Welcome to another post in this yearly series!

Unfortunately this year has been one of much frustration on this blog. The forced injection of “AI enhancements” into many online tools has now taken root and noticeably spread through nearly everything. Even as I type this I have to constantly dodge an “add AI Assistant” button that persists in my WordPress editor despite all my efforts to turn it off.

I uploaded over 5,000 new photos to Flickr, increasing the total number to over 35,000. I continue to publish almost all of them under a Creative Commons license.

In January I started my research and filming for one of my most popular YouTube videos to date on retro shopping centres in Melbourne. One of my favourites is the Paramount Centre between Bourke and Little Bourke Streets in the city.

It’s a wonderful modernist design that has remained more or less untouched since it was built.

February was still very hot but there were some brief periods of respite. One of the best places to go during warm days is the Dandenong Ranges. Despite having been many times I had never climbed Mount Dandenong itself from the bottom, so this is what I did.

It was a lot of fun hiking all the way up along some lesser-known tracks. I caught a train to Croydon followed by a bus to the edge of Montrose to get to the start. You also get into Skyhigh for free this way!

The way back down is steep and sometimes precarious. But it is well worth it to see the best views from the side of the mountain.

Melbourne’s events calendar seems at its busiest in March. I went to have a look at the Grand Prix’s public transport arrangements which I wrote about here. It was very impressive to see.

Earlier that month the annual Glenferrie Festival was in full swing. Glenferrie Road is closed to traffic and opened to people as hundreds of stalls and activities line its entire length between Burwood Road and Barkers Road in Hawthorn.

Throughout the year I’ve continued my random travels to different parts of Melbourne. Sometimes I have a specific place or scene to capture for gaps in Wikipedia articles. Other times are more wandering and less organised, like my trip to South Yarra and Richmond in April.

May was the beginning of a four week trip to parts of Europe and Africa, stopping in Singapore on the way. I started in Morocco which was an absolutely incredible place to visit. I am still making my way through sorting my photos and will hopefully find time to write up more on this blog about my visit.

In Singapore I walked through the historic Tiong Bahru neighbourhood. It has many important landmarks, including the very first of the now-ubiquitous community centres, opened in 1951. Nearby is the Rail Corridor, an abandoned railway line now used as a shared walking and cycling path.

As always, the food was a highlight. Amongst other things, I went back to the Chinatown stall that sells what I think is the best ice cendol on the planet.

Due to a series of fortunate events, I was able to fly business class from here for the first time in my life. As noted in my post, I didn’t pay anything close to full price, otherwise I would have never done this.

There are so many other things to say about this trip that I’ll have to leave for future posts.

In June I finished my trip in Milan in Italy. Although I had been in the region before I never visited the city. Despite what I had heard from some others before I really enjoyed my time there. Not least because I think it has some of the best-looking trams and tram street scenes in the world!

The Dandenong Ranges beckoned in July for the middle of winter. It’s wonderful and cool this time of year and doesn’t seem to have as many tourists around. Although the tracks are nothing more than very slippery mud, places like Sherbrooke Falls are always a relaxing place to walk around and be in nature.

In early August I started the first of several trips into the city to get photos of scenes that may not be around for much longer. First of these was Z class trams operating on the route 57 on Elizabeth Street. With the incoming G class trams, I’m not sure how much longer these older vehicles will be seen plying this route.

I also went out for a ride along the Main Yarra and Koonung Creek Trails to continue my documentation of progress on the North East Link. There are many things to say about this project, but the one thing that you absolutely cannot miss when you’re there is the sheer scale of it.

September was a good time to head down to the Mornington Peninsula. It’s cold and windy, which I think is an important part of the experience to visit Victoria’s coastline. All the history and dramatic scenery at Point Nepean is worth the trip down to the southernmost extremity of Greater Melbourne.

In October I was very lucky to be invited to the media launch for the Metro Tunnel. We saw the press conference and then taken down into the newly-opened State Library Station for a tour and photos.

Speaking of the Metro Tunnel, on 30 November it opened to regular passenger traffic. I won’t go through all the details as I’ve written and made a video about it before, but suffice to say it was a very fun day.

Also happening in November was one of the many events that are held at the Queen Victoria Market. This month it was the Colours of Malaysia Festival with heaps of food, performances and even some stalls from the Malaysian Government with a ‘Guess the Weight of the Durian’ competition.

One of my last walking trips in December was through Reservoir and Macleod. I am trying to document as many of the 1950s and 60s brick houses in this area as possible before they are gradually demolished to make way for larger, contemporary buildings. They are a special part of Melbourne’s suburban history, without which they would look and feel very different.

Happy 2026!