From the Uni campus, barely ten minutes into our walk, we continued along the river to the Sea Port region.
The Esk has a long and dramatic history of flooding. The flood walls erected over the last twenty years are part defence system, part memorial.
I cannot remember the name of this old pub, but built on swamp land, it does not share two straight lines in a row.
This earth wall was raised a few feet and only a few years later the “once in a hundred year” flood reached the top, but the suburb behind was spared. As weather patterns change, this is predicted to be more of a “once a decade thing”.
Through the hole is the Boags Brewery and other older industrial buildings but there is a river between.
Tagging comes and goes, a little on the heavy side at the moment.
The river, Boags and Windmill Hill in the background. Hard to belive the rest of the city centre is only s few blocks away.
After crossing the bridge, we came to the Sea Port, a reclaimed industrial warf, childhood memories of the “Cotswold Prince” leaning unhealthily against it always come back to me (later sunk down the river as a divers wreck). This area is tidal, made problematic by the dam up river, so at low tide these boats often sit on mud.
In the background over the river are the old silo’s now a luxury hotel and eating hub.
This shot came after a conversation I had with my wife about the difference between colour and mono images. In mono, the textures and size of the hotel would dominate, but in colour, the two yellow (or red if there were any) elements grab you first. To the right is the massive playground build a decade ago, apparently one of the biggest in the Southern hemisphere.
Moving past Home Point, we come to Royal park and the old flood wall.
Deliberate graffiti foreground, native Aboriginal inspired, less desired in the background, but to be fair, the whole wall at the back is covered with sanctioned graffiti to support the skate park, so a little “bleed” is expected.
To the right is the largest bridge and behind it the oldest (King’s Bridge, just visible on the right), that jon the West Tamar region to the city. The canyon behind is the gorge, a spectacular walk in it’s own right with parklands, athe oldest electric power station in the Southern hemisphere and swimming baths if you do not want to brave the Basin itself.
There are working boat yards on both sides of the river, this classic getting much needed love.
A park ends the official top of the river, with this textural wonder. Heading around to the mill in the image a couple up. The park, like much of the rest of the river’s edge, has been massively upgraded, but is mid re-work at the moment so angles are limited.
One of those images that beg the mono question.
Half way, so I will stop here.
Feeling good.
