Parrot Day !

We had a superb day today driving up to the Dandenong Ranges we drove through forests of enormous mountain ash trees which were so tall it was a neck crane to find the tops which were somewhere in the clouds. The tree ferns were like huge filigree umbrellas with a pineapple scaly trunk and fronds you could roof your house with ! It is very prehistoric in vista and ambience, and in the heat of the summer extremely prone to bushfires. There was a gauge board on the roadside with the danger level for the day, and fortunately we were low risk and on the ‘ blue’ end of the scale, I think if it were on the red end it would be either ‘run for your life’ or as Emily told me, radio warnings keep being broadcast until the warning says ‘ it is now too late to leave’ !!! 

The drive to the Dandenongs took us another way out of Karingal and through other suburbs one of which was......

How surprising is that to come across on the other side of the globe !

The whole of this area is strewn with Highlands and Islands names for areas and small counties closely combined with names of places in Surrey and Sussex, so close by we have Armadale, Guildford, Box Hill, St Kilda, McKinnon, Brighton, Seaford...........like being at home at both ends of the U.K. !

Only a small corner of the map, but you can see Seaford and Skye ! We are in Karingal !

As we got closer to the Dandenong Range small villages were dotted along the roads and we stopped at one area to feed the wild Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. A small enclosure is there nowadays where for $2 you buy a tray of seed ready for the big feathery hit ! Emily said in days gone by it was just a free for all and bring your own seed, but clearly the small charge helps to maintain the area, so I was happy to pay ! The sign outside gave me my first warning about these very wild and big birds - ‘long sleeved clothing is highly recommended’.......and how right it was ! On entering the enclosure before even drawing breath we were mobbed by thick white feathery bodies clinging on to delicate arm tissue with talons worthy of a horror film ! It was a great and slightly painful experience, but totally worth the pain ! They would not leave us alone, they fought and squabbled and were generally grumpy with each other, whilst sitting on a shoulder looking at us in an intelligent and enquiring way. 

Like the zoo but in the wild.......

Note the wounds......

We left the cockatoo thugs behind and wound our way to a beautiful village called Olinda which was clearly a tourist stop but a beautiful street of small, almost pioneer type buildings, homes and shops. After the wildlife encounter we both felt in need of a strong coffee, so made our way to the Olinda Cafe which looked lovely. The coffee was excellent, and Emily had a scrummy looking vanilla slice and I had taken one of the delicious cakes I had ordered and collected earlier in the week. Emily decided to tell the patron that as a diabetic I was unable to eat any of their confections so I had my own, although we were spending $15 on coffee and cake - well to our joint surprise the charming and smiling girl announced that we would have to pay $2 ‘cakeidge ‘ - presumably along the same lines as ‘corkage’ ! We ate, enjoyed and left, slightly miffed ! ( Later, on telling Steven, there was some outrage that this had happened !!)

WORLD OF COFFEE 8

Olinda village Cafe,  Dandenong Range, Victoria, and a Vanilla Slice plus a twice paid for Blueberry Friand ( not in photo !)

We then made our way to the next village, Sassafras. Again this was delightful, some great shops with Australian crafts and goods, and loveLy friendly shop keepers - typical of everyone I have met !i made some purchases and we wandered among the lanes. There was a most incongruous mock tudor house and business in the main street- how on earth this came about I have no idea......

Miss Marple’s Tea Rooms complete with a photo of Margaret Rutherford as the doughty detective on the sign.

How ! Why ! ...........