A Bit of Fun!

Well I didn’t really expect anyone to guess my What is it Wednesday for this week.

However a couple of people were kind of in the same ball park.

Jennifer (AKA Old Kitty) thought: “Emu legs!”

No, and they aren’t exactly legs at all, but a kind of extension.

Linda G. Was on the same track and if anything edged just a little closer with: “Some sort of bird legs. If not a real bird, then maybe a bird statue.”


Marcy admitted defeat with: “As always too tricky for me but I do think the yellow is plastic. No idea otherwise.”

I don’t know, I seem to recall you have been on the money in the past. Well the yellow is actually a fabric covering.

Christine was with Marcy: “Fiendish! I agree with mshatch that the yellow looks like plastic, but I haven't a clue what it is.”

I hope I wasn’t too cruel Christine.

Well the answer, Deb, the Girls and I went to a school fair out in the Yarra Valley (before we took Lilli for her play in the Yarra) .

One of the entertainers at the fair was this young woman, who drew admiring looks of curiosity from these children.

A Tail of Lilli and a Trip across a range.

First up (and because I promised) a quick story about Lilli the Labrador.

As I said the other day Lilli is now becoming really quite well trained.She is a funny thing really eager to please but quite anxious about things she doesn’t know. I think I told the story about her being frightened by the kitten over the back fence (which reminds me of other Lilli tails).  

Any way back to the story.

She is still young and bouncy (which is very nice) but having 29 kg (64lb) of Lab bouncing around can be quite disconcerting not to say dangerous. So one of the things we do with her is get her to sit before we feed her or put her lead or do any of a lot of things.

“Sit” was the first command she learnt so she is really good at obeying it. The rules are that if one of us says “sit” or gives a hand signal Lilli has to sit and stay until we say “free”.

E our eldest discovered how good Lilli is the other week. E had been planning to take Lilli for a walk so she gave the "sit" command so she could put Lilli on her lead. As E got the lead the phone rang so naturally she answered the call. It was one of her friends from University, so without thinking E went into her bedroom to talk.

E chatted for about half an hour. Then she checked what was on TV. About an hour after she answered the phone she heard Lilli whine from the back room. Thinking that wasn’t like Lilli E went to check what was wrong. Only to find Lilli still loyally sitting in exactly the same spot she had been left!
E decided the whine was an “excuse me, I think you have forgotten something”.

Lilli at the park

Like a small miracle it actually dried up enough this morning so I could mow the lawn.
So Deb and I set off late again today. We headed up to the Yarra Valley and paused in Warburton at a favourite café for a coffee.
 
I sat and played with my camera (nothing new there) and took this piccie through the front window.

It is a cottage on the main street of Warby (as locals call it)

As we left I paused to take a piccie of the main street to catch a bit of the fast disappearing blue sky.

As I have posted recently we have been having a wet miserable and cold winter.

From Warby we followed a road we haven’t used before.
It climbs the flank of Mount Donna Buang before swinging up through the Acheron Gap into the central Highlands of Victoria.

I say road, but muddy track is more like it.

We paused as we climbed into the Mountain Ash forest that is a feature of so much of the Yarra Ranges.


Just over the Acheron Gap is a pocket of rainforest.

I had to pause to catch this mini waterfall that tumbles from a spring just above the road.


The water up there is crystal clear and probably as clean as you will find anywhere.

As you can see this spring literally tumbles into the table drain alongside the track.


As we came down the other side I paused one last time to get some shots of the Acheron River which is made up of the water collected from hundreds of springs like the one I snapped.
The Acheron is also clear and clean and is a popular trout stream in season.

By the way the blue vehicle is our “other car” a Renault SUV. I have resisted owning a gas guzzler for ever but eventually early in the year I admitted that we were abusing our poor FIAT too much on mountain and outback roads. So we got this second hand Renault all-wheel drive, It goes anywhere we want to take it and it is diesel so it is still pretty light on fuel (about 38 mpg) which is the same as our little FIAT.

Winter Skies and Floodwaters

Despite the Wattle blooms insisting spring is around the corner winter just won't let go. It is cold too, there is snow falling on the mountains around Melbourne.

Deb and I had to get out and about as usual.  We both spend far too much of our time in offices to not want to blow away the cobwebs on the weekend.

We were up the Yarra valley which is once again flooding in low areas when in the evening the sullen sky parted briefly and let me catch these stark winter trees reflected in flood waters.

Still Water

My piccie of the day was shot on my way home this evening.

Deb and I went up the Yarra Valley for a walk. Alas it was raining so we did not manage our stroll.

In the tradition of clouds and silver linings, as we headed for home they parted allowing me to catch the  reflections in this pond just before dark.

