I always said that the day my Lebanese nut shop closed was the day I’d leave Marrickville.
Well it seems my prophecy has almost come to pass. My beloved Hashem’s grocer near Dulwich Hill Station (owned by Abdul and Rhonda and their family) may not have closed permanently, but it has moved up the street… and this week their old building was flattened to make way for shiny new apartments. It’s official. The gentrification of Marrickville is almost complete.
I made the ‘ville my home 11 years ago as a 20-year-old student and I’ve certainly seen it change in that time – to both my delight and my sorrow. In the summer of 2007 I moved into a tiny doll’s house of an attic bedroom in an old terrace on the corner of Illawarra and Sydenham Roads, and at night I’d look over the rooftops to the shining-blue beacon of hope that is the neon cross of St Brigid’s. There were literally two cafes on Marrickville Road – the old post cafe and Kelby’s – and that year Marrickville was the suburb with highest proportion of people listing ‘artist’ as their vocation on the census. We lived in Marrickville because it was cheap, but we hung out in Newtown in the golden days before the Lock-out Laws destroyed King Street.
I’ll admit that I welcomed the early signs of gentrification. I bought my unit when the prices were still low and made good use of all the new cafes, small bars and venues that popped up. I’m still glad of them. For a while it felt like the perfect balance – rent was still cheap so all my favourite family-owned restaurants and multicultural grocers were still open – but when Marrickville started getting named as Sydney’s most hipster suburb, I knew it was time to go…
This week – as I was swimming in a sea of packing chaos – the ABC published an opinion piece revealing that the truth about living in Sydney is that everyone has an escape plan. The obscene cost of living and the speed of population growth (combined with utter lack of forward-planning for thoughtful housing and transport solutions in the face of increased density), has turned Sydney into a city just isn’t that liveable. Sure, we may have some of the world’s best beaches, national parks and a stunning harbour on our doorstep, but if you lose the plot while sitting in traffic on your way to said leisure location, it kinda defeats the purpose.
As sad as we are to be leaving Marrickville, for Carl and me, the cons just simply outweigh the pros. Here’s the escape plan: Quit our jobs, sell our place, buy a van and spend the next year seeing if we can figure out how to create a simpler life…
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Do you have a Sydney escape plan? I called in to Triple J’s hack to share mine this week. You can listen to the discussion here via iTunes (the topic of Sydney escape plans starts around the 11 minute mark). Leave me a comment telling me yours.
Completed our escape to Tasmania 8+ Years ago & have never had a serious regret since… Love the blog!
What about when you think of Abdul’s delicious delicious date paste? And garlic paste? Do you have semi-serious regrets then?!?
Yes, to be completely honest, I do. So much yumminess to be found in that little shop!!
Let’s just say we paid him a visit before we drove away (for your benefit…)
We remember that quite well…you started with faith and the arts and we had those filming&acting workshop. Hmmmm…great. Still feel connected with you.
Hello beautiful German humans! I remember our time together in Tassie with great fondness too. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment! x
We are currently living stage one of our escape plan as we’ve moved to Albury – nine years in Marrickville (and like you, fortunate to have bought our house when prices were low – eek). Marrickville has changed so much in that time. I recently visited the Ville and the dumped rubbish, development and aggro traffic really got to me. While Albury is not our dream home (we’re here for family, and I just have to convince them all to move to Bellingen!), the slower pace, clean air and quiet nights are pretty special. Best of luck with your change!
Thanks for commenting Kimbo. Would you believe it, we are staying in Albury tonight on our way down South!?! Any recommendations for dinner locations? We agree that Bellingen is a good choice of location (though not so cheap). My husband Carl has taught jewellery design at Camp Creative up there a couple of times.
Oh no, I saw this just now!! How funny! It’s such a nice evening here tonight too. I hope you found something good – can you let me know if you do? I was going to recommend some good places for breakfast and coffee but I’m afraid not much will be open. Definitely head to Noreiul Park though to check out the river, it’s a beautiful spot.
Oh I just checked one place to see if it will be open tomorrow and it is! It’s a cafe called The Proprietor.
Morning Kimbo. We totally went there this morning for breakfast!! Hipsterdom has reached Albury and I’m ok with it! Ha!
How long have you been living in this lovely town? I was surprised at how warm it was last night. We actually went for a swim!
