Melbourne situated on Port Phillip Bay was once occupied by the Kulin Nation until Europeans arrived in 1835 and settled along the Yarra River. Beginning east of the Upper Yarra Reservoir, the Yarra River meandered west for just over 240 kilometers before it entered the bay between Port Melbourne and Williamstown.
On the fringe of Melbourne’s downtown core, was a majestic old red brick building, the Melbourne Baths, opened in 1860 where, until the 1940s, women and men bathed separately. The baths were originally built to encourage swimmers not to bathe in the Yarra River because of its pollution.
Decades later the river still appeared a suspicious brown, but I wasn’t intending to swim, just follow the river’s course on the opposite bank from Melbourne’s city centre. On an earlier visit, I’d taken a boat along the river. This time, I hiked past one restaurant after another while tourist boats cruised back and forth (featured photo).
Along a suburban section of the river, eight kilometres from the city centre, was Yarra Bend Park. This section ran through bush land that felt like I was far from the city. Much more relaxing that the inner-city section, gum trees leaned along the riverbank and the sound of running water was the perfect escape from a traffic filled city.
From here to there 