A to Z of summer in Melbourne

Time Out gives you the alphabetical lowdown on the good, the bad and the weird about summer in Melbourne, from acing the Aussie Open to jumping castles and even xylocarps.

A Ace the Australian Open

Scorching temperatures, athlete hissy fits, too many Aperol Spritzes – ah, the Australian Open, we’ve missed you! Every year thousands head to Melbourne Park to watch the superstars of tennis battle it out in the fierce summer heat. Birrarung Marr will buzz with live entertainment and food stalls, while music superstars and famous chefs hit up the AO Live Stage and the AO Chef Series respectively – and make quite the racquet. à Rod Laver Arena, Batman Ave & Olympic Blvd, Melbourne 3000. 136 100. ausopen.com. $5-$185. Jan 20-Feb 2.

B Bum around at the beach

Look, we’re not Sydney. We don’t have jaw-dropping beaches scattered about like freckles on a redhead’s arm. We have to seek out the good ones. Skip the crowds at St Kilda and Williamstown and head to Half Moon Bay, a secluded blue-and-yellow postcard of a beach with plenty of shade by the bay. à Beach Rd, Black Rock 3193.

C Cherries, picked by yours truly

Cherry season is finally here! Head out to where they’re grown and pick your own. The Yarra Valley’s Cherryhill Orchards is opening its doors to the public for picking season. All cherries eaten on site are included in the entry price. à Cherryhill Orchards. 474 Queens Rd, Wandin East 3139. cherryhill.com.au/ pick-your-own. $0-$15 entry. Until Jan 5.

D Dip your toes into Arbory’s pool

Ahoy! Arbory Bar’s popup floating bar is back, having once again moored itself on the Yarra beside platform 13 of Flinders Street Station. This year’s bar takes inspiration from Miami in the 1970s with a pastel blue and pink colour palette and palm trees. The most exciting part is the introduction of a pool located on the upper deck level. à Arbory Afloat, Flinders Walk, Melbourne 3000. 03 9614 0023. arboryafloat.com.au. Until Mar 31.

E Escape from an escape room

Beat the heat and settle in for some friendship-breaking puzzle solving at the Mystery

Rooms. There’s no guarantee of happily ever after inside the A Grimm Finale room, an end boss of an escape room that is the culmination of the other three rooms available at this venue. The door is locked. The room is dark. The clock is ticking… à 303 Napier St, Fitzroy 3065. 0420 566 128. themysteryrooms.com.au. Wed-fri 5.3010pm; Sat, Sun 10am-10pm. $37.50pp.

F Fields of lavender

Lavender fields are at their most beautiful in late summer, so go frolic in some neat patches of mauve at the Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens on the Mornington Peninsula. These gardens are

home to a flowering lavender maze, a rose maze and Australia’s oldest hedge maze, which stands at more than three metres tall. à 15 Red Hill-shoreham Rd, Shoreham 3916. 03 5989 8387. ashcombemaze.com.au. Daily 9am-5pm. $0-$18.50.

G Go to the gallery

Avoid the physical oppression of a 40-degree summer day and get some culture at the same time. This summer the NGV is highlighting two stalwarts of New York City’s 1980s graffiti scene with Jean-michel Basquiat |

Keith Haring: Crossing Lines. à NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne 3006. www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Daily 10am-5pm. $25-$30. Until Apr 13.

H Harry Potter

Despite what you might think, there are still tickets available to see the Harry

Potter and the Cursed Child play at the Princess Theatre. The season is sticking around for a little while longer so you can revisit old friends like Harry, Ron and Hermione, and maybe even meet a new bestie (wait until you meet Scorpius).

à Princess Theatre, 163 Spring St, Melbourne 3000. www.harrypottertheplay. com/au. $190-$450. Until Jul 12.

I Ice cream

The past was uncomplicated: decisions such as cone or cup, vanilla or chocolate, and Flake or no Flake were as flamboyant as things got. Now we have choices like ice cream brioche or fairy floss clouds or candied bacon. No matter how you roll, you’ll cool off well at Carlton’s favourite icecream joint, Pidapipó Gelateria.

à 299 Lygon St, Carlton 3053. 03 9347 4596. pidapipo.com. Daily noon-11pm.

