10 free things to do in marvellous Melbourne

No-one spontaneously comes to Australia. It’s not like being in Europe and 

dropping into Paris for the weekend or in the US and visiting New York to see 

a show. It takes forever to get here. From Los Angeles you’re looking at 15 hours, 

from London it’s closer to a full day, travelling with people you probably wouldn’t 

invite out for a drink and not being able to get away from screaming children. 

Can’t some airline devise a nursery in the baggage hold. Please. 

You get fed meals at odd hours that you'd never order on the ground.

And it costs a lot. The strong Australian dollar is forcing us all off shore for cheaper

holidays. So your euros, pesos, rupees and dollars simply don’t go very far here. 

If you are coming to Melbourne these are some things to do that will entertain you 

and help your budget.

1.       Open Air Art: Love it or loathe it Melbourne is well known for its graffiti. 

Hoosiers Lane, Crofts Lane and various lanes off the Bourke Street Mall have 

council sanctioned street art. 

For grittier work visit the back streets of Carlton and Fitzroy, both close to 

the city centre. 

2.      Weather watching: In Melbourne there is a joke that you can experience 

four seasons in one day. If we are having a crazy weather day there is no better 

place for cloud and sunset watching than the beach at St Kilda. A short ride on 

the 96 tram from the city. 

There are restaurants on the beach but save your budget with a sandwich 

and watch the show for free.

3.      Moomba: If you’re here in early March there is a three day free festival. 

It’s a bit cheesy but it is free fun. There are fireworks, concerts, a big parade 

and the Birdman Rally. 

The Birdman Rally involves idiots strapping on wing contraptions launching 

themselves off a high platform to see how far they fly before dropping into

the Yarra River. The festival takes place on the banks of the Yarra.

 

4.      Be a sport: We are known for being sports crazy and if you’re willing to pay there 

is the Australia Tennis Open in January, the F1 Race in March, cricket in summer 

and Australian Rules football in winter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and various 

other arenas. But for nothing you can check out suburban sport fields. Catch a local 

game of football on a winter Sunday at the Peanut Farm Reserve in St Kilda.

5.      Feed a swan: If you think that swans are white visit the Royal Botanical 

Gardens and see our black swans. Don’t be too startled if a hungry eel gets to 

the bread before a swan. The Gardens were established in 1846 and are among 

the best in the world. You can spend a day wandering its 36 acres. And drop in 

to see the feral colony of grey-headed flying foxes. They hang around the 

Gardens during the day and can be seeing in the surrounding suburbs flying 

around looking for food. Not good for a bat-phobic. 

 For a more distant adventure the RBG has an off-shoot in Cranbourne that is 

very spectacular and focuses purely on Australian plant life. Its 45km out of the 

city but is worth the visit. Tour groups that go to Philip Island for the Penguin 

Parade usually spend some time at the Cranbourne Gardens. 

Other gardens worth visiting in the city are the Fitzroy Gardens which has Captain 

Cook’s cottage and a fairy tree and  the Carlton Gardens that have the World 

Heritage Exhibition Buildings, the Melbourne Museum and an Imax Theatre.

6.      Have a party with the locals: Most inner city suburbs have big festivals during 

summer. Free music and parties. One of the largest is the St Kilda Festival held in 

early February. The festival area is blocked off for pedestrians only and sprawls 

through the streets and onto the beach with sound stages and art shows. 

Around 300,000 people invade St Kilda.

7.      Buy some cheap, fresh food: Melbourne is blessed with many local markets: 

South Melbourne, Prahran and the Queen Victoria Markets. The best for travellers 

is the Queen Victoria Market. The market was built in1878 and has not really been 

modernised. The Market site and its buildings are listed on the Historic Buildings 

Register. Queen Victoria Market survives as one of the largest and most intact 

examples of a great nineteenth century market. It’s best known for its huge variety 

of fresh produce. The best time for those on a budget is late when stall-holders are 

dropping prices to get rid of their produce. The rest of the Market sells all sorts of 

cheap clothes, household objects and a bewildering array of tat.

Both Photographs from Tourism Victoria

8.      Get a bit of culture: On a wet and windy day, and there are plenty of those in 

Melbourne, nothing is better than going to a gallery. And the two major Victorian 

Galleries are free and very close to the city.  The Ian Potter Centre at Federation 

Square specialises in Australian art and has a fabulous collection of indigenous art. 

The National Gallery of Victoria just over the Yarra on St Kilda Road is home to 

collections of European, Asian, Oceanic and American Art.

Federation Square

Photograph Donaldytong/Wikipedia

9.      Catch a tram: A fun, free way to work your way around the city. The City Circle 

tram is a renovated old fashioned tram that is hard to miss as it trundles through 

the city. The service operates in a circular route passing major tourist attractions.

Trams run approximately every twelve minutes between 10am and 6pm Sunday to 

Wednesday and extended hours, 10am - 9pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Photograph from Tourism Victoria

10.   Go to where local tourists go: St Kilda gets quite a few mentions in the list but it is

also a destination in itself. Every Sunday there is a market on the Upper Esplanade. 

The stall-owners are artists, photographers, silversmiths and furniture designers. 

It’s a great spot to buy Australiana that is a bit different than a stuffed koala. 

Every weekend the ice-cream eaters descend on Acland Street to see the 

cake shops and people watch. There’s also Luna Park: a mini Coney Island. 

St Kilda has the highest population density in Melbourne, and with that have 

come numerous bars, cafes, restaurants, galleries and a buzzing street life. 

I know because I live there.