Apartment Hunting from South Melbourne

If my first days in Melbourne were defined by the Australian Open and a home base in the CBD, my next days were defined by apartment hunting and a home base in South Melbourne.
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I stayed with a Servas host named Gail, a native Melburnian and consumer safety consultant. She had recently moved from a distant suburb to South Melbourne to be closer to the thriving city center. It was generous of her to host me despite the recent move. She had a cat named Katie, a beautiful long-haired calico. Katie was shy – in part because she was adjusting to the new house – but still would hop up on Gail’s lap, joining us for dinner or a watch party.

​The first evening, Gail made a salmon salad, and we had a nice introductory conversation. Gail was well-travelled, having done many vacations and work trips around the world, and had great stories. She had even traveled in the American South and had an excellent playlist of blues, soul, and Americana music. Her music recommendations were one of the highlights of the stay. She introduced me to a Tongan-Australian duo, Vika and Linda, whose song “Hard Love” was an instant favorite. With dinner, we also had some delicious ginger wine, plus figs & ice cream for dessert.

The next morning, I embarked on another exploratory walking tour to get the lay of the land. On the way out of South Melbourne, I picked up a delicious bahn mi and Vietnamese coffee and ate at the nearby Albert Park. The park had a lovely lake with tons of waterfowl, an athletic complex, and lots of dirt running paths. Large black swans had numbered collars around their long and flexible necks, like racing bibs. Albert Park is also the location of the Melbourne Grand Prix, an annual Formula One race. Even in January, they were already setting up the grandstands for March.

​Between Albert Park and Chapel Street were a mix of busy commuter streets and quiet leafy residential blocks. Chapel Street was the real draw, a trendy shopping and dining street that extends from Windsor into Prahran. I walked its length, getting a sense of its character – a mix of tasty international cuisines, cheerful stores with potted houseplants, barbershops, and thrift shops, but with some vacancies too.

I stopped by the tiny Prahran Square library but didn’t linger – some shabby men were making a commotion in the park outside and a kids’ audiobook was loudly playing inside. The South Yarra / Toorak library was a much nicer place to stay. It was a short walk away, but in the elite suburb of Toorak. It’s considered the second highest earning postcode in all of the Australia! From a quiet corner, I dug into the housing search.

Approaching the search was a bit daunting, as it’s a large city with so many different suburbs. I initially focused on the ones I had visited, like Richmond and East Melbourne, or the ones that looked like they had access to the Yarra River trails, like South Yarra and Abbotsford. After not having much luck in these areas, I widened the search to include coastal suburbs like St. Kilda and Middle Park. But a few days into the fruitless search, I nixed the constraint of proximity to running trails, and that opened things up.

The three apartment websites I focused on were Facebook Marketplace, Flatmates, and RealEstate.com.au. Facebook Marketplace had more dubious options but overall lower prices. This turned out to be a double-edged sword. While the prices were more appealing, the people I contacted were all overwhelmed with inquiries from other people with the same idea. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the listings on RealEstate were generally targeted for longer-term leases. A post on RealEstate that didn’t specify the lease duration quickly shot me down when I reached out inquiring about a 5 month stay. Flatmates was more promising. There were some lease takeovers that were a shorter duration, a range of quality/price to spread out the competition, and a sense that real people were creating the posts – they often gave background on the various housemates’ personalities in a funny and friendly way.

Unfortunately, even with shifting my price range higher and focusing on Flatmates, housing was still competitive. Out of ~20 people I contacted, only 2 agreed to show me the place. The first one I saw, in South Yarra, was given away 5 minutes before I arrived. It was frustrating, but the room was pretty shabby so I got over it quickly. The second opportunity was in Richmond, but the poster didn’t seem very friendly and had a 100% response rate, so I figured I wasn’t going to be the only one inspecting it. I added the appointment to my calendar but mentally flagged it as very unlikely.
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I rode the tram from Toorak back to South Melbourne, picked up some groceries, and caught up with Gail. It was a nice summer day and we had some Aperol spritzes. I started on dinner, making my signature red curry chicken as a token of appreciation to my host. After, we watched an interesting TV program called Australian Story that focused each episode on an extraordinary Aussie. The first was about a motivational speaker dealing with his own family demons, and the second was a young violin duo that took a non-traditional path to fame through making parody YouTube videos. Continuing the music theme, Gail brought out a steel-tongue drum she had recently acquired, with a mesmerizing sound quality that could accompany a meditation session.

