Author: Chris Stead

For 30-years, Chris Stead has been writing about video games, travel, music, entertainment, technology and sports, as well as publishing books, hosting TV shows and generally being the tallest guy in the crowd.

Jaecoo J7 Review AWD Exterior

Jaecoo J7 Review: An impressive debut for this mid-sized SUV

Jaecoo has launched its first vehicle into Australia, an excellent mid-sized SUV that comes in 2WD, 4WD and innovative SHS models. Remember when it used to be Ford vs Holden? Toyota gave it a good nudge, too, and there are many other notable brands that have done well in Australia, but the point is that…

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Dope Lemon Tour ANZ

Dope Lemon announces Golden Wolf tour dates for Australia and New Zealand

Dope Lemon is set to return home for a run of shows in Australia and New Zealand through winter 2025. Laidback vocals and effortless grooves litter the catalogue of Angus Stone spin-off project Dope Lemon. Like disco just emerged from a Jamaican Dutch oven and found folk swinging from the palm leaves. If you’ve been…

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Disney Wonder Cruise Ship - Old Mate Media

Cruise Review: Is Disney Wonder “the happiest place on Earth”?

The Disney Wonder cruise ship experience may be designed with kids in mind, but it delivers for all ages. Admit it, you want to go to Disneyland! We all do. No matter how old you get, there’s a place inside all of us where some Disney story, or character, or song, has burrowed into our…

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Rydges Port Macquarie Drone Shot

Is this the “Best Pool in Port”? Rydges Port Macquarie Review

Big rooms, killer location and a great pool; there’s plenty to like about Rydges Port Macquarie. Fingers fumbling with excitement, I shove the fresh, shiny metal point of my fishing hook straight up the prawn’s backside, curving it around and digging it into the hardest part of the head. So far I’m four from five….

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View

Why Tasmania’s Saffire Freycinet is one of the best places I’ve ever stayed

Barefoot luxury meets active adventure and education in a resort experience that almost eclipses the incredible landscape on Tasmania’s east coast. I’m sitting on a comfortable couch, the heat from a distant fire running its warm fingers down my neck. In front of me is a large glass wall: floor to ultra-high ceiling and curving…

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Club Med Kani Frontage

If you’re looking for All-Inclusive Maldives luxury, Club Med Kani is what you want

If you’re looking for an active Maldivian adventure with all-inclusive benefits, then it’s hard to go past Club Med Kani. I think I’ve fallen in love with Club Med. Only a year ago, I’d never been to one. Almost by chance my family and I stayed at Club Med Bintan Island and we had such…

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Ritz-Carlton Maldives Beach Villa

The ultimate in luxury resort experiences meets a tropical natural wonder at the Ritz-Carlton Maldives Fari Islands

There’s a common theme across many of the luxury resorts you’ll find scattered across the Indian Ocean’s Maldivian archipelago. Large, wooden villas, decked out in island chic to look like they were built by indigenous people centuries ago, all while housing modern luxuries within. Tall jungles reaching for the sun between them, as the reef…

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Anantara Dhigu Overwater Villa with pool

Anantara Dhigu Maldives Resort, “It lived up to the dream and then some!”

There’s no shortage of amazing five-star luxury resorts in the Maldives, but few offer an experience quite like the Anantara Dhigu Maldives Resort. With each passing second, you feel lighter. As if the weight of the world is being bumped from your shoulders every time the speed boat hits a wave on its way to…

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NSW Wine Month

November is NSW Wine Month

Do you love a good drop? I certainly do, so I was shocked to hear during the recent launch event for NSW Wine Month how little local produce us Sydneysiders drink. Steve Cox, the CEO of Destination NSW, was on hand for the event and revealed to the gathered press that only 12% of the…

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AirAsia X Plane

AirAsia X Review: Low-cost doesn’t mean low effort

What you need to know about choosing a low-cost airline and why it’s worth considering AirAsia X. The best part of travelling is never the plane trip, let’s be honest. Tasty food, endless entertainment and spacious seats are always nice, but when a friend asks you what you thought of the Maldives, or Bali, or…

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Uluru Sunrise

“I’ve rarely felt so alive”: The Rebirth of Uluru

The era of the climb is over, but Uluru’s array of dazzling cultural experiences has made it an even more vital destination for all Australians. It’s not every day the world’s longest surviving culture invites you into its home, but here I am. Layered-up in a laundry-load of clothes, my breath fails to cloud despite…

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Air Asia to Nairobi Route

AirAsia X takes Australians on an African safari

You know the image. A huge burning sun laying to rest over a horizon lined by giraffes, elephants and zebras painted in silhouette. The howl of a hyena. Roar of a lion. For many Australians, the intoxicating promise of an African safari seemed like a dream forever out of reach. Until now. On 1 July…

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