23 July 2009

WALKS THROUGH THE AGES . . . WELL, PAST 2 YEARS

here's a post full of thumbnail pictures of before and after photos of most of the walks we've done since 2006-ish.

i made little booklets! the after shot: success! the after shot: OM NOM NOM BISCUITS at laburnum station d, j & sj: thumbs up, we're done! m, j, d: the after shot after the war, i mean, walk srs walking shoes colder, colder j is GRUMPY! before pic stunt reading! in the beginning! home again home again jiggety jog the before picture: d, sj, l &m sweat it! before: g, j, sj & d two bays walk: the before shot! sj, b, d, j & e - the before picture walk march 08: in the beginning j & d on the go DSCF9723 m, j & d: before, in finchley the usual 'before' picture before picture 1 ridgeway: the before picture the before shot: d&j 9/5/08:  picking up a companion teamwork! j and d set off on another walk! HAWT + 1 brrrrrrrrrr - before the walk kissykissy (posers!) the mormon and the prof in the beginning obligatory before snap d, j and sj: we made it! quick, we must have a photo waterproofed: l, m, sj, d d&j: the after shot the after shot: tired and pleased with ourselves "i'll photoshop myself in later" before #2

thumbs up! after shot with bea being distracted

21 July 2009

SUNDAY 12 JULY: MORDIALLOC TO CARRUM

Often people ask me how we find walks or how we decide where to walk. The answer in this case is easy: it’s walk #21 from Day Walks: Melbourne by John Chapman, Monica Chapman and John Sisemann (first edition). It's 18-19km, starting at Mordialloc station, walking down the beach to Carrum (Paterson River), up the river to Long Beach Path, and inland past the wetlands back to the start.



We first did this walk in June last year and thought it was high time to re-visit it! Here are the photos from last time, and here are our photos from this time, and here are SJ's pics.

We arrived in Mordialloc at about 9am. Although you can catch the train to the beginning/end of this walk, SJ was kind enough to drive us – a good thing when you have an extremely bouncy dog coming along for the walk! It was cold and windy (it’s been so windy in Melbourne over the last week or so) when we arrived, and SOME OF US were not looking forward to the walk due to the wind (I get sore ears really easily, OK?!).

j is GRUMPY! before pic

trying to keep the wind out of my ears 1 trying to keep the wind out of my ears 2
Trying to keep my ears warm – some foolish person forgot his beanie!


Last time we walked here, some of the first bit along the creek was blocked off. This time, however, we got to stroll along the boardwalk beside the boats for a (very) short time, before heading through the back streets and laneways to the beach. Once we got there, things started looking up. The sun was out (intermittently), the wind was behind us (thank goodness) and the sand was firm (low tide was around 12 noon).

boardwalk along mordialloc creek

path to the beach, mordialloc


We’d half planned to get some chips from the kiosk like last time, but it was closed, oh noes! So we kept on down the beach, keeping an eye out for interesting things. Here are some of the interesting things:

jelly mould / jelly fish
A jellyfish that looks like a jelly!

skull in the sand
A skull, which we couldn’t identify. Can you?

sand patterns
Patterns in the sand.

pier / jetty (works every time)
The jetty. ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE, DAD!


Swans (photo by SJS)


The beach part of the walk was very different from last year. Then, there was a sea mist over everything when we started, and it kept up for most of the way. This time we could see our destination as soon as we got onto the sand, and we could see across the bay to Arthur’s Seat on the peninsula. The clouds were pretty cool, too.

port phillip bay

sky over melbourne near mordialloc


We stopped for morning tea at a new (we think) playground, which was pretty cool!

awesome playground!

db is a salty lighthousekeeper


I didn’t mention yet, but Beatrice had SUCH AN AWESOME TIME! Here, have some pictures!

three shadows and dog!

girl & dog


Photo by SJS


Photo by SJS


She was even cute enough that we didn’t steal this dog to replace her:

scamper scamper: whippet? italian greyhound?


At Paterson River we sat down for a few minutes and watched life go by, but soon we were on our feet again, walking the 2 kms inland to the Long Beach Trail, peeking into people’s back yards and deciding which house we would buy.

white ???
These flowers were out, but I don’t know what they’re called? There are purple ones, too.


We stopped for lunch on the very same bench as last time and had quite a similar meal (roast potatoes . . . how NOT unusual!) Then we continued on the long, VERY STRAIGHT path back to the beginning. OMG. So straight. And because it’s so straight it feels like it takes FOREVER.

sj & db on the mordialloc walk

b&w long beach path with lens flare


Photo by SJS


SJ tried to involve B in her tree obsession, but B was more interested in eating the pizza she found on the path.

sj is a professor of trees

NUUU IT ARE MY BIRTHDAY!


We had afternoon tea, and called in on the bird hide in the Edithvale wetlands. The hide was still closed, but at least this time the wetlands had WET in them. We saw lots of birds, and we heard frogs several times, too, which was lovely.

db & sj on our afternoon tea break


In the end, although I whinged for the last kilometre (déjà vu!) about my feet being so bloody sore, we decided it was a successful walk.

thumbs up! after shot with bea being distracted


We even tired B out!

*floomp*