Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plants. Show all posts

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Botanic Gardens Beauty


Confession time: After living here for almost a year, I had never been inside Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens. Yes, it's true, though it's one of the highest rated attractions in the city, it's totally free, and it's only a few miles from our place, I'd never checked out what was inside the gates. I'd run around it plenty of times on training runs with Emily or as part of the Spring into Shape Series, but I had no idea what was inside. So on a sunny day last week, I gathered up my camera gear and headed to check it out.


I was impressed. I always had it in my mind that Sydney had it all over Melbourne with its Royal Botanic Gardens, but Melbourne's is really beautiful too! I walked all over the park snapping pictures of various flowers and plants for a few hours, and I've included some of my favorite shots.



The ponds inside the park are covered with some type of algae growth, so the poor ducks and birds swim in a sea of green. The leaf from the plant in the picture above right was nearly as big as me!


It's definitely starting to feel like fall here. You can see the leaves turning colors in the picture above, and the mornings and nights are much cooler. We're lucky that we're still getting some sunny, warm days. I'm not ready for another winter yet! If you want to see lots more pictures, head to my Shutterfly link. Otherwise, have a "bee"-utiful day!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Goodbye Grampians-Other Random Pictures

Well, I already posted about our Mount Stapylton Loop hike and rock climbing days in the Grampians, but there are some other random pictures and stories I wanted to share, so this post is for that stuff!

Here is a cool plant, which Google tells me is Banksia spinulosa. I took this picture on our hike on Saturday.


We stopped at the Ngamadjidj (meaning "white person"-don't ask me how to say it) Shelter to see some aboriginal rock art. These drawings were done with white clay.


Mackenzie Falls is one of the most visited places in Grampians National Park. It's a pretty huge waterfall, and you go down a decent number of steps to get to the bottom of it. We enjoyed cooling off our feet in the chilly water after our hike.


There were lots of kangaroos around our campsite, especially early in the morning and at dusk. This one let me get pretty close before hopping away.


There were also a ton of kangaroos on the roads in the Grampians. Emily, our expert driver, was able to maneuver around them. We had one close call with a little brake screeching, but no animals (or humans) were harmed! They were gathered by the hundreds out in the fields, and we had several hop across the road in front of us.

Zack still remembers how to make an awesome campfire. This picture is from Saturday night after our hike. We drank some ciders and made S'mores, which is very un-Australian. We used graham crackers sent by my mom from the US; I never knew that was just an American camping tradition! We played a game of Rummikub with Emily and headed to bed in our tents. In the morning, the birds were SO loud and woke us up pretty early!

Check out my hunky husband!
We drove by this giant koala on Sunday, and I just had to get a picture for Morgan, my koala-loving sister. Anybody who knows her and is reading this should tell her to get the working holiday visa and get out here for a year!


Anyway, we had a wonderful weekend in the Grampians, and we'll be back for sure! Yes, our zip-off pant legs are around our ankles in the picture below, and it looks dorky. Don't judge us!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

A Stop at Erskine Falls

While traveling the Great Ocean Road with the Keys, we stopped for a short hike at Erskine Falls near Lorne. We hadn't been here before, but I'd highly recommend it as a stop along the drive. It's a great place to see bright green plants, including huge ferns, and a big waterfall without much walking.


Straw Falls
We did hike a little further than the general viewing area near Erskine Falls and found Straw Falls. To get there, Zack and I took the more exciting path across the log. I even Tebowed on it. Zack and his dad climbed halfway up the rocks here, and then we headed back to the car to continue our Great Ocean Road trip. You can see many more pictures on my Shutterfly page (link in the top corner of the blog). This quick stop was worth it-check out Erskine Falls if you get the chance!

Erskine Falls from above.