Wayward Wanders

16/10/2023

I was out and about today with an amazing group of early childhood educators currently studying at the

Last year, their lecturer SiuYau booked her group on an Urban Eco and Sustainability Tour and this time around wanted us to take them on a Street Art and Culture Tour.

Today we talked about a variety of street artists, their styles and how they could incorporate what they learnt on the tour today into early childhood education.

We think our tours are a great way to compliment classroom learning. So if you have a school group, university group or any other type of group that Would like to mix things up, hit us up through our email.

07/06/2023

This is Darren! Over the last few months he has been conducting the odd Urban Eco and Sustainability Tour with us! With years of environmental education experience at CERES and more recently at a variety of local governments, Darren is incredibly knowledgeable about sustainability and a great addition to the team!

Today, Darren and I took Zoos Victoria's Youth Leaders on a special tour which incorporated a litter pickup. Pictured here is what we collected just along Birrarung Marr in just over an hour! It's incredibly disappointing to see so much just thrown on the ground, but great job by the leaders on the tour to get into collecting everything they saw. Legends!

If you'd like to hear about sustainability challenges we face in Melbourne including our waste issues, come join us on a tour!

More info can be found on our website at www.waywardwanders.com.au

13/09/2022

Saddened to hear of the passing of Uncle Jack Charles just weeks after the passing of Uncle Archie Roach. An amazing character who on the odd occasion was spotted on Smith Street as our tours wandered by. RIP.

Actor, musician and revered Victorian Aboriginal elder Uncle Jack Charles dies aged 79.

24/08/2022

For my final piece of recent news: I have recently accepted a casual role with Manningham Council as a Community Liaison Officer. This role will see me engaging the local community regarding Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) collections set to be rolled out in Manningham next year.

I'm excited to be given this opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the inner workings of local governments and their role in creating a more sustainable future. I believe these insights will be valuable additions to our Urban Eco & Sustainability Tour, which, like all our tours, will continue as normal.

If you live in an area without FOGO collections and are interested in what's going on, don't worry, it should be coming soon! All local governments in Victoria will be rolling out FOGO collections by 2030 as part of 'Victoria's Plan for a Circular Economy'.

Find out more about this plan below.

https://www.vic.gov.au/building-victorias-circular-economy

We’re cutting waste and building the state’s circular economy.

23/08/2022

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking Michael Turtle from The Canberra Times around Collingwood on a private version of our Street Art and Culture Tour. Check out what he thought of our tours and Collingwood in his article below.

If you are interested in booking a private tour with us, be sure to hit us up on [email protected]

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7837953/the-melbourne-suburb-thats-mastered-the-art-of-cool/

For visitors to Melbourne, Collingwood offers everything you would expect from the alternative side of the city.

20/08/2022

As some of you may know, at the start of this year I decided to go back to uni to study a Bachelor of Environment and Society at .

If you're curious about what these studies entail, check out this promo video I shot with them a few weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1uhLkYpKOA

Meet environment students, Liam, Koshangi, Anthea and Nihal, and discover how RMIT prepares you to tackle what’s next in environmental studies. Help protect ...

26/05/2022

In 2021, I had the pleasure of taking four groups of Year 9 students from Kilvington Grammar on a special tour focused on social enterprises operating in the Melbourne CBD. This tour was apart of their IMPACT program, which also involved Monash University who conducted workshops with the students to help them develop their own social enterprises to address social issues close to their hearts. How innovative and impressive is that!

Unfortunately, due to the impacts of COVID-19, all but one of the social enterprises that we visited on this tour remain open in their CBD location. As such, I am currently not able to offer this tour. However, I do hope that new social enterprises will pop-up in the CBD so I can help to inspire the younger generation to create meaningful businesses in the future.

If you have a school group interested in a unique tour experience, book them on our Urban Eco and Sustainability Tour! We are now taking bookings for semester 2 and would love to inspire your class to create positive change.

IMPACT – Aspire.Empower.ThriveKilvington Grammar School’s Year 9 Impact program is an intense and integrated year-long program that commences at the end of Y...

22/03/2022

UPDATE: Yes! We are open and taking school group and private group bookings!

Unfortunately, due to time constraints I am no longer regularly updating social media. However... WE ARE OPEN!

For tour enquiries and bookings please contact us on [email protected]

01/02/2022

Join us this Saturday for a very special, and FREE, Sustainable Future Tour as part of

This 2hr tour will highlight what Melbourne is doing to create a more sustainable future.

The tour begins at 10am on Saturday at the entrance of Transport Hotel at Federation Square. Click the link in the bio to reserve your spot, as numbers are strictly limited.

07/01/2022

Unfortunately I have decided to postpone tours for the rest of this month due to the surge in case numbers. Be Safe.

