Recommendations for specific things on an ongoing Australian vacation.

June 15, 2014 6:38 PM

Asking on behalf of (The Rt Hon.) MP, who currently has spotty internet access while he travels around Australia. Where are the best places to 1) see an improv comedy show in Sydney, 2) see a punk/hardcore show in Melbourne, 3) get to relatively quickly from either of those cities to be able to see the outback (as opposed to the bush, which has already been seen on this trip)?

These are the three things he most wants to do. If the cities are wrong for the first two (i.e. the hardcore scene is huge in Sydney and tiny in Melbourne, or improv is totally better in Melbourne than in Sydney) feel free to recommend places in the other location.

posted by ocherdraco to Travel & Transportation around Australia (8 answers total)

(1) Thursday nights at the Roxbury Hotal in Glebe
(3) Fly. Possible places to fly to for 'outback' are Broken Hill, Longreach, Mt Isa, Birdsville, and Alice Springs. For most of these he will need to take two, possibly three flights from Melbourne of Sydney.
posted by girlgenius at 7:18 PM on June 15, 2014

OK, so, improv in Sydney.

Tuesday nights at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe you will be able to see Full Body Contact No Love Tennis. Long established, some good performers, and they've been testing out new formats pretty regularly.

Wednesday this week (18 June 2014) there is a new show called Impro Arena that will be running for the next couple of months. Also at the Roxbury.

The Bear Pack have a show on 25 June 2014 at Giant Dwarf, and they're some of the best improvisers in town.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:22 PM on June 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

(1) Thursday nights at the Roxbury Hotal in Glebe

Actually only the first Thursday of every month - the First Thursday Impro Club.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 7:24 PM on June 15, 2014

Agree that flights are going to be the best way to see 'the outback' from Melbourne or Sydney. The outback in Victoria is prob snowy river country, which is 4ish hours away by drive and not nearly as spectacular as anything you'll see in central Australia.
posted by jojobobo at 7:26 PM on June 15, 2014

(3) Catch a train/bus from Melbourne to Mildura The cafe train leaves Melb 7.45am, changes to bus half way and arrives Mildura at 3pm. Stay overnight, enjoy Mildura's culture and then hire a car or book a tour to Mungo National Park which is awesome and only 4.5 hrs away.
posted by Kerasia at 8:19 PM on June 15, 2014

Response by poster: Awesome. I think those answer 1 and 3 pretty well. (Though please continue to chime in if you have more/other info.) Y'all are awesome.

Anyone know anything about 2?
posted by ocherdraco at 8:56 PM on June 15, 2014

2. Gig guide. Apparently the Bendigo Hotel and Tote in Collingwood frequently have the kind of thing you're after. And there is also a place called the Black Goat Warehouse in French Street, North Coburg which keeps its exact whereabouts a bit sketchy deliberately because the area it's in hasn't been zoned to permit gigs, which they have every Saturday. So no gig listing but you can probably track them down locally/asking at another venue.

Enjoy!
posted by Athanassiel at 9:03 PM on June 15, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks so much! I'll pass all of this along to him. (It's hard to believe I've already been back two days. I miss all you Aussies already, even the ones I didn't actually get to meet. I am super envious that the MP is still in your country.)
posted by ocherdraco at 9:07 PM on June 15, 2014 [1 favorite]