Max your summer in Melbourne

As far as shopping sprees go, there’s nothing quite like rummaging through pre-loved goodies at a garage sale. Part of the joy is never knowing what bargain you’ll find (and not realising how badly you wanted a pair of neon pink parachute pants until you rescue them from a cardboard box). These days, a good garage sale is as rare as an original 1960s troll doll – which is where the Garage Sale Trail comes in. What started on the front lawns of Bondi in 2010 is now a nationwide campaign during which thousands of garage sales run across the country for two massive weekends. The aim is to reduce waste and encourage reusing among local communities, to stop tonnes of perfectly good stuff from ending up in landfill. To run your own garage sale, it's totally free to register. Garage Sale Trail will then send you promo materials to help put the word out, plus they’ll list your sale on the official website. Or if you're looking to score a pre-loved bargain, you can then use the website as a guide to all the sales in their area. So far, it looks like there's almost 300 garage sales registered in Melbourne alone, which is a whole lotta shopping. Plus, there are also group sales where multiple stallholders band together to make a one-stop-shop mega sale. Whether you're selling or buying, it's truly a win-win: finally declutter your wardrobe and make some extra moola, or get your hands on some new-to-you, sustainable treasures.  This year, there will be garage sales across Melbourne the w

Head to Federation Square for a three-day celebration of the very best of African music, culture and cuisine. From November 15–17, the African Music and Cultural Festival (AMCF) will enliven the city with everything from an outdoor cinema and live non-stop music to a swag of stalls selling African street food. This year is the eleventh iteration of the festival and it's set to be bigger and better than ever, with more than 27 food vendors offering tasty African dishes and 37 market stalls to shop from.  On Friday, an outdoor cinema will broadcast African Australian short films, spoken word performances and live jazz music. Plus, there'll be plenty of food for a lunchbreak feed or post-work dinner. The primary festival day is Saturday, with 12 hours of non-stop live entertainment, including bands, dance, music, market stalls selling African wares, free drumming lessons and some irresistible street food. And on Sunday, there will be more entertainment and a forum on topical African Australian issues with panellists.  AMCF is sure to be fun for all the family, with kids able to participate in free African drumming classes, AFL activities, face painting, jumping castles, African board games and more. Discover more about the African Music and Cultural Festival and which exhibitors and artists are taking part, visit the website here. Looking for more fun? Here are the best things to do in Melbourne this weekend.

One of the northside’s favourite food markets is throwing a giant fiesta this November. After a five-year hiatus, Preston Market will once again host Latin Day – a celebration of all things Latin American. The free, one-day festival has lined up loads of family-friendly activities, traditional entertainment and food to ensure all visitors have a bueno día. There’s no passport needed for this international adventure: countries represented in the day’s events include Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia and more. Colourful Brazilian samba dancers will take to the stage just like a real Carnivale and salsa dancers will put on a show that's truly fuego. Plus, a three-piece mariachi band will bring plenty of musical fun to the event that will get crowds moving.  And of course, expect to feast on authentic Latin American dishes like Brazilian barbecue, Colombian pandebono, churros, Venezuelan pastelitos and tequenos and lots more delicious and authentic fare.  So for a fun-filled day that's free to attend, head to Latin Day on Sunday, November 17 at the Preston Market from 10am to 3pm. Find out more here. Looking for more things to do? Here is what's on this week in Melbourne. 

On November 17, East Malvern's leafy Central Park will be packed with stalls selling exquisite Victorian wines and artisan goods at the seventh annual East Malvern Food and Wine Festival. The highly anticipated event returned to its traditional format last year, meaning public entry to the festival is free – yippee! The festivities kick off at noon, and attendees can stroll through the open green spaces to wine, dine and recline in the picturesque surroundings. Expect to taste a vast range of vinos from wineries including Sutherland Estate, Mount Avoca and Petronio Wines, and meet the makers behind some of your favourite drops. For those who prefer their booze in a pint glass, local craft breweries Hop Hen Brewing and Two Doors Brewing will be on hand, with several local Victorian distillers also making an appearance. Peckish? The festival's set to be a globally inspired food truck paradise thanks to Nepal Dining, Amazing Calamari, Spanish Paella, The Famous Sandwich, Flaming Skewers and more. Sweets include ice cream from Billy Van Creamy and Luvlee, and unique Danish treats from Jamm'd.  All this gourmet goodness will be set to a back-drop of great live pop-up musical performances from the House of Voice.  When you're all tuckered out and it's time to make your way out, be sure to stock up on locally produced cheeses, gourmet condiments and other goodies to take some of the festival home with you.  Admission is free, but you can also opt for a $37.50 pre-sale wine tasting p

