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The 7 Best Things To Do In Melbourne This September

The 7 Best Things To Do In Melbourne This September

Hear that sound? That’s Melbourne’s creaky bones stretching out after a long, cold winter. September has arrived and spring is finally here, so it’s time to shake off the sleepy colder season and start doing more stuff. Here’s our top seven picks for this month, perfect for visitors and locals alike.


#1 Stuff yourself silly at a new food truck park

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(Photo: Welcome to Thornbury/Facebook)

A 4000-metre square slab of concrete at 520 High Street, once home to a used car yard, is now the Welcome to Thornbury (WTT) food truck park and beer garden – Melbourne’s first permanent home for mobile eats. Open daily, WTT will host a rotating roster of Melbourne’s finest, including Mr Burger, Smokin Barry’s Barbecue, Round the Way bagels and the legendary Dude Food Man. The on-site bar is stocked with the finest craft brew, such as the Hapi Daze Pacific Pale Ale, from Kiwi microbrewery The Garage Project.

WTT is a cool outdoor site with heaters, palms, a ’50s diner welcome sign and the odd flash of neon – the perfect homage to the American roots of the food truck movement. This is an unapologetically hipster scene, but that’s where all the best food happens in Melbourne. Apply your temp tattoos and dive on in.


#2 Go on a Fringe binge

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(Photo: Outside The Box/Melbourne Fringe)

The Melbourne Fringe is a big shaggy beast full of hidden gems and cheap delights. Kicking off in mid-September, the festival includes 401 events with around 6,000 artists performing in 174 venues across Melbourne, covering every art form you can name and a few that are unrecognisable. Like circus? Try the immersive street tease of Bodies Over Bitumen. How about a dance interpretation of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men? Or a night of cult film and performance mash ups? How about a party in homage to the ’90s? Or an “unapologetic autopsy of Gen-Y’s aspirations, expectations and delusions“?

The Fringe showcases the hottest emerging talent Melbourne has to offer – rising stars battling it out for your dollar and attention. Strap in for fearless fun, groundbreaking work and a tendency to party every single night of the week.


#3 Feast on electronics

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(Photo: Shadow Electric/Facebook)

Returning in 2015 with a stellar line-up of knob-twiddling magicians, the Shadow Electric Electronic Feast is a showcase of the best beats and experimental sounds from bedroom producers across the city. A fundraiser for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and The Social Studio, the line-up includes Ok Sure, Glasfrosch and Ninoosh with visuals from BK and Honor Eastly. DJ Flex and Manny Sharrad will deliver soulful African inspired beats to keep your feet moving in the secret world that is the Shadow Electric.


#4 A nod to Nordic

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ARTEK, Helsinki (manufacturer); Alvar AALTO (designer) Armchair 41 (1930) {designed}; (early 1970s)(Photo: NGV)

Home to hip couture, beautiful couches and cheap stuff that looks pretty reasonable, Scandinavia is the beating heartland of minimalist style. Beautiful things with little fuss, that’s the Scandi way. Nordic Cool, an exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), explores the roots of Northern European design, looking at ceramics, glass, silver, furniture, textiles and lighting from across Scandinavia and its nearest neighbours. Built from donated objects in the NGV collection, it celebrates ice cool, organic modernism where fabrics and materials come first.

RELATED: THE 10 COOLEST THINGS TO DO IN SCANDINAVIA


#5 David Bowie is awesome

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The monster David Bowie Is exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) has seen crowds shuffling bumper-to-bumper on a mission to understand the inner workings of the Thin White Duke. While we highly recommend a visit to the exhibition proper, consider a slightly less hectic outing that is still Bowie-centric – a night at the movies with Bowie on the big screen. David Bowie Is Ready for His Close Up is a program showing the highlights from Bowie’s illustrious film career, including Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and the Diamond Dogs tour documentary, Cracked Actor. The Man Who Fell To Earth, featuring Bowie at his sexy best, is also on the bill.

RELATED: THE PLACES THAT INSPIRED DAVID BOWIE


#6 Be Radiant

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(Photo: Radiant Pavilion/Facebook)

Running from September 1-6, Radiant Pavilion is a festival of contemporary jewellery that will take you into the minds and studios of Melbourne’s most idiosyncratic makers. A host of exhibitions will showcase the most beautiful, brutal and playful pieces in galleries and on the streets, with one roaming artist taking indecent exposure to a whole new level. There are lectures, performances and artists talks, and a flash mob that asks participants to wear their art on their sleeves.


#7 To market we go

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(Photo: Markets of Melbourne/Facebook)

Food markets across the city are celebrating Melbourne Market Week from September 5-13, with food tastings and tours, and live cooking demo sessions to keep shoppers enthralled. Dandenong Market has really risen to the occasion with their Market Week program, which includes a headscarf-wrapping session and a Market Spruiker Challenge. It all comes to a head on Sunday September 13 when Dandenong Market launches the 2015 Donut Eating Competition, a no doubt hellish extravaganza of jam volcanos, stuffed cheeks and inevitable regret. Want to participate? You can sign up online.

(Lead image: Lonely Planet/Melbourne Fringe)

Check out Qantas flights to Melbourne here.

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