Things to do in Melbourne this week

Get into the holiday spirit with free screenings of some favourite family films at Federation Square. The precinct is screening two all-ages films every weekend in the lead up to Christmas, including recent hits and nostalgic gems.

This year the program features films like Hugo, Instant Family, Daddy's Home, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and the Christmastime classic, It's a Wonderful Life. 

Head down to the Yarra for Juniperlooza: a summer gin festival celebrating the herbaceous spirit. After a stint down river at the Boatbuilders Yard, Juniperlooza is back where it started at Pilgrim, just below Fed Square. This year the festival will be an all summer affair, with Juniperlooza running for the duration of the season. There will be 70 gin labels from 30 different producers available to taste, with Pilgrim running interactive talk and taste sessions for gin enthusiasts.

Classic Cinemas holds the claim to fame as is the longest continuously operating cinema in Victoria. It boasts ten indoor screens and now has the new Classic Rooftop, with nightly 9pm screenings all through summer and until Easter.

It’s pretty common to get caught in the rain while walking around Melbourne. What’s less common is to get caught in the rain while walking around indoors in Melbourne – and even weirder when you realise that the rain is inexplicably falling everywhere except on you. Melbourne is the first city in the southern hemisphere to host ‘Rain Room’, an immersive artwork by London-based collective Random International.

Chef Tom Sarafian of Bar Saracen (famed for its hummus) and Middle Eastern restaurant Rumi recently launched Sarafian’s Sunday Saracen Sessions so those looking for a final weekend pick-me-up have something to gear up for.

It’s a place where you’re promised good food in the way of a rotating set menu featuring charcoal-grilled dishes and good times with live DJs and flowing arak, Brick Lane beers, cocktails and wine courtesy of Georgia Colbert.

So it might not be the Summer Night Market that we remember, but Queen Victoria Market is still keen to get you enjoying summer surrounded by good food. This year, because of you-know-what, Queen Vic Market will be running its first night-time activation since March in the form of the Festive Food Truck Stop. Every Wednesday night from November 25, some of Melbourne’s best food trucks will be gathering near the hallowed market sheds to sell everything from bao buns to burgers, tacos, smoked barbecue meats and mango lassis.

The convenience of a plastic Christmas tree can be very alluring, but why not get into the festive spirit and opt for a real Christmas tree this year? The scent of natural pine will have you feeling more festive than ever, plus real trees are less flammable when fresh and are often a greener alternative than artificial trees. Christmas tree farms are scattered throughout Melbourne and Victoria, so your options for purchase or delivery are plentiful.

Modern Southeast Asian diner Sunda’s spin-off venue is set to make its debut on December 5. Sunda will preserve its lockdown collect and delivery service (Sunda Exp) in a semi-permanent residency known as Summer Exp at 1 Bourke Street. The pop-up will be headed by chef Nabil Ansari, known for his delicious side hustle – Indian delivery concept Ansari, and its menu was designed by pâté-en-croûte-obsessed executive chef Khanh Nguyen.

There’s a thin line between comedy and tragedy, so reason suggests that all of Victoria could do with a bit of a laugh after this year. To help you in that endeavour, Melbourne’s shiny new purpose-built comedy theatre, Comedy Republic, is launching itself into summer with a bananas program featuring 30 shows within 30 days, including (gasp) live, in-person gigs. The Comedy Republic spring/summer program launches November 26 and features some of the country’s biggest and best comedians, as well as bright up and coming talents.

Every Sunday, the modern-Indian North Fitzroy diner Horn Please is running an all-you-can-eat vegan dinner night. Don't fear! It won't be a sad affair where there is a huge trough of dahl and mountains of stale bread. Instead, there will be a roster of five vegan curries and three entrees (spinach pakora, papadam and Colonel Tso's cauliflower) all served with rice and naan. The menu will include dishes like a dahl, aloo gobi, chana masala, red kidney beans and coconut curry.

The Koorie Heritage Trust will host its eighth annual Koorie Art Show this summer, with a digital twist. As with many events this year, the opening night and awards ceremony will be held online, with 125 artists angling for a bite of the non-acquisitive, $32,000 prize pool. The annual Koorie Art Show is the only exhibition in the state dedicated to showcasing works solely from Koorie and Victorian-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. After a statewide callout, the show has attracted artists early in their careers right up to established practitioners, with both traditional and contemporary styles represented.

Is there anything better than fresh summer fruit? Maybe being able to pick your own straight from the orchards. This summer you’re invited to pick your own cherries at CherryHill Orchards in the Yarra Valley. This picturesque property produces some of the country’s finest cherries, and the CherryHill team are opening their doors to the public this year for picking season. CherryHill Orchards will be open every day throughout cherry season (excluding Christmas Day), which runs from November 30 to early January.

The District Docklands is getting a glow-up this November as it launches Imaginaria –  a magical "future play experience". In layman's terms, Melbourne, you're getting a giant, glowing, otherworldy all-ages playground to explore this summer. Imaginaria will allow (let's be honest, event-starved) Melburnians to explore fantastic custom-built, interactive structures like a giant inflatable bubble, glowing light maze, and a "cosmic abyss". The whole installation features bespoke sound, light and even scents that are activated as guests explore the dreamscape.

Fans of 'lady detective' Phryne Fisher will want to dust off their best sequins and fancy hats for this one: the world of Miss Fisher is taking over Rippon Lea Estate. The exhibition is filled with glitz, glamour and adventure, and visitors can solve their own interactive mystery. The exhibition also includes plenty of props and costumes from Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, the feature film based on the hugely popular TV series. Some of these costumes have never been exhibited before, and they are sure to impress.

Melbourne, say hello to the Gaol Experience, a dinner and show experience that launched in 2019. As you might have guessed, it takes place in the Old Melbourne Gaol and dredges up the site’s 175-year history for a show that combines burlesque, sideshow and comedy. Guests are served a two-course dinner in the original cell block, which is the place where felons were brought to face justice when the jail was in operation. Fancy taking things up a notch? VIP guests can serve more time, kicking back cocktails in old jail cells as the evening goes on. 

The NGV is bringing the largest ever exhibition of Tiwi art to Melbourne this November, showcasing 70 artists and nearly 300 works in Tiwi. The works presented in Tiwi date from 1911 right up to the present day, but don’t come expecting a chronological tour. Instead, the exhibition will present the works in the context of Tiwi art and culture, including their two primary cultural events: the pukumani (mourning) and kulama (coming of age) ceremonies.

The Palace Cinemas franchise was started by the Zeccola brothers, who arrived in Melbourne in 1957 and opened cinemas for the purpose of screening Italian films to fellow migrants. In the late 1990s, Palace launched the Italian Film Festival as a showcase of the latest movies from the homeland. This year Melbourne will throw three (three!) opening night events across the city, at Palace Como, Westgarth and Balwyn. Each cinema will screen a different highlight film, plus guests receive a complimentary glass of Il Fiore prosecco and a gift bag.

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been 15 years since Destiny Deacon has had a solo exhibition. The Torres Strait Islander artist’s work offers a darkly funny and frequently poignant look at contemporary Australian life. Deacon is best known for her photography, but there’ll be more than 100 multidisciplinary works on show, including video, sculpture and installation, drawn from 30 years of work. You'll be able to see some of Deacon's earliest video works (created in partnership with the late Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi photographer Michael Riley) as well new commissions created in collaboration with long-time collaborator and fellow artist Virginia Fraser (who worked with Deacon on the renowned 2005 installation 'Colourblinded').

Escape rooms are fast becoming one of Melbourne's favourite way to have fun, but it was not always thus. Psychologist Owen Spear brought the concept to Melbourne after falling in love with escape rooms during a trip to Budapest. His first Melbourne venue was at the bottom of his mother's garden, and the South Melbourne incarnation features new fiendishly created rooms. The original Escape Room has also launched a very 2020 room, called, appropriately, Isolation. The room is entirely virtual, but that does not mean it's a videogame. The experience takes place entirely over Zoom, and as we log on, we have no idea what to expect.

We won’t indulge in the interminable cats v dogs debate (chill, folks, all animals are great), but what we will agree without hesitation is that Lassie is a very good doggo indeed. Which is why we’re pumped that a brand-new take on the all-time fave family classic, Lassie Come Home, will woof right into its Australian premiere at the Children’s International Film Festival (CHIFF).

From late November you can head along to see Crown's sparkling festive display which will no doubt get you in the Christmas spirit after a whopper of a 2020. As well as the festive decorations, this year's ten-minute Christmas Spectacular show will include a sing-a-long medley of festive classics like 'It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas', 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' and 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year'. 

So it might not be the Summer Night Market that we remember, but Queen Victoria Market is still keen to get you enjoying summer surrounded by good food. This year, because of you-know-what, Queen Vic Market will be running its first night-time activation since March in the form of the Festive Food Truck Stop. Every Wednesday night from November 25, some of Melbourne’s best food trucks will be gathering near the hallowed market sheds to sell everything from bao buns to burgers, tacos, smoked barbecue meats and mango lassis.

Bendigo Art Gallery has a long history of hosting stand-out fashion exhibitions. Last year it was Balenciaga; the year before that, Marimekko. Now in 2020, Bendigo Art Gallery is turning the spotlight on First Nations designers in Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion. The exhibition is the first major survey of contemporary textiles and fashion by First Nation artists in Australia. Piinpi features artists from across the country, including Grace Lillian Lee, Maree Clarke, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Lisa Waup x Verner, Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre, Maara Collective, Lore, Aarli Fashion, Yarrenyty Arltere Artists and Lyn-Al Young (who’s been commissioned to create five new pieces for the exhibition).

To celebrate what are hopefully set to be sunnier times ahead (both literally and figuratively), Fed Square is hosting an enchanting sound and light installation called Sky Castle. For one month this November, Sky Castle will be taking over Fed Square and transforming it with clusters of inflatable rainbow arches. The whimsical work is courtesy of art and technology company Eness, which has quite the history of creating dreamy public works (you might remember the Sonic Light Bubble the group presented at Fed Square during White Night 2017).

Those returning to the city might notice something new at Birrarung Marr. 'Sukkah' is a new, temporary work of public art that has been installed at Birrarung Marr in a collaborative project between designer Zahava Elenberg and the Jewish Museum of Australia. Currently, visitors can only enjoy the structure from the outside, but as restrictions ease it's expected guests will be able to go inside the work.

These dinosaurs are large-scale models of these ancient beasts, but they will be roaming around at Healesville, Werribee and Melbourne zoos again. If you're lucky, you might see a keeper waking a sleeping dinosaur, or come face to face with a moving prehistoric creature.

Welcome to Wanderlust, a new attraction that’s going let you visit some of the world’s best cities without leaving Melbourne. Opening on December 5, this new pop-up will include five different rooms which showcase the sights, smells, touches and tastes of five cities from across the world. You’ll be able to “walk” the streets of Paris, try an authentic New York hot dog and take a look at Big Ben in all its big benny glory.

It’s cherry season here in Victoria and the state’s cherries are ripe for the picking from early November to mid-January with its peak season occurring in December. Support and explore nine regional orchards which span from the Yarra Valley and Ranges, Upper Goulburn Valley and Macedon Ranges to the Mornington Peninsula. Some will offer you the chance to go cherry picking while you can also purchase freshly picked fruit at all of them. Click through for more info on how to visit.

The teams behind Half Acre and Food and Desire have taken over the Carousel building at Albert Park Lake and its grassy surrounds, where you can have a lakeside picnic and lap up the sights of the seemingly mysterious Gunn Island or the CBD skyline. Strewn across the Pelican Lawn are a bunch of striped umbrellas which can host groups of up to ten. All you need to do is bring your own rug, and grab a bite to eat from Carousel, then enjoy it under the shade of your personal brolly. There’s also furniture hire available if sitting on the ground isn’t your thing.

You can't swing a macchiato in Melbourne without hitting some street art. But if you've ever wondered about how so much street art appears in Melbourne, who's creating it, and how, then Melbourne Street Tours is your best port of call. These street art walking tours are run by actual practising street artists, so you're getting the low down straight from the artist's mouth so to speak. The business overall is managed by Adrian Doyle, who local art nerds might also recall is the founder of Melbourne's Blender Studios.

