I wrote this guide for a friend moving to Melbourne from Canberra. It favours the inner north as that’s my favourite part, but includes a few marks all over the city as well. Please treat as more of an introduction than a definitive guide since it only mentions places i actually know. Enjoy!
I have created a google map with a marker for almost all of these things. it may take some time to find them all as it's a bit crowded but you'll the idea in terms of good locations and things you can visit on the way to other stuff.
first thing: food shopping
1. Mediterranean wholesaler - they have a whole aisle just for pasta, it is a miracle. great for bulk buying ($10 for 5kg pasta, 24 tin tomato slabs at 69c a tin) so try to access a car or trolley for this one
2. Preston market - good fun for fresh produce, there's some great butchers and so forth
3. Coburg shops (cnr Sydney and Bell) - 3 supermarkets, a fresh food market, some great fruit & veg shops on the main st and some excellent greek/mediterranean shops (especially the one at the door to the market)
5. Ceres. just off Nicholson St, Ceres is a market/community gardens/hippy education/petting zoo place with food markets and a fancy organic cafe. nice for a day trip or morning tea on a saturday
6. Collingwood children's farm + abbotsford convent: hosts expensive fancy farmer's markets some weekends, also lots of goats to pat. the convent has become a hub for local artists and makes a nice place to visit. this is down by the yarra river in the bush, a nice escape from the city without actually leaving the city. walking distance from the epping train line.
Place to eat out:
1. A1 Middle Eastern Food on Sydney Rd near Anstey station. awesome pizza type things. same stuff available at:
2. Alalamy's, out the back of the coburg shops. these places are both supercheap and great to feed guests - you can ask them to slice up a bunch into bite size pieces.
3. Noodle Kingdom! the place that handmakes the noodles! near preston market this place is worth the occasional trek but not on a saturday or friday as the line stretches for miles.
4. Vietnam Noodle house, 251 Swanston st in the city. our place of choice for cheap food before a concert
5. (why did i do numbering if I wasn't going to stick with it?) Matsumoto japanese, costs a bit but awesome food. lygon st near brunswick rd.
6. tokyo gardens restaurant, Latrobe st in the city another good japanese place
7. Gopal's: cheap hippy cafe on swanston st, good when needing lots of food cheap.
ok this list kind of morphed into a list of places in which food can be found, so let's go with that:
5. Lygon St for Italian: near the Nova cinema, plenty of cute little places. combined with the cinema this makes a nice evening out. Also a great bookstore called readings opp. the nova. Ellie says Denini's is good, also Trotter's is a good brekkie cafe
6. Lonsdale St in the city is the Greek precinct
also chinatown is around there which can be fun.
7. Brunswick St - just an awesome place as you may know already. Vege bar, although loud, is a great place for hosting any vego friends you may have. really good food either way. A lot of cool shops here including polyester records and books, the nova cafe (no relation to cinema), mario's italian, brunswick books. the block between johnson st and alexander pde is best.
8. Smith St - one block east of brunswick st and a bit grungier - avoid at night. cool 2nd hand clothes though.
9. Chapel St - the fancy shopping district frequented by Toorak people and tourists, but quite fun to hang out there. the Soda Rock Diner is a cool old style place for a burger and fries.
10. Clifton hill: a cute local shops near clifton hill station (epping line) that includes our old chiropracter Maria Liosis. Westgarth shops are just north of here and include westgarth cinema, a beautiful old place.
7. the state library: right in the city, this is a lovely place to study or work in peace. just rent a locker for your bag and head in.
8. melb central: has lots of shops and aircon, not a bad place for xmas shopping and the like. also has famous amos cookies which are great.
9. Federation square: an odd but nice place, often the site of small festivals and sport screenings. can be fun.
10. Degraves Place off flinders: a nice place to meet people for coffee, there's an awesome soup place just past flinder's lane.
11. Victoria St Richmond: the vietnamese area, lots of good food and the Ikea is up the end of the st.
Venues:
9. The Tote - Cnr Johnson and Wellington in Collingwood, the tote often has good locals bands on so we wind up over there a fair bit
10. bar open - a favourite haunt of our bar-going friends though i don't know so much about it.
11. Festival Hall - hosts many rock bands but it's falling apart. go if must.
12. Palais - nice old style theatre, keep an eye on their gigs as they have lots of good people there
13. The Astor - a vintage cinema down chapel st, recently bought up by a nearby school to save it from ruin. often shows really cool double features both old and new. take your dinner break in the nearby Alma park which has the most epic treehouse ever.
14. the comfy chair: on the south end of sydney rd, it was popular when we were young enough to need somewhere that doesn't ID. cute but grungy.
