Australia Day 2011

Happy Australia Day! I've been looking forward to a lazy day the whole of last week, having found it difficult to get into work lately (I know I'll pay for it tomorrow and Friday!!). Today Gaz and I went to Herring Island. Sounds very exciting, evokes images of sandy beach, sunshine, nice isolation... actually Herring Island is in the middle of the Yarra River which runs through the city.

Herring Island is a man made island, made with silt dredged from Yarra River. Later on, trees were planted on the island to hold the soil together, local vegetation planted, artists were invited to make sculptures for display on the island, and the island was opened in 1995.

To get to the island, we got on a punt for the short distance to the island. One gets on the punt, pay $2 for a return trip per person, count to 15 and hey presto, you're there!


The island is maintained by Parks Victoria and is an excellent place for picnics, barbeques or just a slow amble around the place exploring the numerous sculptures in a beautiful setting away from the city bustle. Besides enjoying a short picnic on the grounds, touring the art gallery and watching artists at work, we also went for a free guided tour around the island with an artist and Friend of the Island, Damien. I'm glad that we joined the tour as it provided a lot of information on the origin and development of the island as well as very knowledgeable insights into each and every sculpture on the island.


Andy Goldsworthy - Castlemaine rock

We caught a glimpse of some pilot action, part of the Australia Day festivities in the nearby city centre.


Another Andy Goldsworthy - the guide mentioned that in Scotland, walls were usually built with holes in them to shelter sheep in bad weather. (Andy Goldsworthy OBE born a Briton, lives in Scotland).