Still need to get dad something special on Sunday 6 September? Then check out this great list of gift ideas for Father’s Day.Float high in the skyGet dad up in the sky with a gift certificate or a booking for a Floating Images Hot Air Balloon Flight. This would be a great family adventure to tick off your bucket list! Race around in a MustangSpend an action-packed afternoon and evening at Queensland Raceway with the chance to get behind the wheel of a powerful V8 race experience car or feel the adrenaline as a passenger in a 6-car, 6-lap Pro Driver Race.

Gift vouchers make great presents for Valentine's Day, Christmas, birthdays, Mother's and Father's Days and even just to show the ones you love that you care.Check out this list of great gift vouchers to help you celebrate special occasions this year.Arttime Gallery and Fine Art SuppliesArttime Gallery and Fine Art Supplies and Rare and Pretty Dolls also offer gift vouchers, for the art and doll lovers in your life!  Gift vouchers can also be used to buy new or vintage toys and for any of their Dollightful Makeover classes.

From the high-octane return of Supercars to the thrills of extreme mountain bike riding, plus professional bull riding, ghost tours, circus shows, gardening expos, virtual reality exhibitions, live theatre and even hot air ballooning, Ipswich is the place to be this August!  Cheer on your favourite Supercar drivers Buckle up car lovers – the 2026 Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440 is heading back to Queensland Raceway from August 21-23. The famous “Paperclip” circuit will be buzzing all weekend as Round 9 brings nonstop racing action, all building up to the crowning of the Repco Sprint Cup winner. With plenty of entertainment, food, and the chance to meet your favourite drivers, it’s a fun day out for motoring enthusiasts of all ages. Drag racing, show cars and more at the Garrett Brisbane Jamboree 

Ipswich has an abundant number of walking trails, many of which are great tracks for both casual walkers and those with more experience who want more of a challenge. This isn’t supposed to be a comprehensive list by any means but provides a selection of some of my favourite walks. I have focused on two areas of Ipswich hiking that provide exciting views, rocky features, and flora and fauna.Ipswich hiking in Flinders-Goolman Conservation EstateThere are two main starting points depending on which walk you plan on doing. Both parking areas come off signed left hand turns from Ipswich-Boonah Road when travelling towards Boonah. Both have BBQ and picnic areas and are family-friendly: Hardings Paddock Picnic Area (15km from Ipswich CBD)– Part of this may follow a dirt road, but the parking is ample and access is not difficult with a conventional car.Flinders Plum Picnic area (25 km from Ipswich CBD) - To get there, you will need to drive several kms of unsealed road to the Flinders Plum Picnic area and there may be a small water crossing if it has recently had heavy rain, although most conventional vehicles will make it without much trouble.

I first heard the legend of Blackstone Castle when I was fifteen and my Nanna had joined the local historical society. So, with our imaginations full of visions of turrets and drawbridges my grand parents and I headed to Blackstone where we took a walk up the hill in search of the lost castle.We wandered up a dusty track and reached the summit of the hill to find...well, not very much actually, just a single half-collapsed brick wall and some rusty old car bodies. Not exactly the Welsh castle I had been imagining, but intriguing none the less. Skip forward (cough) twenty odd years. I've been to Wales and back, I've seen a few castles but I am still just as fascinated about our "castle". How did Ipswich have and lose a castle, who built it, what's really left of it?HistoryFortunately for me, in 2015 the Ipswich Art Gallery held an exhibiton "Brynhyfryd – lost castle of Blackstone Hill" which bought together a collection objects from Brynhyfryd, including decorative objects, furniture, family heirlooms and other parts of the building retrieved from demolition. The exhibition also featured photographs of the building in its glory days and was accompanied by a history of its rise and fall.

It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to learn more and more films, including big budget masterpieces, are being shot at Ipswich. The city’s mix of old and new, urban and rural, is proving to be a major drawcard for all sorts of film productions.An ever-growing list of Hollywood heavyweights have called Ipswich their temporary home, including Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman!The Railway ManJonathan Teplitzky’s war film, The Railway Man, brought A-listers Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine and Stellan Skarsgard to Ipswich in 2013. The film shot a number of scenes in Ipswich, including torture sequences at Queensland Museum Rail Workshops (established in the historic railway yards site at North Ipswich). Colin Firth plays a former British army officer and POW. His character discovers the Japanese interpreter who tortured him during the war is still alive and he and his wife, played by Nicole Kidman, set out to find and confront him.The film won a number of awards including Best Adapted Screenplay at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards.