Things to do in Melbourne today

What’s better than gorging yourself on scones, finger sandwiches and Champagne at a regular high tea? Gorging yourself on piles and piles of cheese at the Westin’s un-brie-lievable High Cheese event, of course. Yes, the insanely successful event is back at the Westin's Allegro Restaurant for another year, and we turophiles couldn't be more thrilled. The idea for High Cheese first crystallised a few years ago when the Westin's executive chef at the time, Michael Greenlaw, teamed up with Anthony Demia from Maker and Monger to bring a series of cheeses together in both sweet and savoury dishes. Years later, the much-loved tradition continues. In 2025, the indulgent menu has been curated in collaboration with renowned cheese masters, brother-sister duo the Studd Siblings and vino legends Zonzo Estate. Ellie and Sam Studd, both members of the International Guilde des Fromagers and Certified Cheese Professionals, have joined forces with the Westin's executive chef, Apoorva Kunte, to curate an enticing three-tiered selection of dairy-licious treats. We're listening... Each creation showcases the finest quality cheese from around the world, with each tier crafted to highlight bold flavour, balance and technique. Highlights from the menu include Aphrodite Barrel aged organic fetta with tomato and lychee tartare, Woombye triple cream brie with pickled beetroot and raspberry almond pesto, and a shared baked Le Conquérant camembert with thyme and garlic. Yum! And a high tea wouldn't...

For as long as there have been curtains, folks have been twitching them for a nosy beak at the neighbours. It’s basically hardwired into our DNA to wonder incessantly about what goes on behind closed doors. Which is why the geniuses who came up with the original Open House program way back in 2008 knew exactly what they were doing. Satisfying the snoop inside of all of us is a never-ending affair, so here we are, almost 20 years later, still craving more, more, more!  Open House Melbourne Weekend, radiating out across the city from July 26-27, goes all out this year, squishing our nosiness into almost 200 rarely snooped inside establishments. No shit, you can dive headlong into the surprisingly stunning surrounds of Melbourne’s first-ever poop house. The French Renaissance-style red brick edifice that is the Spotswood Pumping Station opened in 1898 to help funnel crap from the city’s stinky sewers out to the treatment works at Werribee. Though its great gassy engines fell silent in 1965, it made its cinematic debut shortly thereafter, appearing in George Miller’s game-changing 1979 dystopia, Mad Max, and later popping up in beloved ABC show Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Just make sure not to bump any of the pipes too firmly, what with a flood of faeces still flying through the site on its way westward.  If you’ve never had a chance to fly in or out of Essendon Fields Airport, only Australia’s second international hot spot when it opened with grass runways in 1921,...

Way back when Tim Burton was a much weirder filmmaker, my wee brother and I were unreasonably thrilled by the chaos engine of awfully bad behaviour that was Michael Keaton’s unhinged and unwashed demon, Betelgeuse.  The grotty stripe-suited monster ate up the 1988 film of not quite the same name – the studio figured folks would stay away unless the title was simplified to Beetlejuice. Named after the red supergiant star blazing ferociously in the constellation of Orion, some 600 light years from our solar system, Betelgeuse is an outcast from the hilariously bureaucratic afterlife, aka the Netherworld. Which leaves him preying on the naïve recently deceased, like sweet young couple Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), in an attempt to crowbar open the sort of ridiculous loophole the Greek gods are fond of. Say his – apparently too complex – name three times and he’ll be unleashed on the mortal coil once more.  But Betelgeuse’s sleazy attentions are soon distracted by Winona Ryder’s goth child Lydia, when she reluctantly moves into Adam and Barbara’s now-empty house with her dad, Charles (disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones), and his new squeeze, OTT sculptor Delia (fabulously demented goddess Catherine O’Hara). A smash hit, Beetlejuice is a wild and unruly thing writhing with unhinged ideas, from its stop-animated black and white sand worms to characters shrunk into a model of sleepy town Winter River, and on to the hilariously-depicted dead of the surreal...

Melbourne's favourite illuminated event is back again for a fourth year, with more than 20 dazzling new light installations to meander through in wonderment. From June 20 to August 10, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies, soothing soundscapes and more spectacular sights. For the upcoming season, you can expect a reimagined 2.2km trail accompanied by stunning lakeside reflections, large-scale illuminated sculptures and other wonders, with more than 100,000 tiny lights on display. Expect 2025 highlights to be huge illuminated canopy of flowers and the mesmerising 'lawn of light'. Most importantly, you'll also be able to grab a bite to eat and warming drinks, like hot chocolate and mulled wine, at the Welcome Zone or along the trail. They say that Melbourne is at its best in winter and events like Lightscape, where you can rug up and join friends for a magical experience, are a big reason why. Adult tickets start at $36 and are available through the website – be quick as they tend to go fast.  Want more? Check out the best things happening in Melbourne this week.

When the gauzy wall of Christina Smith’s simple but effective set swooshes up, sweeping us into the first of five apartments we will visit during Mother Play – subtitled A Play in Five Evictions – it is impossible to escape the all-commanding presence of Sigrid Thornton.  Clad in a fur coat and sporting a bouffant wig of Nicole Kidman-level mightiness, even before she is spun around to face us in a classically stylish Eames chair, her imperiously anxious Phyllis exerts the magnetic pull of a black hole. And that’s more or less where we find ourselves in this latest work from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel, who borrows her own mother’s name and a little of their personal history. In a dingy basement apartment that Phyllis has negotiated for a steal on the back-breaking deal: her beloved son, Carl (Ash Flanders), will take out the trash.  If you ask his younger sister, Martha (Yael Stone), that could include their mother, whose absence of tenderness consumes all around her, except the scraps claimed by the cockroaches that infest their newfound home, as playfully projected by lighting designer Niklas Pajanti and, in one memorably goofy moment, portrayed by a waving puppet. They find themselves in this perilously impoverished situation because the kids’ father, Phyllis’ philandering ex, has upped and left them. An absence rather than an unseen presence, he’s rarely mentioned. Phyllis is mostly furious that her postal service typing pool gig now must sustain all...

