Hot!

It is 40ºC here today (104ºF) in other words pretty warm! This is just about the only hot weather we have had so far this summer.

Deb and I still wanted to get out, so we picked a spot we knew would be shady.

We drove to Badger Creek near Healesville and went for a walk in the Weir Park.

Healesville is on the edge of the Yarra Ranges and Badger Weir Park nestles up into a patch of rainforest on the edge of the Range.

It is only about a kilometre walk an mostly through trees, a perfect stroll for a hot day.

On the way up to the weir we took the main path which runs alongside a Melbourne Water Aqueduct similar to one I posted about a while ago
Normally the water in this system is so clear because of the forest it flows out of that Melbourne doesn’t have to filter it before piping it to our houses (just a little chlorine and it’s safe to drink). Since the 2009 Black Saturday fires stripped the tree cover off the higher slopes it is carrying more sediment.

As you go up the forest is a mix of giant Mountain Ash trees and tree ferns.The weir is a simple concrete barrier across the creek.

This pipe is what Badger Creek gets to keep.While this is the portion that we in Melbourne get to drink.On the way back we took another path that dives down into the shade of the rainforest.

Tunnels of tree ferns line the path. Epiphytes grow on any surface that is close enough to horizontal.And with all the moisture fungus like these bracket fungi thrive.So a relatively cool stroll back to the car.

Then finally I found a sweet (if small) treat.Native wild raspberries. Yum!

An Easy Stroll Through The Mountains

Deb, E, Lu and I went for a stroll this afternoon.
Interestingly enough we went for a very easy ramble along the flanks of Mount Donna Buang and its neighbours.

Before you wonder how you ramble on a mountainside I will explain.

Back in 1914 an aqueduct was completed that took fresh mountain water from high in the Yarra Valley down to Melbourne’s water supply. Known as the O’Shannassy Aqueduct it remained in service until 1997 when it was decommissioned. Since then the trail that runs alongside the old aqueduct has been opened to the public. And like the aqueduct it serviced it snakes almost dead level through the most amazingly steep terrain.

Now before you start imagining something like this

Wikipedia image

Let me show you what the aqueduct is actually like: a concrete lined channel set into a terrace cut along the mountainside.We started our walk at a section of the trail far above the little town of Warburton.
The trail quickly runs into the bush that cloaks the mountainsides here.
These old rails guard some sluice gates that allowed workers to drain this section of the channel.
Looking back the way we came you can see how forest that hasn’t been disturbed for 100 years recovers. Typical of this mountain country is very big eucalyptus trees with an under-story of tree ferns.Lu obligingly leant on this tree, she provides a handy scale. All the falling leaf litter from the forest is quickly filling up the channel and in some areas it is covered in a carpet of forget-me-nots.And buttercups.The tree ferns growing along the edge are among the tallest I have ever seen, some of them 20 to 30 feet tall.Finally a shot of one of the less friendly locals.

A bull ant. This guy was standing up to me, daring me to come closer.At about an inch and a half long and packing a nasty sting, they are quite aggressive.
I snapped a shot and left him to his own devices.