Magnificent Melbourne

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My heart was floating in a bit of nostalgia at the end of our desert adventure. We had lived our last nights in the Australian immensity. After a few months here, you take for granted the never-ending mountain ranges and the silence of the milky-way…You take for granted being alone in this beauty, breathing fresh air. Even if I have been here for a little while, I am still so amazed by how unpopulated it can be. You would expect towns and people in between two big cities like Melbourne and Adelaide but we had to drive 100 km to find restrooms!

Our very short stay in Melbourne revived our desire to stay here longer. It is so inspiring! We told you about permaculture, bicycle repair co-ops and we just seem to discover a new amazing thing every day! Even in this busy time we found time to get involved a bit: we found out about “Lentil as Anything”, a non-for-profit organization, which operates restaurants where you pay what you have or what you think the food and service are worth. It doesn’t sound real, does it? The majority of their food is organic and you have access to a range of delicious iced-coffees, chai, fair-trade teas and so on. Lentil as Anything addresses social isolation experienced by new migrants and socially isolated people. They provide support and training for refugees, youth and other members of the community who are struggling to find an opportunity in their new social environment. They even have a school canteen run that way! How AMAZING is that? The food is spectacular. Everyone there is beautiful, the service is impeccable and there is always live music or multi-cultural display of some sort! You can eat with people or you can have an intimate table on the terrace. It was the first time I was going somewhere like that where you could choose to be communal or to have privacy in a normal restaurant setting. Bravo!!!!

Federation Square is the centre of Melbourne. Tourists and locals alike hang out there, visit the free mediatheque unit, free galleries and exhibitions and profit from the free public wireless internet. After beating the Guinness World Record for the most people dressed up as super heroes in one place, we were quite hungry. Normally street food stands are not allowed, so we were curious to see what was going on with the beautifully trendy kiosk showcasing wooden boxes full of fine herbs. The staff wore shirts saying StrEAT and the menu, mainly organic, was more than appealing. It turned out that StrEAT is a fantastic initiative to reduce homelessness. Being not-for-profits, all the money goes directly to shelters and other great services, and it is an opportunity for homeless youth to get a training, which could give them a proper job and a brighter future. After we bought our delicious conscious food, the girl there gave us one of these cards “buy ten and get one free” that we get from many food places. But this time there was a clever twist to it: “buy ten meals and the eleventh goes to a homeless youth”. Really, wow!

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