09/17/15 - Melbourne, City of Photographers (and Graffiti Artists)

That leads to the second thing. There were a lot of people taking pictures of other people. Once again, maybe it was the weekend, but it wasn't just cell phones and selfie sticks. There was a lot of serious photographic gear out there as well. It might be that Melbourne, like New York City or Venice, is one of those photogenic cities where you can just point your camera any which way and photograph something interesting.

That brings us to Hosier Lane, one of the many alleys in Melbourne's Central Business District, which doubles as an open air street art gallery and studio. Needless to say, all of this street art attracted spectators and, of course, photographers. Needless to say, we were among them.

09/16/15 - One of the Many Beaches on the Great Ocean Road

09/15/15 - Cumberland and She Oak Falls

09/14/15 - Mait's Rest

The great trees, beeches and flowering eucalyptus, were too tall for us to see in their entirety. The latter are the tallest flowering plant in the world, The cycads provided a lower ceiling with their oversized fronds and fan-like appearance. Below were the ferns, the fungi and a host of other rain forest competitors. It was a short walk, but wonderful.

09/13/15 - Great Ocean Road - The Otways

Down below us, the sea washed the broad flat rocks, covering them and then lowering to let them drain in a lacy pattern of foam and water. It was mesmerizing. Pulling ourselves away, we walked along the Great Ocean Trail a bit. Our first stop here was the cinnamon fungus shoe washing station where we scrubbed the dirt from our shoes and then washed them in soapy water. We stepped on the metal plate as described and our feet sank below and were surrounded by soap bubbles. We were glad to do our bit for pest control.

When not washing our feet, we enjoyed the scenery, the birds and the spring flowers. They aren't as flamboyant as in Virginia, but spring is months away in Virginia, and who can say no to the many orchids and, for us at least, exotic plants of southern Australia.

09/12/15 - Port Fairy

09/11/15 - The Volcano Trail

We returned to our rental car and had a panicky moment. The car started fine, but we couldn't move the automatic transmission from park. It was time to RTFM - read the manual. A brief perusal did not solve our problem, but it did mention that there was some kind of interlock between the automatic transmission and the brakes. That was our clue. One could not leave the park setting if the brake pedal wasn't depressed.

Our next stop was Mount Eccles and Surprise Lake. We were just too exhausted to walk around the lake, but we did clamber up to an overlook, and on the way down spotted a koala in a tree.

09/10/15 - Climbing in the Southern Grampians

We briefly considered climbing Mount Abrupt which loomed large in the area, but only briefly. Instead, we attacked Mount Sturgeon, perhaps an 800-900' climb. Once again we climbed past grass trees and through forest and when the trail opened up we had magnificent views of the area. Our original plan was to climb until we were exhausted, but we made it to the top and a fabulous overlook.

09/09/15 - The Balconies - A Mystic Journey

The forest was shrouded with fog, but the rock formations and spring flowers kept us going. It wasn't a long trail, so we were soon at the main lookout. The view wasn't much better than the view from the parking lot, but it was still a magnificent sweep.

09/09/15 - MacKenzie Falls

We got lost on the way back, so we wound up getting another view of the falls from the far side. Even better, there were parrots posing in the bushes by the trailside.

09/08/15 - The Grampians - Tales of the North

We turned around and attacked Mount Cherub, taking a trail we had seen as a turnoff on our way to the pools. We were soon climbing and had wonderful views of the area. Later, we drove a short way into the park and took another trail along Stony Creek to a small waterfall known as Turret Falls.

09/08/15 - A Domestic Note from the Grampians

09/07/15 - Our Melbourne Mission

The first thing we did was round up an esky. That's what Australians call their cool packs for storing food. We found a Woolworth's in the heart of town and purchased a collapsable 20 liter unit, complete with its own cooling pack. Now we had to fill it.

Our first stop was the Spring Street Grocery on, of all streets, Spring Street, not far from our hotel. We loaded up on cheeses, some triple cremes, some hard cheeses and so on. We needed to be prepared. Our fromagier sent us off to Phillipa's bakery to buy several loaves of bread: sourdough, rye, a baguette and the like. Those were our iron rations, but Kalebergs can't live on bread and cheese, we needed more.

This meant exploring Smith Street, a colorful street full of little shops, mostly selling food and drink, but also offering vinyl records, computer repair, paint supplies and the other necessities of life. It was a lot like Clement Street in San Francisco before the most recent real estate boom. We quickly homed in on Alimentari where we picked up a supply of salamis and several prepared salads.

All we needed now was coffee. We had some we had brought with us, but we still needed filters and a funnel. The barista at Alimentari understood what we needed and sent us off the main street to Proud Mary's coffee shop. Proud Mary sold coffee, but not coffee making gear. She sent us on to Aunty Peg's. Here they sold coffee making gear. They even had a lab bench with filters, presses, steamers and large coffee bean colliders for experimental purposes.

We bought a Japanese coffee funnel and a pack of filters. We were all set for Halls Gap.

09/06/15 - Kata Tjuta - Part 3

09/05/15 - Kata Tjuta - Part 2

09/04/15 - Kata Tjuta - The Unsung Hero - Part 1

They're both made of the same stone, but Kata Tjuta has eroded into not one dome, but into thirty six domes, separated by canyons and flat lands. Uluru fascinates at a distance, but Kata Tjuta draws one close and inside. It invites one to explore.

We did a circuit of The Valley of the Winds, a passage between the rock formations and across the flat lands. It is higher than Uluru and has a bit more moisture, but it still presents the true desert experience. Kata Tjuta is truly the unsung hero of the region.

09/03/15 - Uluru - Place of Water

We, of course, had signs and trails to follow, so we had no trouble finding water. We wandered around the rock, then into a canyon between two folds in the rock. Here we found water, fresh water from the recent rain, but the vegetation was green. This was a place of water.

09/02/15 - Uluru - Up Close

09/01/15 - Welcome to Uluru

Uluru itself is red sandstone, ancient and folded, shaped and smoothed by time. The land it around is flat and dry and made of the same sandstone, reduced to soil, as the rock. The plants are scrub and hearty and need little water. In many ways, the land appears much as we once imagined Mars, before the landers and explorers, and it is still a land of our imagination.