AGNES FALLS, GIPPSLAND

Tucked away within the green, hills of the Strzelecki Ranges, the meandering Agnes River cascades from a 59m height over rocks into a deep gorge, forming Agnes Falls. They are surrounded by protected pockets of old forest and native bushland.

With impressive views, cascading waterfalls, much native wildlife and its protected forest, Agnes Falls is a hidden patch of serenity near the Gippsland coastline. A short drive from Toora or Welshpool, it's also a beautiful, scenic stop on a day trip exploring South Gippsland.

A 200m walking track leads from the car park to the falls viewing area, where  the Agnes River can be seen tumbling over rocks and into the steep, sheltered gorge below. The falls are even more spectacular in wet seasons and after heavy rain.

The reserve protects a small remnant of the dense forests that once covered the Strzelecki Ranges, and the tall eucalypt canopy and diverse understorey of shrubs, ferns and trees are home to a range of birdlife. Keep an eye out for playful Grey Fantails and Eastern Yellow Robins darting through the low trees and shrubs, and listen for the calls of Kookaburras, Crimson Rosellas and Currawongs.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

and also part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

AUTUMN BERRIES

As the rains come, and the mosses and liverworts awaken, the berries ripen in the forests and gardens. Pyracantha with the unusual bright yellow berries (usually red and orange) and the cheerful red haws of the hawthorn (always a happy find). Add the errant flower of a canola plant and the rich green of some of the evergreen trees seen between the branches of a deciduous tree.

A Photoshop mosaic composed of several photos that have been melded together and seamlessly superimposed.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

And also part of the Seasons meme.

EUCALYPTS

Eucalyptus is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of Eucalyptus are trees, often mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia and Angophora, they are commonly known as eucalypts or "gum trees".

Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, the leaves have oil glands, and the sepals and petals are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut". Eucalypt trees are the tallest flowering plants on the planet.

Most species of Eucalyptus are native to Australia, and every state and territory has representative species. About three-quarters of Australian forests are eucalypt forests. Many eucalypt species have adapted to wildfire, and are able to resprout after fire or have seeds which survive fire. A few species are native to islands north of Australia and a smaller number are only found outside the continent.

Eucalypts have been grown in plantations in many other countries because they are fast growing and have valuable timber, or can be used for pulpwood, for honey production or essential oils. In some countries, however, they have been removed because of the danger of forest fires due to their high flammability.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

IN GIPPSLAND

I had to travel to Gippsland for work today and although the weather started out cool and drizzly in Melbourne, it warmed up and became sunny when I arrived. Gippsland is one of Victoria’s most popular regions to visit, and with good reason. It’s a great place to get outdoors and enjoy nature. It is an easy drive east of Melbourne and its extensive area combines rugged coastline, lush forests, mountain peaks and alpine meadows, lakes and raw, unspoilt natural spaces. Gippsland is full of history and culture too, which can be readily explored and enjoyed with the help of friendly locals.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

WOOD

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

LEAF

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

IN THE FOREST

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

SIGNS OF SPRING

August is the last Winter month in Australia and typically, it still carries a bit of oomph in terms of cold and wet weather. This year, we've had early signs of Spring, including some windy weather, which we more often see in Spring. Nevertheless, it's good to see these signs of Spring, especially as we are going through COVID woes...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

FOREST

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

SPRING WHISPERS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme.

FOREST

This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme.

FOREST GREEN

In the Darebin Parklands where new leaf growth makes the sunlight green...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

TREES IN THE DANDENONGS

The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just called 'the Dandenongs') are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.

After European settlement in the region, the ranges were used as a main source of timber for Melbourne. They were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The ranges experience light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, frequently between late winter and late spring.

Today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region.

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

EMERALD VIEW

The view towards Cardinia Reservoir from Emerald, in Melbourne's Southeast. It was a brilliant Winter's Day today with sunny, fine weather and the first taste of Spring in the air!

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

AT HANGING ROCK

Hanging Rock (also known as Mount Diogenes), in Central Victoria, Australia, is a distinctive geological formation, 718m above sea level (105m above plain level) on the plain between the two small townships of Newham and Hesket, approximately 70 km north-west of Melbourne and a few kilometres north of Mount Macedon, a former volcano.

