My Melbourne commute to work

One of the great benefits of my new job at the Starlight Children’s Foundation is the location of the Melbourne office: right on the Yarra River where Church Street becomes Chapel Street, in a commercial hub of the city known as Cremorne in Richmond.

At the moment I’m working two days a week in the office, and the remaining three from home in Ballarat. Whilst some might bemoan a long 120km+ commute, for me it’s been very enjoyable.

I get up early, pack the panniers on Serena and ride to Ballarat Train Station, barely a kilometre from my house. From there, I take the train to Spencer Street Station (as Southern Cross Station is known to those of us who grew up in Melbourne pre-2005) and ride along the Capital City and Yarra River Trails from the Docklands, past Jeff’s Shed (the Melbourne Exhibition Centre), the Crown Casino and Southbank, then along the south bank of the Yarra to Church Street.

It’s a very nice, easy going 6.5 kilometre (approx. 4 miles) journey. There are a fair amount of pedestrians, and some of my fellow cyclists ride incredibly dangerously and far too fast for the crowds, but apart from that the scenery is wonderful and despite not being the world’s cleanest river, this is a nice section of the city.