Yarra Bend Park has been one of Melbourne’s largest expanses of inner suburban parkland for nearly 150 years. Yarra Bend Park and neighbouring Studley Park were reserved in 1877. Both park areas and several reserves were combined in 1929 to create one large park.
The combined area became known as Yarra Bend National Park despite never being raised to formal national park status. During the 1930’s additions included picnic and sporting grounds, toilet facilities and a public golf course. The Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows 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.
An elderly back yard in Ivanhoe in suburban Melbourne.
A leisurely walk in the mellow Autumn sunshine in the Darebin Parklands.
As some of you have enquired how I make my mosaics, I use Photoshop and its "Layers" feature. After selecting the photos I wish to use, I start with a background photo as the first layer. On this, I add on each successive layer the sized and trimmed photo of each piece of the mosaic. Depending on the look I want I may add layer masks, which gives a blended effect, or otherwise leave the edge hard as in the mosaic below.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
I always like to try out new apps and I recently found a nifty little one for my Mac called "Puzzles Forever". With this app you can import your own photo (see my photo above) and then the app will create a jigsaw puzzle for you, which you then can solve on screen (see screen shot below). The free version generates a puzzle that is half-solved, while the paid version allows you to play from scratch.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
We have had some abrupt changes in our weather over the last few days, with very warm, fine and sunny days reminiscent of Spring last week, while over the weekend there was rain, wind and cold weather and even snow in the nearby mountains - definitely Autumn! A topsy-turvy, hemisphere-switching state of affairs!
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
Thousands of visitors visit Melbourne every year in Autumn to witness blooming gardens, colourful trails and beautiful flowering plants at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. The event is hosted at the UNESCO World Heritage listed Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition buildings. The show bursts with an explosion of colour as native plant species, seasonal flowering plants and exotics bloom. The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is the largest garden show in Australia.
Top floral and landscape designers from all over the country come to participate in this show. There are stunning displays, excellent flower arrangements and an extensive variety of native a
nd exotic flowers on display. The Flower & Garden Show also features many stalls offering a variety of garden products, gardening tools and outdoor furniture. You’ll also find many rare and exotic plant species, retail products and innovative flower arrangements. Also displayed are full scale landscape designs for gardens and this year a stunning variety of designer cubby houses were on show.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The name "Melbourne" refers to the area of urban agglomeration (as well as a census statistical division) spanning 9,900 km2, which comprises the broader metropolitan area, as well as being the common name for its city centre.
The metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. Melbourne consists of 31 municipalities. It has a population of 4,529,500 as of 2015, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians.
Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemen's Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named "Melbourne" by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847, after which it became the capital of the newly founded colony of Victoria in 1851.
During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the nation's interim seat of government until 1927. Melbourne rates highly in education, entertainment, health care, research and development, tourism and sport, making it the world's most liveable city—for the fifth year in a row in 2015, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. It is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, and ranks among the top 30 cities in the world in the Global Financial Centres Index.
Referred to as Australia's "cultural capital", it is the birthplace of Australian impressionism, Australian rules football, the Australian film and television industries, and Australian contemporary dance. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a major centre for street art, music and theatre. It is home to many of Australia's largest and oldest cultural institutions such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the National Gallery of Victoria, the State Library of Victoria and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics.
The main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport (also called Tullamarine Airport), which is the second busiest in Australia, and the Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo. Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the main regional train and coach terminus is Southern Cross Station. Melbourne is also home to Australia's most extensive freeway network and has the world's largest urban tram network.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.
I am away from Melbourne for a few days this week, travelling for work. It's been a while since I travelled and on the one hand it is good as I am remembering past trips and amusing stories, and it is bad as the tiring and hectic part of business travel hits home. For the next few days you'll be getting archival photos, so not exactly farm-fresh, but freshly frozen photos...
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
Yarra Bend Park has been one of Melbourne’s largest expanses of inner suburban parkland for nearly 150 years. Yarra Bend Park and neighbouring Studley Park were reserved in 1877. Both park areas and several reserves were combined in 1929 to create one large park. The combined area became known as Yarra Bend National Park despite never being raised to formal national park status.
During the 1930’s additions included picnic and sporting grounds, toilet facilities and a public golf course. The Yarra Bend Golf Club House, officially opened in May 1936, is an original example of American ‘Country Club’ type architecture. The Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows 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.
Meeting a friend I hadn't seen for about year, the conversation was all about catching up and "What did you do last year?" was a question we almost simultaneously came up with. Of course the conversation flowed and we caught up with each other, but later on considering what I did, I came up with this mosaic, which for me at least, summarised my year pretty well...
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows 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.
The St Kilda Luna Park in Melbourne has been one of the city's most prominent landmarks ever since its opening in 1912, and is intrinsic to the suburb's resort character. Melbourne's Luna Park is acclaimed as the world's oldest amusement park under private management and is possibly the only one of its kind still in operation. It is typical of the type developed in America in the late 19th century, catering for the entertainment and relaxation of large numbers of people.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme.
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
Mordialloc is a suburb in Melbourne, Australia, 24 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston. At the 2006 Census, Mordialloc had a population of 7524. The name is derived from the Aboriginal term "moordy yallock", which translates roughly to "muddy creek."
Mordialloc Post Office opened on 17th October 1863. Mordialloc Creek is arguably the most significant feature of the suburb. Mordialloc Creek has a rich history of traditional wooden boat building. The Creek is still home to Pompei's boat works. Many classic boats line the walls of the creek and may still be admired today. Cafés, hotels and refreshment kiosks may also be found around the creek at its mouth near the sea. The beach attracts many on hot, Summer days.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme.
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites. The main gallery, known as NGV International, is located on St Kilda Road, in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct of Southbank, with a branch gallery at Federation Square.
To see more of the works summarised below in the mosaic, see the relevant post in my other blog, or better still, why not go and visit the Gallery yourself?
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows 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.
Summer is finally here in Melbourne and we are beginning to experience the heat, the dry weather and the visitation of a multitude of insects, mostly of nuisance value: Ants, beetles, spiders, wild bees, flies... Until one stops and looks carefully and sees beauty hiding right up close.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows 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.
First opened in 1997, Crown Melbourne is a large integrated resort and has a casino, three hotels, function rooms, award winning restaurants and shopping and entertainment facilities. It is a significant driver of tourism within Australia, particularly in Victoria. In Melbourne, Crown is located in Southbank with a view over the Yarra River and the City. The decorations and Christmas Display is becoming a Melbourne tradition, with many people making a special visit to see the free show in the Atrium.
This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