Best known as the site where a party of schoolgirls disappeared in February 1900 in the fictional story "Picnic at Hanging Rock" written by Joan Lindsay and published in 1967. The novel inspired the film "Picnic at Hanging Rock", made in 1975 and directed by Peter Weir. The success of the film was responsible for a substantial increase in visits to the rock and a renewal of interest in the novel. Yvonne Rousseau wrote a book called The Murders at Hanging Rock, published in 1980, which examined possible explanations for the disappearance of the girls. Hanging Rock is located within the indigenous Wurundjeri nation's territory.

Hanging Rock contains numerous distinctive rock formations, including the 'Hanging Rock' itself (a boulder suspended between other boulders, under which is the main entrance path), the Colonnade, the Eagle and the UFO. The highest point on Hanging Rock is 718 metres above sea level and 105 metres above the plain below. Hanging Rock is located within the Wurundjeri nation's territory but they exercised a custodial responsibility on behalf of the surrounding tribes in the Kulin nation. It was a site of male initiation and as such entry was forbidden except those young males being taken there for ceremonial initiation. After colonial settlement the Aboriginal people of the area were quickly dispossessed and forced out of the area by 1844.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DANDENONGS TREES

The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just called 'the Dandenongs') are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.

After European settlement in the region, the ranges were used as a main source of timber for Melbourne. They were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The ranges experience light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, frequently between late winter and late spring.

Today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

EVENING FALLS

Driving back from a day trip out to the Yarra Valley, I just had to stop and try to capture the gloaming, as evening fell...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

WARRANDYTE REFLECTIONS

Warrandyte is an outer suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Manningham. At the 2011 census, Warrandyte had a population of 5,520. Warrandyte is bounded in the west by the Mullum Mullum Creek and Target Road, in the north by the Yarra River, in the east by Jumping Creek and Anzac Road, and in the south by an irregular line from Reynolds Road, north of Donvale, Park Orchards and Warrandyte South.

Warrandyte was founded as a Victorian town, located in the once gold-rich rolling hills east of Melbourne, and is now on the north-eastern boundary of suburban Melbourne. Gold was first discovered in the town in 1851 and together, with towns like Bendigo and Ballarat, led the way in gold discoveries during the Victorian gold rush. Today Warrandyte retains much of its past in its surviving buildings of the Colonial period and remains a twin community with North Warrandyte, which borders the Yarra River to its north.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

BUSH NEAR WARBURTON

"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in Australia. The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" refers to any sparsely inhabited region regardless of vegetation. The bush in this sense was something that was uniquely Australian and very different from the green European landscapes familiar to many new immigrants.

"The Bush" also refers to any populated region outside of the major metropolitan areas, including mining and agricultural areas. Consequently it is not unusual to have a mining town in the desert such as Port Hedland (Pop. 14,000) referred to as "The bush" within the media.

The bush was revered as a source of national ideals by the likes of poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson, and contemporaneous painters in the Heidelberg School, namely Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin. Romanticising the bush in this way was a big step forward for Australians in their steps towards self-identity. The legacy is a folklore rich in the spirit of the bush. The term bush is also affixed to any number of other entities or activities to describe their rural, country or folk nature, e.g. "Bush Cricket", "Bush Music", etc.

The last image is an iconic portrayal of the bush by 19th century Australian artist Frederick McCubbin (1855 – 1917). It is the triptych "The Pioneer" (1904). The painting is part of the National Gallery of Victoria's Australian art collection and exhibited in the Ian Potter Centre in Federation Square in Melbourne.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme,

and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

BRIGHT VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

In 1994 Apple Computers released the QuickTake 100, a colour digital camera made by Kodak. With a steep selling price of $795 this camera was able to capture a 640x480 pixel colour image and came with a fixed focus 50mm lens. It used three AAA batteries for power and weighed only ≈450 g. It stored up to 32 images at 320 x 240 pixels or 8 pictures at 640 x 480 resolution and connected to a computer via a serial port. I was one of the early adherents of digital photography and here are my first photos taken with this camera:

The photos by today's standards are terrible, however, I saw the potential! The photos were taken in Bright, a town located 311 km NE of Melbourne in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the 2006 census, Bright had a population of 2,684. It is in the Alpine Shire local government area.

The main industry of the town at the beginning of the 21st century is tourism, with much focus on the autumnal colours of the European trees planted in the area. A major cultural event is the Bright Autumn Festival. During the summer months Bright enjoys consistently warm, sunny days with comfortable overnight temperatures.The town is close to the Victorian Alps, and various alpine national parks including the Mount Buffalo National Park.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.