Healesville

Healesville is in the Yarra Valley, just over an hour from Melbourne. It is a lush, green area, famous for its vineyards and wildlife, most notably, its birdlife. People originally settled in Healesville around 1864 because it was on the way to the Woods Point goldfields. Now, it is largely a tourist destination for those who like a drop of the good stuff. White Rabbit Breweries can be found here right next to the Innocent Bystander wine depot.

 Verdant. That's the word that sprang to mind when I took these photos. Verdant. And serenity.

A trip to the Maroondah Reservoir Park...the family had been there a couple of days before and they had exclaimed over how peaceful it was and how they felt as though they were the only ones in the world. Today there were 7 large buses and many uniformed children running around squealing and a man on a megaphone issuing instructions. Anti-serenity. But they packed up and the buses rolled off not long after we arrived and it was us and the green and the birds.

 Waterfall...? Small fry compared to NZ and actually just a spillover from the dam, which you can see above. But still, gushing water over rocks...you take what you can.















I am not a bird person. Little beady eyes, sharp beaks and pre-historic heads. However, let's give credit where credit is due. Australia has some pretty amazing birds. Vibrant plumage. Today I saw yellow-crested cockatoos, rosellas, parrots, ibis and even a kookaburra, who was extremely difficult to capture on film or on a digital format as he blended in so well with the tree....