9 Victorian Events To Make You The Person In The Know This Weekend Need to get away this weekend? Take a trip on the river on the PS Pevensey riverboat. CHRISTMAS is coming closer, but for those who got all their shopping out the way, why not try some of these exciting things this weekend? Livelist editor Mikey Cahill has found a few things going on around town and in greater Victoria that might tickle your fancy,. MERRY MARYSVILLE CHRISTMAS Marysville is about as pretty as it gets. The family-friendly Beauty Spot Trail is one of 14 walks on the spanking new Visit Marysville smartphone app. (NB: this walk has no connection with Cindy Crawford. It is an easy and stunning stroll through fern-lined trails, well signposted with wildlife information sites.) Access the audio option on the app and listen to animal and bird sounds. You may even get an echo with the real thing vying for your attention. Bruno Torfs. Brunos Art & Sculpture Garden. Source: HWT Image Library While you're in the "hood, the Buxton Trout Farm is a thrilling day out where you can hook a rainbow trout or Atlantic salmon and feel like a pro. I once caught three of the former at Noojee Trout Farm and considered a career as an angler. Like Rex Hunt but less hirsute. Bruno's Sculpture Garden will capture kids" imaginations like a butterfly in a, err, butterfly catcher. Bruno Torfs lovingly crafts his creations from clay and fires them up on-site in his kiln. They are now also showing works of best-selling children's book Illustrator Katz Cowley, more than 200 of them in fact. Download the app before you leave home, at the Visitor Information Centre 24-hour wi-fi hotspot or hire an iPod at the Centre. All are solid options but the best thing to do is get prepared at home so you can maximise your day. The prices vary for different activities but the app is free and there's nothing over $10. Kids under 16 are free. marysvilletourism.com/visit-marysville-apps CLAUSE IN HIS CONTRACT We know Santa's from the North Pole but it turns out he's actually a Southside guy. Santa's making Acland Court in St Kilda his home. And this weekend the big man on the Christmas campus will be there noon-4pm each day to hear children's Christmas wishlists and give his best whitebeard cheesy grin in pictures with the kids. No jumping up and down on his knee though, he has a lot of snaps to get through and only two knees for the rest of his life. Apparently Prancer and Blitzen have been giving him grief lately, they want to take the sled in different directions. Bring along your camera and a gold coin to donate to Sacred Heart Mission to enable the whole family to get a keepsake shot with Santa for Facebook. There's facepainting, Crumpette the Clown and local all-female quartet Poppies. www.aclandcourt.com.au CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY Spirit of the Square has returned to Fed Square and there's a whole bunch of great things on until December 25, the big day itself. There's community choir singing, Christmas films on the big screen, video games also on the big screen, family portraits and secret picnic places, hopefully ones out of the sun if it's going to keep smouldering in the "30s like Carole Lombard. Millie Cattlin of The Projects Melbourne urban artists who have created an installation of more than 100 Christmas pine trees for Fed Square's Spirit of the Square. Watch Christmas films, play video games on the big screen, listen to community choirs, browse a Christmas market and join the Orphans Christmas for some extra company on Christmas Day. To give you the downlow on all the green foliage, In The Pines is a large public art installation of more than 100 plastic pine trees by urban artists, The Projects. See the trees transform each week when students from Monash Academy of Performing Arts create original, off-centre patterns, mazes and secret hiding spaces. There's a lot of this secretive stuff going on, maybe you and your family and friends can play Secret Santa among the pines? Free. fedsquare.com FRANKLIN MY DEAR WE DO GIVE A DAMN The Art Series Hotels are run by some forward thinking ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. They've encouraged guests to be brazen and steal a Banksy, held opulent listening parties for Paris Wells" album launch of Various Small Fires on their roof (and in their spa) and this summer they also offer the world's latest check-out; quite simply if no one checks in to your room then you don't have to check out. On Sunday night they're up to "so good" again with Australia's Got Talent gingerbread, gingerbearded dancing madman Tommy Franklin. He's bringing his signature moves and fearless silent disco to The Cullen. The rooftop will be transformed with Tommy's philosophy of freedom, smiles and "The Art of Living Fearlessly." Fear out! The one-off event will include the Silent Disco King and if you've never experienced the oddly intoxicating feeling of dancing to music with wireless headphones then get with the Zeitgeist, frisky reader. Franklin has beaten his alcohol and drug demons through the power of dance and thus there will be no booze at the event ... and therefore no hangover. There will be a bespoke sugar bar (mmmm, healthy) with candy treats to keep you dancing well into the night. The disco runs from 5.30-8.30pm and if you book The Dancing Man Package you get an overnight stay for two, two tickets to rock the discotheque and a late check-out of 1pm. Remember too, if nobody checks into your room the next day, well, calling in sick for work on Tuesday is a no-brainer. There will be "dalking" there will be "salty rain" there will be lots of fun. I may have just watched his audition video and got gooseflesh. 