We're just as sad as you are that cherry blossom season is over, but the good news is that it heralds the start of the cherry-picking season. And if you can't get enough of those sweet and juicy red morsels, then make your way to CherryHill Orchards this summer to pick and eat as many cherries as your heart desires. This year's cherry-picking season kicked off early on November 2 at CherryHill's 40-hectare orchard in Coldstream. On November 25, CherryHill's original orchard in Wandin East will follow suit and open its gates to eager pickers.  Sessions last for two hours, and cherries are charged per kilogram – trust us when we say these are some of the largest, sweetest cherries going around. And the fun doesn't stop at picking cherries; the orchard will host on-site food trucks and stalls hawking food and cherry-flavoured products. On top of the famed cherry ice cream, you can also shop pantry goods like cherry vinaigrette, cherry syrup, cherry barbecue sauce and cherry glaze. You can also bring your own picnic, or pre-order a box of goodies to enjoy on the orchard grounds. The sweet specialists at Mary Eats Cake have created three different-sized packs featuring treats like shakshuka quiche, cherry delight doughnuts and a selection of cheeses. And if you visit on a weekend or public holidays, you'll be treated to the sweet sounds of live tunes performed by a rotating line-up of local musos. The cherry-picking festival will run until late December at the Coldstream orchard,

Budburst is the annual celebration of the Macedon Ranges’ best family-owned and small-batch wineries, giving festival-goers the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in Australia’s coolest wine region. Budburst kicks off on Saturday, November 16 with an exciting program of local tastings and events. The rest of the weekend features local food, art shows, sculptor walks and live music, happening from across Saturday and Sunday, featuring over 20 Macedon Ranges winemakers across 16 Budburst sites. It'll be a maze of fun, frivolity and lush lubations.   From pizzas and tapas to organic sausages and BBQ beef sliders, there'll be plenty to line your stomach for those rivers of vino (so no need to pack a picnic). More information about what wineries will have to offer over the weekend can be found at the website.  Budburst festival tickets start from $39, including a bougie tasting glass to remember your experience, a festival passport featuring information about the wineries and program, plus endless tasting opportunities at Budburst wineries across the entire weekend.  To grab your ticket for the festival, head to the budburst website now.  Searching for a tipple closer to home? Here are Melbourne's best wine bars. For more fun things to do in November, check out our guide.

Melbourne’s cutting-edge digital art gallery, The Lume, brings Europe’s artistic masterpieces to life. Its immersive experiences have featured the works of renowned painters including Van Gogh, Monet, and most recently, Leondaro Da Vinci.  For its latest multi-sensory tribute to Italy’s famous polymath, artist and inventor, The Lume is taking things to new heights (quite literally) with an additional VR experience as part of Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius. Through the use of state-of-the-art technology, visitors are able to book in for VR Florence Flyover and soar like a bird above Renaissance-era Florence, peering down at the city’s notable landmarks. The VR technology allows you to embrace the exhilaration of flight – you’ll feel like you’re literally soaring through the sky like a bird as you navigate your way around Florence – just like Da Vinci always dreamed of. To complement the experience, 500 Years of Genius also utilises The Lume’s colossal exhibition space with projections of Da Vinci’s original drawings and writings – including his sketches for a flying machine that predates human flight by more than 400 years. There’s also a one-of-a-kind, 360-degree replica of the ‘Mona Lisa’ created by French optical engineer Pascal Cotte. (Who used pioneering research to scan the famous painting with his 240,000,000 pixel multispectral camera, so visitors can study her cryptic smile like never before.) This is the first time Da Vinci’s artwork has made its way to Aust

