DESKTOP 3309 - SUNSET ON THE YARRA

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DESKTOP 3260 - DAWN

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DESKTOP 3255 - FOGGY

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DESKTOP 3238 - ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is located north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf of St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges that surround the city. Adelaide stretches 20 km from the coast to the foothills, and 90 km from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. \

Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort to King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide’s founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Light’s design set out Adelaide in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parkland.

Early Adelaide was shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties, which led to the nickname “City of Churches”. As South Australia’s seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the cultural boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street and in various districts of the metropolitan area.

Today, Adelaide is noted for its many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist's World’s Most Liveable Cities index in 2010 and being ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011 and again in 2012.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
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DESKTOP 3210 - EXETER, UK

Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 129,800 (mid-2016 est.). It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. The administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district under the administration of the County Council; a plan to grant the city unitary authority status was scrapped under the 2010 coalition government. 

The city is on the River Exe about 60 km northeast of Plymouth and 110 km southwest of Bristol. Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a religious centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times: Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century, became Anglican during the 16th-century English Reformation.

During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, although by the First World War the city was in decline. After the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

DESKTOP 3206 - SUNRISE

 Sunrise on the River Yarra in Melbourne, Australia.

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DESKTOP 3176 - WERRIBEE RIVER

The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres. 

This post is part of the My Corner of the World meme,
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DESKTOP 3112 - MILDURA, AUSTRALIA

Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura and nearby Wentworth, had a population of just over 53,000 in 2016. It is the largest settlement in the Sunraysia region. Mildura is a major horticultural centre notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. Other key crops produced in the district include citrus, almonds and dried fruit.

\The city's central business district is located just a short distance from the banks of the Murray. Langtree Avenue is the main shopping and dining precinct in Mildura, and part of the street is a pedestrian mall. The other major retail precinct is along Fifteenth Street in the Mildura South area, where a mid-sized undercover shopping mall and several big box stores are located.

The city's name was taken from the Mildura homestead, an early sheep station which covered most of the area. The urban area of Mildura is surrounded by a horticulture area, known as the traditional pumped district, where the original grape and citrus blocks were located with water irrigated from the Murray River.

The Murray River (or River Murray) is Australia's longest river, at 2,508 kilometres in length. The Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, and then meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest into South Australia. It turns south at Morgan for its final 315 kilometres, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3093 - YARRA

Walking along the Yarra River in Abbotsford, Melbourne, enjoying the vast areas of parklands and nature reserve along the river. This is amazing as these vast tracts of natural bushland are within a stone's throw of the bustling city centre. Melbourne has a population of close to five, million people, so I consider myself very lucky to have such splendid conservation areas within walking distance of my home.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3051 - YARRA RIVER

The Yarra Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows the Yarra River through the north eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The trail follows the river from near its mouth, through the city and suburbs to Westerfolds Park and Eltham. The Capital City Trail uses the same path up to Dights Falls, where it continues up the Merri Creek Trail as part of its loop around the city.

The large expanse of preserved natural forest and parklands along the river is a fantastic way of keeping the city liveable and gives people many opportunities to find beautiful, serene spots away from the hustle and bustle of the huge metropolis.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3050 - DRESDEN, GERMANY

Dresden is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic. Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour, and was once by personal union the family seat of Polish monarchs. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo city centre.

The controversial American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000 people, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war, restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the historic inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger and the famous Semper Oper. Since German reunification in 1990 Dresden is again a cultural, educational and political centre of Germany and Europe.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3046 - SUNRISE

Early morning on the banks of the Yarra River in the City. A wonderful Melbourne sight!

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DESKTOP 3011 - SUNRISE

Sunrise on the Yarra River in Melbourne.

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DESKTOP 3003 - TEA-TREE

White's Tea-Tree, Leptospermum whitei, is a sturdy, often multi-stemmed shrub reaching up to 5m in height (under ideal conditions). Its preferred habitat are margins of coastal swamp forests and tidal waterways (here growing on the banks of the Werribee River). The species is named after Cyril Tenison White (1890-1950), botanist. Young bark is mid-brown in colour turning grey with age and has a rough fibrous texture where old bark is shedding in papery short strips.

Flowers appear in tight clusters over spring to early summer featuring five bright white and obovate shaped petals characteristic for the Leptospermum genus. They measure up to 12 mm in diameter when fully opened. Young green stems are covered in short fine hair. Simple leaves with an alternate arrangement are; up to 3 cm in length, elliptic in shape with entire margins, hairless, dark green, rather dull on top, thick with a stiff texture. Venation is obscure except for mid vein. Leaf apex is acute ending in a blunt point, base shape is cuneate. The petiole is nearly non existent at 1 -2 mm in length.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 2990 - SUNRISE

"At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear. It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. You can love completely without complete understanding." - Norman Maclean

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DESKTOP 2985 - HARM'S WAY

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 My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 2973 - ASWAN, EGYPT

Aswan, formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dams on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city has expanded and includes the formerly separate community on the island of Elephantine.

Aswan is the ancient city of Swenett, which in antiquity was the frontier town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. Swenett is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name. This goddess later was identified as Eileithyia by the Greeks and Lucina by the Romans during their occupation of Ancient Egypt because of the similar association of their goddesses with childbirth, and of which the import is "the opener". The ancient name of the city also is said to be derived from the Egyptian symbol for trade, or market.

Because the Ancient Egyptians oriented toward the origin of the life-giving waters of the Nile in the south, Swenett was the first town in the country, and Egypt always was conceived to "open" or begin at Swenett. The city stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the Nile, immediately below (and north of) the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extend to it from Philae. Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier. Nevertheless, local water transport around the city is carried out by the picturesque feluccas, which make for fine sailing.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 2969 - EVENING

Evening at Melbourne's Docklands.

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DESKTOP 2952 - BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

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and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme
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DESKTOP 2943 - BY THE RIVER

A lovely Spring day in Melbourne today, so a nice walk by the Yarra River was just lovely. We are still in lockdown, so it's good to have a place like this to walk to, well inside the 5 km radius allowable.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme