The House(s) of Fran_mart

 These are just a few snaps from 505 or very nearby. It is quite usual to see groups of dog-walkers in the morning.  However they are usually out in the middle of the park, not blocking the path.  I have no idea why the big dog - possibly a Burmese Mountain Dog - is in the cart. The low clour/fog has been keeping the balloons away but 4 came in on the 17th.  I thought this one was going to land very close to 505 but it ended up about 200m away. A couple of snaps of a colourful sunset on the 17th.  This looked quite nice .... ... but the colour got more intense 3 minutes later.    It is also surprising that the sky was this light at 1743 hrs. From time to time there are interesting things going on in Fawkner Park.  One morning as we walked past the Alfred heliport a media person was talking into a TV camera about "serious injuries" as we passed by.  Turns this was the victims of an axe attack in West Gippsland  who had been flown in to th...

 on  The following image shows a 20-meter high mural in Bowen St, South Melbourne (heading from Mac Rob to the Toorak Rd tram stop,  honoring Boonwurrung matriarch and trailblazer for Aboriginal rights, Louisa Briggs .  The mural was painted by acclaimed street artist Pete CTO.

 We were walking to Prahran on the morning of the 10th and heard a helicopter coming from the general direction of Richmond.  It was indeed the Air Ambulance, albeit on an unusual flight path over Fawkner Park rather than Albert Park. Here it is coming down.  Note the bloke with the Hi-vis and a stop sign on the pavement.  It seems he was just stopping pedestrians not vehicles. Then it has to be lined up properly.  I assume it is more efficient to swing it round in the air than to get a couple of wardsmen to shove it round after landing.

 So on 5 July we finished packing the car and headed on in the dark and the rain at about 0630.  Daylight arrived somewhere after Genoa.  I think we were close to Drummer (about 45km) before we saw another car. We each guessed the number of caravans we would see at Cann River.  Frances voted for 10, allowing for school holiday travelers while I was influenced - unwisely - by the foul weather and went for 2.  The park was well occupied, with Frances estimating about 15 occupied sites.  From Cann onwards the traffic coming towards us was quite steady: certainly more than there has been for the past 2 or 3 trips.  I think a certain amount of sanity returning to fuel prices has got people on the road again. I have entered up the fuel purchased at Bairnsdale and was struck by the similarity of consumption this trip and last.  There is a notable difference between the consumption on the legs Bairnsdale - Mallacoota - Bairnsdale  (about 6.8 l/100km)...