One of the perks of living in Melbourne, aside from the devine coffee that I could not go a day without, is that you're close to a wide range of landscapes that can satisfy your every craving. In a city where the weather is as unpredictable and unstable as a pregnant woman's mood, it's a relief knowing that you don't have to travel for endless hours to get to the beach or the mountains.
For a person like myself, who's indecisive and likes a bit of everything, having different landscapes a stone's throw away is like a god send. That's one of my favourite things about any city and that's why I was completely infatuated with Melbourne by day 2 following my arrival.
However, that didn't seem to be a good enough reason to make me stay for over a year... and that's another thing you should know about me: I change my mind more often than the Kardashians change wigs.
But that's besides the point.
I'm here to show you some pictures from a day trip I did with a friend on a gloomy winter day. It was my very first trip outside of the city (and in Australia) and I was extremely excited about it. We planned it just right: we were going to leave late in the evening and do the two hour drive that would lead us straight into the woods and on to the kind of road you'd see in American or Canadian national parks -- a long and winding path surrounded by giant trees scattered as far as the eye can see; then, in the morning, we'd wake up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the inevitable fog and take as many pictures as we could of it until the sun would light everything up entirely. It was a great plan, and it worked!
A thick and fluffy duvet made sleeping in the car a tad less uncomfortable than it usually is. The lack of wind made for a peaceful night, though we didn't go without experiencing a couple of freak outs at night, as you wood (hehe).
First, it was the toilet freak out. We were parked in a little entrance on the side of the road for the night and it was close to a dingy toilet that was too open and spacious for my liking in such an environment. I had my phone with the flashlight on and although the place looked creepy, it worked just fine. It wasn't until I opened the door to get out of the toilet that I saw a little GIANT leech stuck to my sweater sleeve right by my wrist. I had never had the pleasure of meeting these little ugly things, so I hope your judgement isn't too harsh towards me when I tell you that I let out a little scream and ran out of the place as fast as I could. My guy friend, who I thought would be of great help to reassure me that the little things were not going to kill me and to check that I didn't have others resting on other parts of my body, changed the game: as soon as I mentioned leeches, he let out a scream similar to mine and started begging me to get them off him ASAP...
Yes, I was the one with leeches on my clothes (I found 3 other ones on my legs), and yet he was more scared than I was. I ended up laughing at him and forgetting about my own mini freak out in no time. I never let him forget about that great episode!
The second freak out of the night was when, at around 1AM, I couldn't sleep and decided to get out of the car and stretch a little. As I opened the door and set foot outside of the car, I heard something loud nearby in the bushes. My conscience knew it was obviously animals, but my brain was not having it that night and so decided to scare me off a little, just for the sake of it. I froze on the spot, not knowing what to do... until I heard an even louder and closer sound of leaves being stepped on and branches crackling in the vicinity. I let out a quiet "OMG" and got straight back into the car and locked the door.
Once again, I freaked out my friend more than the thing in the bushed freaked me, but this time I didn't laugh much. I was a bit concerned with what was in the surroundings, until my friend decided to turn on the car and the lights to try and have a better look at the bushes, and as he did, a half-meter tall creature jumped out from behind the plants and went running into the forest as fast as it could: it was a joey. My first time seeing a joey too! Needless to say, a calming feeling of relief overtook me and put me to sleep within an hour.
The morning after went just like we were hoping it would. We woke up at 5.30AM and we were surrounded by a light fog. We tried our best to incorporate it into our pictures the best we could, despite it dissipating rather fast as the first sun rays began to shine through the trees and into the thick forest.
Having the entire place to ourselves made things fun and easy.
It was a day of wandering and a night of firsts, and although fear was part of the equation, it was still a pretty fun and adventurous experience.
Another one for the books.
PS. We only had one red jacket for the photos, so we wore it for each other's pictures. I'm in half of the shots you've just seen. Did you notice?
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Beautiful images and trees! :)
Thank you! Means a lot :)
Wow. Great photos. What a stunning forest...
Thank you, Marco! Mother Nature did all the job. It was very easy to take photos there :)
Buenas tardes
Tus imagenes invitan a la meditación y a la relajación, muchas gracias por compartirlas.
Saludos desde México
Muchas gracias @saulos!
Me agrada saber que mis imagenes le comunican ese tipo de emociones y sentidos. Es un placer :)
Saludos desde Asia!
Fantastic shots! Resteemed!
You guys are awesome! Thank youu! :)
Oh my, what an adventure!! And the pictures are amazing! Im a bit of a scaredy cat myself! I wouldve flipped my wig if I had seen leeches (shudder) on me! But Im sure it was worth every scare. The pictures alone are worth it but the adventure Im sure surpassed all of it! Great fun, thanks for sharing! :D
Haha glad to know I'm not the only one capable of freaking out over a tiny non-murderous leech! But like you said, it was all worth it :)
Thank you for the nice words! Happy to know you enjoyed my post :)
I've always wanted to at least spend a night in the woods with my friends. that would be a great experience!
