August Trip

It was just coming to sunrise as we left Mallacoota on a pretty cool morning. As I was wearing my Ugg boots I wasn’t really cold while finishing loading the car, having done most of the job on Saturday. As I have forgotten things a couple of times recently Frances ran through a checklist before we left.

The checklist will be modified a bit for the next trip since she noticed - as we passed through Cabbage Tree Creek - that I was still wearing my Ugg boots rather than the intended walking shoes!  Fortunately we intended to call in to Anaconda in Bairnsdale to pick up a new parka, so we can also get a new pair of Keens.

Sticking with coolness, things got a little white on the Genoa Flats, as the car thermometer showed 0C.  It warmed up to 7C at Drummer and then dropped back to 3C at Cann River.

After a very productive stop at Anaconda where the parka was collected, new Keens acquired

(recognise that, facial AI) and Frances discovered an excellent fleece (for me) marked down from $120 to $30 we headed off onto the most boring stretch of the drive, from Bairnsdale to Stratford.

There are several reasons for the boredom rating: the trees give a feeling of tunnel vision, which is exacerbated by the centre barriers and quite often the traffic is slow.  Today that was made worse by rain starting pretty much as soon as we left Bairnsdale and persisting until we were past Druin (about 200km).  Despite the duration of the rain, the BoM observations for the day only give modest accumulation (up to 5mm).  

It still wasn’t warm with the car thermometer reading 9o C on this stretch.

.

Whatever.  We rumbled down the M1 being a little surprised how much more traffic there was on the road compared to our recent runs.  It was notable that the traffic was particularly heavy from Pakenham to the Burke Rd intersection but then reduced as the tolls threatened.  There was some discussion about the GPS instruction, via Google Maps, to turn on to Power St rather than take the Kingsway but I persisted.  (Subsequent checking on my iPad reinforces that taking Power St would have delivered us to the 🤬Casino rather than St Kilda Rd.)

10th Melba Hall

Our morning walk on the 11th was in much better weather.  We found that Sprinter has arrived with the daffodils flowering at the top  of Fawkner Park 

And succulents (Aloe arborescens) along the Western (St Kilda Rd) edge.


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