WINTRY SKY

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

PREMIER TOWER

Premier Tower is a mixed-use skyscraper on the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets, in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Elenberg Fraser, plans for a 294-metre tall building with 90-storeys were initially proposed in 2014; however, in order not to cast a shadow on the Yarra River to the south, both the height and the number of levels of the project were reduced in later plans, which were submitted to the Department of Planning.

In May 2015, Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved the development, which now consists of a 246–metre high residential and hotel skyscraper of 78 levels. When built, Premier Tower was to become one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne.

According to Elenberg Fraser, the design of the building pays homage to Beyoncé's fabric-draped silhouette in the music video for her 2013 song "Ghost", which captured the curves of the human form. Early construction on the project commenced in January 2017. The skyscraper is developed by the Fragrance Group Limited at a development cost of AUD$430 million.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

PORT PHILLIP BAY

Port Phillip Bay and South Melbourne, viewed from the 25th floor of an apartment in Southbank. I'm stretching the zoom capability of my phone camera as you can see in the first photo. I've tried to clean up the photo with AI in the second image. Moral of the story, if you want best results use a dedicated camera with a decent zoom lens. It was a grey Winter's day, by the way...

Nevertheless, one can see that South Melbourne is a lovely old suburb with many trees and gardens as well as closeness to the sea. The Victorian Town Hall clock tower is evidence of many heritage buildings in this locale.

This photo is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

OLD FARM

Old Farm outbuildings in Gippsland.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

MELBOURNE CENTRAL

Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The main tower is 211-metre high, making it one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne at the time it was built in 1991. Other parts of the complex include the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, the underground Melbourne Central railway station and the heritage-listed Coop's Shot Tower, now part of a shop and museum.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE TRAM

A visit to Melbourne would not be complete without riding on the trams, one of the city's modes of public transport. The tramway network is centred around the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and consists of 1,763 tram stops across 24 routes, with 493 trams and 250 kilometres of double tram track which served a patronage of 206 million over the year 2017-2018. It is the largest operational urban tram network in the world and one of the most used. Trams are the second most utilised form of public transport in Melbourne after the city's metropolitan commuter railway network.

Here is an E-class tram which is a three-section, four-bogie articulated trams that was first introduced to the Melbourne tram network in 2013, built at the Dandenong rolling stock factory of Bombardier Transportation (later Alstom) with the propulsion systems and bogies coming from Bombardier/Alstom factories in Germany.

Note that in Australia we drive on the left side of the road and we use kilometres.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

WINTRY MELBOURNE

A view of the Yarra River from Cremorne, looking towards the City on a Winter's day.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MONTSALVAT

Montsalvat is an artists' colony in Melbourne's Northeaster outer suburb, Eltham, established in 1934, and home to over a dozen buildings set amongst verdant established gardens. The colony of Montsalvat has a detailed history that reflects the life of Justus Jörgensen and his friends and family. Its buildings and gardens are steeped in the art and culture of Melbourne and its surroundings.

Architecturally Montsalvat has much in common with a simple French village in Provence, with a mix of rustic architectural styles. Justus Jörgensen was an architect and as a former student of Max Meldrum had spent many happy hours painting around Eltham. In 1934 Jörgensen purchased land and with his friends and students commenced the buildings that became Montsalvat, 26kms from Melbourne.

The grounds and buildings are currently used for exhibitions, performances, conferences, seminars, weddings and receptions; however, artists working in a variety of mediums continue to reside in Montsalvat. Several classes on various disciplines of art are offered year round by the resident artists. Today Montsalvat is a popular tourist attraction and the entire complex is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

THE WAY OF PROGRESS...

At Bridge Rd, Richmond, a "new" tram wheels down the road and Victorian brick shops look on, surprised at nothing anymore, ever since they were dwarfed by the utilitarian apartment buildings behind them.

 

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive." - C. S. Lewis

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

PORT PHILLIP BAY

The Bay viewed from from the 25th floor of a Southbank tower. The lovely Victorian building with the clock tower is the South Melbourne Town Hall.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SPENCER ST

The West End of the City, looking up Spencer St. The old whitish building on the southeast corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets in Melbourne is the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel, also known as the Hotham Hotel. It is a historic hotel, originally built in 1855. The hotel has been a hotel since the 1850s and has Edwardian Baroque style architecture and Art Nouveau features. The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Inventory for its potential to contain historical archaeological remains.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

SUNRISE ROWING

Rowing on the Yarra River at sunrise. Many of the rowing clubs of the Universities and private schools have clubhouses in the City on the banks of the Yarra east of Princes Bridge.

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme

COLLINS ST, CITY

Summer day at the Paris End of Collins St. It looks more like New York than Paris nowadays, but there are still some beautiful old buildings amongst the skyscrapers.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

SKYLINE

Southbank skyline viewed from the suburban train line overbridge.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

TWILIGHT

The City viewed across the Yarra, at twilight.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

YARRA RIVER

The Yarra River at South Yarra, looking toward the East in the morning. Taken from a moving train and shooting into the light, pressing my photographic luck...

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

BIG CITY LIFE

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

AT THE UNIVERSITY

The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of Melbourne's central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria.

The university comprises ten separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute. The university has fifteen graduate schools, including the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School, the Melbourne Veterinary School, and the Melbourne Medical School.

In the QS World University Rankings 2025, the University of Melbourne was ranked 13th (1st nationally). Times Higher Education ranked Melbourne 33rd globally (1st in Australia) in the 2021–2022 iteration of its annual World University Rankings. In 2022, it ranked 33rd among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. I am proud to call this University my Alma Mater (all photos are from the Parkville Campus).

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

AT FLINDERS ST STATION

Where many train journeys begin...

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

DEMOLITION ZONE

As old buildings get demolished, it is has become important to be aware of potential hazards encountered in the process. Often, crews find caches of dangerous materials lying long forgotten in attics or basements; ricketty structures that could easily collapse and cause injury or damage to workers or adjacent buildings; rotting timbers and mouldy or vermin-infested interiors (rodents, spiders, snakes, termites, ants) pose a health risk to workers or even passers-by.

A special hazard that causes many problems is asbestos, which was widely used in the past as an insulating or building material. Asbestos is a risk in demolition work because disturbance of asbestos-containing material can release countless, deadly, microscopic asbestos fibres. During work, building materials are disturbed, cut, crushed, knocked down. This is the type of work that releases asbestos fibres. You might just see dust and particles, but that dust can kill you if it contains asbestos. Not right away. But years or decades later, causing deadly, highly malignant cancers in exposed people.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme