Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pound Bend and a (Not) Drinking Lizard

More on the subject of lizards (drinking or otherwise) in a moment.

I’m not going to post any more of our Tassie trip today. Instead I’m going to yarn about a walk Deb and I did a couple of weeks ago.

A few weeks ago Deb and I had a Sunday to kill. We had a lazy lunch at a café we frequent called ‘Wild Wombat’. Then we drove to a Melbourne suburb called Warrandyte for a walk along a stretch of the Yarra River.You wouldn’t think you were in a suburb of Melbourne - here the river meanders through a number of bush reserves.
The lower Yarra is often very brown, but this stretch is usually clear. This muddy look is from all the rain we have had this summer.

We followed these rough stairs down to the river’s edge.There at the bottom about half of the river’s flow seems to be making its way towards the cliff face.I scrambled to the corner to show you why. Meet the “Pound Bend Tunnel”.The tunnel is an artefact of the gold rush period in the 1870s. Miners diverted the river so they could get access to the river bed to search for alluvial gold.
The faint circle in the middle of the piccie is from a stray beam of sunlight filtering down from above and catching my camera lens.

Then as I turned to look back up the river… I noticed a local was checking me out. Can you see?This guy is a Golden Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii) I think he/she is very handsome. He/she is a medium sized member of this species probably about 20cm (8in) long.
They are one of around 400 species of skink lizards native to Oz (we have about 800 lizard species in all).
Now speaking of lizards.
Last Thursday I challenged you to guess what the slang term ‘flat out like a lizard drinking’ meant.
The key to the phrase is simply in the first two words ‘flat out’. So for most Aussies ‘flat out like a lizard drinking’ means ‘very busy’. Fair dinkum!

9 comments:

Vicki Rocho said...

Awesome pics as always. You see more creatures on your walks. All I ever see is birds, though I know there are lots of other things living in the area.

Angela said...

What gorgeous pics! I like your little lizard friend.

Hart Johnson said...

Oh, gorgeous! You're right... does NOT look urban at all! And I love the lizard (and Aussie slang)

Old Kitty said...

I got that wrong then!!! LOL!! Flat out as in working flat out rather than horizontal sleeping! LOL!!!

Awww that skink is BEAUTIFUL!!! Awww!!!

Thanks for the gorgeous pics and info! take care
x

Misha Gerrick said...

Nice pics!

It looks like it was a nice walk. You know, you really make me want to go to Australia one day.

For a visit. ;-)

Denise Covey said...

Al, this is an awesome walk you've taken us on. Yes, who would have thought you're in a Melbourne suburb? Lovely pics. I like the sound of the Wild Wombat cafe too.

Denise<3

RosieC said...

Great pictures, as always. It looks like a beautiful place for a walk. Thanks for sharing them :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Al .. thanks - interesting to see the Yarra, the bush and the miner's tunnel .. and as Denise says the cafe sounds good too.

Thanks for showing us the golden water skink .. good shot!

Love these tours .. cheers Hilary

Jai Joshi said...

Totally fair dinkum. Now that I truly understand what that expression means it's a joy to speak it.

Thanks for showing us this adorable little fellow. I find lizards and snakes to be fascinating.

Jai