Year: 2013

Tram it in Melbourne

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If you’re new to Melbourne, one of the best ways to get to know the city is by tram. Melbourne is home to Australia’s only tram network, which is also the largest urban network in the world. Trams service not only the city but also the inner suburbs, so ‘tramming it’ is a great way to explore Melbourne’s different neighbourhoods. Here are three of my favourite tram routes to get you started:   The Number 86: Bundoora RMIT — Waterfront City Docklands Jump on tram 86 on Elizabeth Street, near the GPO. You’ll travel past Parliament House, then up past the Carlton Gardens, which house the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Museum. Next you’ll travel along Gerturde Street, home to many boutique shops and restaurants, and Smith Street, a great spot for cheap shopping with its many factory outlets. Finally you’ll pass through Westgarth (look out for the lovely cinema) and up the hill to High Street in Northcote, famed for its great live music venues. Here I recommend finishing the trip — …

Royal Botanic Gardens: summer discovery walk

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Melbourne’s beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens are not only regarded as the best botanical gardens in Australia, but also one of the finest in the world. Situated close to the CBD, the gardens cover 38 hectares and include over 10,000 native and exotic plant species. It’s free to visit the gardens, and from 14 December until 28 February you can also take free guided tours to learn about the gardens in a little more depth. The tours run every day except Mondays — a lovely way to spend a warm summer day.   Royal Botanic Gardens Summer Discovery Walk When: 11am–12.30pm and 2pm–3.30pm Tuesday to Sunday (except 24 and 25 December and 1 January) Where: Meet at the Visitor Centre, Observatory Gate Address: Alexandra Avenue, Melbourne Damage: free    

Acústico Café

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Two years ago, Diego Iraheta opened a tiny one-room coffee stop called Acústico Cafe on Union Street, near Jewell Station in Brunswick. For a time, this place remained a somewhat hidden secret behind dark tinted windows — a caffeine pit-stop for a handful of locals. Gradually, however, Diego realised the cafe was outgrowing its premises, so he opened the back room to create a lounge area furnished with recycled bits and bobs, including a couple couches and a stripped-back piano. Here, the large industrial side-door is rolled up in warm weather for an ‘outside-in’ feel, and there’s a steady flow of well-chosen, laid-back tunes to soothe the ears. The coffee at Acústico is tasty and the food is delicious and reasonably priced. The Latin-American influenced menu rotates every few months to keep things interesting — check the Acústico facebook page for recent additions. This is where you’ll also find details of any gigs and other events happening at the cafe, which aims to be a hub for the local artistic community.   Acústico is the sort of …

How to make a garden (in Melbourne)

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If you’ve never tried making a garden, now’s the time to give it a shot. As the weather warms, this is the perfect time of the year to plant some seeds and watch them grow. The internet is full of information and advice on how best to make a garden, but I’ll pass on a few small tips that I’ve found to be the most helpful. 1. Pots Those of us who live with small gardens (or no gardens) will need to grow our plants in pots or other containers. You can buy plastic pots very cheaply from Kmart; the bigger the better. I also use a couple of large wooden drawers that I found on the roadside. With a few holes cut in the bottom, they work perfectly as a garden bed. One advantage of using pots is that you can strategically place them in the spots that get the most direct sunlight — a crucial factor for growing most plants. 2. Compost Juicy, wormy compost is, basically, plant food. Without it, your plants …

How to keep chickens (in Melbourne)

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On a recent sunny Sunday my housemates and I decided to adopt some chickens. We had no chicken coop, no chicken food, no feeder — nothing apart from half an unused back courtyard. So we went scavenging. Within a day or two we had built our very own custom super coop and chicken run using wholly recycled materials that we either found by the roadside or sourced from Gumtree.com.au and friends. We now have two chooks, happy to scratch the days away, which each lay an egg daily. We plan to add two more to our new farmyard. It’s really quite simple — not to mention fun, environmentally friendly, economical and surprisingly therapeutic — to keep chooks. Here’s what you’ll need — and what you’ll need to consider — to set up your own chook coop in Melbourne: 1. Space Chickens don’t need a huge amount of space, but every creature deserves to be able to carry out its primal needs in comfort. For chooks, those primal needs are scratching for food, taking dust-baths, laying …

Event: The Growing Food Project

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Where does our food come from? This question is seldom asked in wealthy first-world societies, where food seems to originate — individually wrapped and pleasingly presented — on the supermarket shelf. The lack of basic knowledge about growing food must be one of the more significant tragedies of the modern age — one that has contributed to many of today’s health and environmental problems: food waste, poverty, obesity, even climate change. Melbourne artist, activist and nutritionist Rasha Tayeh is passionate about food. Her new short documentary, The Growing Food Project, looks at Melbourne’s expanding local food movements, which sees local communities coming together to create sustainable food systems. ‘The  Growing  Food  Project  is  an  attempt  to  allow further exploration of positive relationships with food, whilst documenting various stories of grassroots initiatives that search for meaning through food,’ Rasha explains. ‘There is a growing energy in Melbourne responding to food and sustainability issues. Local communities are teaming up to strengthen the way we produce and distribute local food. From community gardening to neighbourhood feasts, these community food projects improve …

Shanghai Street Dumpling

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I’m a big fan of a decent Chinese dumpling. Quick, light, not too oily, with individual ingredients you can really taste — these, to my inexpert but enthusiastic Australian taste-buds, are the hallmarks of a fine dumpling. Shanghai Street Dumpling in Little Bourke Street are purveyors of such exemplary dumplings. Having tried a bunch of dumpling restaurants along Little Bourke, I believe I can safely declare Shanghai Street the best of the lot — at least at the cheap ‘n’ cheery end of the dining spectrum. You’ll pay a couple extra dollars for a plate of dumplings here compared with, say, Shanghai Dumpling House in Tattersalls Lane, but the dumplings are far tastier, you won’t have to shout to be heard inside the restaurant and you won’t have to contend with rude staff. Shanghai Street specialises in xiao long bao but a couple of my favourites are the pork and prawn wonton soup — light and delicious on a cold Melbourne day — and the deceptively filling pork fried dumplings, both around $8.50–$9.50 for a serving …

Night Noodle Market 2013

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From today until 30 November the Alexandra Gardens will be transformed into a Night Noodle Market, complete with over 25 hawker-style food stalls, four bars for all your boozy needs and nightly entertainment. Held as part of The Age Good Food Month, the market will kick off at 5pm on weekdays and from 4pm on weekends. Click here for a full list of participating stalls. — Tuesday 19 November 2013 UPDATE! I haven’t made it to the Night Noodle Market yet, but I’ve heard feedback from a few readers that the queues at the market stalls are atrocious. One said she had to wait an hour and a half for food. If you’ve been to the NNM, let us know how your experience went by commenting below!   Night Noodle Market 2013 Dates: 18–30 November 2103 Address: Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne Opening hours: Monday–Tuesday 5–9pm; Wednesday 5–10pm; Thursday–Friday 5–11pm; Saturday 4–10pm; Sunday 4–9pm    

Melbourne Music Week 2013

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If you love music, you’re in the right place. Not only is Melbourne the nation’s undoubted live music capital, with great live music happening all year round, but, for the next week, musicians from all over the world will converge on the city for Melbourne Music Week 2013. Starting today and winding up on the 24th, the festival includes acts from Norway, Germany, the UK, the USA and New Zealand, plus a tonne of home-grown talent.     On Saturday evening, Panthu Du Prince will work some magic on the Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr in the free event Panthu Du Prince vs Federation Bells. Another undoubtedly entertaining evening will be the free No Lights No Lycra dance class to be held in the art-deco Campbell Arcade on 21 November. (Read more about NLNL here.) For full line-up details, visit the MMW 2013 programme, which includes a bunch of free events.   Melbourne Music Week 2013 Dates: 15–24 November Tel: 9658 9658 Email: melbournemusic@melbourne.vic.gov.au