Walking Melbourne Backwards

A tower under a dome inside a shopping mall © A. Harrison

Last week I felt I was walking Melbourne backwards. Over the years I’ve stayed in various parts of the inner city, the ‘villages’ such as Brunswick and St. Kilda, or the outer suburbs. Each area has its own individual delights and charms, but at the moment my favourite is around the laneways of the inner city.

For anyone new to Melbourne, DeGraves Street is a bustling mecca of coffee and café culture. Not that Melbourne is short on either of these, but DeGraves Street offers a starting point which never fails to delight. Being closed to cars, tables fill the streets, so I find it a perfect place to sit, people watch and plan my day, or to simply sit and read.

A mural in an outer suburb © A. Harrison

My favourite place to stay in Melbourne is an AirBnB in Flinders Lane. Opposite the door are a few cafes; turn to the left for a few gems hidden down an alley; turn right and it’s a thirty second walk to DeGraves Street. A little further along is my favourite shoe store (a big call in Melbourne); within a five minute radius lie quite a few of my favourite shops, including three brilliant vintage stores. I simply walk out the door and explore, and every time I find something different. Last time I found the café in the public library. Good coffee, and free wifi.

The clothes shops around here are stunning. Each one is unique, totally different to the chain stalls of a mall. Some prove ridiculously expensive, whilst others are surprisingly cheap.

Cakes anyone? © A. Harrison

Then there are the laneways, where I simply wander at random. Many are famous for their artwork (I once found what I still believe to be a Banksy), others are filled with cafés. Some are tiny alleyways, others are service entrances to restaurants and clubs, or littered with garbage bins. Others are lined with old warehouses - look up to see the winches for raising wares to the first floor.

Last time I went to Melbourne was with only a few days notice, so naturally my favourite one bedroom apartment in a restored historic building in the heart of Melbourne was booked. (In retrospect, it’s a marvel I’ve ever managed to stay there.) Instead, I found a small hotel tucked into a laneway a few streets away on the other side of Flinders Lane.

The best ramen in Melbourne © A. Harrison

And so during this visit I found myself walking Melbourne backwards. To reach my favourite haunts meant approaching them from the other direction, and I was amazed at what I found by simply seeing everything from a different angle. There were lanes and streets I hadn’t wandered, shops I have simply walked past before but now took the time to explore, or new arcades which ran from one street to another, at times bending in the middle so as to eject me in unexpected places. I kept turning the wrong way coming out of shops, and having to rethink my path as I went home, as if seeing Melbourne afresh.

Laneway art © A. Harrison

By morning the street where I staying was a bustling café scene; by mid-afternoon it was winding down, by evening it was deserted. Once again, great restaurants were but a short stroll away. If you eat poorly in Melbourne, you’re really not trying.

Next time I visit I may well stay somewhere else, and this time walk Melbourne sideways.

Street decoration in Brunswick © A. Harrison

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