This Sunday, Melbourne’s first Bike Polo Tournament will be held at Carlton (next to the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens, Corner Rathdowne St and Queensbury St) from 12 noon.

If you’d like to enter, teams of three is $15, and individuals can enter for $5 (to be placed into a team). To register send an email to melbourne.bicycle.polo.club [at] gmail.com.

Spectators entry is free (of course), so even if you’re not up for a game its sure to be entertaining to watch.

For more details see the official site and there are some photos here.

To do all those things you wanted to do without having to deal with crowds. Go shopping, visit the library, or even bargain for that house (because no one is there to counter bid your offer) or even enjoy a day outing at the Royal Melbourne Show. Everyone else will be stuck in front of the television somewhere watching the AFL final.

to think about the Royal Melbourne Show. One of my favourite events of the year, I look forward to all the fun (showbags) and of course, all the animals I miss out on by living in an urban jungle.

I presume, the 10 day event, 18 - 28th September, is being held over the school holidays. Tickets are being sold, discounts are available to groups as well as members of RACV.

Check it out! I know I will.

This Sunday is Nike’s 10k Human race event. The run pits Melbourne runners (serious and casual alike) against others the world over. Well, not really the world over, more like select cities the world over. 25 select cities to be exact, like Sao Paolo, Paris, Shanghai, Warsaw, Taipei, Munich and New York.

Sydney is somehow left out (pretend sad face. but they will be represented by Sydney based band faker, performing at the post-run event).
Click here to find out more!

If you’ve always wanted to run in a race, why not pick this one? Get off your bum and sign up. Prove to the world that we’re the ones who truly deserve the world sporting capital title ;)

You might even meet me there. (I’d be at the very back of the herd, the one that looks like he’s about to faint any minute now.)

—–

Two other fun things that are being run this Sunday :

1) Festival Indonesia at the Royal Exhibition Building.
2) Fiesta Malaysia at Federation Square.

They’re both cultural-ish events and since these neighbouring countries share a lot of similar culture, things could get a little awkward. I mean someone should’ve warned them about the clashing dates. It would be like running into an old friend in public who’s wearing the same dress!

Not that i would know very much about dresses. Or metaphors, for that matter. heh.

Bicycle culture fans will enjoy this free exhibition being held this month…

From the Australian Danish Embassy website:

The Dreams on Wheels exhibition will in the Atrium at Federation Square in Melbourne from 12 to 19 August. The exhibition is a showcase of Danish culture of cycling and innovative Danish bicycle design. This exhibition has been brought to Australia as part of celebrations marking the re-opening of the Royal Danish Embassy in Canberra.

Dreams on Wheels is curated by Thomas Ermacora, founder of Etikstudio, and has previously been shown at the Danish House in Paris, Danish Design Center in Copenhagen and Harbourfront Centre of Toronto.

Motivated by how a ‘cyclocentric’ approach to urban development can stimulate sustainable civic behaviour, the exhibition promotes cycling in a broader cultural context, displaying Danish urban cityscapes alongside urban visions for Australia by Danish architect Jan Gehl.

Ranging from family friendly to high tech, the bicycles exhibited include the Christiania bike, the LeitraVelomobile, Biomega designer bikes, the unique Mountain Goat, and ultimate classics from Velorbis.

Also on display are Copenhagen City Bikes, bicycles that are identical to those used in the Danish free bicycle program currently being adopted in Paris and considered for introduction in Australia.

Filmmaker and photographer Mikael Colville-Andersen contributes to the exhibition with a number of photographs documenting Copenhagen’s bicycle culture from his ongoing series.

Exhibition opening hours:
12 to 19 August 2008
Open all hours
Admission is free

The Atrium, Federation Square
Melbourne

More on Danish cycle culture can be found at:

• Copenhagenize [the planet]
• Copenhagen Cycle Chic

Today is the last day of June, it is also the last day of the 2007 financial year. Today is the last day to donate to obtain a tax deduction for the 2007 financial tax year. So, final opportunities to donate to charities!

There are many charities who will be grateful for donations. Below are some of them, the list is not extensive.

• Australian Red Cross
• Salvation Army
• Royal Flying Doctor Service
• Care Australia
• Oxfam Australia
• St Vincent de Paul
• Royal Children’s Hospital

I thought I had you, I really did but it took dlutchy only 42 minutes to guess the Royal Exhibition Building. This monument is a gift to Victoria from one of it’s earliest settlers. Thanks to williewonker for the picture. Next time, I’ll make it harder.

Another year, another appeal. It is that time again when the Good Friday Appeal beckons everyone to donate generously to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. The monies raised is used to ensure the best medical care is provided to all children.

On the day itself, there will be numerous activities.

My favourite being the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt, held at the Mansion at Werribee Park. It will be held on the Friday the 21st.

Pick your poison and join in the fun and donate!

This Sunday (20/1), Melbourne celebrates its sister city relationship with Tianjin, but I think it’s just a good day to go fly a kite.

You can make kites and lanterns, there’ll be a number of fun things for kids (read: facepainting), martial arts demonstrations and appearances by the Chinese Lion at 1pm and 3pm.

Though it seems like you can build them there, this event is also BYOK (Bring Your Own Kite)

When: Sunday, 20 January 2008
Time: noon to 4pm
Where: Royal Park, Native Garden, Gatehouse Street (Melway reference: 2B A3)
And Link

There are many ways to start a new year. Drinking to oblivion, kissing a love one, watching television or all the news programs showing how people celebrate New Year around the world. And there’s the New Year resolutions. But I propose that we can all have a good beginning by giving.

Find a charity you trust and donate time or money. It could be to the Salvation Army, the Royal Children Hospital or to Care Australia.

Care Australia has a unique gift section where you can buy a gift that is useful to a family or a community overseas. It can be a blackboard for a school, a birthing kit, build a classroom or even the gift of a sheep. Now that’s an idea, isn’t it? Baa! Baa!

In a year that is predicted to give us raising interest rates and a potential recession, we need to remember the less fortunate.