OFFICIAL GUIDE AND VICTORIA Spring has Sprung With new blooms, fashion, theatre and more School Holiday Fun Enjoy these Melbourne attractions Pitch Perfect Hit the road with your tent WINWIN 1 of 12 Ultimate Family Experiences OFFICIAL GUIDE Competition Wominjeka Inside Sovereign Hill Phillip Island Nature Parks Welcome to Victoria 4 Enjoy Victoria 6 Aboriginal Victoria 8 Top 10 Melbourne City 11 Lord Mayor of Melbourne 12 What's On 21 Local Loves Minister's Message 22 Laneways Map 24 Things To Do Acknowledgement of Country 42 Arts & Culture We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of 50 Eat & Drink WIN Country throughout Melbourne and Victoria 56 Shop Melbourne’s 1 of 12 Ultimate Family Experiences and recognise their continuing connection to Neighbourhoods land, waters and culture. We pay our respects 62 Neighbourhoods Map Zoos Victoria Puffing Billy Railway to Elders past, present and emerging and ask 64 Shop Till You Drop that during your travels, you respect these 70 Take a Ride 72 All Points North cultures, peoples and land. 74 The Great Outdoors 76 Go West Victoria's Regions Message from the Minister 80 Regional Victoria Map 84 Festival Fun Melbourne is a spectacular place to be at any 92 Pitch Perfect time of the year, but in spring our city really comes alive with a packed calendar of events. 96 Dog Days 106 Big Splash The season wouldn’t be complete in Melbourne 110 Life in Bloom without the Spring Racing Carnival, capped off Useful Information by the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival. 112 Traveller Tips The culmination of another incredible AFL season will see the 115 Maps Worth Over $480 Per Family AFL Finals Series and AFL Grand Final played at one of our city's great 128 Seasonal Offers landmarks, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Four times the fun with This time of year also provides the perfect opportunity to discover a new restaurant or bar and enjoy the very best food and wine from Four family passes to across the state. Four great attractions WINWIN With so much to see and do in Victoria this spring, I encourage you to Click here enjoy everything our city and state has to offer. for your + sovereignhill.com.au + penguins.org.au chance Hon. Martin Pakula MP Cover image: Moulin Rouge! The Musical + puffingbilly.com.au + zoo.org.au to win Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Matthew Murphy *Terms and conditions apply. 3 Welcome Enjoy Victoria Can you feel that? It seems as though everything is fresh and new. The days are warming up, and our spectacular parks and gardens are filled with new growth and colourful blooms. That’s right, spring has arrived and, with it, new opportunities to explore. There’s always something happening in Melbourne – and spring is full of sporting events, theatre shows, live music, and fashion. It’s also a great time to head out of town, with the regions shining. Snow and foggy mornings are giving way to wildflowers, and the weather is perfect for exploring hiking and biking trails. Then again, you could indulge in the produce and wine for which Victoria is renowned. Whether you prefer beach or mountains, there’s an escape to suit. If you’re ready, Victoria in spring has it all. Enjoy Victoria. Brendan McClements CEO Visit Victoria Meyers Place Ain Raadik 4 5 Aboriginal Victoria Aboriginal Victoria “This whole area was where under half of them are natives,” he thousands of people gathered says. “All our flora is unique. They are together for ceremony, for trade, resilient and have formed adaptations Christopher celebration and to hold inter-nation/ to dry and hot landscapes. There clan business,” Jakobi continues. are medicinal plants with cleansing aromas and there are culinary plants “It is a landscape that provided for with amazing flavours. Plants don’t Jakobi such a large gathering of people, all in just have a single use; there might be one place at one time. The land and food, utility, medicinal and fibre craft At the Royal Botanic the river was, and still is, bountiful, uses all in the one plant.” Gardens, Jakobi leads with an abundance of food, fresh visitors through a part of water and resources for homes, tools, Most visitors, he says, are surprised Melbourne that continues canoes and weaving.” by what they discover on one of Victoria to Welcome to have a significant his tours. “It’s a raw and honest cultural value to its As he and his guests walk around the experience that challenges the Traditional Owners. gardens, Jakobi explains the cultural common perspective with an value of this traditional meeting alternative Indigenous perspective,” Nearly every day at 11am, guests place. He also points out native plants Jakobi explains. “A perspective of our at the Royal Botanic Gardens and their uses. shared history, of