It’s been 18 years since my wife, kids and I made the short trip from Elwood to my suburb. The main reason was that a larger place in Elwood was out of our reach, even while the bayside suburb was becoming more in reach of rising sea levels.

We had considered ourselves very happy in this part of Melbourne, so went east to East St Kilda. While the water isn’t as close, you can still enjoy glimpses of the bay if you head up the hill.

For a long time, this suburb was named East St Kilda, and now it’s St Kilda East, but, because that sounds a bit pretentious, I prefer to call it East St Kilda.

Looking at the shape of East St Kilda – it is a dog-leg wrapped around Balaclava – one would think the surveyor who drew it up was a bit of a practical joker. (East St Kilda has the same postcode as Balaclava, but its southern section belongs to a different council.) Considering how hard it can be to make out the suburb’s boundaries along Chapel and Inkerman streets, it can be a challenge to know where you live around here. And, to confuse you some more, Carlisle Street belongs to Balaclava, but after it changes to Balaclava Road it belongs to East St Kilda.

One difference between the neighbours is that Balaclava has a sizable amount of housing commission towers and flats, whereas, apart from some old grandiose mansions, like the classic French Second Empire styled Labasa,........

© The Age