Sick of the same old smug #wanderlust photos clogging your Instagram feed? How many tropical holiday destinations and sunsets can we possibly take? John-Paul Aziz is a guy who often shoots dark urban observations and still landscapes, so we sent him on a road trip to some places outside of Melbourne that are camera-friendly but sort of spooky, in a Will Smith I Am Legend kind of way.

All photos by John-Paul Aziz

Industrial West
If you live in and around the inner city, you’ll be all too familiar with watching urban sprawl branch out quicker than you can imagine. What was once a factory is now a homemaker centre; what was once a desolate field is now a housing estate. Meet the industrial west. The inner city bumper where our junk goes to die. With earth too polluted to use for anything else, areas within the west side will probably remain a wasteland for years to come.

Take a train or short drive out on a Sunday and venture away from the walking paths and bike tracks into a dead suburb that seems absolutely everybody has deserted. Bring company and cameras. You’ll need both.

Calder Park Thunderdome. Image by John-Paul Aziz.

Calder Park Thunderdome
Situated about 40 minutes out of Melbourne at what was once considered Melbourne’s Mecca of Motorsport lies the tired lonely Thunderdome at Calder Park Raceway.

Left to rot and raised above a giant mound of loose dirt (that you can climb with a small degree of difficulty) lies the man-made race crater that now seats nothing but thistles and caving concrete aisles and the only sound that echoes within the dome is that of nearby freight trains and low-flying planes. The maintenance men will most likely let you take a walk through if the gate’s open.

Bring mates, snacks, and beverages, find your seat or get into the commentator box and watch absolutely nothing but time pass with a strange but pretty view.

Dams in the Dandenong Ranges
If you need an excuse to take a drive through the Dandenong Ranges you now have about three or four.

If massive manmade bodies of water with brutal concrete towers bursting through them are your thing, you’ll be pleased to know that someone also thought it would be a good idea to turn them into pretty places for picnics. The Silvan dam is a pretty place for a hang with your friends, while Cardinia Reservoir has sweet uninterrupted 360° views, and shitloads of water and trees.

A warning sign at Caribbean Gardens. Image by John-Paul Aziz.

Caribbean Gardens and Markets
History has it that the Caribbean Markets were once owned by a man who started a boatbuilding company after discovering fibreglass on a holiday. He built a lake within the gardens to test his boats, until one day his son thought it’d be a good idea to open it to the public.

The place became a pretty big amusement park in the ’90s until one of the rides collapsed into a lake. There’s still an old train that goes around the gardens, a functional chair lift, a boat, and stacks of amazing remnants of very dated fibreglass picnic tables and ticket stands by a lake full of giant willows.

The market itself is pretty average and full of useless crap, but the gardens are full of oddities and novelties. It’s another place you get the feeling won’t be around for much longer.

This article is presented in partnership with Captain Morgan