I came upon a new challenge today while reading Becky’s post – all about nature from Denzil Nature. Nature’s eyes are always on us! This week’s nature photo challenge is to capture the beauty of nature’s eyes. Eye wonder if eye’m up to the challenge.
Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal – Samuel Richardson
After spending the last ten days practically housebound with the flu and asthma, I finally took myself off the couch and out for a walk. Time to get some fresh air into my lungs and stretch my legs and also gather some new material for this dormant blog.
I drove to the carpark along the river and decided to take a left turn so I could walk closer to the beach. After coming to the end of the trail I wandered off through some woods which took me back to the beach and I followed the beach around to the birdlife conservation area. I’m not sure why I’ve never done this before, but I’ll definitely be doing this again.
Trees for Cee’s Black and White Challenge, if you look closely there’s also a bronze sculpture for Marsha’s PPAC and a bench for Xing-Fu
It looks like Spring is truly here and it was wonderful to get out in the sun once again.
As Laurence and Maddy only have the weekend and evenings to spend with us I thought it would be nice to get out of Melbourne for the weekend. So we packed up the car and drove out of Melbourne towards the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was Torquay for lunch along the seafront. We had blue sky and sun all the way.
It was another hour’s drive from here and it was coastal all the way with fantastic views. Arriving in Lorne around 4pm, I was dismayed when I saw our accommodation! It looked like a prison block, the photographer had excelled himself with photoshop. The sheets were clean at least, but everywhere else was quite grimy. You get what you pay for, and it meant more for dinner!
We went for a short walk before dinner but it was very chilly so we didn’t stay out too long.
Lorne was founded in 1869 and is now a popular surfing and holiday spot. It gets incredibly busy during summer. There is a huge caravan and camping site almost on the beach. Cafes, restaurants and bars line the parade along with gift shops and boutiques.
The white cockatoos are enormous and very tame. It’s a wonder they can still fly.
We had a gastronomic gourmet dinner that evening with cocktails and wine. It was an Asian Fusion restaurant overlooking the ocean.
As usual I forgot to take more photos of the food.
After a fairly good night’s sleep for all of us except Maddy who was suffering from a sore throat, we found a cafe along the front for an FEB – Full English Breakfast. Next on our itinerary was a trip to the waterfalls, of which there were many in this region. The drive to the carpark was only 30 minutes and there were different trails to walk. We chose the shortest one, around a 40 minute round trip. Ankle deep mud and fallen trees made this walk quite arduous.
Laurence had crocs on with white socks, Maddy had white trainers on and Anthony had walking shoes on. Luckily for me I had waterproof boots on but not hiking boots. We came across a couple with proper boots and the mud was up over their ankles! But we pressed on regardless.
At one point, to try and avoid the mud I thought I would walk to the side holding onto the ferns. The ferns slipped out of my hands and I ended up doing a downward dog pose and couldn’t move, my face was inches from the mud. Laurence tried to grasp me around the middle and kept telling me to let go, he would pull me up. Maddy was watching and crying with laughter at this point. I will never relinquish my title of being the most accident prone person.
Although the waterfall was quite underwhelming, we all enjoyed the walk apart from the mud now caked on our shoes and splattered over our legs.
We were soon back in the car and on our journey back to Melbourne. Stopping for lunch in a pub on the way home, we sat outside and enjoyed a bottle of wine, until a young boy kicked a ball right into my face! I honestly thought my nose was broken, it was such a shock. Luckily it wasn’t just very bruised. The dad made the poor boy come over and apologise, I felt quite sorry for him. Not such a great finish to a tremendous weekend!
This week for one word Sunday, Debbie at Travel with Intent has chosen “Pond or Ponder”. I’ve found a few with quotes to go with my photos. Stay a while and ponder.
It is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a mighty ocean
Our little fish pond, built in 2012. Different fish and some more plants, but still going strong. DH’s (Dear Hubby) hobby.
“I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~
“Remain in the world, act in the world, do whatsoever is needful, and yet remain transcendental, aloof, detached, a lotus flower in the pond.”
― Osho, The Secret of Secrets
It’s the smallest fish in the pond that has the most room to swim – or the smallest cow!
A gallery of wildflowers for Friendly Friday, a three weekly challenge. This week it was Amanda’s turn over at Something to Ponder About.
Some of you may have seen these photos before as dear hubby and I have been on a couple of trips about two hours North of Perth. Wildflowers in this region start blooming from July.
The famous Wreath flower. These are truly amazing flowers and look like they’ve been handmade and left in the dirt. Their real name is Lechenaultia and flower from August in Western Australia.
This is a map of the one of the routes. There aren’t that many places to stay so booking accommodation is essential well ahead of time as it’s a very popular trip.
I’m having a ball with trees for Becky’s July Squares and also Cee’s Trees or Tree parts. So I’ve gone out on a limb with these ones.
Does anyone know what the above tree is, it’s got me stumped
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
Trees for July Squares hosted by Becky at The Life of B and also for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Water in Nature.
Not the prettiest but a life well lived! They still have their uses as perches for birds. Taken this morning on my walk around Lake Claremont, Perth, WA.
This week’s CFFC from Cee is green foliage.
Looking up the other morning while having my coffee outside, my eye caught sight of this large spider web. I thought it would make a good photo. It’s quite a deceptive shot as there is the lawn between the web and the bougainvillea.
Posted as part of Becky’s Bright Squares.
Time for another challenge! There are so many to choose from, thanks to all those bloggers who are happy to host. This one is hosted by Cee Neuner, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.
I’ve managed to find something for all three 😁
I really enjoyed all three of these books and can highly recommend. Invisible Girl is my book for February Book Club, a psychological thriller set in London. Magpie Lane also a psychological thriller this time set in Oxford around the university and lastly The Other Bennet Sister a spin off from Pride and Prejudice – did you ever wonder what happened to Miss Mary Bennet?
