SUNRISE BY THE RIVER

As the days shorten, sunrise occurs later and shortly, I shall not be able to take my early morning walk before work. I shall be already confined to my desk while it is still dark and my morning walk will have to become a lunchtime walk! So I am taking the opportunity of snapping some sunrise shots while I am still able to. Here is the Yarra River just South of Princess Bridge, looking towards the South.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MINISTRY OF FOOD AT LALOR LIBRARY

If have you visited Lalor Library recently you would have noticed a rather obvious visitor in the library car park. As well as bringing some garden beds and the tempting wafts of beautiful food cooking to the Library precinct, Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food mobile kitchen brings the opportunity to learn some cooking skills and have fun connecting with others in the community.

The Ministry of Food Mobile Kitchen is in Lalor until  Sunday 16 June. Interested people can enrol in a cooking class at the mobile kitchen and one can get full course details and enrolment details here.  At the library there is a sympathetic feeling with library staff producing a community cookbook. The library would love your input and recipes, so pick up an entry form at the library or give them a call on +61 (03) 94652353.

If you are interested in Food, Nutrition and your Health, why not enrol in the free 4-week online course here?

This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.

GOOD DAY FOR FISHING

The Crown Entertainment Complex, located on the banks of the Yarra River is a centre for entertainment. There are restaurants, bars and hotels as well as chances to gamble the night away. Shops stay open till midnight, there are international shows, movies, lots of eateries and places to drink. Crown is fast becoming a world-class dining precinct, with more than 40 restaurants and bars and some new big names on site.

But if you are not gambler (as I am not), then a quiet day fishing on the Yarra River may be more to your taste, or failing that, there are always the cruising boats for a great day's sightseeing on the River.

This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
as well as part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

SOUTH WHARF

South Wharf is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south-west from Melbourne's Central Business District. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip. It is a small inner suburb south west from Melbourne's CBD. Its borders are the Yarra River to the north, Wurundjeri Way to the west, the West Gate Freeway and a small private car park bordering Ford Street and Munro Street, which is part of the City of Port Phillip, to the south and the former Port Melbourne railway line and Clarendon Street to the east.

Gazetted in 2008 and formerly part of the industrial and shipping area of Southbank, the renaming is part of a wider urban renewal strategy to link Southbank with the Melbourne Docklands. South Wharf includes some of Melbourne's landmarks, including the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Melbourne Maritime Museum, with its heritage Polly Woodside.

South Wharf is also home to many apartments, shopping outlet Direct Factory Outlets and the 5-star luxury hotel Hilton Melbourne - South Wharf.A five-storey Victorian warehouse, known as the Tea House (at 28 Clarendon Street), built in 1888, is one of the few buildings which survived the redevelopment of the area.

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

HOSIER LANE UPDATE

Hosier Lane in Melbourne, is found between Swanston and Russell Sts, extending from Flinders Street through to Flinders Lane. In the 1920s businesses in Hosier Lane were diverse and included an organ manufacturer, a warehouse for a men's clothing company, and a costume manufacturer. The nearby Higson and Oliver Lanes had warehouses that were predominantly used by businesses involved in the manufacturing of clothes and the name of this lane reflects its association with clothing.

Hosier Lane today is well known for its bars but mostly for the graffiti and stencil art that can be seen on its 19th century brick walls. The artwork decorating the walls near number 1 Hosier Lane and near Misty Place at number 3-5 Hosier Lane have been approved by the City of Melbourne as registered street artwork.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
And also part of the Blue Monday meme,
And also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme.

DAREBIN CREEK

Darebin Creek is a creek that runs through the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main watercourse of the Darebin Valley and a major tributary of the Yarra River. For tens of thousands of years it was used as a food and tool source sustainably by the Wurundjeri people, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation alliance, who spoke variations of the Woiwurrung language group.

The creek rises on the northern urban fringe of Melbourne north of the suburb of Epping, following a general southerly route and meeting the Yarra at Alphington. The creek forms much of the municipal boundary between the City of Darebin and City of Banyule. Formerly an intermittent stream, increased stormwater runoff with urbanisation of the Darebin Creek catchment has resulted in permanent water flow.

The creek runs through Darebin Parklands, a large nature reserve one or two kilometres northwest of the junction at which the creek meets the Yarra. The Darebin Creek Trail runs along the banks in the lower reaches of the creek. This is the creek at the Darebin Parklands in Alphington.

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Waters meme,
And also part of the Sunday Bridges meme.

WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

Another morning walk to catch the Autumn sunrise. A lovely day today, warm and mellow, but the night expected to be cold.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,

and also of the Weekly TopShot meme.

AUTUMN SUNRISE

We have been enjoying some cool but sunny Autumn days lately. The nights are cold and the mornings very crisp, but a morning walk is still quite enjoyable, especially when one is rewarded by beautiful sunrises such as this one!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

IVANHOE, UPPR HEIDELBERG RD

Ivanhoe is a suburb of Melbourne, 10 km north-east from Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Banyule. At the 2011 Census, Ivanhoe had a population of 11,085. Upper Heidelberg Road is the suburb's centre, where the former Heidelberg Town Hall, now known as The Centre Ivanhoe, is located. The town hall is a classic 'art-deco' building on top of a hill, with a green neon clockface on a tower.

Upper Heidelberg Road features a newsagent, book store, numerous restaurants and cafés, various banks, real estate agents and two supermarkets. In 2011 the average individual in Ivanhoe earned $728 per week, which was more than the national average of $577 per week. Ivanhoe is renowned for its older style homes, with many dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 38 - BANKSIA

Banksia integrifolia, commonly known as Coast Banksia, is a species of tree that grows along the east coast of Australia. One of the most widely distributed Banksia species, it occurs between Victoria and Central Queensland in a broad range of habitats, from coastal dunes to mountains. It is highly variable in form, but is most often encountered as a tree up to 25 metres in height. Its leaves have dark green upper surfaces and white undersides, a contrast that can be striking on windy days.

It is one of the four original Banksia species collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, and one of four species published in 1782 as part of Carolus Linnaeus the Younger's original description of the genus. It has had a complicated taxonomic history, with numerous species and varieties ascribed to it, only to be rejected or promoted to separate species.

The taxonomy is now largely settled, with three subspecies recognised: B. integrifolia subsp. integrifolia, B. integrifolia subsp. compar and B. integrifolia subsp. monticola. A hardy and versatile garden plant, B. integrifolia is widely planted in Australian gardens. It is a popular choice for parks and streetscapes, and has been used for bush revegetation and stabilisation of dunes. Its hardiness has prompted research into its suitability for use as a rootstock in the cut flower trade, but has also caused concerns about its potential to become a weed outside its natural habitat.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme