Hi flying to Melbourne in November. Was there a few years ago for purely business but this time I'm making time to enjoy. Any tips for museum (modern art), theatre, clubs, ourdoor activities will be most appreciated...

The Heide Museum of Modern Art is the main gallery for modern art which is located a little bit out of town. As it has extensive grounds outside choose a nice day for it. The Cafe Vue out there is excellent, an off-shoot of one of our best restaurants, Vue du Monde in town. See www.heide.com.au A gallery I like is Axia Modern Art at Armadale. It is a good shopping strip for those who are into art - www.axiamodernart.com.au

Also consider a Walk to Art tour. These are great, you get a guided tour around town taking you through the various laneways and taking you to lesser known galleries. Which gallery you go to is dependent on what it is showing at the time. It consistently gets good reviews and I and my guests had a wonderful time when we went. See www.walktoart.com.au/walking_tour_art.html

A couple of other websites which are useful which will give you plenty of info on what is happening whilst you are actually here are www.thatsmelbourne.com.au and http://whitehat.com.au/

Theatre shows which are currently showing include Mary Poppins, West Side Story and Hairspray.

For outdoor activities there are day trips to the wineries at Yarra Valley which could include time at Healesville Sanctuary which has only Australian animals, a day on the Mornington Peninsula, 2-3 days on the Great Ocean Road and/or Grampians. seeing the fairy penguins at Phillip Island.

For something more off-beat you could take a kayak ride from Docklands (the city) at sunset or participate in the Hell Ride, a bike ride following the bay. See www.cyclingtipsblog.com.

St Kilda, the suburb, and Lygon Street, Carlton are excellent for meandering round, shopping and trying out the numerous restauants.

I'll let someone else comment on clubs as I don't go to them.

Shandy, thank you this is more than enough and I appreciate your recommendations. Am very excited to explore Melbourne.

Again, thanks! Now off to find a place to stay. . .

Kat

Shandy has already done a wonderful job of recommendations, I second her idea of going to Heide and the cafe out there is fabulous, book if you want the set menu, there's also a more cafe style menu.

I would just add a couple of museums and galleries:

Ian Potter at Federation Square and at the University of Melbourne: http://www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au/

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art also always has excellent contemporary exhbitions: ACCA http://www.accaonline.org.au/

The Art Almanac is a good guide for all of Australia, but here's the Melbourne page: http://www.art-almanac.com.au/index.php?c=mel

Susan, Thank you for your inputs. I love contemporary art. Thank you for the effort.

Would want to head out to the beach for a day. Which one is best to go to? Please include transport and other tips. I'd be coming from Little Bourke. Thanks.

The easiest beach to get to from town is St Kilda beach. Simply jump on a number 96 tram and you will be there in 15 mins. Loads of atmosphere, plenty of cafes and restaurants to choose from in Fitzroy street, or lunch overlooking the water at The Stokehouse or Donovans. You can browse the art/craft market along the Esplanade if you are there on a Sunday. There is lots of sand and it is fine for swimming. If you hang around to evening you can watch the sunset over the water and the fairy penguins coming in. Incidentally, St Kilda is not a surf beach if that is important, none of the bayside beaches are. You will need to travel much further afield for that.

It sounds like you don't wish to hire a car so heading all the way down to the Mornington Peninsula beaches and beyond is probably not the hassle of public transport. After Frankston you would probably need to combine buses with your train trip.

Of course there is the Great Ocean Road but people do that as a day/multi day touring option, not a spend a day on the beach sort of day.

Thanks Shandy. Would St Kilda be a good place just to sunbathe, read a book? Not a surfer and have no plans of being one...I enjoy walking around too and the arts and craft market sounds wonderful...

Has anyone mentioned the immigration museum or the holocaust museum or Old Melbourne Gaol?

Dinner on Puffing Billy is great.

Soul Mama is a great vegetarian restaurant overlooking St Kilda Beach and very reasonably priced. I don't usually like vegetarian meals but this is great.

St Kilda pier also has penguins that come in at sunset, not as many as Phillip Island and not as commercial either.

Thanks Peter...appreciate it.

Kat I think St Kilda would be fine for a bit of sunbathing and reading.

What part of November will you be here? At that time of the year it could be anything from quite cool to fairly hot. Even if it should be hot, the water itself will still be quite cold as the bay won't have warmed up yet from our winter.

Great! Will be there a week between Nov 1-16, will finalize dates by next week.
Thanks again, for all your help.

I'm sure you realise but the 2nd November is Cup Day so accommodation will be at a premium around that time. If you haven't booked a room yet I would be doing so.

The water at St Kilda beach is always cold. I used to swim their daily.

The beaches are generally clean but check the daily papers for the EPA report in the wether section.

Also take care walking on the beach there are the occasional needles. The beaches are cleaned often. And in the all the time I swam there, I saw only one.

This is not to scare you. Just to make sure you have a good time, and would apply to every beach in the world.

The market along the Esplanade in St Kilda has a good reutation.
http://www.stkildamarket.com/index.php

The friday night market near Luna Park was good with a range of international foods.But doesn't appear to be running this year.
http://www.stkildabeachnightmarket.com.au/

Be sure to check out the cake shops in Ackland Street.They are world class.

You will have a great time in St Kilda.

I haven't read all posts - just my 2 cvents regarding St. Kilda - I LOVE the townhouses there!:

Sunday's flea market near the public swimmingpool is very nice to stroll along.

Thanks Peter, Shandy! I need to get a prepaid SIM card that allows toll free calling for cheaper rates to make international calls. Which one should I get?

Sorry, out of my league. I don't have a mobile phone and know nothing about them.

You could try starting another thread.

Wow, thats a first. No offense meant. Im actually in awe that you dont own one.

I do get strange looks!

I envy you. Not for getting strange looks, but for not owning a mobile phone.