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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

A Weekend Away ...

Hello Dear Blog Friends,

We are at the tail end of a (sort of) long weekend. It is Tuesday, Melbourne Cup Day, where we get a public holiday so a horse race can be run ... they call it "The Race That Stops A Nation". Go figure !!

Anyway, we went up to our caravan at Bonnie Doon, which is on Lake Eildon, a man-made lake in Central Victoria. We only stayed a couple nights, as Hubby needed to work last night (Monday night). Today is a vegie day, to catch up on stuff (Blogging, mostly ... hopefully!). The lake is currently at only around 18% (I think), and is dropping rapidly. Quite sad, really, and it is very difficult for the farmers, as this is one of the major irrigation lakes, feeding a large part of Victoria.

Although there is a lack of water for boating (oh, and of course irrigation!), it makes for interesting 4WDing around the lake bed. As it is a man made lake, many properties were flooded in the 50s to create this lake. Many remnants of these properties are now out of the water. It is very interesting to explore. This one is of a sheep-dip thingy. One wall has been knocked over at the far end.

This is just an abstract picture looking up through a dead tree at our amazingly blue skies !!


An old fence line ... you can see all the dried up mud covering the posts and trees. Looks really eerie !!

Looking down what would have been the drive-way of the property.

These fence posts are just amazing. They were hand-made in a time when there was no machinery like we have now. My guess is that each square hole was chiselled out !! This photo looks just stunning in black & white, although I love it in colour as the contrast of the grey and blue is incredible.

This is all that remains of the lake outside the caravan park at the moment ... the original river.

I don't know if you can see the numbers up this post, but when the lake is full, it is right up to the top number, just under the railway line !! As you can see, there ain't no water under this bridge at the moment !!

I know I have posted a similar photo before, but I just love this view under the Bonnie Doon bridge. The sun-light gave it an interesting effect, too.

We had a lovely weekend, the weather was hot, hot, hot. The park wasn't exceptionally busy, for a long weekend, but there were still plenty of people around to play with !!!!


Back home here in Melbourne, it is drizzling today, and quite cool. I even have the heating on !! I hope you all had a great weekend, and that the week ahead will be a good one for you all. I will try to stop by all your blogs during the course of today and tomorrow, to see what you have been up to.

Take care everyone,

MEOW

40 comments:

Mise en Place said...

WOW! Great, great pictures. Looks like a very nice weekend!

Unknown said...

MEOW! I found the dry lake bed a bit sad but the rest of the shots are really very nice. You are quite a photographer! lol!

Greeneyes said...

welcome home Meow

It finally arrived ! yahhhhhhhh Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much cannot wait to see it , I tried in my Dvd wont play (sniff sniff) tried laptop nope , but I am going to try in the desktop and see if it will open as soon as I finish this ,cant wait to see your pretty face and all of you ,thank you for sending it meow ,you are a sweetie oxoxox,
on this post
what glorious pics you took on your journey , I love the blue it is so brilliant . The fences with the chiseled out bits is great , time ravages all doesnt it , all that hard work and reduced to scrapwood . you have a great eye meow ,I really like the tree one with the skybackground , really interesting . Glad your home safe and sound ,sending icebergs soon , SHOWOFF 20 c and we have snow !!!!!! Yes I am Jealous again , I dont have green eyes for nothing !!!!!!haha

HUGS
Greeneyes

Diane@Diane's Place said...

Hi, Meow, glad you had a good weekend and got home safely. Love your pics as usual. ;D

We are in a longterm drought here in the Midsouth, USA, but you wouldn't know it by today's weather. We had a slow steady rain all day, and I noticed on your temperature converter that it's the same temp here right now as it is there: 54* Fahrenheit, but I forget what it is C.

Have a great day vegging out and relaxing, Meow. :-)

Spider Girl said...

Those are some gorgeous pictures! :)

Dick said...

Nice photos! I wish I could send you some of our rain. We are getting what is called a Pineapple Express, a storm off the Pacific from the direction of Hawaii, so the temps are warm (around 60F) and there is a lot of rain. We have already had more rain in the month of November than we usually do all month and Nov. is our month with the most rain, on average. We have flooding all around the area with at least eight rivers overflowing their banks. Our own Skagit River is expected to crest tomorrow at something like twelve feet above flood stage, farther up-river from Mt. Vernon. See why I wish I could send some to you?