Ok some other things to note:
1. Chocolate shops: haighs is awesome. other places that are awesome: San Churro, on brunswick st, Koko Black in the city.
2. Saver's: a ginourmous op shop on sydney rd, you can't go better for dressups, jackets, random bowls and plates, and really random furniture. it's a lot of fun and you'll find good stuff. also the street festival is midmarch, enjoy! keep an eye out for awesome hats and hippy clothes in general.
3. Green’s Furniture Thornbury: good value 2nd hand furniture store on High St, lots of nice stuff
Vinnie’s: great op shops, the bigger ones have furniture sections. Check http://www.vinnies.org.au/centres-national for multiple locations.
4. on the nature of buses: they generally go east to west, connecting up the train lines. the 510 on moreland rd goes quite a long way in either direction, useful for reaching the next train line over and so on. useful for getting to preston market, noodle kingdom, the tote, smith st and clifton hill or westgarth. In peak times you're sometimes better off sticking to trains to avoid the traffic.
5. doctor of choice: The Northside clinic contains both of Ellie's childhood doctors who are awesome and many others as well http://www.northsideclinic.net.au/ . not always easy to get in there, but for any serious health issues they're the best to go to if you're needing a chat. It can be tricky to find a doc with spots available, so i recommend putting yourself on their books right now, as well as finding someone local to you. better done now then when you actually need them.
6. cycling: if you do cycle in melbourne, try to stick to backstreets or bike paths. the best paths usually run near creeks or train lines. avoid trams like the plague.
oh and one more category that i've kinda covered already:
Good day trips
1. Great ocean Rd - about 2 hours to the west past geelong, this starts at Tourquay and goes for ages. beautiful beaches and cliffs, definitely requires a car though. Airey's inlet is my favourite town for holidays. eat scones at the lighthouse cafe, swim at fairhaven beach and sleep. plenty of great beaches in the area for a day visit.
2. puffing billy - a cute oldstyle train that runs into the mountains and winds up in the cute town of Gembrook. beautiful rainforest in all weather but it's outdoor so dress well! catch the belgrave train to the end and change.
3. williamstown beach - it's a beach. there's icecream and a camping ground. good escape on a hot day.
4. also elwood and brighton beaches to the east.
5. The Fitzroy pool - iconic in the local neighbourhood for being saved in the early 90s from apartment developers. Great place. take a picnic.
6. Studley Park - just across from Collingwood children's farm, the park has a beautiful boathouse, some bush walks and a BBQ area by the river. nice bush picnic spots. Fairfield boathouse, further north, has similar stuff.
7. royal botanical gardens are right near your work and they're great. good devonshire tea in the restaurant by the lake or you can do a picnic.
4. on the nature of buses: they generally go east to west, connecting up the train lines. the 510 on moreland rd goes quite a long way in either direction, useful for reaching the next train line over and so on. useful for getting to preston market, noodle kingdom, the tote, smith st and clifton hill or westgarth. In peak times you're sometimes better off sticking to trains to avoid the traffic.
5. doctor of choice: The Northside clinic contains both of Ellie's childhood doctors who are awesome and many others as well http://www.northsideclinic.net.au/ . not always easy to get in there, but for any serious health issues they're the best to go to if you're needing a chat. It can be tricky to find a doc with spots available, so i recommend putting yourself on their books right now, as well as finding someone local to you. better done now then when you actually need them.
6. cycling: if you do cycle in melbourne, try to stick to backstreets or bike paths. the best paths usually run near creeks or train lines. avoid trams like the plague.
oh and one more category that i've kinda covered already:
Good day trips
1. Great ocean Rd - about 2 hours to the west past geelong, this starts at Tourquay and goes for ages. beautiful beaches and cliffs, definitely requires a car though. Airey's inlet is my favourite town for holidays. eat scones at the lighthouse cafe, swim at fairhaven beach and sleep. plenty of great beaches in the area for a day visit.
2. puffing billy - a cute oldstyle train that runs into the mountains and winds up in the cute town of Gembrook. beautiful rainforest in all weather but it's outdoor so dress well! catch the belgrave train to the end and change.
3. williamstown beach - it's a beach. there's icecream and a camping ground. good escape on a hot day.
4. also elwood and brighton beaches to the east.
5. The Fitzroy pool - iconic in the local neighbourhood for being saved in the early 90s from apartment developers. Great place. take a picnic.
6. Studley Park - just across from Collingwood children's farm, the park has a beautiful boathouse, some bush walks and a BBQ area by the river. nice bush picnic spots. Fairfield boathouse, further north, has similar stuff.
7. royal botanical gardens are right near your work and they're great. good devonshire tea in the restaurant by the lake or you can do a picnic.
Hope this deluge of stuff helps make Melbourne more fun for anyone lucky enough to be moving there!
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