The 7 Best Things To Do In Melbourne This May
While it may seem pretty sweet to spend the next month rugged up in your trackies, Melbourne’s putting on a pretty nice show for the last month of autumn and you’d be pretty silly to miss it. So what should you do? Well, there’s plenty to choose from.
#1 ACMI’s celebrating Scorsese
The Wolf of Wall Street, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Departed – Martin Scorsese’s intense and varied body of work have helped define him as one the greatest directors we’ve ever known. So it’s high time we celebrated the man, don’t you think? From May 26, ACMI will be hosting SCORSESE, a masterful celebration of the director’s greatest work, his inspirations, his creative process and heaps more. Drawing from Scorsese’s personal collection, the exhibition will provide insight into his 50 years in show business. Tickets and more info here. Oh and here’s hoping Scorsese’s fave Leo makes a cameo too.
#2 Not one, but two chocolate festivals
For all you chocoholics, May is the month for you. Billing itself as a day of “supreme decadence” the Wicked Chocolate Festival at Prahran market on May 7 will certainly delight any and all your tastebuds. There’ll be goodies from Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, Bibelot Fritz Gelato, A25 and Doughboys Doughnuts, as well as a Taste the Cholate Trail event, a pop-up chocolate precinct, free chocolate cooking demos, a producer’s stage, a chocolate making workship and oodles and oodles of free tastings on the chocolate tour. It’s a mixture of free and ticketed events, so check the website for more details.
Brought to us by the folks at Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, The Rocky Road Festival of Flavours is a month long celebration of everyone’s favourite choc-marsh-nutty hybrid. Featuring a three-metre long cabinet of Rocky Road temptations, the chocolaterie will be letting visitors pick and mix from 31 specialty flavours of Rocky Road, as well as dive head first into their hand made blocks, bars, truffles, waffles, ice creams and Rockin’ Hot Chocolate drinks. There’ll even be Rock Around the Block tasting sessions too. The festivities kick off on May 1; find more chocolatey details here.
#3 A beer and cooking masterclass
Good Beer Week is upon us and to celebrate, Melbourne’s getting a pretty awesome foodie masterclass that blends your two favourite things: beer and deliciously decadent burgers. The Cooking With Craft Beer Masterclass will see Huxtaburger mastermind Daniel Wilson join forces with artisanal craft brewery Wolf of the Willows to walk you through cooking some killer burgers, all paired with the perfect craft beer accompaniment.
The hands on cooking course will get you up close and personal with your burg’ and teach you how to marinate, brine, baste, batter, blanch, braise, broil, caramelise and grill with craft beer. You’ll even get access to a full range of Wold of the Willows beers during the class, including some rare and limited releases. Tickets are limited; get them here.
#4 Astronomy classes at Scienceworks
Scienceworks are hosting a bunch of nightly stargazing classes over the month of May and they’re set to be out of this world (sorry). Astronomer Tanya Hill will host four workshops that will focus on different facets of astrology, including The Hubble Space Telescope, Black Holes and Gravitational Waves, and Ceres and Pluto, our two dwarf planets. Guests will get to explore Melbourne’s night sky and stargaze through telescopes (weather permitting, of course) and you’ll even get a complimentary glass of wine with cheese. Kicking off on May 5, classes start promptly at 7.30pm. More info here.
#5 #BodyPosi yoga vibes
Head on down to Luna Park on Sunday May 1 at 12pm for a holistic yoga class to help raise funds for the Butterfly Foundation, Australia’s national easting disorder foundation. Hosted by DiscoYoga and Rise Yoga, Rock Your Body is set to be an epic yoga and beats event that’ll get you moving and celebrating the skin you’re in. Along with yoga classes, there will be guest speakers and sponsors joining the team whose goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of the night.
And if you’ve never been to a DiscoYoga event, you’re in for a treat. Run by yoga master Nickie Hanley, DiscoYoga incorporates a mixture of traditional Vinyasa yoga practices with freestyle dancing and even a live DJ. It’s fun, it’s inviting and hey – it’s all for a good cause. Purchase your entry ticket here.
#6 A Saturday morning cartoon-athon
Remember Saturday mornings? When you used to get up at the crack of dawn to watch all your favourite cartoons? The Astor Theatre does too, that’s why they’re hosting an all out cartoon-athon on Saturday May 1 for all you ‘toon hoons. Curated by Kier-La Janisse, get ready for a three-hour trip down memory lane with a tribute to all your fave cartoons (and even a few obscure ones) which will all be punctuated with vintage commercials and PSAs. The exact line-up is currently under lock and key, but there’s no doubt you’ll be seeing any number of monsters, sleuths and superheroes of yore.
And of course, any Saturday morning brain-addling binge fest isn’t complete without cereal. The Astor have promised a smorgasbord of delicious sugary cereals for you to enjoy during the binge-fest. BYO pyjamas. More info and tickets here.
#7 Next Wave’s next wave
Get arty this May at Melbourne’s premier modern art festival Next Wave. The festival is currently the country’s most comprehensive platform for next gen artists to showcase their creativity. Kick off your journey with a battle between IRL and URL at One Million Views by video artists Xanthe Dobbie and Tiyan Baker who will reach behind the webcam to capture six of the country’s biggest YouTube stars in intimate moving portraits. Next, try Passing from dance queens Amrita Hepi and Jahra Wasasala, which maps a series of monologues, spoken word passages and conversations all punctuated by physical movement and dance. Top things off with a visit to the Festival Club at The Toff in Town, which will be serving up late night eats and drinks until 3am to help you debrief and unwind throughout the festival. Next Wave runs from May 5 to 22 across the city; get tickets here.
(Lead image: Huxtaburger/Facebook)
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