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Momyblogr ... thank you. It was a great weekend.

Michael ... thank you. Yes, the dry lake bed is very sad, but the photos were taken at the shallow end. There is still a lot of water (although not as much as there should be), but it's not looking promising for rain, so I can only guess that it will become less and less.

Greeneyes ... thankyou. Glad the parcel has arrived, hope you can get it to work ... shame if you can't ... let me know. Stay warm, my friend ... it must be pretty cold over your way !!

Diane ... thank you. It seems much of the world is suffering strange extremes with the weather. Let's hope this isn't becoming the norm.

Spider Girl ... thank you. Long time no see, hope you are well.

Dick ... thank you for thinking of us. Wish you could send us some of that water. Hope you don't get flooded out. Stay safe and dry.

Take care, Meow

Anonymous said...

Hello Meow ~ Glad you had a few days at Bonnie Doon. The photos are great,
but the water situation is getting so
serious isn't it? Thanks for your
comments. Those great truths were good. I only grow a few vegies, wish I grew more, but have neither the space or the energy. They taste so much nicer than bought ones.
Take care, Love, Merle.

Anonymous said...

Hi Meow

Great pictures, isn't it sad to see the lakes and rivers so low. The Murray/Darling system is virtually no longer - thanks to Cubbie Station!! All that water just for their cotton, but I don't think the Federal Government are going to do anything about it. It's criminal.

Anyway, nice to have you visit and thanks for your comments.

Hugs

Anonymous said...

Morning Meow,

Stunning pics. We are entering the dry season in Florida after a low rain summer. All the lakes are low already and dropping. Do you get rain in the winter or summer?

Hope you have a great week, and try to slow down and enjoy blogging. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Meow, more good pics from Bonnie Doon, everywhere seems to need more rain including most of Queensland.

Jeanette said...

Hi Meow
Great photo's of Bonnie Doone hope you had a great couple days there.
I must say our lake is full and the wakeboarding chamionships were held this weekend the town was booked out solid.

Anonymous said...

Girl you take some awesome pictures! I just love to look at your photographs!

Anonymous said...

I love the bridge shot! Really wonderful the angle and all! We are cold, rainy and wet today! But full of color as the trees continue to change! Your weekend trip sounded like fun! Hope you get the water you need soon!

FelineFrisky said...

Another fantastic journey in pictures! Thanks for sharing! What great mysteries from the lake bottom!

Drought is bad here in FL too.

Thanks for the visits! D :)

Anonymous said...

Great pictures Meow. We have problems with the water over here in that we haven't had enough rain. Our water company put in a drought order but by the time it came through we'd had some rain and had conserved some more water.

It's a sad situation and all to do with climate change it seems :(.

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Merle ... thank you. Yes, the water situation is very worrying. I hope we get some substantial rain soon.

Robyn ... thank you. We drove along the Darling River back in September, and I was horrified by how low it was.

Brian ... we usually get rain over Winter, and through to October, but it hasn't happened this year. It is apparently the most severe drought in a century.

Peter ... thank you. It seems most of Australia is suffering from lack of rain.

Jeanette ... thank you. I am glad Mulwala is full ... hope it stays that way !! It must have been pretty busy in town with the wakeboard comps.

Susie ... thank you. I like it, too, and might print it out !! I have others which I have fiddled with and turned black and white ... they look great, too.

Dawn ... thank you.

Debbie ... thank you. You are lucky, Autumn is a beautiful time of year. We don't get quite the colour change you do, though.

Felinefrisky ... thank you. Hope you are well.

Nicole ... thank you. Yes, it was a lovely weekend. Hopefully there will be many more to come !!

Clare ... it must have something to do with the climate change. I imagine it will only continue along these lines ... could be hard times ahead !!

Take care, everyone, and have a great week.
Meow

Carole Burant said...

I'd heard it was the worst drought in a hundred years over there but the pictures really hit home what it actually looks like! Such a shame and I can just imagine how eerie it is to see everything that's usually under water! Take care dear Meow! xox

LZ Blogger said...

Great looking shots here! Loved the fence posts shot the BEST! Have a GREAT week! ~ jb///

P.S. Caravan? (that's a brand of mini-van here)!

