Weekend in Melbourne: What to do?

Weekends are a rare commodity. When you're young and free, you want to make the most of your time. There are so many exciting things to do and see. Thanks to the city's abundance of exciting opportunities, visitors to Melbourne need not waste their time sitting in front of the television watching endless episodes of their favourite shows. Some of the weekend's activities are summarised below.

Jurassic World by Brickman

Lego finds a way — with more than 50 dinosaurs, props and scenes from the movie built out of the popular plastic bricks.

More than fifty dinosaurs, props, and scenes were constructed out of the popular plastic bricks, proving that Lego figured it out.

When Michael Crichton sat down to pen his idea for a modern-day dinosaur theme park, he could not have known what he was getting himself into. The author of the Jurassic Park novelization could easily envision the film adaptation thanks to the novel's origins as a screenplay.

Additionally, he may have foreseen the possibility of a continuing film series and the fact that the movies would be frequently referenced for years to come in everyday conversation. But the most recent development, a Lego version of the fourth film in the franchise, Jurassic World, seems to have caught him off guard.

Melbourne locals can now take a stroll through an exhibit that recreates more than fifty dinosaurs, props, and scenes from the 2015 film using the ubiquitous plastic bricks. On display at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre until the following Monday, May 31, they will then travel to other venues across Australia for the remainder of the exhibition, titled Jurassic World by Brickman.

The Lego dinosaurs are the main draw at this event, which is expected to draw a large crowd. A two-ton brachiosaurus, a colossal tyrannosaurus rex, two life-size velociraptors (Blue and Delta), and many other dinosaurs, from stegosaurs to triceratopses, will all be on display for your viewing pleasure.

The exhibition also includes a baby dinosaur inclosure, encounters with free-roaming dinosaurs, and training on how to track these animals across a mock-up of Isla Nublar (while using your imagination a whole heap, obviously).

Don't be surprised if you think Jurassic World by Brickman sounds enormous; it will be the largest Lego experience ever created in Australia. If the thought of going behind the scenes of Jurassic World sounds familiar, it's because in 2016, an exhibition that had nothing to do with Lego was held in Melbourne.

There will be 2.5 million bricks for visitors to play with, and they can also buy Lego structures to take home with them. Given that this is intended to be a family-friendly event, you should anticipate meeting lots of young children who are interested in prehistoric animals.
Melbourne will host the world premiere of Jurassic World, a play written by Brickman. The play will continue its world tour after completing its Australian leg.

The June 2022 release date has been set for Jurassic World: Dominion, the sequel to 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. If you're wondering when the next Jurassic World movie will hit theatres, the answer is 2022.

Pinot Palooza Unplugged

Sample the best of Victoria's top pinot regions at this trio of wine-tasting parties

You can choose to attend one, two, or all three of these wine tasting parties to sample some of Victoria's finest pinots.

Pinot Palooza, the popular travelling wine festival, will return this October after a one-year hiatus. To make up for the fact that pinot lovers in Australia have to wait until spring for their next drink due to the festival being postponed from the previous year, the organisers of the festival have prepared a pleasant surprise.

This is the latest and greatest unplugged Pinot Palooza! This winter, three chill tasting parties will be held on Sundays to celebrate everyone's favourite red wine, which is produced in a cool climate.

There will be three separate five-hour events at the Timber Yard on May 30, July 4, and July 25 that will focus on three of Victoria's most prominent pinot-producing regions: Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland, and Geelong. These activities will all get started at 1:00 PM.

For $35, you can attend one of the sessions of your choosing and receive unlimited wine tastings throughout the day as well as a Revel wine glass to take home with you. There will be time in between tastings for you to meet the winemakers. In the case of the Mornington Peninsula, some of the first stops should include Quealy, Pt. Leo, Montalto, and Red Hill Estate. As is customary, there will also be plenty of delicious food and music to keep you entertained all day long.

She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism

Ahead of the NGV's much-hyped French Impressionism exhibition later this year, this show dives into Australia's connection to the 19th-century art movement

Before the much-anticipated exhibition on French Impressionism opens later this year at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), this exhibition explores Australia's connection to the 19th-century art movement.

