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Published: June 17th 2017
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01 Rosella
The first of many photogenic Eastern Rosella we saw in the car park. Geo: -37.8559, 145.365
After being back home in Australia for a day, I was keen to talk Paul out for the day. We decided to spend the day in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. About half an hour after leaving home we stopped at Belgrave to stretch our legs and buy some picnic food for our lunch. After a walk through the village we continued on driving.
We turned off the main road onto Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd. This area is full of very tall and old Mountain Ash trees. They are the world's tallest flowering plants. The temperature is always a few degrees cooler here. I love driving around here, tall trees towering over the winding roads. Everywhere you look it is luscious and green.
Our next stop is the popular Grants Picnic Ground. It had changed a bit since I was here 3 years ago with mum. There was now a designated area for feeding birds- for a charge of course. In the surrounding trees we saw Eastern Rosellas and Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos. There was also the distinct sound of the Laughing Kookaburra. This area is full of many walking/hiking and cycling trails. From this picnic spot we went for a
02 Cockatoo
The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo sleeping in the tree. short loop walk. Being a week day it was very quiet and we only saw two people on our walk. This area is also well known for the Superb Lyrebird- a bird that you are lucky to hear and even luckier to see. It mimics the sounds of other birds and sings to attract females.
On the path ahead I saw something scurry across. It was a lyrebird. We were pretty excited to see it. It scratched around and was only one metre from the path. We watched it for a few minutes before it moved further away from us. During the walk we were surrounded by old, tall various varieties of eucalyptus trees and tall ferns.
Back at the picnic spot there were many cockatoos and rosellas. We spent a bit of time here photographing the birds. There was a couple in the bird feeding area who we watched. They had had enough of feeding the greedy birds and gave us the rest of their bowl of food. Paul and I took in turns feeding the cockatoos. They were really heavy and after a few minutes I had to shake them off my arms. They also left their mark on me
03 Walk
The path leads through the various ferns. - scratches from their claws. On the way to the car we finally saw a kookaburra.
We went for a short drive to the Sherbrooke Picnic Ground. From here we went for a walk to the Sherbrooke Falls. The scenery on this walk was the same as our other walk- very tall trees and ferns. We heard the distinct sound of the lyrebird but we couldn't see it. Paul really wanted to see it because it displays its feathers and dances when calling. So he walked off the path to find it. He found it and watched it for a little while.
In the meantime I saw a lyrebird just off the path that ran off when it noticed me. When Paul returned his leg felt itchy, pulling his jean leg up he noticed a few little leaches. A little while later we reached Sherbrooke Falls. They were very unimpressive, just a small, short trickle of water. The walk took as an hour. Back at the car park there were many rosellas around because they were being feed raw rice by two guys. The guys gave us some rice to feed the birds.
It was then time for lunch. We drove
04 Lyre Bird
Our very exciting sighting of the elusive lyre bird. towards the National Rhododendron Gardens and kept a look out for somewhere to have our picnic lunch. We found a picnic ground and choose a table by a little creek.
We arrived at the National Rhododendron Gardens. Luckily for our budget, there was no entrance fee! We walked all around the gardens. They were very colourful, not too many flowers, but many deciduous trees. We were also lucky to see two lyrebirds in the distance. It was starting to get dark so we headed home. It was a great day out!
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