Planning To Visit Australia?

Travel Down Under and discover Australia’s destinations, starting with icons such as the Red Centre, Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef. There is a breathtaking diversity of landscapes, from the mountainous Australian Alps to Fraser Island’s sand dunes, rainforest and lakes. Just as different and distinct are Australia’s cities, where our laidback lifestyle and cosmopolitan culture meet. From beach-fringed Sydney to elegant Adelaide, you’ll find a melting pot of cultures and a medley of theatre, restaurants, nightlife and events. Come, stay and celebrate, then spring into the rest of your Australian holiday. Australia has so much for you to explore, whether you want nature, wildlife, outback adventure, islands, rainforest or reef. Australia’s unique beauty is spread across eight states and territories, so find out more about the distinct attractions within each.

VISIT - AUSTRALIA.com

Some Australian Icons
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Learn more about Australia’s icons – fantastacic landscapes such as the Great Ocean Road, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Interact with Australia's unique wildlife. Follow the links below so you can find out a lot more about what to see and do in each of these uniquely Australian places.

Ningaloo  |  Kimberley  |  Great Ocean Road  |  Gippsland  |  Tasmanian Wilderness  |  Freycinet  |  Kangaroo Island  |  Flinders Ranges  |  Great Barrier Reef   |  Fraser Island  |  Red Centre  |  Kakadu  |  Byron Bay  |  Blue Mountains  |  Namadgi National Park  |  Australian Alps

Australian Cities
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Visit Australia’s world famous cities, like Sydney’s famous harbour or enjoy Melbourne’s old world charm and cultural precincts. Visit Darwin and enjoy the laid back lifestyle. Include Canberra in your itinerary so you can enjoy Australia's national capitol and all it has to offer. Travel to Perth to enjoy the crisp white sands on their beaches or choose Adelaide as a destination which has numerous parklands to wander through. You will find shopping, oceans, mountains, rivers and bush a short drive from all our major cities.

Sydney  |  Canberra  |  Melbourne  |  Brisbane  |  Perth  |  Adelaide  |  Hobart  |  Darwin  |  Cairns  |  Alice Springs  |  Broome  |  Gold Coast

Australia's states & territories
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Australia is comprised of eight states and territories, explore them all. See Tasmania's  Heritage-listed rainforests and Western Australia’s beaches, forests and national parks. Travel to the Northern Territory to explore Aboriginal heritage and culture. Queensland offers the Great Barrier Reef, along with pristine beaches and magnificent rainforests, all of this shows off Australia’s natural beauty. You shall find something different and unique in all of our states and territories.

Australian Capital Territory  |  New South Wales  |  Northern Territory  |  Queensland  |  South Australia  |  Tasmania  |  Victoria  |  Western Australia

Bill Powell was born in Victoria in 1959 and moved to Queensland in 1971. He completed the Fine Arts Diploma at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education, majoring in ceramics. He then went on to establish his own studio on the Gold Coast in 1980.

The original focus of this studio was functional wares, selling a wide range of pieces on the local and interstate art and craft market circuit. Throughout the years Bill honed his wheelthrowing skills as a contracted production potter within many Queensland potteries, quickly developing a reputation as a master of the pottery wheel.

The past decade has seen an enhanced emphasis on the one-off expressive piece. The functional heritage is still in evidence, but the direction is one of high quality and increased attention to detail. Bill's signature technique is the inclusion of crystal glazes. Each piece is unique and unreproducible in its design. All pieces are hand signed and individually serial numbered.

"The exploration of the clay as a medium has been my lifelong passion. I utilize multiple creative processes. Colour, form and texture still remain at the centre of my creative process. A mastery of the potter's wheel and crystal glazes, along with a new-found fascination with casting techniques and glass-work, have allowed me to explore a mix of media that is unique in the art form. My latest pieces explore the translucent nature of glass in combination with, and in contrast to, the space-defining clay object."

With his recent work Bill continues to engage with ceramics and glass, combining both in new and original designs that succeed in marrying the seductive nature of glass with the enduring traditions of the ceramic form. From the finely poised compotes with their delicate turned bases and floating glass bowls to the well-presented glass-centred plates bowls and platters, all of Bill's artwork displays a commitment that stands in evidence of his thirty year career path, a career engrossed in colour and patination of the technically difficult crystal glaze.

"These forms draw upon a vast history of ceramics and act as a canvas for my obsession with the random and organic crystal growth patterns within my glazes. Subtle they are not. I have never been a devotee of the minimalist aesthetic. To me, more is much more. I value true craftsmanship. In this 21st century when all is fast and furious, I feel a need to slow the process down and rekindle the elusive art of the hand made."

BilPowell

Unique Australian Product - Wine In A Can
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Today's global wine consumers are increasingly embracing simple means of beverage enjoyment, often in the new economies where wine is seen as the modern trend from western culture. Further than that, Generation X and Y drinkers from many diverse ethnic origins are readily accepting ready-to-drink beverages of a spirit, wine or soft drink base as the drink of the current era. Success in the beverage market comes from being chic, relevant, drink accessible, and importantly single serve. Wine in a Can (Vinsafe®) is one of those beverages. It has many advantages for drinkers, and innovative wine producers such as Barokes are exploiting the significant marketing potential of this product with the creation of the Ready to Drink Wine (RTDW™) category.

Furthermore, the wine industry is on the cusp of considering replacement containers for glass bottles as challenging environmental and recycling issues continue to emerge. A leader since 1996 in innovative wine packaging, Barokes leads the way in the development of environmentally friendly wine packaging - aluminium is 100% recyclable in a closed loop process where aluminium cans are turned back into aluminium cans with only 5% of original energy used to create aluminium required to recycle it. The reduced carbon footprint emanating from the adoption of this Vinsafe® wine packaging format is a major attraction for many consumers and the industry as a whole.

Peter Scudamore-Smith
Master of Wine

BAROKES

There are currently five wine styles available in Barokes' standard range. All are at their peak and ready to drink now.