Swan River Melville

Between East Fremantle (the Yacht Club) and Melville (the Water Polo Centre) there's a bit of very ordinary grass...

... from which to admire Rodney.

Not many people at the old Melville baths...

... but stacks in the Water Polo Centre ...

... tho I had to stick the camera thro the bars to see in.

It looks more pleasant at the river.

Life is tough for some residents of Blackwall Reach...

... but not some others, apparently.

One last shot before going home.

Another day, I continue a bit further along the riverside.
I used to take the kids here occasionally.
Cute little beach and jetty.

This is the beginning of the walk through the bush of the Point Walter Reserve.

This will save me typing.

Another sign that might have been more helpful had I got it all in the frame.
This shows a disadvantage of a viewfinder camera compared to an SLR.

Only gardeners allowed in here.

Everyone else goes up here.

The path winds attractively uphill...

... and down dale ...

mysteriously.

At some points, one is allowed to leave the paved path to go ...

... to a lookout, from which...

... to look back at the jetty we came from...

... and onward to the next lookout...

There must be caves down there.

See!

For much of the way there's an unpaved path more or less parallel with the concrete one.

This view has been the same for thousands of years.

The cliffs are succeeded by a pleasant beach.
I walked the rest of the way to the Point along the shoreline, but the sandy beach ran out,
and I was too busy clambering over rocks to take many photos.

There are four bird species in this snap.

I counted 33 black swans (cygnus atratus) in this bit of river, but couldn't fit them all into the photo.
It's the largest number I've seen in one place in my life.

The bits of fingernail you see in the previous photo are the sails of the kitesurfers.
There were many here on Point Walter Spit this morning taking advantage of a fresh easterly.

I'll walk out on the Spit another day.
It's quite a serious walk in itself.

This is where my walk terminates today: the Point Walter jetty...

...and the kiosk, now apparently called Walter's Riverside Cafe.

Here's the beginning of my way back.

The next day, I did walk out to the end of the Spit.
I wasn't walking fast, and it took me eighteen minutes.

Look how far it is back!

It's surprising how much vegetation is out there, so far from (proper) land.

It's much closer to Mosman Park than Melville: that's Mosmans Restaurant just over there.

And that's Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club, in Peppermint Grove.

A little further along the river path there's this cute little gate to the beach
It looks more foreboding in the photo than it does in real life so...

... I opened the gate, and welcomed us all in :D