On the way home from work, I was surprised by the traffic slowing down on the River Torrens bridge on Henley Beach Road. So much so that I'm surprised to hear that there hasn't been any accidents, what with the slow traffic and the people all over the place. The bridge was crawling with people and the banks were covered as well.
Last week we went for a bike ride in this very same spot, sat near the banks and had a picnic tea. 5 days later and we couldn't even get near the area where we were only last week.
The kids and I went mad snapping pictures with the phone so here's a few.....
The path here runs below the cycle path, but was a little way back from the river bank, the tree you can see is on the edge of the bank.
It's hard to see here but the dark blobs in the middle of the water are trees and bushes from the edge of the river bank. The water in the river is usually a little below them.
Eilish and the park bench, again usually further back from the bank. You can't see it here but the high water mark is about halfway between Eilish and where the water is now.
Eilish and the park bench again!
Breandan in front of the bridge, you may not be able to see very clearly, but the cycle path that leads under the bridge is completely underwater! There is not so many people on the bridge now but only an hour earlier the entire side there was covered with people. As for the cycle path, there were more people walking and cycling along than I have ever seen along here before.
Where the kids are standing is the top of the stairs above the weir next to the bridge. There are several steps down to the normal level of the river to a weir that you are able walk across....Not now!!
We are on the other side of the bridge now, looking north. And yes what you can see is a couple of silly cyclists who decided to have a go at getting through! They didn't get very far and one went a little further along the bank and lowered his bike from the shoulder of the bridge. The water reached 3/4 of the way up the handle bars, it was so deep.
A closer shot of the cycle path where it disappears under the bridge, you can see the tracks of where the intrepid explorers went in... and the fence along side of the path has debris hanging off of it.
A shot of Eilish looking north from the bridge. Now usually you can see the artificial wetlands and weir created to cleanse the river. Even with the most rain we've had you could always see where the water was tumbling over the weir, now it's so high there is no obvious indication of the wetlands.
I believe that this sign in the middle of the river is one of the ones on the edge of the bank saying that there is to be no swimming in the river or something of that sort. Of course now you can't even get close enough to read it!
This would have to be my favourite shot. It's absolutely gorgeous and you wouldn't know that there are houses right next to the river, behind the tree on the left hand side (you might be able to see the fences just below the bend in the branch). It reminds me of the River Murray, but much higher up stream. This section of the river is only 200 - 500 metres up river from the bridge, but being much narrower the speed of the water racing through is amazing!!!
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