Day 10 – Olinda, Dandenong Ranges, Dromana

 

It was a travel day today and we farewelled Yarra Glen, heading off about 10 am, though I had been up early enough to capture the gorgeous sunrise. After a 40 minute drive (that should have been 30 minutes if I didn’t have a fight with Siri) we arrived in the lovely small town of Olinda. There were some really interesting shops that we wandered through, made some purchases, and then the boys found a coffee shop while Maz and I kept shopping. Everyone was very friendly and up for a chat. Gaz had a particularly perplexing encounter with the two young female shopkeepers where they all playfully yelled ‘Wokka wokka’ at each other. I had no idea what was going on but they seemed amused.

 

We then decided to check out the nearby Dandenong Ranges Botanical Gardens and had a very pleasant time wandering down to a lake and back up again – Gaz was particularly proud that he made the whole of the walk and only sat on a few benches along the way. It was pretty steep, so he did well. Some of the trees were incredibly tall – all in all a worthwhile visit.

 

Our next stop was to be Emerald Lake Park but, after dodging fallen trees along the 20 minute or so journey to get there, we discovered that the park was closed due to, you guessed it fallen trees. Emerald was particularly hard hit in the recent storms and apparently many parts of the town are still without power. After a quick discussion it was decided we would press on and find a picnic spot elsewhere, closer to our destination. So off we went and didn’t find anywhere suitable until we reached Dromana ,,, but that was worth the wait. Who wouldn’t want to eat a bread roll looking out at glorious Port Phillip Bay? It was getting pretty hot – over 30 degrees – so we were thankful for shade of the picnic table set up.

 

It was now well after 3pm so we set off the short distance to Safety Beach where our friends (well, we stole them from Kev & Maz) now live. Wayne and Vicky have travelled with us and Kev & Maz a few times on road trips and will be joining us next week for a few days as well. In the meantime they have generously offered their house up for a couple of nights. We settled in to a lovely afternoon of wine, finska and then a great BBQ & Cobb Salad. Great night and great company!