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) returns to cast the limelight on LGBTQIA+ people throughout history with a line-up focused on how sound and vision have been a source of “inspiration and transformation” for queer communities. The largest queer film festival in the Southern Hemisphere is back for its 34th outing, and organisers say the 2024 program includes “an unforgettable celebration of queer music culture”. This year’s theme is ‘formative sound and vision’, flagging the festival’s deep dive into what they call the “hidden-in-plain-sight” queer histories all around us. Captured through film’s immortalising lens, MQFF loudly and proudly highlights how queer people have always been an integral part of humanity and always will be. Running from November 14-24, MQFF will showcase the intersection of music and film in queer cultures. Audiences can expect a jam-packed program including 42 features and 19 documentaries. Only a handful have been revealed so far, so stay tuned for the full line-up reveal later this month. MQFF will kick off at ACMI with an opening night screening of Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (2024, Canada), which follows the life of the exceptionally talented Black trans performer. The centrepiece of MQFF will be Gondola (2023, Germany, Georgia), which blends an Amélie-like sensibility with a queer romance. MQFF will close with Duino (2024, USA, Argentina, Italy), a semi-autobiographical film from Argentinian actor Juan Pablo Di Pace.  Venue partn

Whether you’re yet to grace restaurateur Chris Lucas’ opulent Society with a visit or you’re a die-hard dinnertime loyalist, it’s well worth a look in for a weekend lunch. From Friday to Sunday in the afternoons, the swish restaurant is hosting the Society Social, an extravagant multi-course affair featuring a generous array of savoury dishes and a roving dessert trolley to dazzle you at the end.  The offering was inspired by Lucas’ recent adventures in Paris and New York, cities where palatial dining rooms reign supreme and lunch is a social occasion in and of itself. Expect a fine dining experience but with a casual, unstuffy air and minus the enormous price tag (it costs just $77 per person for your choice of two courses or $99 if you opt for a third). You’ll start with artisanal housemade bread and butter and a rainbow of market-fresh crudité hand-picked daily from local farms. Opt for a crisp disc of radish dunked into taramasalata or a tree-like cauliflower bud smothered with smoked eggplant or crème fraiche. Repeat and relish the lavish assortment of textures and flavours before easing into your meal with one of Society’s signature drinks – or a bottle of Champers to make it a long and lazy one.  If you’ve got your eye on another varietal, just ask for the beverage director Loic Avril and his team of sommeliers, one of which will assist you in selecting the perfect drop from the impressive 10,000-bottle cellar. A selection of Society’s cult favourite snacks follow, fro

The beloved regional town of Bendigo – recently awarded a silver medal in the Top Tourism Town Awards – will bask in the glow of the changing seasons with a massive, colourful festival this spring. This year, Bendigo Bloom is celebrating its 21st anniversary, bathing the town in colour with more than 60 events and experiences throughout the season.  From idyllic gardens and cultural tours to food feasts and after-dark events, there's so much to explore during the festival. An annual favourite is the tulip display, with more than 43,000 tulips painting a rainbow across Bendigo’s historic Pall Mall and Conservatory Gardens. After the sun sets, the tulips are transformed into a kaleidoscopic light walk called Bloom After Dark. Other highlights include Vegecarian on October 5 – a free, family friendly event focussed on loving food, loving animals and loving life. Held at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, it will feature cooking demonstrations, wellness activities, performances and animal blessings. And don't miss the Malamiya Mang Creative Arts Festival (November 1-3), which will be a showcase of First Nations art in the form of exhibitions, a fashion show and market. Plus, there are loads of events for foodies, including the Heathcote Wine and Food Festival on the first weekend of October, where you can sample the region's top drops and produce. Or you can check out Bendigo Wine Week (October 11-19) for tastings galore. The Bendigo Bloom program is absolutely jam-packed w

