20 things to do in Brisbane over the Easter long weekend

Saturday, March 30

Markets: Powerhouse MarketsThe markets stretch from the roundabout on Lamington Street across the forecourt to New Farm Park. Fruit and veg is available along with specialty meats but the main game here is coffee and street eats. Grab a foot-long kransky, a banh mi or dim sum, or Aussie classic smashed avo on toast from the Avo Place, and eat your treat brekky under jacarandas in the park or by the river.
Lamington Street, New Farm. Sat 6am-12pm, free.

Kids: James and the Giant Peach
An enormous peach and its menagerie of friendly insects allow James to escape from his cruel aunts and have an adventure on the high seas. One of Roald Dahl’s most popular books for young people gets a fresh authorised stage adaptation by local company Shake and Stir, who have previously staged Dahl’s The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox and George’s Marvellous Medicine.
Playhouse, QPAC, Mar 30-Apr 7, $49-$59. Buy tickets.

Music: Peter Garrett and the Alter Egos
The Midnight Oil legend and former Labor minister has just released a new solo album, The True North, and he’s giving up his Easter Saturday to give one of his inimitable performances with his current band.
The Tivoli, 8pm, $89.90. Buy tickets.

Food & Drink: Annual Interfaith Ramadan Iftar Dinner and Symposium
Easter this year coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Queensland is holding its annual Fasting in My Religion dinner where representatives of different religions talk about the concept of fasting from their faith perspective. Keynote speaker Imam Hadi and interfaith panellists will also answer the audience’s questions.
Baitul-Masroor Mosque, 1 Neville Road, Stockleigh, 4.30pm. Free.

Museums: Seen on the Screen at Brisbane Motor Museum
The museum has a new show featuring hot rods such as the silver 1976 Datsun 260Z used in Netflix series Boys Swallows Universe, a red Sunbeam Tiger made famous by 1960s series Get Smart and a replica of Doctor Who’s jalopy Bessie.
Brisbane Motor Museum, 959 Nudgee Road, Banyo, Wed-Sun 8am-3pm, until Jun 2, $12.50-$25. Buy tickets.

Sunday, March 31

Theatre: Beauty and the Beast
This lavish, four-star theatrical feast combines technological stage magic with finely tuned vocal and dancing prowess, not to mention 300 costumes. Disney’s classic stage musical is a beast of a show, and it’s hard not to fall in love with it.
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, 1.30pm & 6.30pm, $80-$250. Buy tickets.

Food & Drink: Wizardry High Tea
The culinary sorcerers at the Stamford Plaza are cooking up more pastries, scones, savouries and sandwiches than even the house elves at Hogwarts could lay on for the Start-of-Term Feast. The high tea takes place in the Grand Ballroom and dressing up is encouraged.
Stamford Plaza Brisbane, Mar 29-31 & Apr 5-7, 11am & 2.30pm, $55-$75. Buy tickets.

Kids: Sandstone Point Hotel Easter Eggstravaganza
The hotel next to the Bribie Bridge is hiding more than 6000 eggs (count ’em) in the ultimate Easter egg hunt. There is also live music, market stalls and a petting zoo. Sounds like the perfect stop on the way to a Bribie Island day trip.
Sandstone Point Hotel, from 10am, free.

Art: mudunama kundana wandaraba jarribirri Judy Watson
Judy Watson makes beautiful art about traumatic events in the history of her people. Four decades of work by this great Queensland artist are comprehensively surveyed in this free show whose title translates as “tomorrow the tree grows stronger”.
Queensland Art Gallery, until Aug 11 (closed Good Friday), free.

Shopping: Northey Street Organic Farmers Market
Open on Easter Sunday, these long-running markets are a focal point for everything organic, ethical, free-range and rustic. Shop for organic fruit and veges, organic meats and smallgoods; get a fair trade locally roasted coffee; sign an anti-fracking petition; and get a shiatsu massage.
Northey Street City Farm, 54 Northey Street, Windsor. Sundays 6-11am, free.

Monday, April 1

Art: Italian Renaissance Alive
The makers of Van Gogh Alive present a multisensory experience featuring projections of works by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, Veronese and more, with an operatic score featuring music by Puccini and Verdi. If a holiday to Rome and Florence is off the table then a day trip to Surfers Paradise might be the next best thing.
HOTA Gallery, Mar 30-Aug 4, $0-$29. Buy tickets.

Museums: Jurassic World by Brickman
Ryan “Brickman” McNaught reimagines Jurassic World in an exhibition of large-scale dinosaurs, props, scenes and activities made from more than 6 million Lego bricks. For real-life fossils, don’t miss the free Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibition downstairs.
Queensland Museum Kurilpa, until Jul 14 (closed Good Friday), $19.90-$29.90. Buy tickets.

Kids: Thunderbird Park
This rainforest-set theme park on Tamborine Mountain has mini golf, treetop ziplines, laser skirmish, thunder egg mining and Dig It – Australia’s first mini-excavator park, where kids get in the driving seat to operate their own digger just like a real construction worker.
Corner Cedar Creek Falls Road, Tamborine Mountain. Daily 8.30am-4.30pm (closed Good Friday & Easter Sunday), $55-$59.

Art: Fairy Tales
Adults and kids alike will be spellbound by GOMA’s exclusive exhibition of art, movie costumes and installations based on folklore. See work by Del Kathryn Barton, Gustave Dore, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, Ron Mueck, Tracey Moffatt and more, and costumes from Jim Henson’s Labyrinth.
GOMA, until Apr 28 (closed Good Friday), $0-$28. Buy tickets.

Museums: Workshops Rail Museum
Enthralling for young and old, the museum occupies vast brick edifices in North Ipswich that employed 3000 people at their peak and has locomotives spanning the history of train travel in the state. During school holidays the museum is representing Rail Through Time: A Kids Adventure.
North Street, North Ipswich. Daily 9.30-4pm (closed Good Friday), free with general admission ($11.50-$14.50). Buy tickets.