The Free Life Seekers

Melbourne’s generally flat landscape and seemingly endless array of bicycle routes means the Victorian capital is the perfect place to replace your four-wheel oil-guzzling machine for something a little more environmentally friendly. The main route in Melbourne is The Capital City trail which is 29km in length and connected to a series of other trails. The others include St Georges Road Trail (11kms from the Metropolitan Ring Road in Thomastown to East Brunswick), Station Trail which follows the Pakenham/Cranbourne railway lines and, if you’re keen to avoid driving on a tollway, the EastLink Trail will get you from Ringwood to Dandenong and everywhere in between. To See More With Melbourne’s focus on improving the accessibility of the city’s tourist spots, you’ll never be short of routes perfect for cruising through a Sunday afternoon.

Australia might not be the place you think of when the words “best country for vegetarian food” are muttered but because of our diverse heritage and multicultural society, we have an abundance of restaurants offering up tasty and authentically made meat-free meals. If you’re looking for something new to try or an opportunity to cut down on meat, here are a few of Melbourne’s finest vegetarian eateries: Bringing Asian ingredients and cooking skills to our western world, Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant is the quaint home of some of Melbourne’s most innovative and flavoursome food. Fitzroy’s Brunswick Street location is a happening spot for a Friday night dinner date or catch up session with friends with the restaurant flooded by the streetlights and hustle of bustle of one of Melbourne busiest hubs. A top-notch menu filled with a range of meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner you’ll easily waste your day away while soaking up the open air and watching people as they pass by.

We explored our surrounding areas which included the famous Orchard Road, on which we discovered some delicious hawker food on the top floor of the Orchard Road plaza. We covered the whole garden, the side gardens and the Orchard garden. We completed the botanical gardens mission plus the extra side garden missions. My favourite garden was the evolution garden, which takes you down a long spiralling path of pre-historic cycads (the earliest seeding plant) ferns, and rainforest, that I’m sure any Brontosaurus would have loved to chow down on.

P’s Recommendation: Visit Just Falafs- a 5 minute walk on St Georges Road for the tastiest Falafel and Sabich wraps (and salads), for that post-workout, protein-fix! P’s Recommendation: All day breakfast, all days burgers, all day salads, every day, at Truman Cafe. The park lies in the heart of Rathdowne village, close to cafes, burger joints (and pubs) for that pre and post workout feed (because carbs are part of the reward pathway, right? ). If Carlton Gardens Courts don’t do it for you, the primary school across the road has beautiful grass courts in which you can enquire to hire.