The Yarra River and the gardens beyond are within a pleasant walking distance so that's where I headed, and on the way passed the Matthew Flinders monument in front of St Pauls. Matthew Flinders in the Investigator circumnavigated Australia in 1801-1803. His name is very well known in Australia. But he had an excellent crew as well, including Robert Brown, naturalist and botanist (my hero), Ferdinand Bauer, natural history painter, William Westall, landscape painter and Peter Good, gardener. Google any of these names and you'll see a lot of respect out there.
On my way down to the Yarra I stopped off at Federation Square ('Fed Square' to the locals) because I love the architecture and paving. And heard a sound I wasn't expecting, the call of a Little Wattlebird. It was in the low flowering gums, below. Now, in Geelong we never see a Little Wattlebird. We have to go down to the coast at Ocean Grove or Anglesea to see them, and even then it's not a given. So why are they happy to live in the centre of Melbourne?
