Winter festival 2014 at Darling Harbour

Old man winter has well and truly made his presence known so it's time to sharpen your ice skates and head down to the open-air ice rink at Darling Harbour. Of course, that's assuming you're one of the three people in Australia who own ice skates. Thankfully the ticket price for a 45-minute skate session also includes skate hire.

You don't need to play Torvill and Dean to enjoy the winter festivities either. The rinkside Apres Skate Lounge is serving mulled wine and schnapps and in addition to European beers, wine, and champagne. There's also an avalanche of food options with Eat Art Truck, German Sausage Hut, Agape Organic, The Veggie Patch, and Lindt Chocolate all representing. Our pick is a piping-hot bowl of chowder from Blue Fish Chowder and Toasties.

If you want a spot to escape both the cold and the crowds, The Winter Festival is also providing the option of igloo hire. Not a real ice igloos (sadly) but a pretty cool inflatable ones with different themes like "Kids", "Moroccan", and "Green" (love the "Famer 'loo filled with haystacks and sheepskin rugs).

Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, 9922 1114, thewinterfestival.com.au