Two weeks ago our son moved back up to Melbourne after a long stint near home. Melbourne had been in a pretty strict lockdown and they couldn't travel further than 5 km, and most things were shut, so there was no point in he and his girl staying up there. Thank goodness they had a choice. However, now things have opened up again in Australia, they've moved to Fairfield, just outside of the CBD in the northern part of Melbourne. It's a temporary stay as soon they'll be moving again to these cool eco apartments that are just being built, thankfully closer to us, although still in Melbourne.

I wanted to come see their new digs and thought it'd be great to kill two birds with one stone, going to Ceres Environmental Centre in Brunswick and cycling along the Merri Creek Trail to Fairfield, about a 20 minute cycle ride away. The whole trail is about 20km, but on this day we only planned 5.

The environmental centre is awesome - it's an environmental education centre built on disused land and features a bicycle repair shop, a nursery, a cafe, market gardens, places to gather, a stage, an education centre. a grocery store and a really great vibe. It was fun to look around for a bit, waiting to meet my son who'd cycled up to meet us. I bought a few herb seedlings and took a few snaps as my husband pumped up our bike tyres and made sure we were all ready to go.

I loved reading the notice board out the front, thinking how great it was that these kind of courses were on offer. Some of the courses at the center are now online because of COVID - I'm really tempted to do the beekeeping one soon! The medicinal gardening one looks great too, although looking at their medicinal garden, it's pretty much what I do anyway. It's so great to see these kind of offerings in a very urban setting. Melbourne's blessed with a lot of space, so a lot of people have decent backyards to do permaculture, unless they're in apartments or in the CBD of course!

I love the train carriage which is used as a meeting space, I think. As is all around Ceres, a herb and vegetable garden soften the edges. I'd love to have a tram or train carriage in my garden, wouldn't you? I do have a bus, so I can't complain.

It was a little sad seeing this space unusued. Last time I was here it was a cafe, but I think they've moved it up closer to the entrance next to the nursery and other spaces. There's a lot of building and improvements going on so I imagine it'll just get better and better.

There's lovely recycled features, like the fence below. Signs also tell visitors about the market garden and how the place is managed.

Impressively, there's a solar charge station at the entrance - rare to see in Melbourne as we're not big on the whole electric car thing yet.

From the entrance, it's a short way to the Merri Creek trail, which runs all the way down to the Yarra River. It winds it's way along the river, and across and under bridges. There's many access points which takes you through houses and onto main shopping areas - one minute you could be in a busy and trendy shopping precinct, the next you could be on the edge of the Merri. I mean look at this stunning river and gum trees below - you'd be forgiven for thinking it's part of Melbourne! If I had enough money I'd buy a cool house on the edge of this creek - honestly, it's super cool. Sadly it's waaaay out of my price range! And most people's, I imagine. But it's fun to cycle along and say ...oooh, look at that house!

Of course, my son got us lost - I say 'of course' because he's only young, and probably wasn't paying attention. We let him get us lost as it's his neck of the woods these days and we wanted him to feel as if he was showing us around. The cycle back from Fairfield, however? We took the faster and prettier route. I have to say though, it was fun getting 'lost' and we saw some pretty interesting houses on the way. I loved seeing things like 'free' book stands, old backyards with lemon trees and passionfruit vines, and a mix of 50's, 60's and 70's houses that either hadn't changed since then or had been renovated so that they paid homage to their history whilst also creating something new. I'd love to go back and simply take photos of the houses, but it's hard on a bike - things fly along at a reasonable pace and there's no real inclination to stop and take photos.

It was really lovely to imagine what it was like before the centre of Melbourne shifted outwards, and who lived here before white man came along - but it was really nice to see this water way honoured in this way and used by everyone, and certainly treasured. Everyone loves the Merri, perhaps more than the Yarra, which is the main river in Melbourne.

I have to say it's been about ten years since I've ridden a bike, but I really enjoyed this kind of cycling, just ambling along rather than pacing it just for 'exercise'. It was a lovely, gentle afternoon, and ended with us having a lovely lunch in Fairfield - a nice tomato and fennel soup, and a stew with amazing polenta, and of course good coffee, as Melbourne does very well.

Likelihood of returning soon? Very high. There's a lot more we need to see, and I can't wait to go back.

Hopefully when COVID is over, and you get a chance to visit Melbourne, you'd consider hiring a bike in the city and cycling up along the Yarra and Merri to Ceres. It's an awesome way to get a real feel of Melbourne that isn't the main city, which is all tourists normally see. Fingers crossed our borders will open soon enough.

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