Desperate to get out of the house for some exercise, we headed off to find the mysterious foot-bridge over the Yarra. Yesterday morning, a casual browse through the street directory showed that what we had thought was only a rail-bridge between Richmond and South Yarra appeared to have a footpath alongside. All this brought on by the trivia question “How many churches are there in Richmond?” Sure enough, once we managed to find the access track down behind the Country Road offices, there is a set of stairs up onto the rail lines, and then a footpath over the river.

Once over the river, we continued all the way back along the southern bank to MacRobertson Bridge, a two-hour walk by the time we got home, and one that was nerve wracking in places as families wobbled past on their newly-unwrapped department store bicycles — knees stuck out to the sides from seats too low and helmets on the backs of their heads. Near Herring Island we stopped to watch a heron, or maybe an egret, stalking along in the shallows. Apparently Herring Island is named after Sir Whats-his-name Herring, who had something to do with the Boy Scouts, and not after the little fish, which made sense, since I don’t think any self-respecting herring would care to be caught this far up the muddy river.