As far as shopping sprees go, there’s nothing quite like rummaging through pre-loved goodies at a garage sale. Part of the joy is never knowing what bargain you’ll find (and not realising how badly you wanted a pair of neon pink parachute pants until you rescue them from a cardboard box). These days, a good garage sale is as rare as an original 1960s troll doll – which is where the Garage Sale Trail comes in. What started on the front lawns of Bondi in 2010 is now a nationwide campaign during which thousands of garage sales run across the country for two massive weekends. The aim is to reduce waste and encourage reusing among local communities, to stop tonnes of perfectly good stuff from ending up in landfill. To run your own garage sale, it's totally free to register. Garage Sale Trail will then send you promo materials to help put the word out, plus they’ll list your sale on the official website. Or if you're looking to score a pre-loved bargain, you can then use the website as a guide to all the sales in their area. So far, it looks like there's almost 300 garage sales registered in Melbourne alone, which is a whole lotta shopping. Plus, there are also group sales where multiple stallholders band together to make a one-stop-shop mega sale. Whether you're selling or buying, it's truly a win-win: finally declutter your wardrobe and make some extra moola, or get your hands on some new-to-you, sustainable treasures.  This year, there will be garage sales across Melbourne the w

Head to Federation Square for a three-day celebration of the very best of African music, culture and cuisine. From November 15–17, the African Music and Cultural Festival (AMCF) will enliven the city with everything from an outdoor cinema and live non-stop music to a swag of stalls selling African street food. This year is the eleventh iteration of the festival and it's set to be bigger and better than ever, with more than 27 food vendors offering tasty African dishes and 37 market stalls to shop from.  On Friday, an outdoor cinema will broadcast African Australian short films, spoken word performances and live jazz music. Plus, there'll be plenty of food for a lunchbreak feed or post-work dinner. The primary festival day is Saturday, with 12 hours of non-stop live entertainment, including bands, dance, music, market stalls selling African wares, free drumming lessons and some irresistible street food. And on Sunday, there will be more entertainment and a forum on topical African Australian issues with panellists.  AMCF is sure to be fun for all the family, with kids able to participate in free African drumming classes, AFL activities, face painting, jumping castles, African board games and more. Discover more about the African Music and Cultural Festival and which exhibitors and artists are taking part, visit the website here. Looking for more fun? Here are the best things to do in Melbourne this weekend.

One of the northside’s favourite food markets is throwing a giant fiesta this November. After a five-year hiatus, Preston Market will once again host Latin Day – a celebration of all things Latin American. The free, one-day festival has lined up loads of family-friendly activities, traditional entertainment and food to ensure all visitors have a bueno día. There’s no passport needed for this international adventure: countries represented in the day’s events include Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia and more. Colourful Brazilian samba dancers will take to the stage just like a real Carnivale and salsa dancers will put on a show that's truly fuego. Plus, a three-piece mariachi band will bring plenty of musical fun to the event that will get crowds moving.  And of course, expect to feast on authentic Latin American dishes like Brazilian barbecue, Colombian pandebono, churros, Venezuelan pastelitos and tequenos and lots more delicious and authentic fare.  So for a fun-filled day that's free to attend, head to Latin Day on Sunday, November 17 at the Preston Market from 10am to 3pm. Find out more here. Looking for more things to do? Here is what's on this week in Melbourne. 

On November 17, East Malvern's leafy Central Park will be packed with stalls selling exquisite Victorian wines and artisan goods at the seventh annual East Malvern Food and Wine Festival. The highly anticipated event returned to its traditional format last year, meaning public entry to the festival is free – yippee! The festivities kick off at noon, and attendees can stroll through the open green spaces to wine, dine and recline in the picturesque surroundings. Expect to taste a vast range of vinos from wineries including Sutherland Estate, Mount Avoca and Petronio Wines, and meet the makers behind some of your favourite drops. For those who prefer their booze in a pint glass, local craft breweries Hop Hen Brewing and Two Doors Brewing will be on hand, with several local Victorian distillers also making an appearance. Peckish? The festival's set to be a globally inspired food truck paradise thanks to Nepal Dining, Amazing Calamari, Spanish Paella, The Famous Sandwich, Flaming Skewers and more. Sweets include ice cream from Billy Van Creamy and Luvlee, and unique Danish treats from Jamm'd.  All this gourmet goodness will be set to a back-drop of great live pop-up musical performances from the House of Voice.  When you're all tuckered out and it's time to make your way out, be sure to stock up on locally produced cheeses, gourmet condiments and other goodies to take some of the festival home with you.  Admission is free, but you can also opt for a $37.50 pre-sale wine tasting p

