21st April 2011

It rained in the night but cleared sufficiently in the morning for us to drive up into the Dandenong Hills but at one point the Navman instructions came too late for Barry to change lanes prior to a roundabout, so took the second exit instead of the third. The Navman gave it new instructions to our intended destination via very narrow dirt roads and being in the hills meant gravitational exits if you get it wrong. We obviously didn’t, and arrived at the National Rhododendron Gardens in tact but unfortunately

Foxy had to stay in the car whilst we took the walk through the extensive gardens which were very impressive. The autumn colours of the deciduous trees compensated for the Rhododendrons’ not being in flower and as an extra bonus we briefly saw a Lyre bird which we have looked for on several occasions without success and believed them to be purely mythical creatures. Now we know they actual exist but are not keen on posing for a camera.

23rd April 2011

This was supposed to be a warm sunny day so we drove up to Mount Macedon where we visited in 2005 when we stayed at Steve and Terry’s place in Woodend prior to moving to the Grampians.

We parked and walked to the war memorial cross and then on the way back down the mount we parked and took a 20 minute walk to the lookout on the Camel’s hump which provides views across to Hanging Rock.

We then drove to Hanging Rock which we also visited with Steve and Terry and spent the afternoon climbing and walking within this popular area, due to the mystery attached to it.

We then drove on to Woodend and checked out Steve and Terry’s house which they will be returning to in the not too distant future. We had intending going on to Trentham Falls but decided to head home as time had got away from us and will go there in a couple of weeks time when we move to Creswick.

25th April 2011

We had another final farewell lunch with Garon and Sue as we had not moved on to Warburton as they were fully booked for the Easter period, and Garon was back from his business trip in America. Unfortunately he had caught a cold, probably from the extended confinement of the plane trip back, so he wasn’t at his best but the lunch was great.

26th April 2011

We packed up the camp ready to move out tomorrow

27th April 2011

We moved on to Warburton which is a somewhat more attractive place than the Warburton in WA with real trees and grass rather than red dirt and spinifex. Barry has managed to catch a cold (where could that have come from) which is slowing him down a bit so we are hoping he gets over it quickly whilst we still have some good weather available to look around the area. The foliage in this area is very dense and they do not burn off the ground litter like WA does, so it is not surprising that the bushfires here are very intense.

 Merry has taken Foxy for a walk alongside the Yarra River and into town.

29th April 2011

Barry had a better night sleep and is feeling considerably better with the aid of Demazin day & night tablets so in the afternoon we took a walk along the Yarra to the swing bridge and cross and walked the 500 metres to the river lookout.

In theory one is supposed to return along the same path but there was a trace of a rough path that Merry checked out and deemed to be okay as a way back on this side of the river. It did eventually come out onto an old disused road the that led back to the main road not far from the caravan park entrance, but it involve tracking through muddy areas where water was making its way down the hill that we were having to go over, pushing through brambles and climbing up very slippery slopes in the process. We passed what appeared to be a kids’ hideaway in the middle of this tangled mess, but did make it out alive.

30th April 2011

We drove into the picturesque town and strolled beside more of the Yarra River then crossed the main road to the war memorial and visitor centre, which boasts a water wheel, and on to Boinga Bill’s unusual house before crossing the main road again and buying some homemade pepper/steak pies from the Three Sugars Cafe. After lunch, and having voting these pies to be equal to or possibly better than the Ross Bakery pies which we would have thought impossible, we drove up to the lookout on the top of 1250 metre Mount Donna Buang and climbed the 128 steps.

The views would have been better on a clear day but who knows when that is actually going to happen, especially at this time of the year when people still use wood burning fires. However, the views were still pretty good despite not being able to see the western bays which are supposed to be visible in the extreme distance. On the way up we had another mythical lyre bird run across the road ahead of us, but again it didn’t consider the need to stop and pose for us.

On the way back down we stopped at the rainforest Gallery which we thought was an art gallery but is in fact an air walk out to an observation platform 15 metres high to look down on the rainforest and steps beside it going down into the rain forest,  here is a circuit through the forest with an offshot to view Cement Creek and included another 100 steps or so, to get back out again.