Marysville 2

The night before Phyllis cobbled together a nice meal with what he found at the local supermarket. 

For them, Phyllis and Kosov arose the next day at a reasonable hour. Alone the evening before they went out for a little drive, and were excited to show me something they had found, the Gould Memorial Drive. I am not sure whether it is a war memorial planting or not, but lush with fresh green leaves, it was stunning.

Along the way.

Gorgeous. 

As a test, I left it to them to plan the day. The first fail was learning that the local historical museum wasn't open this day. I would have really liked to visit. A lack of planning also led to not being able to find the Keppel Falls Lookout, after a half hour drive along little better than a bush track. We turned around. Eucalyptus, gum trees, have evolved to cope with bushfires, and normally recover. The fire was so intense in places during the 2009 fires, the trees were killed, and are strong reminders of the day. This is not normal in Australia, but of course it is nothing to do with climate change. 

We backtracked and decided to take the 2km/1.2ml return walk to see the Keppel waterfalls. 

I walked over 2 k/m return, admittedly on flat ground, with neighbour HH to have lunch, so I know how far a kilometre is, and it was further. There were steep hills a times and we did reach a point where there were rocks and flowing water, but not the falls. I called the return to the car, as I worried about the strain on my not quite right heart. We returned to the car, and I can't remember why I drove back to Marysville, but I was a bit faster than Phyllis. My country gravel road driving skills hadn't been forgotten.

Back in Marysville, it was time to eat, and there wasn't a shortage of places to choose from. We lunched at  Marysville Country Bakery and the food was fine, and surprisingly, the double espresso was excellent. 

We took a wander around the nearby Gallipoli Park.

It's a representation of a lizard, if you can't work it out. 

The lads had mentioned going to Bruno's Sculpture Garden, which Ray and I visited in the past but we missed the turn as we headed to Steavenson Falls. We continued on.

The falls are a short walk from the carpark, past a small hydro electric power station. There is plenty  of old people seating. 

There is a path to the top of the falls, and I even remember Mother walking to the top with us in the 90s, but it would be too much for me now. The lads weren't interested to explore further. I checked the entry fees at Bruno's Garden, and they decided that was a no as well.

Meanwhile back at our digs, this cockatoo photo bombed my photo of a currawong. 

I did get to snap the currawong. 

My knee and Kosov's foot. It is illegal to feed native birds in Australia, so there wasn't a need for a 'no feeding the birds' in the caravan park, but of course we did, with seed in the car boot that has been there since before Ray died. We planned to use it the day after he died when we took our friend from Sydney, Victor, to the Dandenong Ranges. The best laid plans..... 

Dudes, find us somewhere nice to eat tonight! The golf club, Andrew. A dinner suit required lads? No Andrew. It was quiet but not dead. Rather nice, actually. Phyllis hasn't stop raving about the 12 hour slow cooked lamb. He is going to get the slow cooker down from the storage above the fridge and make it himself. I took my cap off and forgot it.

Onndrewwww, give me your phone. From the middle of the restaurant, Kosov zoomed into 100 times something to capture a kookaburra in the failing light. I was gobsmacked at the photo taken from so far away. By the guano, it is clear that kookas sit there often, ready to swoop down to steal a tasty steak from an outdoor diner.