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.

KING STREET BRIDGE

The King Street Bridge takes King Street over the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bridge continues south as an elevated viaduct, with the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex built around it in later years. The bridge was designed in 1959 by Utah Australia for the Country Roads Board, and constructed over the next two years, being opened on 12 April 1961. It was of a welded, deck-girder, suspended-span construction with spans up to 49 m long.

Soon after completion, on 10 July 1962, one span collapsed under the weight of a 47 ton semi-trailer, though the weight was within the bridge limits. The subsequent Royal Commission found that bridge failed with a brittle fracture on a very cold Melbourne winter day. The Commission identified the cause of girder failure was due to cracked welds. The fabricator was not familiar with welding low-alloy steel and the steel supplied was high in carbon making it difficult even for an experienced fabricator. The cracks in the welds were not discovered by inspectors of both the fabricator and the Country Roads Board.

As originally constructed the bridge had 8 lanes across the Yarra River - 2 through lanes in each direction connecting King Street to Kingsway, in addition to 2 lanes on each side that connected to Yarra Bank Road. In later years the development of Crown Casino closed Yarra Bank Road, and the bridge ramps were connected to the basement carpark of the complex.

This post is part of the Sunday Bridges meme.

SUNRISE IN THE PARKLANDS

Darebin Parklands, in Fairfield/Alphington/Ivanhoe, is a pocket of natural bushland that is unique given it is only 7 km from the Melbourne CBD. There are hidden treasures within the park including remnant orchards and crops that were grown on the fringe of a growing city during the mid-1800s. A dairy farm, vineyard, quarry and tip site were all at times active industries within the bounds of the park, and clues of this can still be found if one knows where to look. Sunrise there is quite magical.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Pink Saturday meme.

PRINCES BRIDGE LIGHT

The lights on one of Melbourne's historic bridges are beautifully maintained. The bridge connects Swanston Street on the north bank of the Yarra River to St Kilda Road on the south bank, and carries road, tram and pedestrian traffic. The present bridge was built in 1888 and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY MARKET

We often go by the La Trobe University Sunday market as it is full of life and there are some great bargains to be found there, especially so the nursery items, flowers and fresh food. The flowers are always a pleasure to behold and the hyacinths have already started to appear, even though they are meant to be Spring flowers! The prices as you can see in the signs are very reasonable.

This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme,

and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

A BEAUTIFUL MORNING

I love those Autumn days when the morning is crisp and fine, and the sun rises and tints the yellow and red leaves golden. And as the day progresses and warms up a little, it's a pleasure to be out and about by the River, but only for a little while as it gets dark soon and quite cold and one's house is then warm, cosy and inviting...

This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

CHATEAU TAHBILK

Tahbilk is situated 120 km north of Melbourne in Shire of Strathbogie in the Nagambie Lakes region of central Victoria, near Nagambie. The name Tahbilk originated from the wineries location, Tabilk. The aboriginal people first referred to the site as "tabilk-tabilk" meaning "place of many waterholes", the 'h' being added in by Tahbilk Winery to assist the wines sale-ability in Europe.

Until 2000, the winery was known as Chateau Tahbilk. Original cellars from the 1860s and 1870s are still in use. These and the buildings are classified by the National Trust of Australia. The winery also runs the Tahbilk Cafe and the Tahbilk Wetlands and Wildlife Reserve.The winery specialises in the Rhone varietals of Marsanne, Viognier and Roussanne and also produces Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon blanc, Verdelho, Grenache and Mourvedre. Some original pre-phylloxera Shiraz vines survive from 1860.

Tahbilk is the oldest family owned winery in Victoria, Australia, established in 1860. Tahbilk is part of Australian wine alliance Australia’s First Families of Wine a multi-million-dollar venture to help resurrect the fortunes of the $6 billion industry highlighting the quality and diversity of Australian wine. The main criteria are that the family-owned companies need to have a “landmark wine” in their portfolios listed under Langton’s Classification and/or 75% agreement by group that a wine is considered “iconic”, must have the ability to do at least a 20-year vertical tasting, have a history going back a minimum of two generations, ownership of vineyards more than 50 years old and/or ownership of distinguished sites which exemplify the best of terroir, commitment to export and environmental best practice, appropriate cellar door experience, and be paid-up members of the Winemakers Federation of Australia.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.

SUNSHINE IN THE PARK

A beautiful Autumn afternoon in the Darebin Parklands las Sunday, with the sun casting a few brilliant rays of sunshine before setting.

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Inspiring Photography meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

DAREBIN CREEK AGAIN

If you saw my post last Sunday on Darebin Creek, you'll be able to compare today's photos, which were taken today. They show the effect of the very heavy rain we had in Melbourne over Friday night.

The city has had its wettest June day on record with more than 48 millimetres to 9:00am on Saturday morning, while forecasters recorded more than 100 millimetres at Epping, Bundoora and Somerton. The Weather Bureau reported Merri Creek in Coburg and Northcote peaked at 3.5 metres, while the Lower Yarra River at Heidelberg and Abbotsford hit around 5 metres.

This post is part of the Sunday Bridges meme.

POLLY WOODSIDE REFLECTIONS

Polly Woodside is a Belfast-built, three-masted, iron-hulled barque, preserved in Melbourne, Australia, and forming the central feature of the South Wharf precinct. The ship was originally built in Belfast by William J. Woodside and was launched in 1885. Polly Woodside is typical of thousands of smaller iron barques built in the last days of sail, intended for deep water trade around the world and designed to be operated as economically as possible.

Polly Woodside was closed to the public on 30 April 2006 to allow for the major redevelopment of the lower Yarra River's southern bank. The $1.4 billion redevelopment, announced by the Victorian Government in February 2006, included construction works for the new Melbourne Convention Centre immediately next to the Polly Woodside. The ship was temporarily relocated approximately 50 metres away to a mooring on the adjacent Yarra River on 26 August 2008 – its first move in 33 years – for a $13 million operational refurbishment and restoration of its dry dock home, board walk, and adjacent former wharf sheds.

Between this time and May 2009 the water within the Duke and Orr's Dry Dock was pumped out and a gated dam wall built at the entrance. The bottom of the dry dock was excavated and permanent keel supports built into the concrete base for Polly Woodside to sit upon, allowing the ship to be periodically dry docked for repairs. On 19 May 2009 the dam wall gates were opened allowing water to flow into the dry dock and Polly Woodside was returned to the Duke and Orr's Dry Dock. Polly Woodside was reopened to the public on 23 December 2010.

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