our shared future Melbourne gather to join the and of the landscape.” Aboriginal Heritage Walk, an “Of the 60,000 plants within the + rbg.vic.gov.au exploration of the thriving culture Melbourne Botanic Gardens, just and rich history of the First Nations Peoples. Jakobi is the Aboriginal Programs Facilitator and often leads the tours, bringing visitors into a world they may not know a lot about. “The Aboriginal Heritage “Not many people are aware that the Walk is a raw and Birrarung (Yarra River) once carved honest experience that its way through the gardens,” he challenges the common says. “This was before the river was perspective with an straightened and widened to prevent alternative Indigenous natural seasonal flooding in the early perspective.” twentieth century.” Long before sport was played nearby on the MCG or varying landscapes were created in the Royal Botanic Gardens, this was a significant place for people of the Woiwurrung and Aboriginal Heritage Walk, Boonwurrung nations. Christopher Jakobi Artra Sartracom Royal Botanic Gardens Artra Sartracom 6 7 Check online before visiting Check online before 4 Can Can Can 6 One to Try 8 Sip and Chill 2 Get Grazing Top 10 4 8 10 Uncover Artistry Wondering what to get up The multi-Tony Award nominated Rug up and enter the cool to this season? Here are Moulin Rouge! The Musical has temperatures at Ice Bar Melbourne our must-do experiences. Don’t want to commit to a particular made its way to Melbourne’s Regent Mabu Mabu chef-owner Nornie Bero where the bar is kept at a surprisingly style of cuisine? Then head to Theatre for its Australian debut. has opened her latest venture, an all- cool -10c all year round. Inside, pull up Victoria to Welcome Melbourne’s newest food precinct, Baz Luhrmann’s screen version has day restaurant and bar in Federation a seat and try one of their favourites in 1 Get Racing Grazeland. This outdoor dining endless fans, but now it’s time to Square. Big Esso, which means ‘the the Northern Lights cocktail – a tasty experience features dishes from experience this tale of truth, beauty, biggest thank you’ in the Torres Strait, gin based cocktail that changes colour. across the world served from freedom and love on the stage. will showcase native ingredients and + icebarmelbourne.com Phoebe Powell converted shipping containers. + moulinrougemusical.com/ dishes, bringing Indigenous culture 10 + grazeland.melbourne australia to the plate. 9 Tent with a View + mabumabu.com.au/dining Discover the creativity and innovation 3 Immerse in Art 5 Remember Them of almost 100 years of Animation 7 Murray Magic at Disney: The Magic of Animation at ACMI. Exclusive to Melbourne, this exhibition contains original sketches and rare artworks from films including Fantasia, The Lion King and Raya and The Last Dragon. Be inspired by the incredible artistry behind your 1 favourite Disney characters. Escape the hustle and bustle at + acmi.net.au It’s one of the most glamorous 3 Daylesford’s quirkiest accommodation, events on the calendar, and this Experience incredible stories of war the Skyview Bubbletent. Take hikes, year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival Transcend through time and space and peace during a visit to the Shrine of 7 nap in the hammock or cook a feast (30 October – 6 November) will on a journey through the works of Remembrance. Its current exhibition, in the outdoor kitchen during the day, see the return of the finest racing, Vincent van Gogh at THE LUME Between Two Worlds, looks at the Indulge in the ultimate pampering then snuggle up in your luxury cocoon fashion, food, entertainment, fun Melbourne this spring. Experience experience of being a recent veteran, experience at the SOL Wellness as the stars come out. and flowers all at one place, the the powerful and vibrant symphony while Dean Bowen’s Imagining Centaur Centre at The Sebel Yarrawonga. At + dayget.com.au/skyview- stunning Flemington Racecourse. of light, colour and sound as you are showcases beautiful and unsettling this day spa on Lake Mulwala, calm bubbletent + racingvictoria.com.au immersed in the paintings, realising charcoal drawings depicting the your mind and body with a range of + flemington.com.au them like never before. sinking of an Australian hospital ship holistic and therapeutic treatments. + thelume.com/melbourne and the lives lost. thesebelyarrawonga.com.au For more ideas and inspiration, head to + shrine.org.au visitvictoria.com/see 8 9 Lord Mayor's Message Transit Rooftop Bar Amanda Fordyce Melbourne City A message from the Lord Mayor of Melbourne Melbourne is in full bloom in fashion direct from the catwalk to To see what’s coming up on our city’s spring, with warmer days our unique laneway boutiques or calendar of events, visit the What’s On and plenty of sunshine.