Cora Lynn Falls

My piccie of the day is of the Cora Lynn Falls near Marysville in Central Victoria.
They seem more of a cascade than a fall proper (if you ask me).

Perhaps confusingly there are actually two waterfalls in different parts of Victoria called the "Cora Lynn" falls. I have no idea why the two different locations have the same name.

Perhaps there is an interesting story in that!

I caught this piccie a  while ago, it was a rainy miserable day to go trekking through the rainforest but worth it in the end.
 

More falls

The other night I posted a piccie of the Hopetoun falls. Well almost literally round the corner from the Hopetoun falls are two other gorgeous waterfalls.

One of those is the Beauchamp falls. I'll complete the triplet in the next few days

Al Returns

Well I didn’t fall off the face of the Earth.

On Tuesday night my eldest brother Mike phoned me. He had heard from my Mother’s husband that Mum had been taken into hospital that day.

Despite being elderly Mum and her husband live on a farm in the sticks about 40 minutes from the nearest (small) town Dorrigo. Mum had woken to excruciating abdominal pain and after phoning their doctor called an ambulance. She was taken to Dorrigo hospital which has a small emergency department. I was told she would be transferred to the nearest base hospital in Coffs Harbour about 100km away on Wednesday morning.

Mike lives about 5 hours’ drive from Mum while I am about 15 hours’ away.

So I got on the first flight I could to Coffs the next day. From here in Melbourne it is an hour flight to Sydney, where I had to wait for another plane for the hour long flight to Coffs.

Fortunately, Mum responded to treatment and we were able to take her home on Friday. I got home late last night. She is well on the way to recovery.

Needing to relax after a harrowing week I went waterfall hunting this afternoon. The result: piccies of the Olinda Falls on the flanks of Mount Dandenong just outside Melbourne.

Oil and Water

Well the two people who got closest to guessing the What is it piccie for this week

were: Kristen M with her guess of “a dark liquid”;
and Linda G came close by accident with her guess of an ‘oil spill’

Well let’s just hold that answer for the moment.
This morning was a hard frost down here. Which was good, because the way our weather works it means we more than likely have a sunny day afterwards.
And today was a glorious sunny winter day! It was so nice to see the sun after weeks of dreary wet weather.
As usual Deb and I were out and about. I took up my oft time habit of waterfall hunting.
And I found a doozy!

The Wombelano Falls are up in the mountains near Kinglake, less than an hour’s drive from here.
I guess now is about as good as they get with all the rain we have been having.
On the way home I paused to get this piccie of the evening mist creeping into the valleys below.

Finally I couldn’t resist the sunset!

Now back to the mystery piccie.

It was part of my lunch last Sunday!
On our way home from Cape Paterson Deb and I paused in a little town and tried a local restaurant.
One of the items on the menu was a “tasting plate” featuring a mix of local produce. I couldn’t help but choose it.
I don’t know if it was deliberate irony, but my plate (in the foreground)
 
featured not only fried quail, but emu sausages. As well there was a selection of Gippsland cheeses and some bread to dip in a local olive oil with balsamic reduction.  So Kristen was right with “dark liquid” and Linda was right on with oil, although it wasn’t spilled and it certainly wasn’t a petrochemical!

Waterfall on the Taggerty River

Piccie of the day. I took this today high in the mountains behind Marysville.

On Waterfalls (or not)

First things first, yesterday I did a guest post over on Misha’s blog My First Book.

Now down to business.
While this:Does indeed look superficially like this:(this is one branch of the Triplet Falls here in Victoria)

Or could be mistaken for something like this:(these are the Russell Falls in Tasmania, I posted about them some time ago)

Kitty is right - this is not a waterfall.

Although, I will freely admit it does involve large amounts of water rushing rapidly. I am not quite as devious as you think (not this time anyway).
So Kitty, I guess you deserve 50%.

Wendy (as kitty) assumed it was not the obvious, so you too deserve a 50% score.

Linda, you have sided with kitty in assuming the worst of me. How mean ;-)

Sorry Angela,
I will agree it is beautiful but it is no waterfall.

Corolyn,
Indeed Yay for my break!
Ah you have looked closely. The white you have picked is not snow but I’m happy to award 60% for your powers of observation!

Susan,
Fancy siding with those who think I am devious and sneaky!
Perhaps that streak is not a mile wide (quite)

Hi Mom to 8
Not a waterfall or food. But that is certainly a creative guess.

Here it is.Not a waterfall but waves pouring through a hole in this limestone stack.

This stack is just west of the famous Twelve Apostles about 270 km (170miles) west of Melbourne.You could just about see the Apostles in the distance of this shot except there was so much spray in the air from the near gale force wind that was blowing.

The really nice thing is I am heading back to that stretch of coast tomorrow as part of our holiday (we tend to say holiday rather than vacation here in Oz).
I hope to post while I am out that way, but that will depend on internet connectivity where we will be staying.

In which Al limps his way along.

I mentioned a while ago that I was beginning to read the second draft of my second novel to Deb. As a creative tool I find this wonderfully useful.

I get to weave my way through the narrative, and really hear the rhythm. Deb is a great listener and gently critical when the plot (or the writing) needs it.

So far we are about 10% through and on the whole Deb likes it. But the downside is she has identified some points where I need to do more to develop the relationship between two characters. So as you can see very helpful!

Now I am going to digress to one of my other favorite topics waterfalls.

Weeks ago I took a trip to the Otway ranges in Western Vic. Unlike the Grampians they are just behind the coast so they are wet, very wet.

I wove my way down through the rainforest in search of the Beauchamp Falls.I caught a few shots of this amazing fungi,And from underneath.Finally I reached the falls. After climbing down these stairs I got this shot from a viewing platform about half way up.Never one to make things easy for myself I decided to leave the formal path and climb down to the river bed to get shots from the base of the falls.

I’m glad I did because I saw this little fellow.He was hunting for insects in a small patch along the river banks.
The shots aren’t great because it was really dark under the forest and he would not sit still.

I have no idea what he is, I have never seen one before. I presume he is quite a local species.

About now I did something very silly and slipped on what appeared to be quite dry and stable rocks.

In saving myself I managed to bash my knee and soak my clothes.

Fortunately, when I am crossing ground that I’m unsure of I carry my camera in a padded bag. So no damage to my camera, I think I would have cried had I broken it.

I limped on upstream to the base of the falls and caught some more shots.The misty look is caused by spray from the falls. When I looked at the rocks I saw why I had fallen. Continuous drifts of moisture from the falls has caused them to grow a slick film of brown algae. What looks like rock is actually as slick as ice.

Kind of content I had the fun of climbing back out of the gorge, then climbing the stairs and finally a mile long walk (or should I say limp) back to the car.

As I said this was weeks ago, and I am all healed up. But it is a good lesson extra care is needed. Good shots are not worth an injury.

Wonderful Waterfalls

As you may have already gathered in our little vote Aboriginal Rock-art took the vote with five votes.

Waterfalls came second with four votes. So without further ado I begin with the Mackenzie Falls on the Mackenzie River.
The Mackenzie falls are in the heart of the Grampians and I think really beautiful.
I climbed down the stairs you see on the left to get a shot from the base of the falls.

This part of the Grampians is well and truly on the tourist trail, but we arrived late on a Saturday as it was getting dark and threatening to rain.

So we pretty much had the falls to ourselves.
Climbing back up the falls I paused to catch this shot of water cascading over these shelves on the way to the top of the falls.Another climb and I paused to get this shot of a native violet (probably Viola hederacea) in the half light.The clouds lightened a little so just as the sun set I quick marched about another quarter mile upstream to catch the Broken Falls (also on the Mackenzie River).Two days later it was time to leave the Grampians, but before we did we took an 128 km (80 miles) detour to the Wannon River.

On the Wannon are two more well known falls in the Grampians Region. I didn’t know how soon we’d be back so an extra side journey was not going to stop this waterfall nut when we were so close.

The first falls on the Wannon were the Nigretta Falls, which drop into a popular swimming hole near the town of Hamilton.Back in the car for another short drive this time. This time to the Wannon Falls. I really struggled getting a decent shot because the setting sun was shining into the camera lens.
A wait of half an hour and the sun went behind a cloud long enough to get this.
Then our Grampians break was over and it was back in the car for the four and a half hour drive home (we got home just befor midnight).
But I haven’t finished with the Grampians because next post is Grampians’ Wildflowers.

