The weather’s going to be good – mostly sunny with tops in the mid-20s for both Saturday and Sunday. 

We’re heading into that wonderful time when the world wakes up, crawls out from under the doona and heads back outside after winter. 

And there’s plenty around to tempt. 

If you’re a wine lover, then Heathcote’s your destination for the annual wine fair (and a bush market thrown in to boot), while for a  vegan/vegetarian feast head to the Great Stupa for the fifth annual Vegecarian festival (along with some love for your pets).

If you want to see where spring has truly sprung, the Bendigo orchid festival is on at Truscott Reserve, the tulips are blooming in Rosalind Park and the Macedon horticultural society is holding its Garden Lovers Fair at Bolobek.

Want to be a bit more active, Dragon’s Abreast are having a come-and-try day in its awesome boat and the MadCow stampede will be, well, stampeding around Lake Weeroona.

Art more your thing? The Bendigo gallery this weekend launches a new exhibition called Gothic Beauty, which looks at the Victorian-era traditions of death (and featuring a pretty cool looking glass-sided hearse) and Gibble Gabble Gobble –  a six-person chamber opera composed by Bendigo's Chris J Wilson –  will premiere on Sunday.

The month long spring fling will have the Goldfields Shire on the move, from a market this Sunday, to bopping along with Lonnie Lee.

Speaking of markets, there’s a heap on this weekend. PepperGreen Farm, Prince of Wales Showgrounds and Creator’s Market in Bendigo, and in Castlemaine you have the Wesley Hill market, with fresh bread, coffee, fruit and veg and oddities side-by-side each week (I once picked up a great candelebra for $15).

The fun continues next week when the inaugural Bendigo comedy festival – four years in the planning – kicks off. It’s being held over three days from October 11. Get set for a barrel of laughs.

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