ANOTHER GO AT THE DANDENONGS . . .

This time with our friend M, who was visiting from the UK. We'd walked all of this 12km loop from Belgrave station before, but not as one route - it combined the first part of our last walk (the longer route from the station to Grant's Picnic Ground) and the second part of our usual walk (from Grant's to O'Donohue Picnic Ground then back via Sherbrooke Falls).



We started the walk just in time to see Puffing Billy leaving on its Sunday morning run, which was cool!



We trudged up the hill, and then dipped steeply back down into the valley, which was nice and cool. The day had started overcast, but was sunny and in the mid-high 20s by the time lunch rolled around.





I found a few interesting plants this time around, including this one with spikes on its leaves. Does anyone reading know what it is? (Mum? You're probably one of the 4 people reading, anyway, so perhaps you will know!)



We made very good time. M is a speedy walker, and we're used to walking with people who are slower than us, and also to stopping a lot to enjoy the surrounds and take photographs. We were at Grant's in next to no time, and we had lunch there instead of at O'Donohue as we usually might, because we were starving!

About a third or half way up the hill across the road (on Clematis Track, for those playing at home) we met a man with his two young kids, who asked us how far it was to Sherbrooke Falls. We didn't have a map on us (I know! It was an adventure!), but we let him know that at their rate it was going to take quite a while to get there and back to Grant's . . . they had no provisions at all, and it isn't a little stroll!

I didn't take many more photos, because we've been there lots of times and because we were going quite fast. But I did snap a pic of D and M in the bush:



. . . And a photo of something that makes me sadddd!



I know they're a pest and a weed and they need to be contained, but . . . blackberries! I wants to eat 'em!

We ended with the usual cuppa at Queen of Tarts cafe (which was hideously hot inside - they really need to invest in a better aircon), and then hopped on the train back to the city. On the way back home, we got a good view of these wonderful cumulus congestus clouds.



And on that note, we shall say goodbye until next time!



(We're leaving for the UK in a week! Yay! Expect more posts soon - travel and fashion related!)