We were pretty excited to hear that Malthouse would be turning Christos Tsiolkas's 1995 debut novel Loaded into a stage production this year. Due to certain global events, that production can no longer happen but the creative arts aren't called the creative arts for nothing, people. Malthouse Theatre has announced that in lieu of stages being off limits right now, Loaded will be presented as an immersive, four-part audio experience available now. 

During the height of Melbourne's lockdowns, the Queen Victoria Women's Centre and its inaugural feminist in residence, Kate Robinson, launched an intrepid art project. And now that project has reached fruition as an online, interactive exhibition called Make A Fuss.

If you’re looking for a walking track near Melbourne that you can complete in a couple of hours, we’ve got you covered. The following trails show off sides of Melbourne’s inner city and close-by suburbs that you may not have explored yet, so lace up your comfy shoes and head out on these great Melbourne walks.

Even as we emerge from lockdown, it's likely you'll still be hanging out for things to watch when at home. So, with that in mind, we've rounded up a few much-watch things coming to Australian streaming providers like Netflix, Stan, Binge and more.

With a few exceptions, Melbourne is a largely flat city, making it perfect for cycling. You don't have to be a Lycra-wearing, Tour de France die hard to enjoy a bike ride around Melbourne either, with the city boasting lots of trails frequented by both serious and recreational bike riders. Better still, these cycling trails cover everything from beachfront boardwalks to twisting river paths, all but ensuring you have a great day out. Saddle up and clip in!

We are big fans of advent calendars. Why limit yourself to gifts on Christmas Day when you can have gifts every day for 24 days? And although small chocolates or toys are pretty good gifts to receive every day, we think we can do one better. These advent calendars are filled with wine, beer, gin or whisky. That seems like an even more festive way to count down to Christmas. And after the year we've just had, let's face it, it might be time for a drink, or 24.

Seltzer is the American term for sparkling water, and the US happens to be the home of hard seltzer. Does White Claw ring a bell? Own your desire to enjoy a cocktail in front of your beer-drinking friends and try it for yourself. Here’s a list of some that are out now in Australia.

Footscray Community Arts Centre is undeniably the home of the arts in Melbourne's west. In the Beforetimes, the organisation not only hosted exhibitions, performances and gigs, but they also provided a space for locals to engage and learn more about the arts through workshops. That committment hasn't wavered, and FCAC is back with a series of online creative workshops led by some of Melbourne's best artistic talents.

The Linden Postcard Show is an annual exhibition offers a ‘snapshot’ of Australia’s artscape by dint of its open door policy: the only rule for entry is that the artist must be Australian, and that the work must be 8 by 10 inches. Add in a stack of cash prizes, and you have a perfect storm for a consistently dynamic range of styles and calibres. The exhibition is now in its 30th year and to mark that occasion, organisers are inviting back past winners to share their work and stories (you can even view the alumni exhibition online now).

We’ve taken the hassle out of buying picnic goods from the same stores you’ve been frequenting within your 5km radius and compiled a list of ready-to-go packs that some of Melbourne’s venues have put together for you. 

The Other Art Fair, presented by one of the world's leading online galleries, Saatchi Art, allows the average person to purchase their own masterpiece direct from the artist. Usually the event takes place in person, but like most exhibitions and art fairs in 2020, the event has moved online.

Sometimes you just want to do something nice for someone else. In a time when things are so up and down, getting a little surprise in the mail can mean the world to someone else. Whether there’s a birthday on the horizon or maybe you’ve noticed a friend has been feeling a little down, one of the below packages might be just the pick-me-up they need. And hey, there’s no one saying you can’t send one to yourself, too!

For people living under stage three restrictions right now, it’s now mandatory that you wear a face mask when you leave your home for one of the four permissible reasons. You do not have to be wearing a hospital-grade face mask to leave home; residents can wear reusable cloth masks, a homemade face mask or a face covering (such as a scarf or bandana). So where can you get a mask in Melbourne? Many Melbourne retail stores and creatives have started selling their own.

We've collected the best ways for you to experience Melbourne while staying at home here into this hub, so you can stay sane, comfortable, fed, watered and entertained at home – while helping small business owners, hospitality workers and creative people who desperately need your business.