Swan Watch XII: Another Wet Weekend

The wet weather continues down this way. In fact it has poured on and off all weekend. Not to be deterred Deb and I went for drives on both days. Although I have to say with all the rain and mud there was no hiking this weekend.

On Saturday we headed up the Yarra valley. I had to pause near Yarra Glen to catch these piccies as the storm clouds swallowed up the distant mountains.Today we headed out again this time down to Port Phillip Bay.For a brief moment we had a glimpse of blue sky. But the muddy colour of the water is a direct result of all the runoff flowing into the bay with the continued rain.We attempted to go for a short walk but just a little way down the coast the sky got so dark again we beat a hasty retreat back in the direction of the car.
I was amazed by just how black the sea was below the clouds.

No wonder with all this rain local rivers like the Plenty River are threatening to break their banks.Now to the Swans.
On our way home we paused briefly to catch a couple of photos. And I mean a couple, it was raining again and my camera is simply not waterproof. When I have a spare $2500 I’ll buy a new one :-)
As you can see from these hastily snapped shots Mother and baby are still well.

Baby is starting to look a bit more handsome again as its scrappy down is covered by a fresh coat of feathers. He/She won’t get that glossy adult black until after a couple more moults.

Now a final word about Veiled in Shadows, thank you all for your kind words. Also thank you for those of you who have offered to review it for me.

For those of you who missed Friday’s post my book is available on Amazon and you can read an extract here .

I am thinking of posting additional extracts over coming weeks, what do you think?

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.

Wet, Wet, Wet.

First up some house keeping -

Welcome to any who have found their way here through Karen G’s Labor Day BBQ Blog-o-rama.

Second: My Sunday Swan watch will have to be temporarily suspended. It isn’t through a lack of trying, but our Swan family are not at the moment to be found.
Don’t panic, I doubt anything untoward has happened to them. Rather as I’ll point out below the weather down this way has been very suitable for swans, ducks and the like. This has meant the nearby area available for our swans has gone from probably 20 acres of wetlands to hundreds of acres. This is due to higher water levels allowing them easy access to other channels and ponds. I have hunted for them on a number of occasions as has my daughter Io, but with no results.

Finally: Thank you to all who expressed concern for Deb after her fall. She is almost entirely better with all aches and pains pretty much gone.

Now on to my post for tonight…

Poor Victoria has been lashed by torrential rains over the past twenty-four hours.

On top of an already wet winter this has meant significant flooding in the north of the state.
Again – don’t panic, down in the south - central where we are, the rainfall has been much lower with only nuisance localised flooding.

As is usual Deb and I were out and about. We headed in the direction of one of our favourite haunts, the Upper Yarra Valley.

Well the Yarra River has burst its banks.
Back in February I posted this piccie of the river.Today from the same point the scene is a bit different.I didn’t post this picture, but it shows Deb’s brother-in-law David and our niece Kennedy on the same day.They are sitting at a picnic bench in a park near the river.

I don’t think we’d use the bench today.But for many local residents life goes on as normal.

The Happy Wanderer is showing its first flush of spring flowers.This big gum tree will be happy at a good drink after so many years of drought.And these Sulphur Crested Cockatoos weren’t bothered by the rain, but they only put up with me getting so close before flying off.On our way home we paused so I could capture some shots of people driving on moderately flooded roads.

Some being sensible, took it slowly.While others raced through the water (today we saw one person flood their motor this way).

I guess this farmer won’t be getting machinery on his field any time soon.One last shot of more flooded paddocks I took on the way home. As you can see from the clouds it looks like we are in for more rain.

News!! (and a Request)

As promised a little while ago I have some news of my book Veiled in Shadows.
Essentially my news is fairly straight forward.

Finally, after much hair tearing, endless delays caused but the intrusion of other aspects of my life, going back over my MS I don’t know how many times, I have all my files for the book ready for uploading to the printing company Lightning Source.

Notice I say “printing company” rather than “self-publishing company”. That is because Lightning Source is plain and simple a printer.

Unlike many vanity presses masquerading as “self-publishing” Lighting Source is a printer. They don’t try to sell you various “services” to “improve” your manuscript. They don’t sell you packages to market your book.

You have to do it all: editing; layout; cover; uploading the files for the cover and body; supplying an ISBN. Also, you set the retail price and decide on wholesale discount and returns policy. In short you are the publisher. (Some of you will remember I registered a business as a small publisher a while ago)

After that they list the book on Ingram (of which they are a subsidiary) so book stores can order it and they make it available to mobs like Amazon and The Book Depository (in Aussie English a mob is not a group of gangsters but any group).

