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Mariah Carey has been hit with a slew of lacklustre reviews after wrapping up her bumpy tour of Australia over the weekend, with critics labelling the singer's shows "awkward", "unrehearsed" and "uneven".

The pop superstar jetted Down Under after Christmas to ring in the New Year with a series of shows in the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne.

However, the opening show of the tour at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on New Year's Day got off to a miserable start - Carey came on stage late and the gig was marred by sound problems.

She even stopped the concert to ask her crew to fix the technical bugs, telling the audience, "I'm not asking for the moon and the stars... There's a lot of sound problems going on here. I don't know if it's me or you, or something in the air, but can we fix it?"

Carey's second show at the Allphones Arena in Sydney also failed to win over critics, with many accusing the singer of spending more time off stage than in front of the audience.

A review published in Time Out Sydney reads, "The problem was that she wasn't on stage enough. There were long exits for pointless costume changes, stretches of filler with her dancers and a song from her backup singer... In all, we'd guess she herself was on stage for a little over an hour - disappointing given that fans had to wait a long time for the show to start."

Rachel Olding of the Brisbane Times writes, "The diva has turned into a downer... But Mariah has become a caricature of herself - and not in a lovable Dolly Parton kind of way... Mariah seemed too absorbed to give us much at all. She hobbled around the stage in heels, escorted by mystery males, touched her hair incessantly and disappeared backstage three times while back-up dancers and singers entertained a yawning crowd...

"She flailed amid poorly refined production with awkward silences, unrehearsed lighting, uneven levels and a backdrop of graphics more suited to a 1998 Windows screensaver than a multi-million-dollar worldwide tour... And, to top it off, she didn't even play the hits!"

Carey's final show in Melbourne on Saturday night, attracted slightly less criticism, but many still claimed the setlist was too short.

However, the singing superstar refused to let the negative reviews blight her trip Down Under, writing in a series of posts on her Twitter.com page, "I love you Australia and already can't wait to go back!!! Thank you Australia, I love you!!!"