Melbourne Star observation wheel closes: Goodbye to the attraction no one asked for

The Melbourne Star has joined the Sydney monorail in the Great Infrastructure Resting Place in the Sky.

Having lived in London and then Singapore, I watched giant observation wheels pop up all over the world but was surprised to hear Melbourne was putting its hand up for one. Situated at Docklands, it was not the world's largest, fastest or most scenic wheel and it brought to mind that line from The Simpsons' monorail episode: "a town with money is like a mule with a spinning wheel – no one knows how he got it and danged if he knows how to use it".

Opened in 2008, the Southern Star, as it was known then, had an inauspicious start and shut just over a month later due to cracks in the structure. It took a further four-and-a-bit years to reopen (and for us to forget about those cracks). When it started up again as the Melbourne Star it seemed like the answer to a question that no one had asked: what does a Costco car park look like from slightly higher up?

You see the thing about an observation wheel is you need something to observe, not just building sites, vacant lots and how slowly time actually passes when stuck on an observation wheel. But there are Southbank balconies, rooftops and possibly basements that have a better view than the dear-departed star, an unavoidably large example of the property adage, location, location, location.

As a newly arrived Melbourne resident, I was invited to ride the wheel years ago by its then PR firm. They asked the whole family and the four of us, and a PR rep, wove our way up to the entry, pausing to take a photo in front of a pretend Melbourne tram façade.

I was writing about the wheel for another tourism dinosaur, the inflight magazine, and while I was not excited by the circular trip at least it would be fun for my boys then aged five and eight.

Up close the size of the wheel is truly impressive, on sheer engineering alone it is well worth a close look.