Victoria

It’s not an easy thing to leave Melbourne – its suburbs go on for a very long way. It’s almost the same size as Los Angeles. But once you are out, the Victoria country-side is very lovely and very diverse. Bev was the driver and tour guide. First stop was Brighton Beach in St. Kilda ... it was a stormy evening the night we were out there, but we arrived in time to take some pictures with these lovely little `beach houses` that line the beach. They are so cute, and apparently very valuable. They were built in the early years of the last century because the good women of Australia had to preserve their modesty by having somewhere near to the beach to change. Today they are used for a wider range of things ... and new ones cannot be built. These are handed down from generation to generation. Too cute.

It is said that Victoria is the microcosm of all Australia – anything that is done elsewhere in Oz is done in Victoria, from mining to wining and dining to forestry to farming to fishing. It was definitely a convict recipient and many Victorians trace their family histories back to those convicts. On Saturday we went driving to places like Shepparton and Bendigo – part of the ranges that Ned Kelly would have rode. Kind of reminded me of pictures of the African savannah. It really is very dry up there – its end of summer and the fields are just white-dry. It is also fruit season and we stopped at a few road-side stands to buy fresh fruit. The winner: figs. I`ve never had fresh figs before – only the dried p sticky stuff we get in stores in Canada. OMG, there isn`t much that could rival this taste. Yummmm. I tried to bring some with me to Tasmania but those damn little sniffer dogs caught me.

Sunday saw us driving up to the Dandenong Ranges – lovely hills covered with northern rain forest. A person couldn`t help but want to do a little tree-hugging. Beautiful coloured birds like rosellas and parakeets. I saw birds so brilliant that it looked like they`d been coloured by a kid with a new set of crayola markers! Can't see them in my photos cause I couldn't get close enough with my little digital - but they were remarkable.