ABBOTSFORD CONVENT

The Abbotsford Convent is located in Abbotsford, Victoria, an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Convent is in a bend of the Yarra River west of Yarra Bend Park, with the Collingwood Children's Farm to its north and east, the river and parklands to its south and housing to its west.

During the 19th and part of the 20th century the 6.8 hectare site was occupied by one of the largest convents in Victoria. Today the site and its buildings are used as an arts, educational and cultural hub, the grounds, historic buildings and gardens are occupied by and host artisans; community and cultural events and cultural institutions, a community classical music radio station (3MBS), a Steiner School (Sophia Mundi), live music performances, a gallery, theatre, markets, bakery, bar, cafe and an organic pay-as-you-feel restaurant.

There are 11 buildings on the site; the Convent, Convent Annexe, St Euphrasia, Providence, Rosina, St Mary's, Mercator, Magdalen Laundries, Sacred Heart, Industrial School and St Anne's. And all of this by the Yarra River, only about 3 km from the City centre.

This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
And also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

WOOLLY TREES IN PARKVILLE

It's WInter in Melbourne and even the trees are rugging up to keep warm. It seems that some enterprising "yarn artists" are decorating the tree trunks with their crocheted concoctions to brighten up the dull streets. The group call themselves "Yarn Corner" and are part of a worldwide movement known as "Yarn Bombing", which began in 2004. Yarn bombing (and also called: Yarnbombing, yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, urban knitting or graffiti knitting) is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk.

These pieces are around the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital precinct of Parkville. It amused me for 2-3 minutes :-)

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

THE OTHER SIDE OF LITERATURE LANE

Last week I shared with you some photos from Literature Lane in the City. This week, I take you to the other side of the same lane where another mural adorns one of the walls.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

DEGRAVES ST, CITY

Degraves Street is one of the characteristic Melbourne City laneways, which is easy to get to from the major transport hubs of Flinders St and Southern Cross railway stations. Degraves Street is only minutes walk from everything Melbourne has to offer. An ideal place to relax and enjoy a meal, coffee or even a drink or two at prices that accommodate students, travellers and professional people alike. This post is part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

CITY REFLECTIONS

Early morning light falling in the deep canyons of the high rise buildings of the City. This is looking towards the West along Bourke St. The view from my office.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

NORTHCOTE SUNSET

Sometimes when I am driving I have to just stop, park the car, take the camera and rush to take a few photos. This happened a few weeks ago when I was coming back from work, on one of those few day that I had taken the car in. The sunset was beautiful and the view was quite amazing from Coulson Reserve on Heidelberg Rd, going towards Fairfield.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

AROUND RINGWOOD LAKE

In Ringwood, an outer suburb of Melbourne, an area formerly used for antimony mining, there is a site that now consists of a lake, parkland, BBQs, waterbirds, children's' playground and parkland. It is a good place for a family picnic or for a brisk walk around the track to see the cormorants sunning themselves, the moorhens and ducks swimming and the lovely native flora, like the Banksia shown here, to discover.

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Winged meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

MORNING REFLECTION

Early morning by the river is a good time and place to sit and reflect a little...

This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE'S HELIX TREE

The "Light in Winter" is Federation Square’s annual, month-long program of free events, exhibitions, film screenings, forums, the much-loved Solstice Celebration and a world premiere of a new work, the "Helix Tree". This year the program brings over 20 of Victoria’s diverse communities, along with artists and designers, to explore the power of the human voice  The centerpiece of this program and the glowing stage for nightly performances is the new sculptural work by Australian light artist Bruce Ramus, the "Helix Tree".

Bruce Ramus’ Helix Tree of curved steel beams spirals 13 metres into the sky with 1.5 kms of LED lights entwined throughout the branches. The Helix Tree is equipped with advanced sound-responsive technology designed to respond to both volume and pitch of the voice with a colourful light display.  At dusk every evening in June, some of Melbourne’s best choirs will perform in free, choral displays, lighting up the Helix Tree.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
as well as part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

LITERATURE LANE AGAIN

Literature Lane is Melbourne’s newest lane (launched Monday, 21 May 2012). Literature Lane will be a lasting legacy of the National Year of Reading as well as a celebration of Melbourne’s UNESCO City of Literature status. It is a U-shaped lane off Little Latrobe St. There is a wealth of graffiti, art and new architecture (and see that patterned screen giant mural on the office block!) blending with the old around this lane.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme.