I sometimes wonder: how did I end up in my suburb when I grew up 50 kilometres to the west in Niddrie, and then 30 kilometres to the north-west in Greensborough?

Nor did I always live out in the suburbs – I also rented in St Kilda East and bought my first home in Richmond. (Back when low prices were guaranteed due to the Burnley abattoirs with their huge blowflies – “butcher’s budgerigars” – and a good supply of two-bedroom single-fronted workers’ cottages with outdoor bathrooms.)

Not to mention interregnums in Kew and Ashburton – to accommodate a growing family – with an eye on the Camberwell High zone. But when we needed more space, the question arose: “Now where?”

As an animal welfare volunteer, I was taking long drives across the state delivering cats and dogs from dusty pounds to happier times on suburban couches, and was always on the lookout for a place to settle. One day, returning from Yarra Glen to our small triple-fronted cream brick veneer in Ashburton, I found myself in Kilsyth and Mooroolbark, and was reminded of the undeveloped and treed Greensborough of my teenage years. I started searching the area for our new home.

At one point during my search, hopelessly lost and trying to find Mooroolbark’s suburban centre, I chanced upon a large 1950s weatherboard home for sale in the foothills of Mount Dandenong. It had a pool room – instant appeal to two teenagers – and was on a third of an acre – perfect for adopted greyhounds who zoom for a few minutes and snooze the rest of the day away.

We moved to Mooroolbark in 2009 and started exploring our new home. It is about 37 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD, with an elevation of 93 metres and, at last count, had a population of 23,000. Many contributors to the

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