Outside my Front Door is a series of posts by fellow travel bloggers who share what is … outside of their own front door

Sharon Gourlay loves exploring the world with her young kids in tow. She shares all the good, the bad and the (hopefully not too) ugly of family travel at Where’s Sharon? Family Travel Blog in the hope that she will inspire you to see the world too, regardless of your family situation. They will soon be leaving their home base of Melbourne to live in Malaysia for awhile.

When I am not travelling the world, I am always happy to be in my home base of Melbourne.

Melbourne is often stated to be one of the most liveable cities in the world, and I have to agree. It is a large, multicultural city of over 4 million people. It is known for its food, culture, shopping and sport. For me, the best part of Melbourne is all of the cool inner city suburbs, each of which has its own vibe and communities. Outside my front door is my favourite of these – Kensington.

We live across the street from Flemington Racecourse, perhaps the most famous racing track in Australia home to the Spring Racing Carnival and the “Race that Stops a Nation” – the Melbourne Cup, as well as many other events throughout the year. The Melbourne Showgrounds is right next door.  In addition to the Royal Melbourne Show, there are constant events, concerts and expos here. We do not have to go far to find things to do, and we often get free firework displays.

We love our suburb of Kensington as the new part has been built with community living in mind. There are many pedestrian paths and within 10 minutes walk of our home there are 6 park areas, the majority with playgrounds and eating facilities, as well as the Maribyrnong River which is quite scenic and lined with walking and cycling trails which hook up to paths all over the city. An area with so many parks is not common only two train stops from the centre of the city.

Our favourite part of where we live, however, is the eating strips. Thanks to the migrant communities in the area, we are an easy walk from two different shopping/eating strips. One is leafy and full of nice cafes, and a variety of cuisines. The other is chock full of excellent value Asian and African restaurants. We love different cuisines and being 15 minutes walk from some of the best Malaysian, Chinese and Ethiopian restaurants in Australia is priceless to us.

We are only a 7 minute commute to the centre of Melbourne which means that we often go to events in the city.  There is always something on at Federation Square or the neighbouring areas which are home to such events as the Australian Open, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, White Night Melbourne and the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. There are also museums, bars, restaurants, river cruises, the Melbourne Aquarium, the Victorian Market and some of Melbourne’s famous shopping.

My husband and I are city slickers so living in inner city Melbourne suits as perfectly. We love good food, exploring different cultures and just getting out and having a great time with our kids. These are all things that we can do very easily right outside our front door.

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To catch up with all of the Outside my Front Door stories from all over the world, click here