Yarraville

We really liked Yarraville, the suburb of Melbourne where we based ourselves for six nights. Cycling through the streets, the smell of garden flowers filling the air, we passed many traditional single-storey wooden houses from the Victorian and Edwardian era, now restored to their finery. Juxtaposed with newer, more modern contemporary designs, many of the houses stood alone on their subdivided lot, each with a small front garden, but close to its neighbours giving the suburb an intimate feel.

There is a proper centre - ‘the village’ - with pedestrianised street, upon which the art deco Sun Theatre sits (a six screen cinema with its own book shop). The good mix of practical amenities and boutique shops, cafes and places to eat exemplify the fact the neighbourhood has changed and become more trendy and gentrified. We could see how the village feel of this inner city neighbourhood makes it an attractive and popular suburb to live in. We would have a hard time not exploring the many eateries and investigating the shops and knew we would have to restrict ourselves to window shopping only.

Our home for the next few days was a semi-detached bungalow on a quiet street. It had one bedroom, a living room / kitchen, shower room and a small back yard. It was tastefully decorated and the owners had thought of everything so it was well kitted out. We felt at home straight away.

It gave us a great home base to catch up with some much needed route planning, washing, mending, and admin. Its location was great in terms of jumping on a train or the bike to visit the city and local sightseeing, and enabled us to invite an old friend for lunch. It was also lovely to not move / repack for five days.

We enjoyed our first venture out from the house on bikes, following a cycle path alongside a local river to reach the nearest Telstra shop (mobile network operator) to sort out a local SIM card for Amanda’s phone. This was located about 10km away in Highpoint Shopping Centre and the cycle path took us the scenic route along the Maribyrnong River, through the Footscray neighbourhood, past the racecourse, and Victoria University. A green corridor through the suburbs with lots of wildlife, natural reserves and parks. We saw so many colourful parrots - Corella, Lorikeet’s and Rosella as well as the Australian Ibis. Wonderful unfamiliar bird calls filled the air. We passed many people out jogging, cycling or taking a walk in the Saturday sun. The city seems tailored for an active lifestyle and it gave us the impression that Melbourner’s are an active lot - they are lucky to have a wonderful infrastructure of walking trails, cycleways, recreational parks and open spaces all within easy reach and linked in a way that belies a giant sprawling city of suburbs.

Our penultimate day in Yarra was spent entertaining a friend for lunch at the house. Amanda’s friend Jason was coming to see us. Amanda met Jason at the 1995 Reading Festival when he was cycling touring in the UK. From Melbourne, Jason was Amanda’s inspiration to travel to Australia over 25 years ago. She stayed with Jason and his family and they travelled to Tasmania together. Jason now lives in a town north west of Melbourne, about an hour and a half by train. We loved hearing about where he lived, in an eco village with a community sharing hens, food gardens, wetlands, and orchards.

A long time had passed and Amanda was excited and a little nervous meeting Jason again. Catching up with him was really great and he is much the same - with an easy smile, positive energy, laid back vibe, and still adventurous. It was as if no time had passed and lovely to hear about his life with his wife and daughter. Lilz met Jason for the first time and we hope to stay in touch and try to meet him again, perhaps in Europe when Jason is over with one of his tours… After running a cycle tour company in Bangkok, Jason now runs ‘Pedal Pedal’, guiding three to four exclusive tours each year for small groups. The afternoon flew by and we wish we had more time to chat but Jason had to get back home.

After saying farewell, we took advantage of the lovely late afternoon sun to jump on our bikes to cycle to Williamstown, a suburb a half hour away on the sea. We followed the cycle path along to the Yarra River, passing the large Mobil petroleum facility and out to Point Gellibrand with views of the large port terminal across the river where giant ships were docked and being loaded high with containers. We rode through Williamstown along the esplanade to the beach, passing large beachfront properties, the yacht club and marina, giving the impression this suburb was quite an upmarket seaside resort with its designer beach front houses.

We returned by the same route as the sun dipped and fishermen sat motionless along the banks of the river, pondering and keeping an eye on multiple rods, stacked against the guard rails. Arriving back in Yarra, we rode to our local Gelateria, for a treat. Some unusual flavours such as Biscoff and Ferrero Rocher sat along side the more common ones. Amanda tried a new flavour - a ‘Golden Gaytime’ twinned with Pistachio and Lilz opted for a Pistachio and scoop of Salted Caramel. Both excellent and an enjoyable way to end our stay in Yarraville. Tomorrow, we move to the south east of Melbourne and plan to visit other areas of the city before moving on and south along the coast of Victoria.Read more