It's great fun and a memorable experience! Just make sure you don't watch any scary movie that takes place in the woods prior to your trip, or your brain might play tricks on you haha
Stand facing away from the camera. The insta rule #45 :) lovely shots. Great scale with the trees.
Haha thanks! That's what happens when you're going through a hardcore IG phase and you're camera shy! Nowadays, if I'm feeling confident, I'm brave enough to turn 45 degrees towards the camera, so at least you can see 25% of my face :)
Hello from another Aussie! : )
LOL, I love this!! I have to laugh... I HATE, HATE, HATE leeches too!! I've only ever had one but yes I too jumped around screaming like a crazy person to get it off. Having 4 all at once would have truly done my head in!!! However... after having FOUR leeches, why would you get out of the car again!!! Lol
Meanwhile... your photos are gorgeous and totally worth your night or terror! : ) That single tree fern against all those gums looks amazing. The fog is wonderful but the sun shining through the tress is stunning!! May I ask, the track running through the trees, was that a road, a driveway, what?
Hahaha love that! You know, I think there's a big misconception regarding your bravery as an Aussie. I always thought that because you cohabitate with deadly animals, you'd be totally fine with seeing them get close to you or even have them on you. I guess that's why I was so surprised and amused at my friend's reaction when he started flapping his arms and begging me to get the little monsters off him hahah
It was the wanna-be hero in me that decided to get out of the car again... big mistake 😂
The track you see on the pictures is for hikers, I suppose, though we did see a big gate in the middle of the woods. Not idea where it lead to!
Thanks for the kind words! :)
Hahaaa.. NO! While I REALLY dislike leeches... and I'm not too fond of ticks either... it's the snakes that really get me!!! But really who's going to be happy about having something on them sucking their blood!?! I loved your re-telling of the story though, I was right there with you, feeling and hearing it all. And you've got to love a friend who make make you laugh in the worst situations!! : )
Yeah I thought the track was interesting... you're in some pretty dense forest there... if you see a track it is usually a walking track, not a car track. I love that it is a car track!
Oh well, you have to be a bit strange to like snakes in my book. I only ever saw one from a far in my life and I froze on the spot. I would break Bolt's record if I were to see one right next to me! haha
I'm so glad you enjoyed the post and felt everything I was trying communicate with my tales :) I'll do my best to keep producing enough entertaining content for people like you to stick around for more :)
That forest was very dense and very beautiful. The track was an interesting addition to the environment and it was begging to be photographed, so we did :)
We've had 5 snakes here (I think) at out house... some deadly, others not. One even got into our garage!! :O There are a lot of people who like them... (NOT THIS GIRL!!) I don't understand those who have them as pets!! Pass!!!!
Omg, five??!? How did you survive through so many close encounters? D: I too don't understand how some people have them as pets... they're not cute!!
Yeah... now that I think about it, we had one in our garage which my husband had to get out! We had another that was somewhere in our garage because when we put the door up it was squashed... that was gross!
We had a baby brown (it was still a good meter long) slither up the side of our garden along the fence.
A couple of years ago we had a BIG brown... it started out in our front yard, I got photos of it on our rubbish bins but it ended up in our back yard and was residing under our deck. It would come out and bake in the sun but would usually disappear if it heard us. Although I did come up onto our patio once... I was not keen that day. We literally didn't go outside for 3 months! I tried to get a snake catcher to get it but it wouldn't never be in a place where they could get to it. There was also one day my husband wanted to try and kill it, as it was coming out from under the deck but I wouldn't let him. I think it eventually moved on, it got cold... we haven't seen it since. Thank goodness.
And we've had a couple of visits from a carpet python. It was in our bamboo one time, it was after a possum that had built a nest in it. And we saw it again on our fence and it went up into one of our palm trees...
I'd much rather the pythons than the deadly browns... but frankly I'd rather NONE!!! :D
These are really beautiful pictures.. never imagined Australia to be like this.. have to visit that hemisphere 🙂
Oh yes, Australia has all kinds of landscapes and environments, you'd be surprised. The variety in the air temperature across the country makes it possible for different kinds of flora and fauna to exist all around the country.
I highly recommend you go when you get the chance :)
Definitely will.. might just ping you for recommendations 😊
Absolutely stunning scenery! Wish I could provide you with a bigger amount with my upvote! :)
Thank you so much! Numbers don't matter when you hear such kind words. After all, it's the thought that counts :)
Love images from the forests near Melbourne. Especially gloomy ones!
Also you said coffee which by Melbourne law means I have to go buy a coffee 😅
Ah yes, they're beautiful! Have you been?
I hope you got a strong long black, just like a good Melbournian (and myself) would do :)
sorry, I'm a Lar'de kinda guy :P
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Nice post ! Excelent photos !
Thank you @ale.alexyya :) Glad you liked it!
nice post
Thanks :)