But in the meantime, you can get a taste of Australian impressionism, one of the most important art movements of the 19th century, at The Ian Potter Centre's newly opened exhibition She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism.

More than two hundred and seventy works by some of Australia's most renowned impressionists have been brought together from private collections across the country for a massive exhibition that opened on Wednesday and will run through the following Sunday, August 22. 

Famous Australian landscapes, homesteads, and sheep shearers will be featured, and you'll learn how geography, population, and outside influences all played a role in the emergence of the impressionist art movement Down Under.

The paintings on cigar box lids date back to the 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition in 1889, while Frederick McCubbin's 1904 creation The pioneer sheds light on one of the greatest art mysteries of the modern era.

Wine and Cheese Sundays

Have a glass of wine and some cheese on us as the weekend winds down.

When another Monday is just around the corner, Sunday afternoons can feel like a drag; however, that feeling won't last forever. We have uncovered a free and delectable cheese that will put you in a better mood and help you wind down the weekend on a high note.

Wine and Cheese Sundays return to Richmond's Ugly Duckling on April 11, and the bar is inviting locals and visitors alike to come celebrate the return of this weekly event and fight off the Sunday blues with a leisurely grazing session. Any bottle of wine purchased between 3 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays will be accompanied by a complimentary cheese plate.

There are many fine cheeses from which to choose, including a Spanish manchego, a Colston Bassett stilton blue, a Le Delice des Premier taleggio, or a Castel Regio taleggio. Traditional accompaniments for each of these cheeses include fig paste, lavosh biscuits, and fresh apple slices.

To add even more decadence to your meal, feel free to ask for cheese as an accompaniment. Furthermore, there is a great cocktail menu for those who would like to extend their stay.

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

Little Penguins can be seen making their way quickly across the sand to their burrows as the sun goes down during the "Penguin Parade" at Phillip Island Nature Parks. As night falls, the penguins of the colony gather on the boardwalks to greet one another, find mates, and socialise with their chicks. The area is home to a variety of animals, including the Swamp Wallaby, Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Cape Barren Goose, and Short-tailed Shearwater.

Each visitor to the Penguin Parade contributes to the preservation of the natural environment. Visitors to Phillip Island Nature Parks help fund vital research, education, and conservation projects that secure the long-term viability of native habitats on the island for the benefit of native species and human residents.

Visitors can explore the exhibits at their own pace and take advantage of the visitor center's free interactives, or they can schedule a guided tour with a ranger who will tell them stories about penguin conservation and provide additional facts about the animals.

Accessibility:

• Actively welcomes people with access needs
• Suitable for guests who have challenges with learning, communication, understanding and behavior
• Suitable for guests with sufficient mobility to climb two or three steps, but would benefit from fixtures and fittings to aid balance
• Suitable for guests who depend on the use of a wheelchair in a seated position at all times
• Suitable for guests with high support needs who uses a hoist and always travel with a carer

Facilities:

• Bar
• Café
• Car park
• Coach parking
• Conference/convention facilities

Accreditation:

• COVID Clean Practicing Business
• ECO Certified (Advanced Ecotourism) by Ecotourism Australia

Membership:

• Australian Tourism Export Council
• National Trust
• Victoria Tourism Industry Council

Puffing Billy Railway

Australia's most famous steam train, Puffing Billy, can be found in the Dandenong Ranges, just an hour east of Melbourne. A ride on this train will take you to a place of timeless magic.

The Railway, which was constructed in 1900 to serve the communities that had settled in the hills, transported everything from passengers to timber to livestock to potatoes to plants. Today, the Railway is a major tourist attraction that welcomes visitors every day of the year (except Christmas Day) to experience a tradition that has been going on for a century thanks to the dedication of more than 600 volunteers.

Experience the romance of steam train travel from the moment you board by taking in the sight of vintage locomotives being readied for departure, the scent of steam rising from the ship's chimney, and the haunting sound of the train's whistle. Put together, these factors make for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

Open-sided carriage rides will soon be available on the original mountain track between Belgrave and Lakeside, taking passengers over hills, across the famous timber trestle bridges, into the valley, and deeper into the forest.

