O RGANIZERS of the premier Australian Food and Wine Festival deemed their eight-day "Oz-stravanga" a huge success with thousands attending the event.

The Festival at the Hotel Cambodiana was organized by local firms Le Shop and Australian Valley Wines, supported by the Australian Embassy and sponsored by 15 firms from Down Under including Fosters and the telecom company Telestra.

Andrew Maxwell, general manager of Australian Valley Wines said: "We couldn't be happier. It's been a fantastic success, especially when you consider the number of people that attended.

"What's interesting is the way it bonded a lot of people together. Companies have said that it lifted morale and got people working together better because they were able to let their hair down together.

"This is the first event of its type in Cambodia, it was a little bit of a risk and we've gone out and shown it can be done."

The Festival mixed the music of Aussie star Peter Bishop, the culinary delights of master chef Scott Webster together with traditional Down Under entertainment, centred around alcohol.

Telstra's senior representative in Cambodia Russell Stuart said: "For us it was a great platform to reach out to our Cambodian partners and to our local staff.

"The event gave us the chance to bring a little bit of Australia to Cambodia and an international audience."

Tony Kevin, Australian Ambassador, said at the opening ceremony: "I think we have all been serious for far too long, we have gone through some difficult times in Cambodia, of course some of those difficulties are still continueing but that doesn't mean we should not get together, Cambodian and Australian to have fun."