5 years of the Bodhi Tree Café

The Bodhi Tree concept was 10 years in the making and then a year to build. The Café? was always intended to be much more than just another caf?. It was inspired by the passion for creative expression and community as a starting point from which a Café? could evolve and grow.
And grow it did!

We opened on December 14th 2000 after 7 months of designing, demolishing, sculpting and piecing together from recycled steel, iron, timber, tables, chairs, windows, doors, bricks, and just about everything else you could imagine ? and turning it in to a Café. The Bodhi Tree put good original, blues and roots music on the agenda in Healesville and the Yarra Valley. We also hosted the Yarra Valley Talent Night and put supported young musicians and performers in a way not seen before in Healesville. We are still doing it and some of those performers that started at the Bodhi Tree are now emerging in the Australian contemporary music scene. (See Teskey Brothers, Freya Hanly). We have also hosted some of Melbournes best known Blues and Roots acts from the past who are still performing at their best. Black Cat Bone, Spectrum, Phil Manning, Jimi Hocking and Geoff Achison to name a few. We have also hosted forums and meetings with a political edge including the Peace Forum following the September 11 World Trade Centre attack, Forest Fundraisers and Greens Candidate Forums. We put wood fired pizza, noodles, tofu and banana smoothies on the menu in Healesville. After the Bodhi Tree emerged from the streetscape, made from recycled timber, glass, steel and furniture, nothing seemed inconceivable in the Yarra Valley. You have got to experience the Bodhi Tree Café