05/12/2021

We just received our first booking for the Street Art & Culture Tour in almost 2 years! The person who booked the tour was booking it as a gift for friends who have recently moved to Melbourne. We think this is the perfect gift to introduce newbies to the real Melbourne experience.

If you have loved ones in Melbourne or coming to Melbourne in the near future, why not book them on a tour with us! We sell these lovely gift vouchers (below) that are able to be used to book private tour versions of any of our tours!

Our tours are a great way for visitors and locals alike to discover a unique side of Melbourne they may never knew existed. Although we cannot offer public tours for them to join at this time, private tours give guests the chance to be one-on-one with a local who can transform the tour to best fit their interests and desires.

Please head to our website for more details about our tours and our gift vouchers.

www.waywardwanders.com.au

Still looking for the perfect gift for your loved one that has it all? Our newly printed tour gift vouchers are a great choice for locals and tourists alike. But if you'd like one of these sent to your door, be quick! There is only two weeks till Christmas!

21/11/2021

For those of you who have previously joined us on the Urban Eco and Sustainability Tour you may remember me talking about how the oyster reefs in Port Phillip Bay were largely destroyed after colonisation. The Oyster Rush and dredging in the bay were largely to blame for the reefs demise, but there are a few projects on to go to restore them.

Although this in not in Port Phillip Bay, I thought it was relevant to the conversations had on that tour and worthwhile promoting such a project and Indigenous owned enterprise. Plus, I really love oysters and would love to buy local!

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/indigenous-run-oyster-farm-to-help-victoria-crack-the-market-restore-a-tradition-20211109-p597io.html

A partnership between the state’s fisheries authority and the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation will grow oysters native to Victoria at Lakes Entrance.

27/10/2021

We are incredibly excited to say that thanks to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne we are now able to accept private tour bookings.

If you are looking for a COVID safe activity for your office Christmas party, a school looking for a unique environmental experience for your students or just a group of friends looking to experience an alternative side of Melbourne, head to our website to check out our range of walking tours.

www.waywardwanders.com.au

Alternative and Urban Eco walking tours in Melbourne with local insider guides. Small groups and customised private tours.

21/10/2021

City of Melbourne have just published forecasts for jobs, population and building in central Melbourne for the next couple of decades. Although Melbourne's booming population growth has been halted by the pandemic, City of Melbourne is predicting the staggering growth to return with the CBD population predicted to almost double by 2040. There are a raft of sustainability questions related to this kind of growth that we discuss on the Urban Eco & Sustainability Tour, but one other aspect of the report is concerning for us and the tourism industry.

City of Melbourne predict industries related to international travel, eg. our industry, will struggle until 2024. While this is not surprising, I do wonder how many, if any, tourism businesses will survive until then.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/short-term-pain-but-economists-predict-long-term-gain-for-melbourne-cbd-20211019-p5915h.html

The effects of COVID will linger, according to the City of Melbourne’s latest economic forecast, before a long-term bounce back for the CBD.

18/10/2021

Do you like our new website? It's still under construction, but the homepage is almost finished. Albeit not super mobile friendly atm, but I will fix that.

https://waywardwanders.com.au/

17/07/2021

Hi Folks. After much consideration, I have decided to put tour bookings on hold for the foreseeable future. The continuing pandemic and the connected and reoccurring lockdowns have simply made attempting to revive a tourism business impossible.

The last two lockdowns have significantly impacted my business economically, as well as impacted my own motivation levels to continue pushing through. As such, I've decided to focus on other aspects of life for the time being including my work with and a project I recently began called , which assists charities to decrease their environmental impact.

Thanks for all your support. Stay safe everyone.

16/06/2021

So sad to hear that our favourite social enterprise Beekeeper Parade will closing it's Melbourne Central store. We will deeply miss the very inspiring story behind Beekeeper parade being shared with guests on our tours.

I'd like to send a huge thank you to Koky and the crew who over the last couple of years have given their time to help make our tours special. Beekeeper Parade has always been a favourite stop on our tours for both guests and myself, and your store will be sadly missed.

Having said that, Koky and Beekeeper Parade will be continuing their amazing work through their online store. So please support their fight against fashion waste that employs people here, as well as in Cambodia, and funds schools in Cambodia. If you need a unique gift for someone special, this is your store.

A sad but positive announcement :)

I didn't think making this announcement would be such a difficult and emotional thing to do. But it is! I wanted to do a video, but I couldn't even get the words out before I started choking. So I will have to just write it down here instead 💓.

BeeKeeper Parade’s Melbourne Central store will be closing on June 30th 2021 (marking three years of my life!). The impact of covid-19 on us has been huge, and the fourth lockdown in Melbourne, makes it impossible for us to run a physical store. Closing our Melbourne Central store has been at our request. And is something that I think will make us stronger and better moving forward. In fact, I am so excited about the future and what it may bring.

