Yarra River Rocks!

Giant Ferris Wheel and Melbourne Skyline from Yarra River

After my week-long hiatus, I have decided to pick up the pen (or keyboard) once again and to start blogging. Let me continue from where I last left off on our Melbourne trip. This time, our photographic adventures centre around the scenic and lovely Yarra River.

Just a short walk from our hotel, the Yarra River is a scenic spot for sporting fun and social activity in Melbourne. The Yarra River was very important to Aboriginal people, and its name is thought to derive from Aboriginal words meaning “ever flowing”. To us, it offered a nice respite from the buzz of the city like Melbourne’s many parks, and has some of the most splendid views of the city. In fact, it is one of the favourite spots of avid photographers hoping to catch a representative shot of the city.

Here’s one of the few decent shots that I managed to grab of the river. This was taken from a nearby Ferris Wheel (more of that later).

“Row row row your boat, gently down the stream….” With temperatures hovering around 10 deg C, it is little wonder that these girls hardly sweated while paddling away.

The banks of the Yarra River has these interesting sculptures and artworks. Many were created with harmonious materials, colours and textures which blended with the bush environment.

Here’s a shot of the sculpture Angel by Deborah Halpern at Birrarung Marr where we spent all our time.

Does this look like a showcase of aboriginal art to you? Well, on closer inspection…

It turned out to be an art-inspired playground. Which of course provided lots of fun for my four-year old.

Here’s Ethan doing his Spiderman thingy. It took him a while to gain his confidence and clamber up the network of ropes.

Finally, we decided to try the Giant Sky Wheel. This was a temporary fun fixture on the river apparently.

First, Ethan went on the adjoining merry-go-round. As it was evening then, not many kids were around to jostle for position.

Next, it was the time to ride the ferris wheel. Papa had the honour of riding with Ethan on this dizzying, spinning wheel.

A shot of Tina through the protective “cage”. We did feel a little like birds up in the air.

Naturally, Ethan was thrilled and happy like a bird.

Finally, a shot of the ferris wheel closer to night. There were lots of colourful lights emanating along the spokes of the attraction. A technicolour end to a day at the Yarra River Park.