Travel Blog #11: I Love it Here
Today I went to the Yarraville Festival. For those who may not be aware of Yarraville, it’s the Melbourne, Australia, “village-like” suburb I live in. Actually, not only do I live here, but so does Cam Reilly, the Godfather/creator/guru of the Podcast Network. This I find particularly freaky, as I didn’t know Cam before I became interested in podcasting and for all I knew, the Podcast Network Godfather could have lived Paris, London, New York or Tittybong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tittybong,_Victoria). Nope, he lives about a 3 minute bike ride from my place. Cam is easy to pick in a Yarraville crowd – he is the one wearing the rose-tinted Elvis glasses.
Yarraville has undergone some big changes in the last decade or so. It has changed from being a lower socio-economic part of the western suburbs, to being one that is becoming increasingly gentrified. There is still an obvious Greek flavour to the community, but it is now being intermingled with many professional couples pushing prams, a growing gay community, along with a multitude of cafes, bars, hairdressing shops, groovy (and some not so groovy) restaurants and gift shops. One reason for this is that it is situated about 6 km from the central business district of Melbourne, but has enjoyed some disparency in comparative house values because it has been on “the other side of the tracks”. I love it here.
Walking through the festival today, bumping into people I know, chatting, enjoying a beer at a table on the footpath at Fidima, made think of how I like coming back to Yarraville. It doesn’t matter if I have been away for the weekend somewhere in Victoria, out of the state, or overseas, coming back here always makes me feel good. Perhaps it’s because I have lived in so many parts of the world that I now feel, after 4 years of living here, that I have a sense of community. Or maybe it’s because I’m just getting old and feeble (I’m only 43!!).
Anyway…what has this got to do with travel and why is this “Travel Blog” worthy? I think it has everything to with travel. Travel is about (for me at least) seeing and experiencing other parts of the world and through this, learning more about your own world (see Blog #8). I enjoy my own world. I may not have realised just how much I enjoy it if I hadn’t spent so much of my life travelling.
Doc Martin.