You should come to Melbourne

The most liveable city in the world and the place I love to call home.

Melbourne is full of adventure in every direction you might wander. You really should come join us.

COFFEE
Let's start with an essential element, coffee. Cafes are the places people go not just to fuel up on caffeine, but to talk and share ideas. Breakfast should always include eggs, and wherever you go will be near a tram or train. This list should get you started with some of my favourites and if you need more advice you should pick up a Deck of Secrets or book yourself a Geisha 2.0 tour.

Monk Bodhi Dharma at 202 Carlisle Street, Balaclava.
You will find Monk in the most unlikely of places, along the path past the supermarket dumpsters off Carlisle St. What awaits inside the timber hut is plenty of incredible vegetarian fare paired with a great set of coffees. The french toast and the bircher are always winners.

Earl Canteen at 500 Bourke St, Melbourne.
Look past the 'secret' pork belly that every review must mention because the whole menu at Earl is awesome. If you are there for breakfast take a look at the crumpets graced with Rooftop Honey. The best service in the area and luckily it doesn't stop until 5pm - for the times you need that last coffee before leaving the office in the evening.

Kinfolk Cafe at 673 Bourke St, Melbourne.
The whole Donkey Wheel House building is home to a set of social ventures but you would never know it until you settle your bill at Kinfolk. While the profits from everything are distributed amongst the projects described on the wall this doesn't affect the quality of the food and experience. The menu changes daily based on the chef's imagination and the seasons.

Miss Jackson at 2/19 Grey Street, St Kilda.
With a welcoming fireplace in winter and welcoming smiles from Steve and Matt all year round, Miss Jackson always serve up a good time. Great food and great coffee. The entrance is tucked away on Jackson St, keeping the tourists on the main road - don't miss it.

Slow Down at 56 Acland Street, St Kilda.
For the weekend brunch when you need that eggs benedict with prosciutto but can afford a few great coffees before it arrives. With a relaxed ambience and live music on occasion, they are on the sustainable track with almost everything sourced within 200km of Melbourne.

Min Lokal at 422 George Street, Fitzroy.
When you see a couple of communal tables and a blackboard full of delightful things to feast on, you know that whether your eggs are poached or baked that they will be extraordinary. Over a couple of months living in Fitzroy in 2010 this establishment soon became My Local.

Deadman Espresso at 35 Market Street, South Melbourne.
On quite a few weekends I have found myself walking along the beach to South Melbourne before heading north for an afternoon visit. It is a somewhat strange patch of town between city and inner-suburb, and nice to find such awesome food and awesome coffee. What more is there?

Chez Dre at 285-287 Coventry Street South Melbourne.
I am always torn between the extravagant breakfast platter and the much simpler eggs with salmon and avocado fetta mash. Then I wonder what time it is appropriate to dig into the brilliant collection of cakes this kitchen produces. Yes, a cake for the road please.

Captains of Industry at 2 Somerset Pl, Melbourne.
The contentious name may be taking things a little far, but as they do say you can also visit for tailored suits, handmade shoes and traditional haircuts. They make some of the finest sandwiches around (I recommend the Reuben) and are well placed with a ginger beer on a summery day.

Bar Americano at 20 Presgrave Place, Melbourne.
Just in case you are starting to feel comfortable walking yourself down the laneways to find your hidden gems, I am going throw this one at you - found at the end of a double laneway! While you will be served a fine coffee during the day you really want to come here from around 4pm and ask the barmen for a cocktail. Always an intimate experience, and in a location that will prompt you to always adventure around every other corner.

PEOPLE
The next element is of course the people. The Internet is connecting us beyond geography and we are naturally drawing to the most interesting cities to meet in physical life. For this reason it makes sense that so many awesome people are coming to Melbourne from all over the world.