There’s something a bit magical about the historic regional town of Ballarat in the dark, cold months – and that is exactly what the Ballarat Winter Festival seeks to amplify. Until July 27, the Gold Rush town will come alive with food and wine events, gigs and performances, a huge market and glowing Winter Wonderlights at Sovereign Hill.  Highlights of the program include the much-loved pop-up skating rink; the Hot Choc Showdown, aka your chance to sample decadent hot chocolates by more than 25 local venues; the Ukiyo Spiegeltent, where you can catch circus and comedy acts; and the Design Exchange Market, which brings together a number of independent designers, artists and creators. Phew, talk about jam-packed! You can check out the full program on the Ballarat Winter Festival's website.  For more frosty fun, check out our guide to Melbourne's winter festivals and events.

French Impressionism is host to arguably some of the most famous (and most loved) artists of all time. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are just some of the artists who achieved such acclaim that they remain household names even a century after their deaths. And this winter, you can see some of the artist's most beautiful and well-known works right here in Melbourne at the NGV's new exhibition, French Impressionism: From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. From June 5 to October 5, 2025, the NGV will host more than 100 French Impressionist works by artists like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Mary Cassatt – including works never before seen in Australia. The exhibition is running in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is well regarded for its collection of French Impressionist masterpieces.    A highlight is the display of 16 canvases in one gallery, painted over a 30-year period, by Claude Monet. These works depict many of Monet’s most beloved scenes of nature in Argenteuil, the Normandy coast, the Mediterranean coast and his famous garden in Giverny.  One of the best things about this exhibition is that you will also learn the stories of the artists, exhibitions and collectors that shaped this significant movement in art history. Originally brought to the NGV back in 2021, this exhibition had to close just after it opened due to (yep, you guessed it), the...

It’s time to dig out your winter woollies and make the drive to Ballarat, because Sovereign Hill is hosting an illuminated extravaganza this July. That’s right, the annual Winter Wonderlights program is back for another year and this edition promises to bring a bumper schedule of nighttime activities. Until July 27 (including the school holidays), the much-loved outdoor Gold Rush museum will once again transform into a whimsical winter wonderland, with dazzling new light installations, warming fires, cosy food and drink options, family-friendly activities, live music and more. Walking through a 19th-century town is always a fascinating experience, but the addition of Christmas music, faux snowfalls and glowing projections on the shopfronts of the main street takes the Sovereign Hill experience to a whole new level. If exploring after-dark works up an appetite, then warm up with a delicious two-course hearty meal at the Charlie Napier Hotel. Enjoy a festive serving of roast turkey and glazed ham with all the trimmings, followed by dessert.  Your Winter Wonderlights ticket includes entry into regular Sovereign Hill activities during both the day and evening. Book your tickets online here to avoid missing out. Looking to get lit in Melbourne? Here is everything illuminated and glowing in our city this winter.

Update July 24: To celebrate the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter: The Exhibition is offering witches, wizards and muggles $11 tickets on July 31 in honour of Harry's birthday. (In case you forgot, he was 11 when he received his Hogwarts letter). Visitors on that day can expect some very special birthday surprises and a dose of nostalgic magic... Get your wands at the ready, because Melbourne is set to play host to the Australian premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition. This behind-the-scenes extravaganza will leave Potterheads spellbound, and features interactive recreations of famous film scenes, props and costumes from the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a multimedia experience featuring the Whomping Willow, dementors, the Marauder's Map and the chance to conjure a Patronus charm. Budding witches and wizards will be sorted into Hogwarts houses and earn points as they explore the exhibition – it could be through a potions class, predicting the future à la Professor Trelawney in Divination or defeating a boggart in Defence Against the Dark Arts. There will also be opportunities to practice spell casting and Quidditch skills, plus win golden snitch medallions to become a model student. Each experience comes with plenty of photo ops and, of course, magical interactive moments. There's even a recreation of the Great Hall for visitors to enjoy in all its splendour, complete with floating candles.  This official Harry Potter exhibition is part of a...

Looking for something to warm your heart this winter? We've got just the answer: beloved musical Annie is returning to Melbourne after a smash-hit run in Sydney. With a knock-out cast that includes Anthony Warlow as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, Debora Krizak as Miss Hannigan and Greg Page (aka the OG Yellow Wiggle) as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, this tale of hope, family and friendship is one you won't want to miss.  Annie is showing at the Princess Theatre from July 8. Now, who's ready to belt out 'It’s the Hard-Knock Life'? *** Time Out Sydney reviewed Annie when it played at the Capitol Theatre in April. Read on for that four-star review:   Just over a decade since it was last seen in Australia, Annie is back – bursting onto the Capitol Theatre stage filled with optimism, joy, and hope. Director Karen Mortimer revives this quintessential piece of musical theatre with a sentimental production that preserves the charm and flair found in Thomas Meehan’s book. For those living under a rock (mainly me), this Tony Award-winning musical follows the story of 11-year-old Annie, who is growing up in an orphanage in 1930s New York, under the cruel eye of Miss Hannigan. In the midst of the Great Depression, pessimism is all around, but chipper young Annie has the antidote: hope. Encouraging others to believe that “the sun will come out tomorrow”, Annie’s enduringly positive spirit seems to finally pay off, when billionaire Oliver Warbucks chooses to take her in for two weeks...