The Way to a Woman's Heart

TRAVEL TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2008 7 The way to awoman’s heart ... Monique Balvert- O’Connor fits some CHECKLIST cycling into her busy MELBOURNE ■ Bike tour tips: Schedule this dining schedule biking event as amust-do for early on during your Melbourne visit as tour guide Murray will arm you with SMYteeth sink into spin- information for your stay. He ach and feta encased in provides not only quirky inside Agolden folds of filo pastry, I information about this exciting city, start to question exactly what sort but also handy tips on great places of tour this is. to eat, drink and visit. I’m straddling abike with the The tours run daily between spanikopita in hand and mouth, 10am and 2pm. They leave from participating in what is supposed Vault 14 next to the river cruise to be abike tour of inner-city ticket offices at Federation Wharf Melbourne, yet is becoming more that’s riverside below Federation and more of agastronomic Square. The current cost is A$89 journey. Melissa’s Greek Cafe´ina ($108.75) for adults and A$69 for bustling inner-city street is but children and this covers the tour, one of many feast-your-senses coffee, juice and pastries en route stops. and lunch at Queen Victoria Market. Which is exactly what Murray Contact Murray on Johnson has set out to achieve. [email protected], check This Melbourne journalist, pho- out the website tographer and Real Melbourne www.rentabike.net.au or phone Bike Tours owner has planned his +61 417 339203 (from overseas) tour as ascratch-and-sniff, or 0417 339203 (from Australia). sensually interactive experience. The tour is four hours. The distance As my husband and Ihave cycled is between 10 and 12km gleefully discovered, the sense of and the terrain is flat. taste is well catered for in this tour, which includes the cost of ■ Wining and dining: Try Jim’s food sampled along the way. Given Greek Tavern in Johnston St where that we love both food and cycling, there is no menu. Tuck into awhole we’re in heaven. range of Greek food for A$38 a We’ve already pedalled in head. Murray’s slipstream to asustain- Or The Toff in Town, aclassy pub ing juice bar and to Cafe´Brunetti upstairs in Swanston St. One bar for excellent coffee and ataste of comprises atrain of private booths food from yet another of the from which, yes, you can close the cultures prevalent in this wonder- door and order via bell service. fully cosmopolitan city. At last Others worth alook are Young count there were about 100 differ- and Jacksons’ upstairs salon, MOO ent nationalities living in Mel- Bar, DeGraves Espresso Bar in bourne, Murray tells us as we DeGraves St and Madame Brussels devour tiny Italian pastries, with on Bourke St. 18 distinct cultural precincts. We cycle through some of them, such as Lygon St (aka Little Italy), on our four-hour tour that is EASY DOES IT: just 10 seats, and ashop that only certainly not geared exclusively at Cyclists cover mostly sells cupcakes. biking enthusiasts. We cycle on flat terrain —and As we traverse the nooks and flat terrain, covering only about 10 only 10-12km of it in crannies, keenly digesting to 12km, so there’s plenty of time aday —sothere’s Murray’s commentary along the to stop for lunch at Queen Victoria plenty of time for way, there’s asense of getting to Market, where some serious refreshment stops. know this city from the inside out. salivating kicks in. Of course Murray’s dialogue Within minutes I’m mentally extends beyond the culinary, and kicking myself for booking accom- we learn awhole host of facts modation sans kitchen, as the about Melbourne city. produce displayed at this awe- On this sensory tour he has us inspiring market makes me ache sniff and feel the hand cream in to gather up irresistible supplies Aesops, arenowned natural cos- and get cooking. At the seafood metics company. The same neigh- stall, Murray shows us his favour- bourhood is home to the quirky Dr ite marinara mix. He also points Follicles —amen’s salon where a out specialty cheese, handmade free Aussie beer’s on offer with pasta and boutique beer stalls, as every haircut, and aBooks for well as Melbourne’s best bakeries. Cooks store that boasts about We marvel over pickled octopus 15,000 culinary tomes. and find smoked kangaroo at a From Murray we learn that West African meat stall, of all Aussie Rules was invented to keep places. We sample smoked trout Melbourne’s cricket players fit dip, share aspicy Turkish lamb over winter and that the red strip borek and aroll with bratwurst, [REAL MELBOURNE BIKE information about various cheap St, which he declares his favourite on the Eureka Tower represents sauerkraut and mustard washed TOURS OWNER MURRAY and cheerful places to eat and street in Melbourne, if not the the blood shed in aminers’ revolt. down with Marlborough JOHNSON] HAS PLANNED dining delights with adifference. whole world. Here too can be Murray planned his bike tour as sauvignon blanc courtesy of a HIS TOUR AS ASCRATCH- There’s aSpanish cafe´inside a found Tea 2, which sells hundreds an inside view of why wine-tasting enterprise. In sum- AND-SNIFF, SENSUALLY Scottish pub, for example, and a of different teas. Melburnians love Melbourne. mer bikers are treated to an INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE. Greek Tavern without amenu. In the heart of the city, we wend There’s much to love —except our antipasto picnic of market food. He points out Afghani and our way through narrow cobbled bathroom scales when we return There’s nothing like apedal to Russian eating establishments lanes lined with tiny coffee shops home from this city full of divine work off our lunch and, along the and a$4pizza joint amidst the and eateries, including Mel- treats, eateries and even agour- way, Murray feeds us morsels of bohemian wonders of Brunswick bourne’s smallest restaurant, with met bike tour..

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