Road Trip - Day 1

[den]

Day 0 was all travel from Dubbo to Melbourne. Ada the GPS* got me through Melbourne with no hassles except for once telling me to turn left to get to azhdragon's place, when no turn existed. She was a little fixated with travelling on the motorways and didn't like me taking minor roads. The motorways through Melbourne are great, except they make my e-tag bleep alarmingly every few kilometres. I wonder how badly my account was hit.

The day was quite cool, grey and raining, of course. It always rains in Melbourne. azhdragon, Deb and I loaded ourselves into the Mk2 Batmobile and headed into the Dandenong Range. We ended up at Grant's Picnic Ground, a small area surrounded by tall stringybark trees, a species of eucalyptus that is the tallest flowering plant. We saw a few kookaburras, many mountain rosellas, and my first wild lyrebird.



Deb fed a rosella, but I know how hard they can bite so I didn't.


My very first wild lyrebird


From there we headed to the very top of Mount Dandenong. It would have been really nice if the sun was shining. Even so, the view was pretty spectacular. Melbourne looks good from a distance.


We wandered around, saw The Big Chair, and went inside for a warm-up and coffee.

azhdragon and Deb




Then I dragged my helpless passengers down to Emerald Lakes so I could put on my anorak and look at the Puffing Billy steam train. Today's engine was a Garrett!



Anorak off, and then to the cafe for a very nice late lunch and back to Berwick.

Dinner that night was at damienps and jazzerat's place. I wish I'd taken my camera to get some photo of Damien's Starwars lego.

I got back to Alex & Deb's at 11pm.

Have some random photos.

Wood Ducks


Berries


Woody Wrinkles






* named after Ada Lovelace, first lady of computing.

Comments

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! You have to get them at a very young age and they can become very tame.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

It's more common to see eastern rosellas (http://www.mdahlem.net/birds/12/eastros.php) in aviaries. I prefer any species of rosella over budgies. Wild budgies are quite different from the aviary birds.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Wild budgies are boring. (http://www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/kids/nature/birds/images/budgie.jpg)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[ngarewyrd.livejournal.com]

I know those berries!

hee, good ol Kangaroo apples! they're quite tasty too!

[hespa.livejournal.com]

I've got one in my garden, but it doesn't want to grow. {:=8(

Surprised me, that, since they come up like weeds all through Banyule. Gorgeous leaves and flowers on them too.

[ngarewyrd.livejournal.com]

Heh, I planted one in my mother's garden one year, it took about three months to grow an inch, then three days to grow three feet...

then it got out of control and took over the corner it was in

[hespa.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've met that lyrebird - I fear calling her "wild" is stretching the term a little, since she seems to reside at Grant's and probably lives near-entirely off tourist seed. Sorry if that sounds a bit cynical; earlier this year I got to hear the Dandenong Ranges' head ranger's rant about Grant's (the only area within the park that isn't Parks Vic run) and their impact on the local birdlife.

But enough of that - nice to hear you're in Melbourne, and I'm very jealous of you exploring the Dandenongs; it's a beautiful area. If you're ever around town and at a loose end, feel free to prod me (mobile is 0414 418 833) - it's been something of an era since we've met up in person and I for one would be very interested to see what we have to talk about these days.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I was there last week but I ran out of time to see people. 8(

[chezmax]

Wow. Beautiful view from the mountain!

[hedgegoth.livejournal.com]

TRAIN!

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

And a proper train not a weird looking one :)

[sleepyjohn00.livejournal.com]

Ada may not like local roads, but at least she doesn't play games with you. (http://xkcd.com/407/)

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

yes, that made me laugh. Ada does say "Left," "Right," or "Straight on," based on my heading.

[jazzerat.livejournal.com]

It was quite fun meeting you! I was just thinking about you earlier today and wondering how the return trip went!
If you ask Damien, I'm quite certain he would gladly share some pictures your direction. He likely doesn't need a lot of encouragement to get out his camera and show his lego off. :)

[smof.livejournal.com]

What's with the massive chair?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Buggered if I know. It's just this big chair.