I went for a walk to Galatea Point

I took Miss K down to Galatea Point in Yarra Bend Park, just off Studley Park Road, a great little 20 minute walk you can drive to and be guaranteed a park (directions below). This is one of the beautiful views of the Yarra a great loop of which makes the Point feel like a promontory. Across the way is green lawn, and autumnal European trees (in the general vicinity of the Studley Park Boathouse). The combination of the bush and the park separated by the river is particularly pleasant, the best of both worlds, and I daydreamed of installing a kangaroo on the point, but have since confirmed my suspicion that kangaroos are excellent swimmers.

Along with nesting rainbow lorikeets, three eastern rosellas, and grey fantails, we saw, without even looking, one of the most splendid Australian birds, a flame robin, hopping around nonchalantly in front of us for as long as we cared to take in his scarlet beauty. My camera’s batteries had by then given out. Happily, I was able to borrow this photo from Julian Robinson of Flickr.
Continue reading “I went for a walk to Galatea Point”

Kew darling, our wealthy neighbour on the other side of the river


(Thanks to David Quigley of Newport, who only bought a camera last year, for the beautiful photo of Willsmere.)

Across the river is Kew, though for the purposes of this blog I have appropriated its parklands into greater Abbotsford. The Age has a suburb profile in it today with some interesting bits. The Age’s Domain’s suburb snapshots are slightly interesting: Kew is a suburb of 21,500 folks, while Abbotsford‘s population is only 4,025. Kew’s average house price is over $800,000, while Abbotsford’s average is about $440,000. But back to the profile in The Age today. Continue reading “Kew darling, our wealthy neighbour on the other side of the river”

Yarra boulevard closed to cars on Sunday 12 March

Car-free Bogota freeway

The first Sunday Circuit was on 12 February 2006. There were over 4,000 riders who came out in the sun to do a few laps. The road was closed to motor vehicles at 6am and opened again at midday. The closure allowed drivers to get to the Studley Park Boathouse, and there were arrangements for residents who live on the river side of the road. It’s the same deal on 12 March 2006. This is part of a growing worldwide phenomenon of car free days initiated by the Mayor of Bogota and enthusiastically taken up by Parisians. Continue reading “Yarra boulevard closed to cars on Sunday 12 March”