4 March 2010

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).

the before photo: d, m & j

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

puffing billy: aka the greater dandenong owl

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.

moss

d: here i am, with these ferns, oh yes

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!)

spiky leaf plant macro flower of the spiky leaf plant

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:

d & m, n'awwwww!

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

wahhh, not the blackberries!

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.

cumulus congestus

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

d, j, m (2)

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

3 comments:

  1. What fab photos (as usual)
    I know nothing about leaves or plants so can only assume that 'mum' is Lis???
    Looking forward to our Yorkshire walks (and pub meals!)
    Love

    Dan's mum xxxx

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  2. Now I'm intrigued about those spikes on leaves too! I swear I saw something like that once in an Arizona desert arboretum, of all places, but I'll be damned if I can remember what it was...

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  3. hello! yes, it was me (j) writing, so i was talking to my mum! mmm, yorkshire and pubs! we want to climb this hill! want to come?!

    JHM, another friend said it reminded them of "bed of nails" aka Solanum quitoense, but it doesn't look the same according to my googling! it's a mystery!

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