J Jump around

Instead of buying a trampoline for Christmas, spend your summer holidays at the Big Bounce, with the world’s largest jumping house, inflating soon in Melbourne. It’s fitted with giant slides, climbing towers, obstacle runs, basketball hoops and ball pits sprawled across 1,500m2 of bouncy real estate.

à Flemington Racecourse, 448 Epsom Rd, Flemington 3031. thebigbounceaustralia. com.au. $29-$55. Jan 3-19.

K Knock on heaven’s door

And by heaven, we mean the highest rooftop bar in Melbourne. After searching high and...er… high, we found out Melbourne’s highest rooftop bar is actually the Rooftop at

QT on the 11th floor of the QT Melbourne hotel. If you’re curious, Melbourne’s highest bar (sans rooftop) is Lui Bar on the 55th floor of the Rialto. à Rooftop at QT, 133 Russell St, Melbourne 3000. 03 8636 8800. qthotelsandresorts.com. Mon-fri noon-midnight; Sat, Sun 2pm-midnight.

à Lui Bar, 525 Collins St, Melbourne 3000. 03 9691 3888. luibar.com.au. Mon-wed 5.30pm-midnight; Thu 11.30am-1am; Fri, Sat 11.30am-3am; Sun 11.30am-midnight.

L Lights

While you’ll want to avoid artificial light this summer (get that vitamin D, girl!), we’ll all be chasing one kind of twinkly light this season: festive Christmas lights. Federation Square has got its annual festival makeover with a 16-metre LED Christmas tree and a gingerbread village. There’s an eight-metre reindeer in Docklands, a free outdoor Christmas cinema at Carlton’s Argyle

Square and even a ‘How to Make

Gravy’ sing-a-long in the lead-up to the big day. à melbourne.vic.gov.au/ christmas. Until Dec 25.

M Midsumma Festival

The appropriately named Midsumma Festival takes over the city every January with an explosion of LGBTQIA pride. It’s largely known for its killer parties and Pride March, but the festival’s greatest asset might just be its line-up of theatre, cabaret, visual arts and live music. Whether you’re queer or an ally, there’s an event for everyone at Midsumma, so break out those rainbow threads and get celebrating!

à midsumma.org.au. Jan 19-Feb 9.

N New Year’s Eve toilet search

All the Champagne that goes in must come out – better it come out somewhere safe and private. If you’re out and about on New Year’s Eve and find yourself in need of a loo, fullbladder salvation can be found if you double back down towards Linlithgow Avenue in Queen

Victoria Gardens. It’s unisex and accessible, plus it’s decidedly less crowded than those at Birrarung Marr. à Linlithgow Ave, Southbank 3006.

O Outdoor cinemas

An air-conditioned cinema when it’s 30+ degrees outside sure has its perks, but it’s nothing compared to watching a flick out under the stars. Especially when it’s something thunderously loud – like the new

Star Wars. Lido Cinemas is hosting a midnight screening of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker during its rooftop cinema summer season. A galaxy far, far away ain’t so far when you’re a few storeys up.

More outdoor cinemas p48.

à 675 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn 3122. lidocinemas.com.au/rooftop. $20-$25. 8.30pm. Until Apr 1.

P Potato cakes

All hail the crowning jewel of a summery fish and chips meal. Yeah, some

battered flake and chicken saltdoused hot chips go down a treat, but biting into a light battered potato cake is like nothing else. Seek them out at the Fish Market in Richmond. You’ll get two of them in the ‘Fish Market for 2’ pack, along with double dimmies, two firm flake fillets and chips or rice.

à 272 Bridge Rd, Richmond 3121. 03 9428 8574. thefishmarket.net.au. Sun-wed 11am-9pm; Thu-sat 11am-10pm.

Q Queen Victoria Market

Get your Christmas ham, your Christmas fish, your Christmas… er… cheese – the

Queen Vic is great for all your festive food needs. But it’s also a great place to kick back. The weekly Summer Night Market has returned, and it brings with it plenty of food, a new Palm Springs Bar, a full-sized beach volleyball court and all the usual market fun.

