Dandenong Ranges
After breakfast at the hotel, a large subset of our tour group boarded a bus for a trip to the Dandenong Ranges with a stop at a large reservoir park along the way to see Kangaroos (both living and deceased).
I will punch you!
Alas, poor Boomer, I knew him ....
Note Boomer's rib cage, bottom center.
At Dandenong we enjoyed an hour-long gentle hike through tall trees, nearly 100 years old. These trees were saplings to replace the established forest harvested to build Melbourne. It will take decades, if not centuries, for the forest to fully recover. But there was plenty of wildlife for us to see including Lyre birds, Crimson Rosellas, Cockatoo, and Kookaburra. Robert brought his camera and took some good photos.
I missed the story on why the tree is colorful.
Cockatoo: a beautiful bird that hides behind tree trunks until it squawks and flies randomly, leading to shots like this.
What do you get when you clearcut a rainforest? Really, really big ferns, that's what.
Crimson rosella. 200 mm lens.
Just at the end of the trail, kookaburras. Three total, two in this shot.
After our hike, we were treated to lunch in Sassafrass. True to the name, the drinks were made of tree bark steeped in water. While we ate our delicious meal warm inside, rain poured and wind gusted.
In the evening we were on our own for dinner and we had reservations at a gastropub, “Saint & Rogue”. It was fine, but it wasn’t special. So far we’ve eaten very well and so this was a little disappointing, while not at all bad.
Today we flew to Alice Springs and tomorrow we will overnight at a camp without internet. So, it will be a day or two before we post again.