Yarra River

July 29th, 2013 | Hawthorn, Photos, Yarra River

I know it’s popular to bag the Yarra – “the river that flows upside down” – but I think it is absolutely beautiful. There is a particularly lovely stretch near where I am living. There is now a walking/bicycle track along much of its length, which makes it very accessible.

As is usually the case with rivers, it is at its best at dawn and dusk.

I have been especially surprised at the variety of bird life. There is even a family of darters (“snake birds”) nearby. I watched one for quite a while standing on a log, waving its wings back and forth – presumably to dry them.

Closer to the city, there are egrets. Then there are cormorants (heaps of them), ducks and swans. I saw a large group of cormorants paddling away. They look not unlike ducks, but they seem to sit quite a lot lower in the water.

There are also some truly massive trees at the water’s edge, and the various water craft and landing platforms are fascinating, too.