HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 3) – Healesville Hotel and Heide Museum of Modern Art

Click here for the first stop of the NGV Artbus Tour of the Yarra Valley at Yering Station and the second stop at TarraWarra Estate.
After two wine tastings and a gallery viewing, we were all about ready for lunch.

To my delight, the lunch venue was the lovely Healesville Hotel. Not only is this the grand [...]

HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 2) – TarraWarra Estate

Click here for the first stop of the NGV Artbus Tour of the Yarra Valley, Yering Station.

Our second stop was the winery TarraWarra Estate, with its famous TarraWarra Museum of Art – the first significant privately funded, public art gallery in Australia. We started off with more wine tasting on the lawn, looking out over [...]

HOT: NGV Artbus to the Yarra Valley (Part 1) – Yering Station

The National Gallery of Victoria regularly runs arty bus tours for its members and non-members. Usually they’re conducted during the week and aimed at an older crowd, but for the first time in February they held the tour on a Saturday and encouraged NGV Artbeat members (the under 40s branch of NGV Members) to sign [...]

HOT: The Social Studio, 128 Smith St, Collingwood

Fitzroy/Collingwood seems to be the hotbed of social enterprise businesses in Melbourne (see my review of restaurant Charcoal Lane), and in late 2009 another one opened around the corner from me – The Social Studio.
The Social Studio is a non-profit fashion studio space staffed by approximately 20 young members of Melbourne’s refugee community and overseen [...]

HOT: In Conversation with Jennifer Byrne: Helen Garner, The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

Did you know that Melbourne is the world’s second UNESCO City of Literature, part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network?
So it’s fitting that the city has created a space such as The Wheeler Centre (named after Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of Lonely Planet), a centre for books, writing and ideas which launched just a [...]

HOT Chat: Matt Hurst from The Humble Vintage

Cycling is one of my passions (don’t worry, I’m no flourescent lycra bike nutter) and I’m a big fan of any business that encourages people to enjoy this wonderfully flat city by bike – ideally travelling with style over speed.
Today’s HOT Chat is with Matt Hurst, the owner of bike rental service The Humble Vintage [...]

HOT: Melbourne By Foot

The centre of Melbourne, with its many alleyways and riverside walkways, is a place which is best explored by foot.
Melbourne By Foot is a recently-launched walking tour run by Dave Carswell. For $25 per person he takes small groups through a three hour stroll through the city sprinkling factoids along the way. The route is [...]

HOT Chat: Dave Carswell of Melbourne By Foot

Today’s HOT Chat is with Dave Carswell, the brains and legs behind Melbourne By Foot. I think that Melbourne is particularly conducive to exploration by foot but all those dark and smelly alleyways can be a bit daunting for a newbie. Melbourne By Foot takes you by the hand (foot?) to help you discover the [...]

HOT: Tony Wheeler, The Hive, Collins Quarter, 86A Collins St, Melbourne

The Hive closed off 2009 with a bang as  Tony Wheeler addressed over 200 eager listeners with the story of his journey and his passions as one of the founders of Lonely Planet. In fact, interest was so huge that the event had to be moved to bigger premises at Collins Quarter.
Tony was a self-effacing, [...]

HOT Alert: Week of 23 November 2009

This coming week is filled with travel, rock, films, shopping, food and parties!

Tony Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet, is speaking at The Hive at The Order of Melbourne on Tuesday 24 November. Read my review of a previous The Hive event here;
The Rockwiz Christmas special is coming to The Palais, St Kilda, on Wednesday 25 [...]