The Yarra River traverses through Melbourne and is a major landmark of this city. Even tourists will be familiar with the downstream sections of the river as many would take a stroll on its banks in the city or travel on a boat cruise to take in the city views.
雅拉河貫穿墨爾本，是墨市的一大地標，就算是遊客，大多都會曾經沿河漫步甚至坐觀光船欣賞雅拉河下游市區的河景。This Christmas break, my wife and I tried a relatively new alternative of touring the city section of the river, namely on an electric boat.
這個聖誕假期，我和太太用一個較新穎的方式遊市區段的雅拉河——開電動艇。
The operation of the electric boat was not too complicated, via a tiller to control both the speed and the direction. But with a consistently strong breeze and current the boat needed constant steering every 10 to 30 seconds. I was hoping for a relaxing sailing and looking forward to a pause in a scenic spot, but within a minute the boat drifted from the middle of the water to one of the banks, and with the wind blowing the food over it was a challenging juggle between controlling the boat and finishing the food. We did find some time to enjoy ourselves towards the end of the ride and took some selfies to cap off a memorable experience of boating on the Yarra.
電動艇操作本身尚算簡單，熟習後靠一根控制棒操控方向和速度，不過航行時遇上大風和頗強的水流，基本上每10至30秒便得握控制棒修正前行方向，所以挺忙碌，亦本想去到一個景色好的地方停下來一邊欣賞一邊吃些茶點，但大風下艇很快便被吹到一邊堤岸，又要顧及食物被吹倒，本來寫意的場合卻變得手忙腳亂，很是可惜。不過難得能花兩小時在水中心過二人世界，到了末段又抽到時間自拍合照，總算是獨特和難忘的體驗。
Steering the boat, by myself and together 單人和雙人駕船
The Yarra from the City to Docklands 從市區駛到船塢區
Two days later we went on a day trip, and on the return leg from the summit of Mont Donna Buang, the closest snowfield to Melbourne (Instagram album here), we made a brief stop at the town of Warburton and had a wander along a short section of the Yarra there. Warburton is very close to the start of the Yarra, and the view of the river flowing against the backdrop of a mountain (persumably Mount Donna Buang) reminded us of the towns in southern Bavaria in Germany or elsewhere in the Alps in Europe.
兩天後我們郊遊一整天，從最接近墨爾本的雪山（只是冬天才有雪）Mount Donna Buang（IG相冊）下山回程時在Warburton小鎮短暫停留，沿着該鎮的雅拉河的一小段散步。該鎮是雅拉河差不多最上游，那個河流背靠高山、小橋流水的格局和景緻，令我們想起德國巴伐利亞南部或歐洲阿爾卑斯山腳小鎮。
So almost Bavarian landscape 彷彿到了德國巴伐利亞
The middle section of the Yarra in Melbourne's eastern suburbs offers a myriad of scenery and amenities that made for pleasant visits for us in the past.
雅拉河在墨爾本市郊的中游，有幾段我們過往都到訪過，各有不同的風景。
Warrandyte
Doncaster - Westerfolds Park
Studley Park Boathouse
It is indeed a fortune that we have been able to cover the Yarra rather thoroughly from downstream to upstream and explore some of the more picturesque pockets of our new home city and nearby!
很難得有一條河，我們都好好見識過其下游、中游和上游，讓我們增進了對墨爾本的認識。
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