You can find awesome people everywhere, but here are a few places to start:

Hub Melbourne at Level 3, 673 Bourke St, Melbourne.
While cafes are fantastic places to work sometimes, if you are looking for a more fulltime space you should explore coworking. Hub Melbourne is part of a global network of coworking spaces where people come together to work collaboratively and share ideas at events. With a fascinating diversity of people coming and going Hub is a great place to cultivate your liquid networks.

Inspire9 at Level 1, 41 Stewart St, Richmond.
When Nathan Sampimon was running his web development agency he had a few spare desks, so he invited anyone in Melbourne to come and join him to share the office space. The idea took off and now Inspire9 has completely transformed into a great coworking space for entrepreneurs and technologists in Richmond. Drop in sometime and meet the community.

Awesome Foundation Melbourne
From installing rooftop honey to driving around in a mini cooper covered in macarons, if you have an awesome idea waiting to be unleashed and $1000 cash can make it happen - you should apply to the Awesome Foundation. Grants are awarded each month by the board of 10 micro-trustees and there are no strings attached. I am on the board and instigated the Melbourne chapter.

Melbourne Jelly.
”Jelly brings the good parts of working at the office to working from home (or working solo.) All the community, the brainstorming, the camaraderie, none of the office politics!” says Amit Gupta. What began in an apartment in New York is now a global movement where people work together for a day. Melbourne Jelly runs every second Friday at a range of venues.

Trampoline Day
The essence of this event is to share what you find amazing. Following the unconference format the day begins with a blank grid on the wall and is then filled with sessions by the people present in the space. Talks have included Peter Spence's Mind Body Play, Xavier Shay's Physical Language and Steve Hopkins' Wisdom 2.0. Sometimes people come to the event with a talk in mind, and others will spontaneously decide to share something when they arrive. Lots of passion flows.

EXPANSIVENESS
It has been said that Australia is the superpower of space, as the sixth largest country with 7.6m square kilometers of land and a sparse population of 23 million people. There are some really expansive locations and that is an element of mindfulness, so it is no coincidence that we ran Mindful here in Melbourne. Start with the city, then get a car and go for a road trip beyond:

St Kilda beach at Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda.
You can catch the 96 tram from the city all the way out to the end of Acland St in about 20 minutes. From here head to Point Ormond and walk up the hill for an awesome view of the bay and the city. Next head along the water towards St Kilda again then along the beach and up to St Kilda Pier.

There is a significant Penguin and Rakali colony past the restaurant that puts on a good show after sunset. If there is a good wind you will see the kiteboarders on the next section at St Kilda West Beach. If you enjoy a lot of walking, you might walk the long distance round trip all the way up to Port Melbourne beach where you can catch the 109 tram back into the city.

The Great Ocean Road begins in Torquay.
Past my hometown of Geelong, your first stop is Cafe Moby in Torquay - an awesome converted house on the main road but away from the busyness of the tourist town. Take the turnoff past Jan Juc along Bells Beach and go for a walk along some of the quiet coastline there. Then continue your journey down to Lorne for an incredible burger at the bottle of milk, a walk along the beach out to the pier and then back to the town for a bite from pizza pizza in the evening.

If you decide to follow the road down to Apollo Bay then make sure you drive up Marriners Lookout Road and walk across the fields to where this photo was taken where you can see across the town, ocean and the coastline stretching away.

Mount Hotham.
The mountain is about 5 hours from Melbourne and is great all year round. In winter you will want to find some skis or a snowboard to tackle the runs. In summer though there are some great hiking trails, incredible views (particularly from Danny's lookout) and some expansive views of the universe - the stars are incredible on a clear night.

If you are looking to make a weekend of it then stop over for a night at Payne's Hut where Tess and Grae will really look after you, in the lovely valley hut with amazing food that is well beyond the reach of the mobile phone towers.

Subscribe to The Fetch for events, find a flight on Adioso and a place to sleep on AirBnb.

Things happen all year round in Melbourne. The best time to come is now.

This note was originally written on a summery day at the beach during November 2011.