Melbourne Flower and Garden show 2006

This was the winning entry 2005 - An English Garden Here are more photos of great garden designs.

Melbourne Open Garden Glen Iris - water saver

More photos from this succulent garden see slide show here

Melbourne - Architecture - clown piper

How can the city fathers think that Federation Square is an attraction? I think it is such an eyesore and usually had loud pop music blaring to give me a pain in my ears too. There is no easy way to find anything inside the buildings there either with no map or plan readily available on the walls to show one how to get into the doors of the art gallery or the theatre. This first photo also shows well the horrid, ugly overhead wires and poles at the entrance to Melbourne as you leave Flinders street station. No amount of bright coloured flags or pink banners will disguise this ugly view - not altered by photoshop either. If you go further into the downtown area you find beautiful old buildings in Collins street c 1890s of which there are a few left. Also there are a few examples of great Art Deco buildings too and big Plane trees to diguise the overhead wires and poles. slide show here.

Bright Lights of Melbourne by Night

For the Commonwealth Games Melbourne has put on a lot of special events. This included painting the "Surge" sculpture blue - a nice change from its black. This wave-like sculpture now has a "beach" with mock beach boxes and a large TV for watching the Games on. This is located between the art gallery and Princes Bridge. The river Yarra was looking its best with lots of lights highlighting trees and paths and of course the very fantastic "fish".

Yarra River Illuminated Fish

I have just discovered that the illuminated fish are on show until the end of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and can be seen for 10 minutes every hour between 8 pm and 11 pm. They are huge fish and cover 800 meter of the river lining its centre. They are floating on the surface of the river with fountains spraying a long way into the air which are lit up by moving laser lights. Well on a balmy Melbourne evening I can think of no more spectacular show to take in, for free too! They are located between the Princes and Swan Street bridges.Photos coming as soon as I can get to see them for myself and make some good photos. Here they are... For a slide show click here