We're just as sad as you are that cherry blossom season is over, but the good news is that it heralds the start of the cherry-picking season. And if you can't get enough of those sweet and juicy red morsels, then make your way to CherryHill Orchards this summer to pick and eat as many cherries as your heart desires. This year's cherry-picking season kicked off early on November 2 at CherryHill's 40-hectare orchard in Coldstream. On November 25, CherryHill's original orchard in Wandin East will follow suit and open its gates to eager pickers.  Sessions last for two hours, and cherries are charged per kilogram – trust us when we say these are some of the largest, sweetest cherries going around. And the fun doesn't stop at picking cherries; the orchard will host on-site food trucks and stalls hawking food and cherry-flavoured products. On top of the famed cherry ice cream, you can also shop pantry goods like cherry vinaigrette, cherry syrup, cherry barbecue sauce and cherry glaze. You can also bring your own picnic, or pre-order a box of goodies to enjoy on the orchard grounds. The sweet specialists at Mary Eats Cake have created three different-sized packs featuring treats like shakshuka quiche, cherry delight doughnuts and a selection of cheeses. And if you visit on a weekend or public holidays, you'll be treated to the sweet sounds of live tunes performed by a rotating line-up of local musos. The cherry-picking festival will run until late December at the Coldstream orchard,

Budburst is the annual celebration of the Macedon Ranges’ best family-owned and small-batch wineries, giving festival-goers the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in Australia’s coolest wine region. Budburst kicks off on Saturday, November 16 with an exciting program of local tastings and events. The rest of the weekend features local food, art shows, sculptor walks and live music, happening from across Saturday and Sunday, featuring over 20 Macedon Ranges winemakers across 16 Budburst sites. It'll be a maze of fun, frivolity and lush lubations.   From pizzas and tapas to organic sausages and BBQ beef sliders, there'll be plenty to line your stomach for those rivers of vino (so no need to pack a picnic). More information about what wineries will have to offer over the weekend can be found at the website.  Budburst festival tickets start from $39, including a bougie tasting glass to remember your experience, a festival passport featuring information about the wineries and program, plus endless tasting opportunities at Budburst wineries across the entire weekend.  To grab your ticket for the festival, head to the budburst website now.  Searching for a tipple closer to home? Here are Melbourne's best wine bars. For more fun things to do in November, check out our guide.

Melbourne’s cutting-edge digital art gallery, The Lume, brings Europe’s artistic masterpieces to life. Its immersive experiences have featured the works of renowned painters including Van Gogh, Monet, and most recently, Leondaro Da Vinci.  For its latest multi-sensory tribute to Italy’s famous polymath, artist and inventor, The Lume is taking things to new heights (quite literally) with an additional VR experience as part of Leonardo da Vinci – 500 Years of Genius. Through the use of state-of-the-art technology, visitors are able to book in for VR Florence Flyover and soar like a bird above Renaissance-era Florence, peering down at the city’s notable landmarks. The VR technology allows you to embrace the exhilaration of flight – you’ll feel like you’re literally soaring through the sky like a bird as you navigate your way around Florence – just like Da Vinci always dreamed of. To complement the experience, 500 Years of Genius also utilises The Lume’s colossal exhibition space with projections of Da Vinci’s original drawings and writings – including his sketches for a flying machine that predates human flight by more than 400 years. There’s also a one-of-a-kind, 360-degree replica of the ‘Mona Lisa’ created by French optical engineer Pascal Cotte. (Who used pioneering research to scan the famous painting with his 240,000,000 pixel multispectral camera, so visitors can study her cryptic smile like never before.) This is the first time Da Vinci’s artwork has made its way to Aust

The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) returns to cast the limelight on LGBTQIA+ people throughout history with a line-up focused on how sound and vision have been a source of “inspiration and transformation” for queer communities. The largest queer film festival in the Southern Hemisphere is back for its 34th outing, and organisers say the 2024 program includes “an unforgettable celebration of queer music culture”. This year’s theme is ‘formative sound and vision’, flagging the festival’s deep dive into what they call the “hidden-in-plain-sight” queer histories all around us. Captured through film’s immortalising lens, MQFF loudly and proudly highlights how queer people have always been an integral part of humanity and always will be. Running from November 14-24, MQFF will showcase the intersection of music and film in queer cultures. Audiences can expect a jam-packed program including 42 features and 19 documentaries. Only a handful have been revealed so far, so stay tuned for the full line-up reveal later this month. MQFF will kick off at ACMI with an opening night screening of Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (2024, Canada), which follows the life of the exceptionally talented Black trans performer. The centrepiece of MQFF will be Gondola (2023, Germany, Georgia), which blends an Amélie-like sensibility with a queer romance. MQFF will close with Duino (2024, USA, Argentina, Italy), a semi-autobiographical film from Argentinian actor Juan Pablo Di Pace.  Venue partn

Whether you’re yet to grace restaurateur Chris Lucas’ opulent Society with a visit or you’re a die-hard dinnertime loyalist, it’s well worth a look in for a weekend lunch. From Friday to Sunday in the afternoons, the swish restaurant is hosting the Society Social, an extravagant multi-course affair featuring a generous array of savoury dishes and a roving dessert trolley to dazzle you at the end.  The offering was inspired by Lucas’ recent adventures in Paris and New York, cities where palatial dining rooms reign supreme and lunch is a social occasion in and of itself. Expect a fine dining experience but with a casual, unstuffy air and minus the enormous price tag (it costs just $77 per person for your choice of two courses or $99 if you opt for a third). You’ll start with artisanal housemade bread and butter and a rainbow of market-fresh crudité hand-picked daily from local farms. Opt for a crisp disc of radish dunked into taramasalata or a tree-like cauliflower bud smothered with smoked eggplant or crème fraiche. Repeat and relish the lavish assortment of textures and flavours before easing into your meal with one of Society’s signature drinks – or a bottle of Champers to make it a long and lazy one.  If you’ve got your eye on another varietal, just ask for the beverage director Loic Avril and his team of sommeliers, one of which will assist you in selecting the perfect drop from the impressive 10,000-bottle cellar. A selection of Society’s cult favourite snacks follow, fro

The beloved regional town of Bendigo – recently awarded a silver medal in the Top Tourism Town Awards – will bask in the glow of the changing seasons with a massive, colourful festival this spring. This year, Bendigo Bloom is celebrating its 21st anniversary, bathing the town in colour with more than 60 events and experiences throughout the season.  From idyllic gardens and cultural tours to food feasts and after-dark events, there's so much to explore during the festival. An annual favourite is the tulip display, with more than 43,000 tulips painting a rainbow across Bendigo’s historic Pall Mall and Conservatory Gardens. After the sun sets, the tulips are transformed into a kaleidoscopic light walk called Bloom After Dark. Other highlights include Vegecarian on October 5 – a free, family friendly event focussed on loving food, loving animals and loving life. Held at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, it will feature cooking demonstrations, wellness activities, performances and animal blessings. And don't miss the Malamiya Mang Creative Arts Festival (November 1-3), which will be a showcase of First Nations art in the form of exhibitions, a fashion show and market. Plus, there are loads of events for foodies, including the Heathcote Wine and Food Festival on the first weekend of October, where you can sample the region's top drops and produce. Or you can check out Bendigo Wine Week (October 11-19) for tastings galore. The Bendigo Bloom program is absolutely jam-packed w