Marysville & Lake Mountain

Today, Janet & Phil (Kim & Fiona's other aunt and uncle) picked me up to take me to the Yarra Ranges National Park. We headed to Maryville - a small town up in the mountains about 30 minutes from Pakenham. It was still cold, foggy and rainy out, so I wasn't sure how the day was going to turn out or if we'd even be able to get out and enjoy the scenery.

We started at Stevenson Falls just outside Maryville. It is a large waterfall that is just a quick walk off the main road, so we made a stop and headed out to see the views. There was a 40 minute hike up to the top of the waterfall, so I headed up the steep climb to check out the views. The people who put the sign up that said "Steep Climb" were not kidding. It felt good though to get out there and hike for a bit.

Janet and Phil stayed at the bottom because Janet is not able to make the long walks. She had brain surgery about 4 years ago and has not been the same ever since. I give her a ton of credit though because she used to be really fit and active before the surgery and so it was difficult for her at first - and still is at times. She still does lawn bowling and tries to lead as normal a life as possible, but she is constantly dizzy and gets brain exhaustion when she exerts herself, so she has symptoms of burning heat sensations on the right side of the body, inablility to breathe and swallow and other things. Phil is also a treasure for her. He had to quit his job to take care of her full time and is pretty much at her beck and call since she can't drive and needs someone to walk with her half time she does anything. In fact, the first time she was left alone, she slipped and shattered her elbow. I can't believe what they have gone through in the last few years and how strong the two of them are with each other. Now that is true love and devotion.

After the falls, we went to a little coffee shop in town and got coffees and hot chocolate. I also had a scone - my first since I've been here. It is funny how popular scones, tarts, and pastries are here. Very different from America and Janet & Phil commented on that. They were in the states about 7 years ago and said they had such a hard time finding food because there were no bakeries around. They got a kick out of eating bagels everyday - those are not really part of the culture here. During our stop, we got to talking a lot about the difference in politics between the US and AUS. I like hanging out with the two of them because they like to talk about Australian things and explain the history of Australia to me. They also like to ask me questions about American culture, so it is fun to share stories with each other. I have also realized though that there is still so much about American I do not know and should know. I am proud to be American and I should be able to tell people from other countries about my home country. So there's a goal for when I get back to the US...

Next, we headed up to Lake Mountain - a small ski resort area northwest of Pakenham. It is one of the few areas that gets snow in Victoria, so it is a pretty popular area in the winter. It was deserted today, so we had the whole place to ourselves. There was a 4km scenic loop walk around the area, so Phil and I took off on the hike. Janet stuck around at the resort and waited for us to return. The walk had a bunch of lookouts, but since it was so foggy and misty, we didn't have that great of a view. The walk through the trees and mountains were really nice and peaceful though. It was so quiet up there - all you could hear were birds chirping.

Our next stop was to The Big Tree. The whole Maryville & Lake Mountain area is full of gum trees (eucylyptus) and sequoia like trees (I didn't know their real name) with huge trunks and when you look up you can barely see the top of the trees. The Big Tree is the tallest tree in Victoria. It was huge, but you can't drive a car through the trunk or anything...

After all our hikes and sightseeing, we stopped in Warburton to eat lunch - or actually afternoon tea since it was 3:30pm already. It was another small cute town in the area. I really loved being up in the Yarra Ranges since the scenes are incredible and there is such a small homey feeling in all the local towns. Warburton kind of reminded me of Nederland in Colorado - a lot of hippy and organic types in the area.

They took my home afterwards, but not after driving through the rest of the ranges. It is a good thing I don't get car sick because it was like driving up to Julian for 4 hours. I loved it!