Canoe Tour and Walking with Uncle Ian Hunter

Yarra Bend Park Paddle

Contribute to the your well-being, the Yarra and the Melbourne community.
Paddling with a curator at Yarra Bend Park

Join Bupa and NGV during Bupa’s Healthy Cities Challenge for a unique canoe tour, as part of the program for Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070. The canoe tour will be led by Derek Cook of social enterprise Up the Creek. This unique event offers a firsthand exploration of the Birrarung over a 4km stretch between Studley Park Boat House and Fairfield Boat House.

As you paddle along the river, taking in the fresh air and green surrounds, your guides will provide insights into the environmental, cultural, and social significance of the river, highlighting its historical importance to Indigenous communities and its evolving role in the urban landscape.

The tour will connect past, present, and future, offering a comprehensive understanding of the river’s journey and the imagined outcomes as seen in the exhibition and will be accompanied by NGV’s Senior Curator Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design Ewan McEoin.

Fitness level: Easy-moderate

The program will be split into two sessions:

Session 1
Time: 10:00am — 12:30pm
Meeting point: Studley Park Boat House
Paddling to: Fairfield Boat House
After your session, you will be bussed back to Studley Park Boat House

Session 2
Time: 1:30pm — 4:00pm
Meeting point: Fairfield Boat House
Paddling to: Studley Park Boat House
After your session, you will be bussed back to Fairfield Boat House

A healthy lunch will be provided by the team at STREAT. Tickets for this program are limited.

This program is co-presented by Bupa and the NGV in association with the exhibition Reimagining Birrarung: Design Concepts for 2070.

Walking Up The Creek with Uncle Ian Hunter at Sparks Reserve

Join Derek, your guide from Up The Creek alongside Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Ian Hunter to take a walk along Birrarung during Bupa’s Healthy Cities challenge. Learn about the state and the history of the river, through the eyes of its custodians and advocates.

The walk will see the group meeting at Sparks Reserve, near the corner of the Boulevard and Hedelberg rd.  We will wander the darabin trail past golf courses and over the Birrarung to Willsmere in Kew.

Please be sure to bring a sturdy pair of shoes and a bottle of water. Tickets to this event are strictly limited.

 

On The Day,

Meeting at Turnpike Road, bring walking gear, jacket, sun protection and a water bottle.

The whole of life is coming to terms with yourself and the natural world. Why are you here? How do you fit in? What is it all about?

David Attenborough

Up the Creek journeys can lead to:

  • Engaging with nature as a collaborator
  • Thriving and finding joy working with forces beyond our direct control
  • Reduced risk in the present - inoculate against risky behaviour in the future
  • Transformed capacity to learn for improved productivity
  • Creating lifelong connections to self, nature and others
  • Overcoming blockages to learning
  • Building authentic self-directed learning

Join us, come collaborate with nature!