The next day, I walked to the Botanical Gardens to meet Zeah, the guitar teacher who I met at Suzuki conventions in Italy and California. She was a close colleague of my teacher Frank Longay. Without realizing, I had reached out to her on the anniversary of Frank’s passing.

Zeah was probably the first Australian I can remember meeting – I would have been 10 years old at the time. She taught one of the group sessions at the Torino event, and I still remember her enthusiasm as a teacher. As a parting gift, she gave us little koalas that could clip onto our guitars, and I still have mine – over the years, a subliminal ad for Australia. I now wonder if meeting Zeah and hearing of a faraway place called “Melbin” from an early age had sparked my interest in the city.
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It was so great to see Zeah and catch up as we walked around the gardens. Her Suzuki studio is still active, though the pandemic and economy have impacted the student pipeline, and visa/funding challenges have put a damper on international teacher exchanges. She pointed out and named some of the birds and plants in the garden, a small thing that I really appreciated. We picked up lattes at the Terrace café, settled on a shady bench, and continued chatting about mutual friends, living in Melbourne, guitar repertoire, etc. We agreed that somewhere, Frank was smiling.

​From the gardens, I set out to explore more suburbs that kept appearing in my searches – Fitzroy and Collingwood. It was a hot day but I still managed to walk there. I passed the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and cut through the majestic, shady Fitzroy Gardens. My reward was another Vietnamese lunch.

I did a mini tour of the area, walking down Gertrude Street and Smith Street, considered one of the “coolest” streets in the world. It was indeed vibrant and full of interesting shops, a little more artsy and grungy than Chapel Street. To continue the housing search, I camped at the Fitzroy Library and made more fruitless inquiries.

I took the 96 tram from Fitzroy to South Melbourne. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the house, I learned that Gail had come down with COVID, likely from an outing with a friend before I arrived. Prior to this development, we had been discussing the possibility of extending my 3-night stay to a full week so I could cat-sit while Gail was out of town. That idea no longer made sense, as Gail had cancelled her weekend plans and we now had the inconvenience of masking and isolating in the house. I ate some leftover curry in the backyard, a return to outdoor dining, and booked an AirBNB for later in the week.

After so much walking, I decided to spend the day within South Melbourne. It was just a few blocks to the South Melbourne Market, with plenty of fruits, veggies, deli items, crafts, and a food court. Though smaller than the Queen Victoria Market, it still was fun to browse. I found the vendor that sold Gail the steel tongue drum and had a nice little chat.

In the afternoon, I continued the housing search at the South Melbourne library. I found a sunny window looking towards the Town Hall, the source of the hourly bell chimes I had been hearing for a few days.

I decided to pivot my strategy and focus on a few housing companies with larger portfolios of properties. I’d seen a few pop up on Flatmates, but when I checked out their websites, I was pleasantly surprised to see an emphasis on “mid term” renters like myself. LiveComfy and FlexiStayz were the main two options. LiveComfy was centered within the CBD, but I didn’t like the idea of being up high on the 24th or 30th floor and wasn’t as interested in the CBD in general. FlexiStayz was centered around Carlton and Brunswick, two northern suburbs. I started getting familiar with the specific properties available.
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The next morning, I took a barista course offered by a vocation school, RGIT. Since Melbourne is known for its coffee culture, it seemed like a great “local” experience. I mainly did it for fun, but it was also a practical foundation for potentially working as a barista during my working holiday.

The instructor Carlos was from Argentina and his accent was a little hard to understand, but he was good at repeating and emphasizing the key points. He started with some of the basics of espresso drinks and machines. The class of 7 was an interesting mix – a few younger people hoping for a barista job, a few coffee enthusiasts like me, and two Indian ladies adding coffee to their food truck menu.