à Cnr Elizabeth & Therry Sts, Melbourne 3000. 03 9320 5822. qvm.com.au. Tue, Thu & Fri 6am-3pm; Wed 5-10pm; Sat 6am-4pm; Sun 9am-4pm.

R Rain radar

A phrase all Melburnians know well: “check the rain radar!” We all know how quickly our scorching 35-degree days can dip to 15 degrees with a side of flash flooding. Be prepared – or just spend the day exploring every corner of Melbourne Museum. See a movie at IMAX, explore Victoria’s history at the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre and spend waaaaay too long inspecting the animals in the taxonomy room.

à 11 Nicholson St, Carlton 3053.

03 8341 7777. museumsvictoria.com.au. Daily 10am-5pm.

S Swimming holes

They’re nature’s swimming pools! Head to Turpins Falls for the quintessential swimming hole experience. Turpins is a big, deep billabong flanked by 20-metre cliffs and located about 15 minutes from the town of Kyneton in Victoria’s northwest.

à 155 Shillidays Rd, Langley 3444.

Time Out Bar T Awards winners

Did you skip over all those pages before you got to this one? Don’t! We’ll be celebrating Melbourne’s best bars all summer long! Flip back to check out Melbourne’s Best New Bar, Bar Margaux; head upstairs to Madame Brussels to meet our Legend Award winner; or settle in for a Rear Window in Romeo Lane, our Bar of the Year for 2020. Read more on p13-24.

U UV rays

Avoid them! Here in Australia we have one of the highest levels of UV exposure, which means some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Don’t be a dilly and forget your sunscreen during a day out at the park, bar or beach. If you want to cool off in the water, try an indoor pool like the Melbourne City Baths.

à 420 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000. 03 9658 9011. melbourne.vic.gov.au. Mon-thu 6am-10pm; Fri 6am-8pm; Sat, Sun 8am-6pm. Casual swim $4.10-$7.

V Very hot trams

You know the ones. Old, rickety and stifling. Sure, someone might crack a stiff window, but they only drop a centimetre or two, so it’s less like a breeze and more like a French Bulldog breathing on you. Our remedy? Go underground where it’s cooler. Bodega Underground has vegan-friendly tacos and mezcal, and it’s open until 3am. à 55 Little Bourke St, Melbourne 3000. 03 9650 9979. bodegaunderground.com.au.

Mon, Tue 4pm-3am; Wed-fri noon-3am; Sat, Sun 11.30am-3am.

W Waterparks

Adventure Park Geelong has a brand-new (and low-key terrifying) $4 million waterslide. The Tsunami is Victoria’s first triple-funnel water slide of its size. It stands at a mighty 7.5 storeys high and is 172 metres in length, with four guests per raft taken through three mega funnels. Game? à 1249 Bellarine Hwy, Wallington 3222. 03 5250 7200. adventurepark.com.au. Various days & times. $0-$46.50.

X Xylocarps!

Don’t know what a xylocarp is? It’s a fruit that has a hard woody shell. The most famous xylocarp? A coconut, of course. You can always get a good coconut fix at Jinda Thai.

Try the tom kha, a mild coconut milk-based soup with galangal, lemongrass, coriander and your choice of protein. à 1-7 Ferguson St, Abbotsford 3067. 03 9419 5899. jindathai. com.au. Thu-tue 11.30am-3.30pm & 4.30-10pm; Wed 5-10pm.

Y Yarra Valley

The green rolling hills of the Yarra Valley are only an hour outside Melbourne, where cool-climate wines have helped put the region on the map. Our pick for a summer’s day? Helen and Joey

Estate, because sipping on funky orange wine while overlooking a primo view is one of life’s greatest pleasures. à 12-14 Spring Ln, Gruyere 3770. 1800 989 463. helenandjoeyestate. com.au. Daily 10am-5pm.

Zip line through Z the trees

At Live Wire Park, you can climb, swing, leap, wobble and fly through the towering eucalyptus forest just outside Lorne. This high-flying adventure park will test your limits as you make your way across wobbly wire bridges to vine-line rope crossings and midair obstacles. ■ à 180 Erskine Falls Rd, Lorne 3232. 1300 548 394. livewirepark. com.au. Daily 9.45am-5pm. $8-$12.