P.S. We just hit the road and missed our chance to see the Murray – should have thought of that earlier. x
I’m so happy you found The Proprietor! We’ve only been here in Albury three months but I do know it pretty well as I grew up most of my life here until I left for the ‘big smoke’ of Canberra (ha ha) for uni, before ending up in Marrickville via Clovelly and Bondi Junction. We are really enjoying the quieter, slower pace for now, and spending time with family – I’m fortunate to have three of my grandparents still alive (all pushing 90!) and I wanted to make the most of whatever time we have left. Not long after moving to Albury we did a big three week trip to Tassie – luckily we had smooth crossings each way!
Looking forward to following your blog and being inspired!
Hi Kimbo, would you believe it -I grew up in Canberra?! Which uni were you at? I studied comms at UC before moving to Sydney (straight to M’ville for me, although I did do two years in Leichhardt in the middle). How lovely to still have three grandparents! Mine are all gone but Carl still has two and I’ve found those relationships really precious – especially with his Pa who makes me feel like I’m the most delightful young lady in the world (Quote Pa when Carl was taking his time to propose: “What are you doing, mate?!? You can’t do better than this girl and you could do a lot worse.”). Family is so important as you get older, hey? Mine have all migrated down here to the Little Island, which was part of the pull for us. Let me know if you ever come down this way again! We had a smooth crossing over the tasman which I was grateful for because last time we had the biggest seas for three months and I was violently ill! P.S. Did you see my shout out to you on my most recent blog?
Moving to Mollymook in 2 years 😎
Hi Kim! Good plan! Milton/ Mollymook was our original choice of move location but it’s gotten a bit too expensive for us now. Carl tells me the family moved to Milton after hanging with you lot in Morree!
Looking forward to following your year long adventure here!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Lauren 🙂
Waaahhhoooo!!! Delighted to see this adventure unfold for you two quality people. Sending our love & prayers with you always – see you on one of the map-dots somewhere ❤️
Thanks Lysh! We love you.
xxx
How exciting to be living the dream. Looking forward to following your adventurrs. God bless you and all who cross your path. xx (always welcome at Doctor’s Flat)
Thanks Mama Ruth. Appreciate the haven from the storm you offered me last year! xxxxxxxx
Had a thought the other day- I honestly wonder whether town planners in the sydn y local governments are even doing their jobs? Especially in inner west locations. I just can’t believe that the people in apartments going up in Hurlstone Park are going how to be able to even drive and park and get to work.
Can’t believe the journey has actually started now! Feels like so long you’ve been dreaming it.
We are so close behind you to leave and come to the simpler more balanced life that I can taste your sauerkrauty fishy tail smoke
😘 xoxox
Haha. That doesn’t sound too appetising does it!?! Do you know where I hear is a good place to do that? Taaasmania.
Yeah the construction is full on at the moment, hey!? I mean to be fair, Sydney’s population is growing by more than 2000 people per week and we can’t keep doing urban sprawl indefinitely unless we want it to become even less liveable, so apartment living is a necessary part of living in a big city. I don’t know if I ever told you I did a short contract at Urban Growth a few years back? Good town planning isn’t about avoiding high rise – it’s more about how to do density well so that it’s actually liveable (with thoughtful planning into green and public spaces, public transport, childcare/ schools and health care as you say).
Hi Tabitha,
Great decision so very best of luck on your wanderings. You WILL find your own place eventually – somewhere that just RESONATES with you both! (I knew your mum Pam when we lived in Nairobi, Kenya and we have kept in touch since).
My previous partner and I moved from Melb to North East Victoria in the mid 80s (after Kenya) as we did not wish to stay longer in Melbourne (Kenya was a catalyst) so lived on acres out of Wangaratta for seven years. (Lucky that he was able to get a job up there first). I quit my job and career but no regrets whatsoever as the lifestyle was lovely, I had a baby there, and I still revisit annually and am still very close to friends made there. Cost of housing still much cheaper to this day! I did move to Sydney due to previous partner’s job transfer, but stayed on as I now have a new partner to share my life with here. However I have managed to acquire my own home (1960s brick veneer) at Dundas backing onto a lovely bush reserve with abundant birdlife so feel like I still live a country-style life (with growing garden and vege patches etc).
Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment, Barbara. I will let Mum know! Sounds like you’ve managed to carve out a bit of bush oasis in the midst of the big city. Sydney can be lovely! We came through the Wangaratta region on our way down to Melbourne to get the boat to Tassie and stayed the night in Albury. It’s a gorgeous area. Will need to revisit when we’ve got time for a bit of a meander. I also need to make a plan to visit Kenya. Is it crazy that I’ve never been back!? Have you?