the Dandenongs

Hello again from Stewart and Val's. Our wonderful hosts have just shown us their gorgeous part of the world! We spent the day east of Melbourne, starting with a long walk in the Sherbrook forest part of Dandenong National Forest. Incredible tall straight trees with an understory of tree ferns (about 10-15' tall). The tall trees are called mountain ash but are not like our mountain ash in Canada; they are a type of eucalypt. We ended our walk at a cafe where we had a Devonshire tea (tea with scones, jam and Devonshire cream) while watching the hordes of sulphur-crested cockatoos, crimson rosellas, galahs, and a kookaburra flock to the tourists to be fed - like mallards and seagulls at home. Next we drove to a viewpoint where we could see Melbourne in the distance - not a really clear day but we could see the city. Following that, we drove to the Yarra Valley north of here where we indulged in some wine tasting - good stuff! Shon, at first glance at the vines, wondered why they had so little growth, then it dawned on him that it is early spring here, not fall!! We stopped at a dairy for 'lunch' of their various cheeses, breads, quince jam and smoked trout. That was a lovely taste treat. The area around here has curvy roads with lovely treed lots and gardens - just beautiful. The Yarra Valley is a very green pastoral area once again. I guess spring is the time to be here as drought has kept the area brown most of the last few years - the reservoirs were UP to 51% in Canberra and are only at about 36% here!!

Val is currently making some pumpkin soup for Shon for dinner as we have not had any of this Aussie favourite yet. It is made with what we call butternut squash but they call it pumpkin here and do not have our orange pumpkins at all.

Dave and Jo, were there any videos downloaded from our camera onto your computer? We think we had taken some (more by accident in my case). No great worry - we just wondered.

Photos - kangaroos in a caravan park in Pambula, NSW and the mountain ash and fern trees from today - oops, just realized they are sideways so turn your head!

Tomorrow we will park our car at the train station near here, take the train into Melbourne for a day of exploring the city then catch a return train and head down the east side of Port Phillip Bay for the night. From there, we will catch a ferry across the mouth of the bay and start the Great Ocean Road for more awesome scenery. The forecast seems to be in our favour for some decent weather along that route.

I don't know where or when we will next find a computer so hugs to all of you until we do.

Love Les and Shon