Thursday, October 24, 2013

Bits and pieces of Victoria

Before I continue on to our stop in Melbourne, I wanted to share a bit more of the beautiful countryside of southeast Australia.  I really couldn't get enough of those beautiful cliffs in the Twelve Apostles.  So indulge me with two more images.



As I said earlier, we took the Great Ocean Road with its incredible views of cliffs and the great Southern Ocean.  But there were some other sights that I found just as fascinating.  There happened to be some big biking event going on.  We encountered hundreds of bikers, fortunately on the opposite side of the road, strung out for miles and miles and miles.  These are hard core folks biking some serious steep inclines!


Another sight that initially we found curious but soon understood its design was this truck.  I have never seen an intake to an engine like this.  See the valve on the right side of the truck (your left).  They call it an intake snorkel over here and is quite common on trucks due to the dust and water which folks commonly encounter.  As far as the front grill, well, those I occasionally see in the states.  But over here?  Well, it seems like every other car has a front grill of some sort.  Let's just say that a lot of kangaroos meet their ends on the front of a car's grill!

Always needing a bird fix, these cockatoos seem to be everywhere.  
And are they ever noisy!!


For our return trip to Melbourne the next day, we decided to take a more direct route back through the countryside.  We drove through some beautiful forests.  The vast height of these trees was humbling.



We were also entertained with the wide variety of mailboxes that folks use to collect their mail.  
The milk can seemed to be the most popular.
But I think the most creative was a microwave!


As we neared Melbourne, it began to rain.  From a distance, I could see this huge yellow patch of color approaching and as we neared, I shouted at The Professor to "Stop! Stop!"  It was a bit dangerous with the rain and cars whizzing by, but we were not alone.  Two more cars pulled off and stood in the rain taking pics.  I joined in photographing and at the time had no idea what the crop was but googled later to discover it was a canola field!

It was a beautiful sight.



We returned to Melbourne for the next four days.  In between The Professor's work, we were able to explore this lovely capital of Victoria.  I look forward to sharing it with you.

Later, my friends,