In addition to the excursion train ride, visitors can also pre-order picnic and lunch packs and arrange for a private carriage hire for the duration of their stay.

Slow Moving Waters

TarraWarra Museum of Art's Biennial exhibition is all about taking it slow

The Biennial exhibition at the TarraWarra Museum of Art encourages viewers to linger over each piece and fully appreciate their beauty.

A lot of people in 2020 thought that everything had stopped. As a result, you won't have any trouble connecting with the works showcased in the Slow Moving Waters exhibition at the TarraWarra Biennial 2021. The exhibition, which opened on March 27 and runs through July 11, explores the ideas of slowness and drift through the lens of the meandering Yarra River, which flows not far from the museum's grounds.

New works by twenty-five Australian artists are on display, all of whom embrace slowness as a form of protest against the frantic pace of modern life. Many of the pieces are designed to change and develop over the course of the exhibition, including those that celebrate time's passage or investigate the concept of dormancy.

You can see a sculpture by Robert Andrew that moves and writes the same word in cursive over and over again, and you can see a live art installation by Quandamooka artist Megan Cope that features plant extracts that slowly melt. Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones tells the story of the birth of the Birrarung (Yarra River) through a series of sound recordings and installations that are dispersed throughout the exhibition, and the needlepoint designs of Louisa Bufardeci show some of the ways in which a place can become ingrained in our memories.

Windsor Art Club

If you want to get your creative juices flowing, come to the pub every Sunday for a free arts and crafts session.

The average punter visits their local watering hole for a variety of reasons, including inexpensive steak nights, weekend beers, and the occasional game of pub trivia. To that list, however, a bar on the city's southern edge has recently added a new weekly event designed to get your imagination flowing as freely as the beer on tap.

The Windsor Art Club, a new monthly event held at the Windsor Castle Hotel on Saturday afternoons, has recently begun. Indulge your creative side at these sessions, held every Saturday and Sunday from 1-3 p.m. in the hotel's beer garden. There is no cost to join, and all the materials you need to create art are supplied. One can explore their imaginative side in a new way every Saturday.

Watercolors have been tried, participants have pretended to be in college, and an adult version of finger painting has been done in previous sessions.

In addition, the winner of each week's competition will receive a $50 tab good towards food or drinks at the pub's restaurant or bar. How does that sound as a little extra incentive to let your inner Picasso out?

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Break out the butterbeer — the acclaimed play has brought its magic back to the stage

The magic of the critically acclaimed play has been brought successfully to the stage, so get the butterbeer ready.

We all knew things were not going to turn out well when the final three terrible words of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were dropped on us at the end of the book. Everything would fall apart if Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't there to fight the Dark Lord in all sorts of fantastic and utterly captivating ways.

There was no way of knowing at the time, however, that the Harry Potter series would continue. The internet and the insatiable demand for anything HP-related have ensured Harry Potter's continued success through the publication of new books, the creation of the fan website Pottermore, the production of the Fantastic Beasts film spinoff series, and other events.

One of the most significant things to come out of the post-Harry Potter era is, without a doubt, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The play, which has also been performed on the West End, closely follows the plot of the eighth Harry Potter book. It premiered in Australia in February 2019 at Melbourne's Princess Theatre, where it was met with rave reviews.

After being put on hold in 2020 due to the lockdowns in the Victorian capital, production has now resumed in 2021.

Rejoice, muggles! No matter how much or how little you like Harry Potter, this is sure to excite you if you're a theatre fan. Having debuted in London in July 2016, the production has since played in the West End, on Broadway, and even in San Francisco, to rave reviews and standing ovations.

Magic has been restored to the world, so Thursday, February 25, 2021 is probably already circled on the calendars of Melburnians and Harry Potter and/or theatre fans in other parts of Australia. After a fifty-week hiatus, the show has returned and will run for the rest of the year.

Tickets are required to see both halves of the production, which means you'll need to go twice if you want to see it in one day (at a matinee and an evening performance) or on two different days at different times.

It's understandable if you've been put off from seeing the blockbuster play about everyone's favourite boy wizard due to the high ticket price. Even more so when you consider that in order to see the entire production, you will need to buy two separate sets of tickets.