Kite Festival
Edwardes Lake Park in Reservoir is the site of the annual Darebin Community and Kite Festival on March 26. With the help of a stiff breeze, the sky above the park will be filled with scores of kites depicting animals, dragons, birds and geometric shapes. The festival, expected to draw 15,000 people, will also feature music and lots of multicultural fun. Indigenous music will be showcased this year. The Feel Good & Fly area will feature workshops by Westside Circus, while the Preston Reservoir Bowls Club will open its greens for barefoot bowls. Multicultural Arts Victoria is supervising global kite-making.
Edwardes Lake Park, cnr Edwardes and Griffiths streets, Sunday, March 26, 11am-6pm
Duck out and spend some time at Edwardes Lake.
Edwardes Lake
The Edwardes family settled in the area in the 1840s. In 1914, the family gave a large tract of land on the banks of Edgars Creek to the then City of Preston. Ornamental trees such as Bhutan cypress and desert ash were then planted around the perimeter of the new reserve and the creek was dammed to form an ornamental lake. Edwardes Lake Park became the local swimming, fishing and rowing spot until, by the mid-20th century, it had become too polluted. Today the park is home to lots of wildlife, including three species of heron. A popular weekend picnic spot, the park fills with the aroma of lamb and spicy sausages barbecuing over charcoal. An old steam locomotive at the Edwardes Street entrance remains popular with children.
Tasty plate at Paradise Sri Lankan Grocery.
Eat Street
Broadway is one of Melbourne's great little shopping strips, where a melting pot of cultures offers good food at good prices. Pick up a shanklish (fresh cheese) pie for $5 at Akkar Pastry (274 Broadway) or a cheese and spinach triangle for $3. A few doors down at Broadway Quality Meats you'll find fresh, handmade merguez (spiced lamb) sausages for just $10 a kilogram, or trimmed racks of lamb for $18 a kilogram. At Paradise Sri Lankan Grocery (222 Broadway) a serve of village rice sells for about $8, including a choice of fish or chicken curry, three vegetable curries plus condiments served on a banana leaf. Simple and tasty.
Brewery
Hawkers Beer is Reservoir's own brew. A cellar door allows visitors to try and buy the brewery's delicious craft beers, plus book in for a behind-the-scenes tour.
167 Henty Street, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, 9462 0650
65 degree eggs at the Window Corner Cafe. Photo: Richard Cornish
Cafe
They say that Reservoir is the new Brunswick, and judging by the number of cafes springing up in the suburb there may be truth to the hype. Former MoVida Next Door chef Sunny Gilbert has opened Windows Corner Cafe offering simple food such as jaffles, smashed avocado on sourdough and a 65-degree poached egg with fried toast. The setting is a Howard Arkley cream brick veneer streetscape with towering elms and an atmosphere like a quiet country town.
3 Mendip Road, Open Mon-Fri 7am-3.30pm, Sat-Sun 8am-3.30pm, 9471 4619
The Darebin Creek trail.
Darebin Creek Trail
Just north of the city, where houses give way to paddocks, the Darebin Creek Trail starts its 25-kilometre course south to the Yarra. The trail passes through remnant river gum forest where powerful owls still patrol the night skies. It passes vacant blocks where cows and goats graze among the car bodies. In Reservoir, Italian and Greek gardens spill over their fences, presenting a bounty of figs, grapes, prickly pear, gourds and brambles. South of Reservoir, the trail passes through parkland and a rugged bluestone gorge. The trail can be accessed by train at Epping Station in the north and Darebin Station in the south.
Next Week: Harcourt
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