Geek sleek chique tour of places to hide in Brunswick from People's Tour on Vimeo.

Brunswick is a suburb in the north of Melbourne that mostly tries to resist its recent moniker, “the New Brunswick.” It’s about 6 km from the City, with Parkville, Carlton and North Fitzroy to its south. Brunswick has a mix of restaurants, pubs, shops, and cafes where its newer residents – students, artists, and young professional singles or families – mix with its older, predominantly immigrant residents.

Brunswick local before-it-got-trendy and People’s tour guide Francesca Sculli shows us places to find peace or to hide, or do both, in Brunswick.

Before you picture quiet, shaded parks, darkened church pews or as far away from Sydney Road as you can get, Francesca’s tour stops are not the usual suspects (despite her thoughts to the contrary). She narrows down exactly the type of “quiet” you may be seeking, introducing us to unique Brunswick hideouts that are “geek,” “chique” and “sleek”.

Listen now or download for later

This tour goes for 5 minutes and 30 seconds, and has five tour stops.
Download audio file (francesca-tour-FINAL.mp3)
Download the geek-chique-sleek tour (5 megabytes)

Tour guide

Francesca is a self confessed surrealist. She has worked in various occupations, most notably as a cake smasher in performance duo ‘slit’. She likes music, dabbles in art and the artistry of circus, and lives in a suburb that is considered cool but wasn’t when she moved there.

Francesca has dabbled in cake decorating and marriage. She has contemplated life as a Buddhist nun but gets around town with motley bunch ‘Quiche Lorraine’, which distracts her from this path quite a lot.

Francesca’s current phase is to ask people face to face if they will be her Facebook friend. She has been informed that this defeats the purpose of Facebook.

Tour map

Geek sleek chique map

Music

Music by b(if)tek, “Read to me” from Frequencies will move together (2003).

Music is used under Australian Fair Use law and/or with permission of the copyright owners.

Tour stops and links

Brunswick Library
Francesca’s local public library on Dawson Street.

Brunswick City Baths
Francesca’s local gym and swimming pool conveniently opposite Brunswick Library.

The Republic of Moreland
The blog that first brought attention to (and rejection of) the term, “the New Brunswick.”

Coburg is a suburb in Melbourne’s north, about 8 km from the city.

Tour guide Felicity Grey made this tour for people who live in Coburg and for people who live the “cooler” suburb just south of it – Brunswick – who are yet to venture north of Bell Street. Are they scared?

People know Coburg for two things – the Sydney Road shopping strip and Pentridge Prison. Because this is a People’s Tour (i.e. a tour that guide us through less or not-at-all famous places), Felicity’s tour features neither! Instead, she shares some favourite spots that she has discovered and come to love since “accidentally” moving to Coburg four years ago.

Listen now or download for later

This tour goes for 9 minutes and 10 seconds, with four tour stops.
Download audio file (felicity-tour-complete-FINAL.mp3)
Felicity’s tour of Coburg (8.4 megabytes)

Tour guide

Felicity moved to Coburg by accident. With a bunch of friends, she was in the process of setting up a huge sharehouse in Eltham/Warrandyte but somehow ended up in Coburg instead  – the huge, permaculture back yard satisfied her naturelust.

Coburg has since wiggled its way deep into her heart, with its big backyards and cheap rents, cheap good coffee, great public transport and bike paths, the Merri Creek and a host of delightful surprises.

Now she calls Coburg home, along with her partner, dog and chook. They like it here.

Tour map

View Larger Map

Music

Music by Harmanick, “Velvet Bannister (Ana Remix)” under a Creative Commons license.

Tour stops and links

Coburg Leisure Centre
Felicity’s local gym off Russell Street, Coburg.

Sydney Road
Wikipedia entry on the longest shopping strip in the Southern Hemiphere, and half of which runs up the middle of Coburg.

Pentridge Prison
Wikipedia entry on Pentridge Prison, the most unique housing redevelopment in Melbourne.

Moreland Sculpture Show
An annual outdoor sculpture exhibition of permanent and temporary works.

[tab:END]