Free Art workshops Melbourne

A free snag is the way to every meat-eating Aussie’s heart – and this Friday is the last of Section 8’s Gourmet BBQ sessions. Drop in from 12pm – 3pm for a gourmet foot long sausage with eggplant jam & baby gherkins. The Exford Hotel is also onto a good thing: on Friday nights they couple their free barbie with free pool and free jukebox jiving. Plus, every Monday from 6.30pm, St Kilda backpacker haunt Base offers complimentary pancakes when you buy a drink. You show me a stomach that doesn’t love a syrup-drenched pancake!

Active Activities

It seems Tuesday’s the day for free activities: Melbourne Latin Dance offers free salsa classes at their Richmond studio every week – two-left-feet welcome! Alternatively, you could get into some dungeon-dragon style medieval warfare with the Swordcraft crew in Princes Park from 7pm. Byo swords, shields, armour etc… And if slowing things down is more your speed, try the free tai-chi sessions which run weekly at Fed Square at 7.30am.

Clubs

You’ll find the ‘other’ clubbing scene comes at a much lower premium for your purse. Exercise your cheek muscles (not THOSE cheek muscles) and get ready for some big belly laughs at one of the many Laughter Clubs about the place. A book club is a stellar way to combine socialising & learning – these days, there are even muggle-groups for Harry Potter fans! And, if you can’t quite find the motivation to whack those trainers on, join a city-based running club where you’ll pound the pavement with umpteen other eager-exercise-beavers.

Mindfood

They say a second language is the key to expanding your brainpower. So, whip down to the free Spanish conversation classes every Saturday afternoon at Cruzao Arepa bar. For a meatier subject matter, check out the Melbourne Free University sittings, which run every Tuesday through til March at City Square. A diverse range of lecture topics include banking profit margins, parliamentary debate, offshore employment strikes, and much more. And if you need to blow off some steam midway through your workday, get on your soapbox at the Wheeler Centre’s Speaker’s Corner each Thursday in the CBD.