Autumn in England is supposed to be a heart-warming time filled with different shades of red and brown and green and stuff. What a British Autumn actually is is sodden wet leaves blown around a world of grey, a plummeting temperature and a population left fantasising about a summer that never happened.

Down Under on the other hand, Aussies bemoan the freezing 25 degree temperatures, the paltry 13 hours of sunlight and the fact that it's always raining (where always, in this case, equates to about the frequency of an eclipse).

So if you're Down Under this autumn, you'll need some stuff to do. Here's a look at some of the best events going on around Australia in April.

Outdoor 3d cinema - McLaren Vale - until the 7th of April

Outdoor cinemas are one of those things everyone thinks are cool but no one's ever been to one (or is that just me? I've got mates alright). Your typical cinema experience is a very wintery affair; no one wants to sit in a dark room for three hours while it's nice outside, which is why Australia's cinematic output is limited to Baz Lurhmann and Home n Away (quick, name an Australian film since Crocodile Dundee).

However, combine the two and you've got a great day out. So if you're in Adelaide before the 7th, head on down to the internationally renowned wine region of McLaren Vale for the Cinema Under the Stars season in which plenty of 3D films will be shown every evening.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting - Western Australia - 7th of April

Don't pretend you didn't just sing that in your head.

Everyone wishes they could do Kung Fu, even the ones that can already do it know they'll never feel as cool as they did smashing their bedrooms wearing dressing gowns when they were seven(teen).

People often say the martial art they're studying weeknights at the dojo is an 'ancient art' when they're really doing Boxercise in the gym with Sarah from HR.

However, if you're in Perth on the 7th of the month and want to see a genuine ancient art that is also the coolest, head on down to the town of Bunbury to see the Shaolin Kung Fu show.

BMX Championships - Mount Gambier South Australia 12th to the 22nd

BMX has grown to be one of the most popular extreme sports in the world and, like all other extreme sports, is only made all the more entertaining when it goes wrong and someone goes head over heels with nothing to save them but a few planks of very unforgiving wood.

If BMXing was your extreme sport of choice during that slightly rebellious stage of your youth when you hung outside shops and tried to intimidate pensioners, head on down to Mount Gambier between the 12th and the 22nd for the Subaru Australian National BMX Championships.

Floating Football - Sydney - 12th to the 22nd

Whether you love football and miss it, or hate it but have been in Australia so long that you'll take any reminder of home, Sydney is the place to get that fix this month.

The Big Issue Street Football Festival isn't your average kickabout either, people hate football because they say it's boring but there's none of that here as the games are played on a floating pitch and the focus is on showing off as much as possible.

Held in the Darling Harbour, the 12 day festival is the perfect opportunity to show off to the Australians that just because we can't play cricket or rugby even though we invented them, we don't half know some insulting chants.

Lastly, if you want extreme, and we mean the sort of extreme that would make having a picture of your Nan’s face tattooed on your back during a bungee jump look like an evening in with your Nan listening to her views on tattoos, the sort of extreme that would make playing chicken with your space helmet in low orbit look like watching a chicken defrost, the sort of extreme that would make riding a nuclear bomb look like a ship in a bottle building competition then you need to get to Adelaide (in the most extreme way possible) by the 28th of April for the CROQUET WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!1!!

Or not, whatever.

- Dominic Ladden-Powell is Online Editor with the Australian Visa Bureau, an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people lodge applications for a Working Holiday Visa to Australia.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2013

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Christmas hijacked the words 'festive' and 'merry' and drowned them in forced cheer, family arguments and more calls than the Samaritans can handle. However, festive actually means 'of or relating to a festival' and merry means 'cheerful and lively'; we're bringing back the original meanings (original stuff is always best).

So if you're Down Under this March and are fed up with Australian politicians throwing hissy fits over who's leading the party or who ate all the cake (clearly Kevin Rudd), go and get merry and festive at some of the best festivals and events going down in March.

Merry festivus!

If you're in New South Wales at the minute and fancy a flick or two, the Byron Bay International Film Festival takes place between the 2nd and the 11th. Featuring award films from over 35 countries, more than 100 individual films will be screened throughout the city with many featuring workshops and introductions from the filmmakers.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a fashion nut then first off, you never look as good as you think and someone else will always be looking better in the same shoes as you but more importantly, the L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival takes place between the 8th and the 15th and offers you the chance to see some of the fashions no one but that girl you hate will be able to afford for at least a year.

Most of Australia has got stuff going on through March so wherever you are you won't be missing out but Canberra is the best place to be as the Canberra Festival kicks off. More than 50 events take place over the festival's 17 days and includes park symphonies, fireworks, films and, best of all, a gigantic balloon spectacular when balloons of all shapes and sizes take to the air to engage in a furious battle of gentle bumping.

You might agree that so far these listings, while still awesome, have tended to err on the gentler side of the fun scale and although they may offer some great days out, hardly offer much opportunity to have so much fun you hope you won't remember most of it later.

You can change all that though on the 9th when WOMADelaide kicks off in Botanic Park, featuring some of the best acts from around the world as well the chance to get so drunk and sun burnt you'll never want to leave.

If you can't get to Adelaide, or are in Adelaide but WOMADelaide isn't quite far enough off the chain, then the Future Festival might just be for you. With events across Australia, plenty of huge acts including The Wombats, Swedish House Mafia, Fatboy Slim and New Order.

Events are held in Brisbane (3rd), Perth (4th), Sydney (10th), Melbourne (11th) and Adelaide (12th).

Lastly but by no means leastly (that is a saying, from now on), the Melbourne International Comedy Festival gets underway at the end of the month. Held from the 28th of March ‘til the 22nd of April at various venues across the city, the best comedians head to Australia for one of the most famous and well respected comedy festivals in the world.

- Dominic Ladden-Powell is Online Editor with the Australian Visa Bureau, an independent migration consultancy specialising in helping people lodge applications for a Working Holiday Visa to Australia.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2013

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.