164 Commercial Road, Prahran. $189. artserieshotels.com.au/tommy-franklin KOOR BLIMEY Arts Victoria and the Koorie Heritage Trust had a great idea: launch a Koorie art show! Like all light bulb moments it seems ludicrous it hasn't been done already. After a state wide call for entries by visual artists 17 years of age and over who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander residents of Victoria they now have 70 artworks ready for public perusal. It opened yesterday and will run until February 28. Successful entrants like Treahna Hamm are eligible for prizes including Arts Victoria Awards. 295 King St, city. Daily, 9am-5pm. Free. koorieheritagetrust.com SURE TO PULL A CROWD Sandra Bullock is putting a few finishing touches on the Abbotsford Convent. She was built in the 1800s (the convent, not the evergreen star of Speed and The Blind Side) so needs plenty of TLC to keep up appearances and on Saturday night Bullock herself will down tools and make her way onto the screen for (yes you've guessed it, clever you) a screening of Alfonso Cuarón's mesmerising box office smash Gravity. Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone and George Clooney as Matt Kowalsky in Gravity. (AP Photo/Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures) Source: AP Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her virgin shuttle mission while Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) is the veteran silver fox on his final flight before retiring. Nothing can go wrong, right? Wrong, wrong, WRONG. In space no one can hear you scream. And nobody is there to bring you Nespressos either, George. 3 St Heliers St. Abbotsford. Sat, 6pm. $18/$21. shadowelectric.com.au PORT OF IMPORTANCE All you can do is step back in time ... Travel back to Australia's pioneering beginnings at the Port of Echuca as this very family, very friendly attraction opens its doors for the first time today after a lazy $14.2 million refurbishment. I love the way Australians throw "lazy" in to spice up hyperbolic sentences using a sarcastic adjective, always with a smirk. It feels so sunburnt and right. Home to Australia's largest fleet of steam-driven paddle-steamers on the banks of the legendary Murray River, the Port of Echuca has been completely redeveloped and all of y'all can discover the heritage-listed wharf which has been meticulously restored to its original condition. Explore Discovery Centre and picnic-perfect river views from newly developed boardwalks which allow unprecedented access to the historic precinct. PS Pevensey, Port of Echuca. Riverboat. The old saw mill is back in action, brought back to life as an insight into how trees were logged, shipped and milled on the banks of the Murray River during the late 1800s. You can even observe water level markings from the river's most devastating floods and there have been a few, the Murray has never been one to take prisoners. Daily, 10am-4.30pm $8 for curious kids and $14 for adults. portofechuca.org.au KEEPING UP WITH THE SMITHS I used to have a quote stuck up in my room: "Live as long as you may, the first 20 years are the longest half of your life." That's a line by philosopher Robert Southey and he'd be impressed with the staying power and progress of the Ashton Smith Singers. Conducted by David Ashton Smith, the honey-voiced group have been singing their hearts out for two decades and will celebrate by performing twice this weekend with guests such as Roy Best, Eleanor Kerr, Jeremy Kleeman, Catherine Bolzonello and more. They'll be accompanied by Linda O'Brien and a special 20th anniversary instrumental ensemble. The concerts will take place at Sacred Heart, corner Glenferrie and Cotham roads at 8pm Saturday and 7pm Sunday and, Holy Moses, they'll be solemn and stirring shows. It's a good Christmas catch-up option. Tickets are $25 but if you bring 10 you'll (tide) all get tickets for $20. Sing loud, sing often, sing like your life is in its longest half. ashtonsmithsingers.org.au ALL HANDS ON DECK If you've been anywhere near the Arts Centre Melbourne recently you've probably clocked a pop-up installation on the lawn and wondered what the heck it's doing there. Production designer Christian Wagstaff is the guy behind Deck the Houses, a walk-through funhouse and light show that all Melburnians can enjoy. Day or night, wander through the house, play in and around it or just sit back on the lawns and watch it come to life as St Nick skulks around the back trying to find a chimney. There are boutiques and stalls boasting collections of goodies and gifts all in keeping with the build-up to December 25 and there is also a program of free entertainment, including carollers and musicians performing everyone's most-loved Christmas songs. It's open this weekend and next weekend 10am-4pm and entry is at the right price starting with F, which goes to show the masterminds behind Deck The Houses have included the secret ingredient beginning with L. artscentremelbourne. com.au