Where to go for drinks in Toowoomba
After jam-packed days of listening to world-class keynotes, engaging in innovative sessions and connecting with peers and colleagues, you might think it’s time for a drink. Toowoomba does not disappoint, whatever your tipple. As always, you can find a Google Map embedded in the name of each establishment.
The Moose
Domestic Lane, Walton Stores
12pm-12am
The Moose is the newest player on the Toowoomba drinks scene, but also on the dessert scene. Not only is it a cocktail bar by night, but a chocolate parlour too. As you’re greeted by the large copper moose head above the fireplace, sit back and indulge in chocolate fondue with doughnut bites, or perhaps enjoy the Nutella tap. On the drinks front, try a candy sour that resembles a pink and white strawberry cream lolly with raspberries on top.
Muller Bros
25-27 Bell St
12pm-9pm
Muller Bros is Toowoomba’s favourite rooftop bar, situated in the city just off Ruthven St. The building dates back to the early 1900s as a hardware store alongside a motorbike workshop and sales department for Royal Enfield. At present day, as a restaurant, café and bar, they have one of the best cocktail menus and wine lists. Try a grapefruit margarita, traditional, yet classic grasshopper (aptly named, Patience my Young Grasshopper) or for something more adventurous, The Fig Honey Collins which has fig liquor, Bombay Gin, lemon juice, lemongrass syrup all mixed with soda. If you’re heading out with a group of your new #ASCILITE17 friends, get a pitcher of spiked ginger beer. All these drinks are of course accompanied by a delectable small plate and platter menu.
Fitzy’s
153 Margaret St
12pm-late
If pubs are more your scene, look no further than Fitzy’s on Church and it`s adjoining bar Tapestry. There are a range of dining areas and bars, indoors and outdoors. There is a huge selection of drinks ranging from craft beer to cocktails, and food ranging from snacks to multi-course meals so you can sit back and settle in for as long as you want. The espresso martinis are especially delightful. Live music is often playing here too.
Now that you're sorted for food and drink in Toowoomba, look forward to some more conference news over the next week. The organising committee still have surprises to be revealed.
Dine Around for ASCILITE 2017
Monday night in Toowoomba is usually the quietest night of the week, but that will not be the case this year as this is the chance for all ASCILITE delegates to hit the town and make merry with friends old and new.
We have compiled a list of some of the iconic establishments in the CBD and around the City Golf Club giving you a range of cuisines, prices and timings with an aim of meeting all tastes. Dine Around options will give you the chance to wine and dine with a group of friends/delegates with a common interest (think about the ASCILITE SIGs, or Mentor/Mentee meetings), for first timers to meet the faces behind your favourite paper, or even put some faces to those Tweets.
On the conference website we have provided details of all the restaurants and will have sign up sheets available at the registration desk. Start thinking now about who you would like to dine with, and where you would like to go. Of course, there is no obligation for you to dine at any of these establishments but we do recommend all of these.
However, we understand if there are some difficult choices ahead, given your options and the fantastic location of the conference dinner. You might like to visit other places on the list during the week. Other options for casual dining - particularly over the weekend -are the newly-completed café and restaurant precinct of Grand Central Shopping Centre, and the cafes and eateries at Waltons Stores.
We are looking forward to a chance to chat, reminisce, and make new memories with friends old and new. Start making your plans today because there are less than twenty sleeps until the conference (a thought either exhilarating or terrifying - depending on whether you are on the organising committee, or an attendee).
What about dinner?
It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’
A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh.
Over the last few weeks, it has been proven that ASCILITE has a strong community focus as a pattern in the correspondence with the organising committee has emerged:
When is the conference dinner, and what is the theme?
This has been the conversation in the committee meetings, and certainly the tone of prospective delegates.
ASCILITE has been a supporter of open access, open education, and open publishing, so it makes sense for the organisation to support an open dinner.
Using the theme ‘Remix, Reuse, Repurpose’, you are cordially invited to join us at the ASCILITE Open Dinner.
Assemble your evening attire by purchasing clothing from an op shop or similar, by borrowing it from a friend, or shopping your own wardrobe archive. Your mission – should you wish to accept it – is to locate clothes that could be reused or repurposed for the ASCILITE dinner. Perhaps you'd like to bring out your high school formal attire, a bridesmaid's dress or a suit you wore to an event a couple of decades ago? You might even like to remix some items, combining items to create a new ensemble that will draw looks of (dare I say) open admiration? (See what I did there?)
The theme is drawn from three of the ‘Five Rs’ of openness. When educators use free and openly licenced content, they are able to:
- Retain – keep a copy of the resource
- Redistribute – to share it with an audience
- Remix – to combine it with other openly licenced resources to create new material
- Revise – to alter or update the resource (often to suit local contexts), and
- Repurpose – to change the format or context of the resource.
As you prepare for the dinner, you may well ask ‘what of retaining and redistributing?’ We have thought of how to incorporate the final two ‘R’s’ into the dinner – you’ll be given the opportunity to donate parts of your ensemble back to a collection point at ASCILITE after the event so they can be redistributed back to charity stores.
Looking for a bit of outfit inspiration? Committee member Carmel O'Sullivan did a bit of preparatory op shopping and came up with a snappy ensemble!
Practitioners approaching any open activity though need to be supported through ‘mediating artefacts’, that is, resources that support the practitioner to understand the activity and how to locate resources. In this spirit, we’ll be publishing some future posts that will direct you to the best locations for your conference fashion to support you all in assembling outfits fit for an Open Ball.
Do you remember that the post started with community, though? (Or have your thoughts perhaps already been overtaken with notions of second-hand chic?) If you have ideas, places to share, or want to organise a group shopping trip, use the comments section below.
All the important info
Location: Picnic Point
Time: 6.15pm til 11pm
Getting there: Buses will depart the three conference hotels at 6pm
Theme: Open - Remix, Reuse or Repurpose your outfit!
Further details about the dinner are available on the conference dinner page.
Come star gazing with us at ASCILITE!
We've been working hard to create a social program that introduces you to the very best of Toowoomba and USQ.
We are excited to announce the first of our social events - an evening of star gazing with the USQ Astronomy Team!
We invite you and your family to join us on Monday 4 December, following the welcome reception, and become amateur astronomers for the evening.
Internationally-renowned astrobiologist and astronomer Associate Professor Jonti Horner and the Astronomy Outreach Team from the University of Southern Queensland will take you on a cosmic journey of our Solar system and beyond.
Jonti will share his knowledge of the birth of the solar system to modern day astronomical events, a tale of violence and destruction, featuring craters, comets, and even the death of the dinosaurs!
The USQ Astronomy Team will then help you to find some of the famous constellations in the night sky using both naked eye observation and telescopes, and answer any questions you might have about astronomy and our place in the Universe.
The event is open to all ASCILITE delegates and their families.
Registration is free but places are limited to 50 people, so get in quick!
