Two Melbourne friends who go by the names Squared* and Houdini* spend many of their weekends either high above street level or deep underground. They are part of a growing collective of people who take part in Urban Exploration.

It’s the exploration of man-made structure, sometimes abandoned, at times not easily accessible, sometimes on rooftops and other times underground.  Structures that are clearly visible yet invisible and largely ignored by the uninitiated.

Common urbex locations include rooftops, abandoned buildings, drain pipes and tunnels.

Urbex offers a different way of enjoying Melbourne for those who are interested in experiencing more than coffee and shopping.

And it must be said, those who aren’t too afraid of asbestos, squatters or even potential fines, all of which you can encounter on an Urbex expedition.

Houdini discovered Urbex through Youtube and Instagram posts by Russian free climbers and urban explorers Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov.

For Squared it started in the pursuit of the perfect photo but developed into something more.

“I mainly do it for the photography experience but you also get to experience things that no one else does”.

“It’s also pretty cool, you get, I’m not sure whether to call them bragging rights, but you get to say you’ve been to all these places that no one else really gets to see.”

Houdini adds, “When you do this you become really close to the people you’re doing it with. The freedom is great because you feel like you’re the only one doing it.”

“What makes it worthwhile are the photos, if there was no photography side to it, I wouldn’t do it.”

When it comes to the ethos of respecting the sites they’re visiting, both have a ‘take only photos, leave only foot prints’ approach.

“Get your photos, look around and enjoy the place but don’t take anything from it, don’t ruin anything.”

“Go there for the pure enjoyment of it, for the photography or whatever other reason you are there and try to leave without leaving any sign you had been there”.

The top three places they’ve been to are the Nylex sign, an abandoned warehouse in Box Hill they’ve nicknamed Redbrick and the roof of Southern Cross Station.

“There’s a lot of hype around the Nylex sign, especially from people in the eastern suburbs. It’s something that’s iconic to Melbourne, if you ask anyone in Melbourne they’ll know what it is.

“You could see a lot but there’s not much of a scenery. We went there to take a photo of the sign. Most of what you see is freeway because there are other buildings blocking the view.

“Redbrick is a good place to take photos. If you’re really creative you can make anything look good there. We think it was an old brickmaking factory but we’re not sure.

“At Southern Cross it’s not so much about what you can see, it’s more about the architecture of the building. It looks amazing, like sand dunes. We got to appreciate the architecture of the place in a way not many people get to”.

When asked about whether the risk of getting caught and facing heavy fines has given them pause, Squared says, “We have this agreement that if we get caught or once we all turn 18, we’re all going to stop. After that it just isn’t worth it because of the risk of fines”.

That means at least one more year of enjoying the lost art of good old-fashioned exploration and discovery in a context where the word “explorer” isn’t preceded by the word “internet” and the word discovery isn’t succeeded by the word “channel”.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.

Photos below are of the Nylex sign, the roof of Southern Cross Station and Redbrick abandoned warehouse.  Photos courtesy of Houdini* and Squared*.