Unknown said...

Appears to have been a neat adventure!

Jo said...

Hope you won lots of money on the BIG race... My son Liam (3) backed a winner.
Have a great week

Jenn said...

What an amazing place. I love your photos!

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Pea ... thank you. Fortunately, in the suburbs where I live it is still green and lush. But it is scary wondering what will happen if it doesn't rain some time soon.

JB ... thank you. They are my favorite shots, too. A caravan is a sort of mobile home on wheels, which you tow behind a car or 4WD ... sort of a towable RV I guess.

Nick ... thanks. Our adventures are always fun.

Littlejen ... nope, lost $25 between the 3 of us. Only place a bet once a year, so can't complain, really. My horse came 4th and Hubby's and Chicky's are still running, I think !!

Jenn ... thank you.

Hope you are having a great day.

Take care, Meow

SnowWhite said...

what gorgeous photos, well done.
xx
shona

Anonymous said...

Hi Meow, great photos as usual, glad you had a great weekend, I did also at Grafton, can you believe it pelted down rain the whole time we were there. We didn't mind in the slightest as we knew it was very welcome. Thanks for visit and comments to my site.
Cheers Margaret

Cathy said...

I don't see my comment here and thought I had left one! I had seen these photos yesterday and thought they were wonderful; everything is so differently coloured than here right now.
I hope it starts warming up for you soon, as it's starting to get cold here now....

Lois Lane said...

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Nice photos!

sonia a. mascaro said...

Great photos, Meow! Thanks for sharing them!

Skye said...

Fantastic pictures! :)

Greeneyes said...

Hello there Brave woman photographer extraordinaire.
I put the disk in and it just opened ,I must have tried with the wrong program I knew I could watch movies here on my desktop,,,it is wonderful I love it so much , thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu so much for sending it you sweet itchy feet woman you , gotta go and see it again hard to pick a favorite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yipehhh
thanks
Hugs
Greeneyes
(sent in email!:} )

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Shona ... thank you.

Margaret ... thanks. I think I wouldn't have minded if it had've rained all weekend either. Sadly, it didn't ... it was really warm, instead !!

Cathy ... thanks. Is Blogger being a booger again !! The colours over here are very different to what you are used to, I guess. I hope it isn't too cold where you are ... it is warming up here, quite nicely.

Lois ... thank you.

Sonia ... thank you.

Skyeblue ... thank you.

Greeneyes ... I am so pleased it finally arrived. I sent you an email. Enjoy.

Take care, Meow

Anonymous said...

The photos are great. It looks like you had a nice weekend. I always enjoy your site, because it is so much fun to see things from another country.

herhimnbryn said...

Hi. Your pics sum up Oz at the moment.....wide blue skies and dry ravaged earth. And those fence posts...oh, I wonder who worked under a searing sun to make them, dig a hole in the hard ground for each post.

ps As I write the heavens have opened here in WA and rain is drenching everything....bliss.

stinkypaw said...

It does look quite eerie...

Have a great weekend! =^..^=

Saur♥Kraut said...

Didn't you post some pics from this place last year? Looks incredible~!

Devil Mood said...

Very cool pictures!
the water distribution is going crazy - it's lacking there and in Europe we've been having floods, but still very high temperatures. This Autumn's been insane!

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Autumn ... thank you. It was a lovely weekend. Right now it is another busy weekend. Will write about it soon.

Herhimnbryn ... thank you. The weather is very strange this year. Right now (Sunday 12th) it is raining and cool ... nice for a change.

Stinkypaw ... thank you.

Saur ... I have posted photos from the same place many times. I just love it there.

Devil Mood ... thanks. Who can figure out why the weather is doing what it's doing. Hope it returns to normal one day soon.

Daybyday ... thanks. I love taking photos like this ... it doesn't always work, though !!

Take care, Meow

Kylee said...

Beautiful Pictures. Thanks for sharing

Meow (aka Connie) said...

Kylee ... thanks, and you are welcome !! Take care, Meow

Anonymous said...

Gidday Meow, Like you I have trouble finding time to blog more frequently what with working, bloging, and read other's blogs (which takes some time...not that I'm complaining).
Glad you enjoyed my post/s on Brisbane. You have some great photos taken around Bonnie Doon. We've just had some rain here but we sure need alot more.