual festival. Festival goers are also encouraged to take the opportunity to explore other activities and venues around the suburb on festival day.

Getting There

Surry Hills is accessible by bus, train and light rail and local venues are within walking distance. Ward Park is just a short stroll up Devonshire Street from Central Station and Railway Square. Once you’re there, Surry Hills is the perfect walking suburb as there’s something to uncover on every corner – and plenty of pubs and cafes to take a load off from a long day’s walk.

Date and time: Saturday 10th April 2010 from 9:30am to 6:00pm

Location: Ward Park, Shannon Reserve, Surry Hills and various other venues across Surry Hills (only for 2010 – back in Prince Alfred Park in 2011.)

Krosswerdz Hip Hop Church has been in full effect since May 2006. They’re about hip hop with purpose – the culture graced with faith. Real hip hop, real people and a very real God.

For more info about the KJ-52 Sydney show or Krosswerdz click here.

Our friends at Design Federation have launched their new stella website. It’s slick, smart and sophisticated. If you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favour and have a peak!

Design Federation is an independent platform for Australia’s creative community.  They are a web-based information exchange hub for the latest in design news, events, projects and emerging identities in the region.

There aim is to support and promote the up-and-comers, the kids, the battlers and the under-dogs of the Australian creative community. They have created a platform for the design community to gather, network, collaborate, support and learn from each other. They organise events and artistic projects that encourage innovative partnerships and keep the readers up to date on all things inspired.

It’s the strangest kind of place that makes it feel like home. For those of the café late lifestyle Newtown, Sydney is a beacon of great food and even better coffee. For those who live locally, the Saturday throngs are a chance for amusement and mischief. From the Bird-Whistle man to Old Dave, the Virgin Newtowner is assailed with a bewildering range of characters totally oblivious to a visitors finer sensibilities. Though you may be sure that Old Dave will have judged from distance whether you might be up for a blue one or even better a lobster.

With the odd poet selling their wares to the multitude of local buskers making their drinking money with a few tunes, there is always an edge to Newtown that can surprise, amaze and even unsettle but never bore. In this truly diverse suburb, the waitresses know the characters and are much more likely to give them a free coffee than shuffle them along. But put aside your prejudices and Newtown can be a truly unique experience.

And it pays to have local knowledge. While Cafes and Restaurants have bloomed in Newtown with new trade coming from outside, the cheap, cheerful and bloody marvelous have disappeared somewhat. But not quite! Avoiding the main drag on a Saturday night can bring bonuses of great food at a very reasonable price.

Love Kilimanjaro African Restaurant but cannot get in, there is the African Express Eatery, owned by the same people, beside the Duke of Edinburgh on Enmore Road. For Pakistan/Indian food, Guzzlers on South King Street is the King of Cheap Eats. And down in St Peters, the Good Wok never fails to please! For Pizza, Torino’s on Enmore Road or for Pasta, there is a cosy little Italian restaurant Mamma Maria’s upstairs from the Old Fish Shop on the corner of King and Church Street!  Who needs Norton Street?

Thai restaurants? I wouldn’t even dare to suggest but almost all of them are great so go with your mood! Taking out a Vegetarian? The Green Gormet vegetarian Yum Cha will win you a friend for life, though almost everywhere in Newtown has plenty of Vegetarian options. For beer and food, the Courthouse is great, while the Zanzibar and Soni’s give a little more up market experience with lots of Tapas to keep you happy.

Coffee has to be Campos, votes one of the best 10 cups of coffee in the world, though it does get quite crowded. A take out with a nice walk to Camperdown Park is always a possibility. Other than that, take your time and check out some of the side streets for the hidden treats or join the crowd watchers on one of the many cafés facing onto King Street.

Article written by Pauline Bleach

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