A Vote (because I am too tired for a proper post)

I promised more piccies from the Grampians.

Well once again I have returned with 1,000s of photos.

We got home after four hours on the highway which followed a long day in the Grampians. So I am as we Aussies say buggered! (Which means tired in Aussie lingo).

So rather than making a decision I am asking you, my good readers, to decide which do I post about first? (NO votes for all of the above, I have way too much to fit in one post!)

Ancient Aboriginal rock art:Wonderful waterfalls:Or Beautiful Wild flowers:

A Long - Weekend Break

A quick post put up via my mobile phone. (photos from my camera)

Deb and I have again nipped away for a quick break.

This photo gives a clue as to where we are.

You might recognise the colourful rock-face on that mountain in the distance.

It is the Taipan Wall in the Grampians

Back in September I posted about a climb I made up one end of this mountain (following yellow arrows)

I haven't done anything that energetic yet because we arrived quite late.

So only a drive to the west and a half hour walk to get photos of this.

More piccies in a few days!

A long time coming.

Both aspects of my post tonight took a while to arrive.

First as I promised a waterfall. In fact it is the same waterfall as I posted last time.

This is the Hopetoun Falls in the Otway ranges west of Melbourne.No Spelling error by the way, it is Hopetoun Falls with a U.

I took these shots about a month ago and haven’t got round to posting them ‘til now.

The river downstreamAnd a closer shot of the falls.Now the slowest delivery from Amazon I have ever experienced!

A while ago I ordered a copy of a blogosphere friend’s book.

To be exact I ordered a copy of Wendy Robertson’s The Romancer.Wendy is a British author who has literarily dozens of books to her name. The Romancer is about her life as a writer.

So just after Christmas last year I put in an order with Amazon. And waited…
And waited…
No book arrived.

I checked my credit card statement, no debit.

Ah, well I thought I’ll organize it another time.

Then just the other day Deb asked “Did you buy anything on Amazon?”
“Not that I remember.”
There was an item on the statement from Amazon. I kind of remembered ordering something for my Mum so I forgot it.

Wendy’s book turned up today!

And here is the delivery slip showing my order made 29 December 2010!
Now you have to excuse me I have some reading to do!

A neglected Subject.

Unless I am very wrong I have not posted about my writing and my WIP since mid July.

That seems unbelievable. This work is so much part of my life, yet I haven’t shared it.

Yet in some ways I have not done much that I could really talk about. My last news was that I had completed a first draft and was sorting the sections into the order they will remain.

OK I can say I’ve completed that.

Having said that I have to admit the past couple of months have not been very productive with the WIP.

To be fair to myself I have been plugging along fairly steadily at it. Most days I would be spending an hour or an hour and a half on rewriting.

I have also written a few sections from scratch (when I put the whole together there seemed to be a few gaps). But until last week I have to say I really felt like I was going round in circles.

I was actually beginning to wonder if the whole work was missing something. I like the characters, I like the overall story, but it felt like it was not working.

Then over the past week, I am not quite sure why, I felt much more positive. I made some changes in a few chapters which led me to write a couple more “filler” sections. Now I feel like I am back on track.

It might sound odd, but I am just about to begin reading it aloud to Deb. That is a step I took with my first novel Veiled in Shadows, just before I sent it out to other readers.

I find reading aloud really positive. It let’s me pick a lot of stupid errors. And as a bonus I get my first external perspective. If it passes muster with Deb I am then game to share it with others.

Then I can start thinking about finding Beta-readers.

Gratuitous Waterfall shot.Next: Can you handle more waterfalls?

“If you don’t like it” or Melbourne Weather

They say about Melbourne weather: “If you don’t like it, just wait it will change” or “Melbourne the city where you have five seasons in a day.”

Well Melbourne is living up to its reputation just lately.

This city is located on the south coast of Australia’s mainland and two major factors drive our weather here. The Southern Ocean and Australia’s hot dry inland.

Winds here tend to come roughly from the west. If they come from the South-West they come off the Southern Ocean so things are cool to cold. If the wind veers to come from the North-West the wind comes off the desert centre of Oz then things get warm to oven- like.

