BurbleChaz

We had plans to spring brightly from our slumbers and attack the joys of Melbourne fresh and early today. So, round elevenish, we poked our noses out into a bright, breezy, sodding cold day.

After yesterday's fast, fun and exhausting run round the city, we wanted something a bit more rural.

We had a rootle around the options. Over 17% of the state of Victoria is parkland. That's about the same size as the moon. The parks vary from National Trust style stately homes with manicured gardens through to some really wild places.. We were looking for something in the middle. A bit of map analysis and googling led us to Lysterfield Park.

We managed to get away at noon. By half-past, we had made it to St Kilda Road, a five minte walk away. Melbourne is not a car-friendly city. Pedestrians, trams and roadworks all have priority. Once we had escaped the CBD, we turned left onto Toorak Road, and stop-started our way out from the city, through suburbia and towards the Dandenong Ranges. Lysterfield Park is about 35Ks from the city. It takes an hour to do the first ten, then 20 minutes to do the rest. We really should just suck it up and take the freeway out. The toll is less than a round of beers. (so why's it called a freeway?)

We arrived at the park around 1330. It's delightful. In Ancient Times (Australian Ancient - around 1910), Lysterfield Lake was created as a reservoir to serve the Mornington Peninsula. It's an earth dam, with a lake about a kilometer across and 3Ks long. When it was built, the government bought the surrounding catchment from local farmers, to reduce contamination of the lake. They planted this area with eucalypts. In 1975, a much larger reservoir came into service 15Ks east. It's over ten times bigger, so Lysterfield was no longer needed for water supply. In a typically Australian way, the government declared it to be a public park, and has constructed infrastructure to encourage people to use the place.

Enough, already. I sound like a documentary. It's a lovely environment. The lake has a swimming area, and there is a dinghy sailing club. Given the total lack of boat storage capacity at the Port Philip Bay clubs, this could be good. There are miles and miles of paths and trails, from fully paved to 'nutters on bikes only'. We haven't actually seen any of those, but the Mountain Bike contest for the 2006 Commonwealth Games was held here, so I have high hopes.

We walked from the car park down to the bottom end of the reservoir, across the dam and into the woods. It's mostly eucalyptus, and it's full of birds. They're loud, active and obvious. It's like a nightclub on a Friday. Early Spring behaviour. We took photographs.

Wherever you look in the woods, you are see signs of fire. Many of the trees are fire-blackened. There are lots of dead trees are still standing. Allegedly, these provide shelter for bugs, beasts and birds.

We had a lovely time walking quietly through the woodland, looking for wildlife and photographing it. There were quite a few other people about. I would imagine that it gets very busy in summer.

Some pictures:

The Lake

An avenue through the trees

We've seen this bird before, on Philip Island. We need a book of Australian birds. It looks like a huge moorhen, but behaves more like an ibis. We got several shots of it, but this is probable the best.

I goofed here. I accidentally set The Photographer's excellent SLR to the wrong mode. "You want a 500ms exposure, sure, I'll do that" says the camera. The bird moved, then froze. This is the result. I think it's interesting. 'Muppet', said The Photographer.

Nothing funny or odd happened today. I suspect we're starting to go native. So native that I want one of these. (after further discussion, I Am Not Getting One Under Any Circumstances. Not while Sensible People are involved. Damn.)