Most of the course was hands-on! First, we optimized the coarseness of our espresso grinders to get the extraction time in the optimal range (25-35 seconds). Then we worked on using the steamer attachment to froth and heat the milk. It was quite finicky to get the nozzle at the right depth to create the “crema” (foam), adjusting the height, and waiting for the right quantity of foam to develop. Thankfully there was ample opportunity to practice – I probably made around 50 espresso drinks in the four-hour session! Of course, we could drink as much as we liked, but most were poured down the drain – a very unnatural feeling for a coffee lover.

We learned how to make all the classic drinks – plain espresso, cappuccino, latte, flat white, and even a piccolo (mini) latte. It was helpful for memorizing the subtle differences. For example, the cappuccino has “2 fingers” of foam height, the latte has just 1, and the flat white has 1/2.

​I shared a station with a Melburnian who wanted to better utilize his espresso machine at home. Our final task was working as a team to fulfill a batch order. It was really hard to create the right amount of foam and split it between pitchers when each drink required a different ratio of milk/foam. Carlos used a spoon to check the amount of foam, giving us simple but constructive feedback.

When the course was done, I had a fast-food lunch at Hungry Jack’s, the Australian version of Burger King. I ordered the Aussie Whopper, featuring slices of beetroot. A tasty and unexpected fusion food. Gail asked me to pick up a physical newspaper while I was out, and I stalked the CBD in search of one. It was difficult in the digital age, but I found one at Flinders Station. I traveled across town to inspect the South Yarra apartment (that was given away right before I arrived) and then walked back to South Melbourne.

After a thorough review of FlexiStayz’s properties, I narrowed it down to a few that either had a private bathroom or proximity to running paths. I gave them a call and successfully made an appointment to see my top choice in Carlton.
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For dinner, I checked out a local spot that Gail recommended called Clay Pots Evening Star. There was supposed to be live music (Gail had even called ahead to confirm) but for some reason it wasn’t on. I stayed and had a fish called a red mullet with a glass of Adelaide sauvignon blanc. I had never tried red mullet and picked it because the menu had a little anecdote about the largest red mullets being highly prized by Romans. It was the kind of seafood restaurant with a chalkboard menu and several prices next to each fish, indicating the larger and smaller pieces, that were crossed out with each new order. I was seated by the window with the perfect mix of fresh breeze from the outside and the tantalizing aromas from the open kitchen inside. The fish was a little oversalted, but the experience was memorable.

It was Thursday night and the eve of Australia Day, celebrated every year on January 26th. While the holiday inspires patriotism, it also inspires counter-protests under the label of Invasion Day. A little bit like Columbus Day vs. Indigenous People’s Day in the US. In any case, the winner of the “Australian of the Year” award was being presented on TV. Among many worthy nominees, it went to a pair of researchers who were pioneers in using immunotherapy for treating melanoma.

It was the last morning of my Servas stay, and I made a final round of avocado toast using the delicious seed bread from the South Melbourne market. Then, I hopped on the tram to Carlton to check out the potential apartment. It was close to Lygon Street, the heart of Melbourn’s Little Italy.

I was met by the FlexiStayz agent, Paola, who showed me the building. It had around a dozen rooms and a large, shared kitchen. The specific unit was on the second floor, tucked in the back corner, away from the street. The room was currently occupied, and extremely messy, but it gave me the impression I needed.

After the tour, I indicated my interest, and Paola prepared the lease agreement on the spot. We sat in the living room while the paperwork and payment were completed. The room wouldn’t be available until a few days later, but this was no issue, as I had an AirBNB already lined up for the next few nights.

The price was $450 AUD per week, which is slightly below the median rent in Melbourne ($515/week). This translates to about $1,180 USD per month, or about $40 USD per night. Thankfully, the apartment came fully furnished and all utilities were included in the rent.

Could there have been better places, or better deals out there? Probably, but not without prolonging the search. The ability to customize the lease duration was definitely a key factor in the decision. Plus, having a place lined up gave me a lot of peace of mind after an increasingly glum week of hunting.
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To celebrate, I swung by the South Melbourne Market and picked up two pastries from the popular patisserie I had been eyeing. One was a delicious square pastry filled with almond paste.

Back at the house, Gail was on the phone, sorting out the aftermath of a sophisticated phone scam, but when there was a good window, I said goodbye and thanked her for hosting me. We agreed to meet at Clay Pots on a different night when the live music was back.