My suburb is an urban oasis, never mind the bikies. We even resolved the rotting cabbage smell

My wife and I found our suburb by accident. It was our shortcut to the Eastern Freeway from Brunswick.

One day, in 2009, we took a minor detour to a garage sale and stumbled across an oasis of tree-lined streets only a few metres from the traffic jam of Grange Road. The surprising peace and the greenery were enough to make us say, “We should live here”. We have lived in Alphington, a suburb that many people drive through but don’t even know exists, ever since.

When I tell people where I live, I typically get a confused look. We only have a few landmarks, but they’re usually enough for people to work it out. Most know the Dan Murphy’s on Heidelberg Road. It’s not any old Dan Murphy’s, but the flagship store with the head office attached.

Just 500 metres further along Heidelberg Road is the Hells Angels clubhouse, which for decades has been proudly positioned in what was a suburban home, with their logo splashed across a fortified gate. They’ve been quiet lately, but used to have an annual Christmas party with a jumping castle in the front yard. Alphington also has the Chandler Highway, which at 1.8 kilometres is often said to be the shortest highway in the world.

Get away from the busy roads and you will find tranquil pockets of bush that make you forget you’re only about seven kilometres from the CBD. The southern border of Alphington is the Yarra River, with a dirt trail along the bank, and wetlands. If you fancy risking a dip, there are even the remnants of a historic swimming pool along a bend in the Yarra.

The bird calls, especially from rainbow lorikeets, currawongs and kookaburras, can even drown out the traffic noise. Occasionally, kangaroos and deer find their way here, too. A particularly adventurous deer stormed through one of our neighbours’ houses a few years ago, demolishing the screen door on its way out.

The eastern border of Alphington is Darebin Creek and the Darebin Parklands, another pocket of bushland with duck ponds, turtles, sculptures, lawns galore for picnics, and an expansive off-leash dog area. But beware, both areas contain a healthy population of danger noodles (tiger snakes).

Alphington hasn’t always been idyllic. When we moved here, we called it the stinky suburb. The main source was the Alphington Paper Mill. Depending on the wind direction, residents would be overwhelmed by a smell that resembled rotting cabbage. We were told that it wasn’t from the massive chimneys that dominated the Alphington skyline, but from the piles of decomposing paper scattered around the site. The air quality wasn’t helped by the Chandler