The Upside Down River

All through my life I have heard the Yarra River being referred to, usually in a derogatory manner, as the upside down river.  Never have I seen it so clearly as this last week, after the heavy rain on Christmas Day.
We wandered along the river bank at Yarra Bend park a few days after the storms and the river was brown, very brown. It almost doesn't look like a river.

It was good for seeing the shadows of the trees though.

I often wonder where all the silt comes from, if some farmers are missing their soil.  I know they hate the dust storms that occasionally sweep through and then dump lots of soil elsewhere, so I presume the floods aren't good either, although the silt is good for the areas where it is left I suppose.

You can see the silt built up along the bank.

Quite a lot of the silt got to the beaches though and there were reports that swimming was being advised against in quite a few of the bayside beaches.

I have often thought if using my photos of the area for a tapestry but am put off by the colour of the water. I haven't wanted to try weaving brown water. However, today there were interesting reflections of the sky and surrounds, made more interesting by the ripples caused by dogs cooling off.

The middle picture in the above group reminds me greatly of one I saw on My Life is but a Tapestry.  It is gorgeous. (Another link here.)  Maybe I can take inspiration from it - one day.