My name is Mayra and I moved from London to Melbourne in December 2011 pregnant with a little baby boy.

My partner Luke born and bred in Melbourne knew this would be the best place to raise our son.

Having previously moved from my birth and beloved country Peru to England, leaving my family and friends behind; I have always found relatively easy to make friends and get engaged in different activities that connect me with people wherever I am. I considered myself as a very adaptable individual who embraces change with excitement, hope and always a smile.

However, once my baby was born, finding myself at home, it was all a different story! There is no more time to go to all those places where you usually make friends when you’re new to a city. And if there is time, you can’t take a baby in!

I was then finding myself getting a little depressed at home and I really felt the need of having a supportive network of friends who are at the same stage of life as I was.

Friends who I can get out of the house and do things with, friends who to share experiences and precious mum and baby time together.

I then decided to start Melbourne Mums and Bubs in September 2012, a non-for-profit community for mums with young children where mums like myself who are new to Melbourne can make friends and also find the most interesting range of free and low costs activities for them and their children.

To date we have around 500 members in all our communities and our activities range from coffee catch ups to cultural tours around Melbourne and bilingual and Messy play playgroups. We also offer discounted and complimentary private businesses’ classes from local businesses who support us.

I am so glad I started this venture as I got to meet so many lovely mums in who I have made really good friends with and hang out on regular basis. I have also visited many areas in Melbourne due to the various activities we hold weekly and I can definitely assure that I have seen more of Melbourne in one year that I would have in five under different circumstances. And the best part is that I get to take my baby with me everywhere!