So after tonight I have to wait for Lightning Source to send me a “proof” copy of the bound book to make a final check. Once I approve that (assuming I don’t need any last minute changes) I am in the market.

So that is my big news. I am on the way!!!!

This is such a relief after far too much time bogged down in the last few details.
I am really excited, in fact I should probably say ecstatic about having got this far.

I have a little fantasy that once this all happens I will be able to spend more time working on my WIP. In reality I guess that if I want Veiled in Shadows to work I am quite likely to have less time to spend on the WIP.
I am going to have to market my baby myself. And that is going to be a big job!

The trick over the coming months is to come up with clever ways to increase my visibility. In terms of efficiency that effort has to be mainly targeted on the web.
In comparison to markets overseas, in Oz the market is tiny (there are only 20 million of us in the whole country).

SO now for my request.
As I said I have to come up with ways of marketing my little piece.
Now last night I came up with a few words that I hope are punchy, brief and raise interest in the book.

But I am no marketing expert, so I was hoping to ask all my blogosphere friends to do me a big favour and have a look and comment.

Here we go:

In a world divided by conflict.
In a storm that consumes friend and foe alike.


In a war fought in the shadows…
those who live may do so at the cost of their humanity.


Two lovers united by passion
…and divided by hate.


As they fight for survival…
their most implacable foe might be one another.


What do you think?
Would that attract your interest?
What kind of book does it sound like?
And are there any improvements I could make?

Finally a couple of piccies I took yesterday arvo/evening.

A rainbow in the Yarra Valley
After so many years of drought it is a real luxury to see the decent rain continuing past the occasional downpour. A rainbow is just icing!

The Sunset over Yarra Glen

When Things Fall Into Place

I experienced a bit of an odd moment on Saturday.
As you know I like to get out and about with my camera in tow.

Anyway I conceived an idea of taking some piccies of a waterfall. I didn’t have one in mind but falling water was what I wanted.

We often haunt the Yarra Valley on our weekend forays. So I naturally thought of Googling waterfalls near our usual haunt.
Only one came up and it was something like one and a half hours walk from the nearest road. Not really something that would daunt me too much, but I thought too far for a Saturday afternoon.

So I cast my web a bit further.

Another waterfall popped up.

Toorongo Falls out in the Gippsland district past Noojee.

Closer to car parking, only twenty five minutes walk each way. Good.

So I ask Google how to get there. Three hours drive each way.

Now don’t get me wrong I am an Aussie, more than that I am a Queenslander and we make our country big up that way.

So normally I wouldn’t worry about a couple of hours drive (each way) on a Saturday afternoon.

But three? And I wanted to get up reasonably on Sunday early to catch ANZAC day the next morning.

Another one for the back burner, I thought.

Five minutes later Deb wandered in to my study.

‘Shall we go somewhere today.’

‘I’d like to. Where do you think?’

‘I thought out past Yarra Junction, past Powelltown. You know the road that leads down towards Warragul?’

Deb had just outlined 80% of the trip to Noojee and the Falls.

So of course that was that, we were going.

It took us about two hours, not three. Google’s estimates are usually pretty good. But clearly we kept up a higher average on windy mountain roads than they expect. Plus, although it was a long-weekend, it was rainy. So the road was quiet.

When we got there it was wet, and it was getting late. Deb thought about it, but knitting in a warm car suddenly seemed far more attractive than traipsing along a muddy, leech infested track.

I checked the time, as I said it was late and cloudy. It gets very dark, very quickly in the bush. I’ve been caught in the bush in the dark before and it isn’t fun without a good light (there is probably another post there some time).

But I figured I had enough time: to get to the falls; take some piccies; and get back before I lost the light.

Five minutes into the walk the track crosses the Toorongo River. Thanks to the rain there was plenty of water, which is good when you want to take photos of a waterfall. With the Oz climate being what it is, I have arrived at many a “waterfall” to think, ‘Hmm, interesting cliff. Now where is that waterfall?’

I thought the swollen stream rushing around some lovely moss covered boulders was too attractive to not grab a couple of piccies. So here you are, I shot these quickly because I was by now worried that I simply wouldn’t have enough light to get the waterfall.From the crossing it was a good climb the whole way to the Falls. I caught the glimpse about halfway up that I teased you with last night. I shot that with a long telephoto lens.

Then finally I was at the falls. But it was by now almost dark.
So dark in fact that I would have had no chance to capture anything if I hadn’t brought a tripod.

So I got these with a really long exposure. What do you think?(The one above was Deb's favourite.)
I am happy with them, especially given they were shot under really bad conditions.I’ve included this one to give an indication of how long the exposure was. I “ruined” it by moving the camera before the shutter closed. It almost looks like mist rising off the falls.