BeeKeeper Parade as an online business has grown beautifully over the last year. Thank you so much for your incredible support! It has been our saving grace through out the year.

Regardless, of all the positives, I still feel sad about having to close. What an amazing 3 years full of great memories it has been 💝.

We will get through this, but we will need your help. So that we can earn our special online wings and keep on flying, keep on creating inspiring products, keep on upcycling, and keep on supporting education in rural Cambodia.

There are many ways you can support us, including choosing to buy from us, choosing us for your go-to gifting store, sharing our story and one of the biggest ways, is word-of-mouth 📣.

So today we have launched a friend referral program that will help us grow🌱. We would love your support in this 🤗.

All you have to do is follow the link below, enter your email and you will receive a link that you can share with friends you think will like our story, like what we are trying to achieve and support us because of your recommendation. Your link will give them a 20% code and should they make a purchase you will also receive a 20% code. Yay! Win win!

Follow this link here: http://beekeeperparade.refr.cc

From the bottom of my heart. Thank you a million times.

Much much love Koky

05/06/2021

World Environment Day

A couple of weeks ago I was reading about how the s*x of green sea turtle is closely connected to the heat of the sand turtle eggs are buried in by their mothers. Essentially, warm temperatures = more females. This might sound good for the single male turtles out there now, however, if temperatures continue to rise, the green sea turtles population is expected to diminish.

This is just one example of the many species facing climate change related extinction. However, each and everyone of us has the ability to impact the current climate trajectory through environmentally positive changes. As such, for this World Environment Day, why not think of one thing that you can change in your life that will help create a world where Crush can continue to surf the East Australian Current. Because without him, in the future, Dory may never find Nemo.

13/05/2021

Last month we hosted 85 Year 9 students on our Social Enterprise Tour that introduced them to some of the change-maker businesses in Melbourne's CBD. The students were all working on creating their own social enterprises as part of an incredible program offered at their school. Their ideas on how to address various social issues with enterprise was simply inspiring.

If you'd like to know more about social enterprise and maybe how you can work in the sector or create your own social enterprise, check out this chat hosted by Monash SEED.

23/04/2021

Over the past couple of days, we have hosted over 80 Year 9 students on our new Social Enterprise Tour! This tour is specially designed for school groups learning about social enterprise as a creative way to address social issues.

A huge thanks to all the social enterprises, creative businesses and socially conscious businesses who have made this super unique tour possible and helped inspire the budding social entrepreneurs!

I'd particularly like to thank Koky, Will, Tim (on his first day!) and Ash at for kindly giving us their time and sharing their wonderful story. Without legends like yourselves, this tour would not be possible.

If you're a teacher or coordinator looking for a creative way to jazz up your STEM programs, get in contact with about their inspiring social enterprise program. The program educates students about addressing social issues through enterprise and supports them while they create their very own social enterprises. Simply incredible!

And if you'd like to get an insight into social enterprises here in Melbourne and how they are helping create a better future, come join us on a tour!

06/04/2021

This coming Friday evening I will be hosting the Urban Wine Tour for the very first time! If you would like to try some local regional wines, have some yummy snacks (including chocolate) and enjoy some friendly chit chat, I am offering this all inclusive tour for a significantly reduced one-time-only price of $60 per person.

If you would like to join please send me an email at [email protected] for more details.

06/04/2021

What are your skills and how can you use them to help create a better future?

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/this-australian-farmer-is-helping-ugandan-families-to-survive-the-pandemic

Families in Northern Uganda are among the world’s poorest, and after hard lockdowns due to COVID-19, many are struggling to survive. Australian fruit farmer Ridley Bell is collaborating with charity World Vision to help those most vulnerable.

29/03/2021

Super excited to have a few school bookings coming up in the next few months. If you didn't know, we offer specially designed tours for schools that connect closely to Victorian Highschool curriculum.

We offer student friendly versions of our Urban Eco and Sustainability Tour, a Street Art Tour and a Social Enterprise Tour (only for schools).

If you're a teacher looking for a creative experience for your students, head to the School Tours tab on our website to find out more about what we have on offer.

24/03/2021

Yesterday evening we joined for a tour of their incredible urban farm m, which is supported by and

The tour included stops at the farm, as well as and The tour concluded with a lovely dinner catered by .melb

This inspiring collective is just one example of creative groups in Melbourne addressing issues such as food security, food waste, sustainable food system etc, which we also discuss on our Urban Eco and Sustainability Tours.

Head to their Instagram's and websites to help support a future focused on local sustainably produced food. And head to our website if you'd like to know more about our tours!