Skip to main content

Yarra River, from downstream to upstream 上游下游，雅拉河全面遊

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。
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Travel advisories 旅遊忠告

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issues travel advisories for all countries in the world, and the list is nothing short of exhaustive. Obviously Hong Kong’s perpetual air pollution gets a mention (and it touched the nerves of the local media), as well as the haze that descends upon Singapore between July and October. But Australian major cities are not totally spotless in regard to air pollution. Last Saturday I was quite surprised by the reduced visibility on the roads when driving under the broad daylight of noon. Since it was not supposed to be a foggy day, the only possibility was a haze or smog of some kind. I never thought that it could occur on a day with lighter traffic like the weekend. The lab where I am working now is located on the 8th floor of a hospital building adjoining the main building of the research institute, and we have to go through an outdoor stairway whenever we want to enter or exit the main building. The stairway offers an unhindered vi...
6 comments
Read more

A nosy foodie 隔鄰飯香

My colleagues usually bring their own lunch to work and we gather in the tea room for lunch every day. When I have lunch together with the Chinese group, we all like to peek into each other’s lunch boxes, sing praises of each other’s food and exchange a few cooking tips. But when I sit with the locals, we hardly pay attention to, let alone comment on, other people’s food (although I still carry the bad habit over from the Chinese group!) I guess that’s partly because there isn’t so much to talk about on sandwiches or the standard fare from the hospital canteen, and partly because it’s probably only kids who are so nosy about other people’s food! One of my colleagues is a mother of two and both children are attending primary school. In their school, pupils are only allowed to have lunch in classrooms under supervision so that they won’t be able to swap food and eat something wrong in so doing (especially food that triggers allergy or other undesirable reactions). With so many people cro...
7 comments
Read more

Signs of modern China 看標語，知國情

My trip to mainland China allowed me to have an appreciation of what's going on in this vast country, although it may not be very deep in such a short time. 這次到國內一遊，除了遊山玩水外，也可瞭解一下國情——那管祇是匆匆一瞥，不是太深入。 The slogans and government advertisements offered glimpses into what life was like and the concerns of the populace in the various places we visited. Interestingly, the focusses were all different depending on the part of the country, according to my local friends. 祇要留心四周的標語和宣傳，大概對不同地方的民情和關注的社會問題都可以略知一二。當我嚮導的朋友說，在國內不同地方的題材都有所不同。 On our way from Shanghai to Xitang , we changed buses in Jiashan County which was full of publicity for the military. We wondered why that was; could it be that there were many military personnels living there? 從上海往 西塘 ，在嘉善縣倒車時，到處都看到支持軍隊的宣傳，究竟是不是那裡軍人較多？ Translations: Top left - wide, deep and continued effort to support the military, care for relatives of the personnels, support the government and care for the ordinary people. Top right - your love for the count...
5 comments
Read more