05.09 Southern Star Observation Wheel

The face of Docklands is constantly changing, so just to show you what can happen in six months around here, I've added the following photos of the developments happening at the back of our apartment.

When we arrived in March there were four and half days (with Friday afternoons off), from 7am to 5pm, of constant banging from the driving of piles into the ground! Since then the banging has stopped and is now on the other side of Docklands as they continue with the extension of Collins Street - thank godness!

The ground is prepared, with more piles than you could image, and I think we heard each one go in! They had about five machines all working at the same time.

The support struts of the wheel were the first parts to be pieced together.

Almost one of the wheel supports has been completed at this stage. The other white objects lying on the ground behind are the legs for the other side.

The two completed supports are now free-standing and now have 'top-hats', which will be used to support the bearings of the giant wheel. The actual wheel is being constructed on the ground to the left in the yellow scaffolding (see below).


The hub of the wheel is lifted into place. The building under construction to the left is a shopping precinct, with another one planned on the other side of the wheel. So the wheel itself will pass through the middle.

As you can see from the photos, progress is pretty rapid round here. Not sure that it'll be finished in time before we leave though, but we'll see....