A call from afar
It is not every day that I get a phone call from as far away as Buenos Aires in Argentina. In fact, I know nobody living in that part of the world. It is a place I would love to visit some day. I’ve been fascinated by many aspects of South America for many years.
Now I can vicariously enjoy a visit there through the eyes (and camera lens) of my son and daughter-in-law who are on a six week holiday to Chile and Argentina. Lucky them. It was my son who called us this morning.
To read about their holiday there (and in other parts of the world) go to his blog, The Rhyme of Sim‘.
A visit to a friend
Orchids in a friend's garden, Cranbourne
Our holiday in Victoria
September 2007
We’ve only known Doug and his wife for several years. We met through our common interest in Australian native plants. We had first met them when they came to the Adelaide plant sale which we attend. Doug has planted much of his garden with native plants, especially Correas. Both of us really love correas too. We were planning to visit the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens which are a mere five minute drive from Doug’s home, so we just had to visit him.
We knew that he grew plenty of Australian native plants. What we didn’t know was that his wife was growing orchids. Several of them are featured in the photos on this page.
Orchids in a friend's garden, Cranbourne
A short stay in Traralgon, Victoria
Our cabin in Traralgon, Victoria
Our holiday in Victoria
September 2007
Yesterday I wrote about our long – and cold – journey from Canberra. Our destination was fuzzy – we planned to get as close to Melbourne as possible. As the sun was setting we pulled into a caravan park in Traralgon, several hours east of Melbourne. The photo above shows the cabin we stayed in for the night. It was one of the best we had encountered on our holiday, certainly far superior to the one we had in Queanbeyan near Canberra (see “A poor choice of accommodation“).
It was very interesting travelling along the south coast of eastern Victoria. This was a first for both of us as we had never gone far east from Melbourne on previous holidays. We travelled past many interesting places, including a number of National Parks well worth investigating. Another trip dedicated to this part of Victoria alone would be very worthwhile. I would avoid the high trourist season of summer. The fact that there happens to be more than a dozen caravan parks plus numerous motels, hotels and B & Bs in Lakes Entrance is a sure indication that this is a popular summer destination.
Another spot I’d love to visit is Wilson’s Promontory National Park which is quite beautiful I believe. We saw the signs but had to drive on. The same applies to Phillip Island where there is bridge access for cars. We will see it one day – sooner rather than later I hope.
Travelling south from Canberra
Nodding Blue Lily (Stypandra glauca)
Our interstate holiday
September 2007
I’ve had a short break from writing on this blog over the New Year. I’ve not been well for most of that time. Over coming days and weeks I intend writing about the remainder of our interstate holiday in the eastern states of Australia. I will include many of the lovely photos taken at the time.
The day we left Canberra the weather turned cold. As we travelled south from our capital city the air temperature dropped rapidly. Although it was well into spring, we were travelling through the highest ranges in Australia. The area south of Canberra is often snow covered for a large part of the winter and into spring. The last time I visited this area was around New Year some thirty years ago. There was even a heavy snow fall at Christmas time that year.
Coopracambra National Park, Victoria
This time we didn’t see any snow, but going by the cold wind it sure wasn’t far away. We had a long distance to travel the day we left Canberra. Although we would have loved to have spent far more time exploring this part of the country, we were running out of days. The route we took gave a quick overview of a large part of Victoria we had never visited before. We decided that we have to correct that anomaly in the near future. The southern coast of eastern Victoria is worth several months of exploration.
As we travelled on into Victoria we dropped in altitude right down to sea level. The wind was bitterly cold and scudding showers made lunch and cuppa breaks uncomfortable. This one day was the only really bad weather day we experienced for the whole trip, so I shouldn’t grumble.
Coopracambra National Park, Victoria