Just over a week ago, to be absolutely precise 10 September (we do the dates the right way around down here) I took these photos. That is right folks that is snow taken at the Upper Yarra Valley a week ago Saturday.

Spring And that road was closed because of snowfalls further up.

When I took those photos it was 12:00 in the day and the temperature was hovering around 0° C (30°F).

But yesterday we went back to the mountains these next few piccies were taken high up across the valley from my snow shots. No snow this week!

This weekend just past we had glorious spring weather, with the temperature climbing to a pleasantly warm 29°C (84°F). I say pleasantly warm because that is how I see it, basically almost warm enough to head to the beach. Remember summer temperatures here are often between 35°C (95°F) and 45°C (113°F) so 29 is “warm”

This cute little waterfall is called the La La Falls.As you can see it was just too bright to take really nice waterfall shots.

Bright enough to capture shadows of a certain Aussie, call this one a “self portrait”.

Just finally,
I had to share this boulder in the stream and this absolutely cute bridge in the trail on the climb up to the falls. The clever national parks rangers have built this little beauty out of dry-stone. There isn’t so much as a drop of mortar in this construction.

A quick poll. For my next post would you prefer:

A: More waterfalls
B: Some majestic trees
Or
C: Sunlight through clouds?

The Grampians

I haven't entirely abandoned waterfalls, in fact I have piccies of at least a couple more I've shot in the last few weeks up my sleeve. But tonight I'll make a slight change of direction.

This weekend just passed Deb and I have seized the opportunity for a weekend away again. This time we drove three hours west of Melbourne to a mountain range known as 'The Grampians.'Our destination Hall's Gap a little town in the Grampians region of Victoria.

Hall's gap sits in a pass that cuts through the range.
This is the main street of Halls Gap

Although at the moment the pass is not... well not 'passable'. You might remember that back in December/January there were floods in Queensland and here in Victoria. Well the Grampians were hard hit by massive flood events. There were huge landslips throughout the region big enough for many of the maps to no longer be correct and for many of the roads to still be in need of rebuild.

Despite that the area is still incredibly beautiful with an amazing variety of heathland vegetation growing on the impoverished soils of the region.

In terms of diversity of flora Oz has a number of hotspots and perhaps ironically the most ancient and impoverished soils often have the highest biological diversity. I have heard the argument that the Western Australian heathland environments have unequalled floral diversity, matching or even beating the tropical rainforests of the world.
I won't comment on statements like that except to say, people in Oz like grand statements about 'biggest', 'best' or 'most'. Some statements like that are true others, well I'm no referee on the topic.

What I can say is Oz has an amazing variety of unique plant communities and Victoria's heathland has a similar diversity to that in West Oz. Interestingly thanks to the magic of plate tectonics Southern Africa have some communities that are related and look similarish.

Anyway back to the matter at hand. Deb and I set off to the Grampians with an agenda of bush walking (hiking), photography and knitting in mind. We were both going to walk, I'll leave it to you to work out which of us was going to knit and which photograph.

Now I have rambled enough; as it is I am probably going to need two or three posts to cover what we did and saw in just a day and a half.

So after checking in at the holiday park we were going to stay the night we left Halls Gap to check out the Bee Hive Waterfall (you knew I just had to squeeze in a waterfall)

Walking up to the falls I stopped to shoot these amazing rock formations. It isn't quite spring, but the wildflowers are coming out.
A “Wirilda Wattle” (Acacia retinades)These tiny “Cat’s Claw Grevillia” (Grevillia alpina)A “Holly Grevillia” (Grevillia aquifolium) that hasn’t quite come outIt is so gorgeous I had to show an extra closeup.As you get close to the falls you see the rock formation that gives them the name Beehive
I love catching changing light as in these of the 'beehive' wasn’t the only person keen on shooting the falls. This local photographer’s daughter obliged by acting as a scaleOn the way back down I paused to shoot this flower which I haven’t yet managed to identify. I think it might be some kind of orchid, but I am really just guessing.

Then as the evening was drawing in the local wildlife began stirring

I surprised this Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) on the trail. She hopped away because I am so scary.

Just round the corner I caught her friend, another eastern grey