FIRE SHOW BY THE YARRA

Prominently located in Southbank on the Yarra River is the Crown Casino. It has earned itself a reputation as their slogan suggests, for being “A World of Entertainment”. Crown Casino has more then a dozen bars and clubs, numerous dining and shopping options, free entertainment and much more all within the opulent surrounds of the Crown complex. There is something to cater for everyone including some gambling, clubs, pubs and bars for the adults, and games, cinemas and shopping for all ages.

At night, on the boulevard, Crown Casino erupts into a riverside show of fireballs. These never fail to impress and wow visitors. When the weather is cooler the flames warm bystanders, people reporting they can even feel the heat from the other side of the river. The fireballs are the biggest in the world and explode in a show each hour between times that are subject to the season and weather conditions.

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

FIND THE BIRDS

A walk in the Darebin Parklands is always a good way to relax and find serenity in nature right in the heart of a large metropolis, such that Melbourne has become. Even more delightful is spotting of some birds during one's walk. Here are some that I spotted...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

Clockwise from upper left: Indian Miner; Rainbow Lorikeets; Butcherbird; Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo; Purple Swamphen; Pacific Black Duck; Crested Pigeon; Bronzewing Pigeon; Willy Wagtail.

MELBOURNE CITY VICTORIANA

The architecture of Melbourne is characterised by an extensive juxtaposition of old and new architecture. The city is noted for preserving a significant amount of Victorian architecture and has some of the largest in the country. Additionally, it features a vast array of modern architecture, with around 60 skyscrapers over 100 m in the city centre which have deliberately been set back from thoroughfares and streets to preserve historic architecture—leading to the title of "Australia's most European city".

The juxtaposition of old and new has given Melbourne a reputation as a city of no characterising architectural style, but rather an accumulation of buildings dating from the present back until the European settlement of Australia. The city is also home to Eureka Tower (2006), which was the tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor for some time. Here are some Victorian gems, landmarks of our city.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

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Melbourne Town Hall and St Paul's Cathedral in the background

State Library of Victoria

The Old Magistrate's Court

Parliament House of Victoria

The Windsor Hotel

University of Melbourne

The Royal Exhibition Buildings

The Old General Post Office

Victorian Façades on Collins Street

Supreme Court of Victoria

The Royal Arcade

DOCKLANDS EVENING

Melbourne Docklands is a waterfront development in the heart of Melbourne, located on the spectacular Victoria Harbour with three kilometres of Yarra River frontage. With extensive waterfront promenades, urban art, interesting architecture, historic and contemporary buildings, state-of-the-art marinas, stylish waterfront restaurants, cosy bars and active waterways, Docklands has plenty to offer.

The views on the water include, as well as the numerous leisure craft, the Bolte Bridge, which is a large twin cantilever bridge. It spans the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour in the Docklands precinct to the west of the Melbourne CBD. It forms part of the CityLink system of toll roads that connects the Tullamarine Freeway from the northern suburbs with the West Gate Freeway and the Domain and Burnley tunnels to the Monash Freeway and the south eastern suburbs.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
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PANORAMIC SUNSET

A beautiful sunset to finish a beautiful day...

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MELBOURNE STREET TREES 186 - PRICKLY MOSES

Acacia verticillata (prickly Moses; prickly-leaved wattle; star-leaved acacia; prickly mimosa; whorl-leaved acacia) is a perennial shrub to small tree in the Fabaceae family, native to Australia and Tasmania. The species is a common understorey shrub in both wet and dry sclerophyll forests as well as scrub and heath. In coastal environments it will often have much wider leaves as opposed to the regular needle-like nature of inland specimens.

Acacia verticillata stems are ribbed and are sparsely to densely hairy. The leaves are small sharply pointed phyllodes (false leaves) are up to 17 x 3 mm. and 1.5-2.5 mm wide. They have one prominent vein and 1-2 less prominent veins. Its inflorescences which are numerous (Southern Spring: September, October) consist of numerous pale yellow flowers arranged on short cylindrical spikes that extend beyond the leaves. Its seeds are in elongated pods (5-10 cm long) which are sparsely hairy when young and glabrous when mature. This trees dispersal is by seed. Trees are often covered by a fungally-induced galls.

On 1 September 2016, the Reserve Bank of Australia released a replacement of the polymer five dollar note which includes a stylised depiction of Acacia verticillata (subspecies ovoidea).

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

WINTER JASMINE

Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is a slender, deciduous shrub native to China. It grows to 3 m tall and wide, with arching green shoots and opposite, pinnate, dark green leaves. Each leaf is divided into three oval-oblong leaflets which are about 3 cm long.As its name suggests, in the Northern Hemisphere winter jasmine flowers from November to March. The solitary flowers, often appearing on the bare stems (hence the Latin nudiflorum, literally "naked flower") have six petals and are bright yellow, or white, about 1 cm across, appearing in the leaf axils.

It likes full sun or partial shade and is hardy. J. nudiflorum is valued by gardeners as one of the few plants that are in flower during the winter months. It is frequently trained against a wall to provide extra warmth and shelter, but also lends itself to ground cover. It tolerates hard pruning and should be pruned in spring immediately after flowering; regular pruning will help to prevent bare patches. It can also be grown as a bonsai and is very tolerant of the wiring methods. It can be propagated using the layering technique. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
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AT COBURG LAKE

Merri Creek flows about 60 km from the Great Dividing Range through Melbourne’s northern suburbs to the Yarra River. Merri Creek is an environmental, heritage and recreation corridor that draws its significance from its role as a continuous corridor as it does from the qualities of individual reaches. All areas of the Creek are important because they contribute to the linking of areas of environmental, heritage and recreational value along the Creek. At Coburg, one of Melbourne's northern suburbs, the creek has been dammed to form a lake.

Coburg Lake Reserve is a popular district level park in Melbourne's Northern suburbs, offering a great variety of activities including picnicking, playgrounds, barbecue facilities, walking and bike paths and nature play all set in a beautiful heritage setting overlooking Coburg Lake. Several playgrounds are located throughout the park. These are nestled amongst the gardens and next to the lake. If you like to watch wildlife you will love the Coburg Lake Reserve. Ducks, swans and native birds can be observed here.

A reminder of Coburg's multicultural community is a statue in the Coburg Lake Reserve. It is by sculptor Antonio Masini and is called “Man of the Valley”. It is a gift from the Italian cities of Viggiano and Grumento. The sculpture is, in the words of its creator, “a tribute to the thousands of Lucanian migrants throughout the world and in Australia in particular. This monument represents the determination and courage inherent in the immigrant.”

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
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SPRING APPROACHES

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
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GUM TREES

Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as "eucalypts", the others being Corymbia and Angophora. Many species, though by no means all, are known as gum trees because they exude copious kino (plant gum) from any break in the bark.

Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia, and include Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest known flowering plant on Earth. There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus and most are native to Australia; a very small number are found in adjacent areas of New Guinea and Indonesia. One species, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges as far north as the Philippines. Of the 15 species found outside Australia, just nine are exclusively non-Australian.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
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