Q U I E T !!!!!!!

yes, that's right ....

Q U I E T !!

One of the 'quiet carriages'. Photo: Jason South

V/Line have "quiet carriages"

That means switch mobile devices to silent, turn down electronic devices, and speak quietly. Those annoying ringtones, loud conversations and bleeping video games will be banned from seven country train carriages.

“This is about creating some space that encourages fellow passengers to further respect each other’s journey.”

If you want to have a chat, you can use the rest of the train. But one car will be clearly labelled with signs, both inside and outside, requesting a quiet environment.

Queensland Rail trains have successfully had "quiet carriages' for over two years and hopefully it will be successful here in Victoria too. 

Not everyone is happy with the idea of "quiet carriages", but they still have 4 other carriages to choose from to chatter, use their cell phones, play electronic games etc.... a "quiet carriage" is for those that prefer to read quietly or just relax and enjoy the journey!

V/Line allowed six months to judge whether its customers wanted to embrace the quiet carriages, and they did.

So all lines have a "quiet carriage" now.

VLine says they are simply asking for community co-operation from people who travel on V/Line to co-operate while in the quiet carriage.

Please check the carriage you are in when boarding a VLine train and have respect for your fellow passengers if the carriage you are in is labeled QUIET!
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Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria.

Kookaburra at Blackwood, Victoria. , a photo by Leone Fabre on Flickr.

This little fellow is about to appear in the Wildlife Rescue Magazine! 

On one of our many visits to Blackwood (Victoria, Australia) we saw this cheeky Kookaburra.

Kookaburras are large to very large (total length 28-42 cm/11-17 in) terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea.

Kookaburras are best known for their unmistakable call, which is uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter — good-natured, if rather hysterical, merriment in the case of the well-known Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae); and maniacal cackling in the case of the slightly smaller Blue-winged Kookaburra . They are generally not closely associated with water, and can be found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, but also in suburban and residential areas near running water and where food can be searched for easily.

Kookaburras are carnivorous. They will eat lizards, snakes, insects, mice and raw meat. The most social birds will accept handouts from humans and will take raw or cooked meat (even if at high temperature) from on or near open-air barbecues left unattended. It is generally not advised to feed the birds too regularly as meat alone does not include calcium and other nutrients essential to the bird. Remainders of mince on the bird's beak can fester and cause problems for the bird.

They are territorial, and often live with the partly grown chicks of the previous season. They often sing as a chorus to mark their territory. They are also known to sit in gum trees.

In the wild, kookaburras are known to eat babies of other birds and snakes, and insects and small reptiles. In zoos, they are usually fed food for birds of prey, and dead baby chicks.

If you click on the above image it 'should' take you direct to my flickr site where you can view other images of this Kookaburra!

a magical frosty morning!

... and it was. Here we are bang, smack in the middle of winter in Ballan.

The sun was shining, the grass was crunchy and white and the hungry birds were creating a racket because I had not fed them....

So grabbed the camera and captured the following images before feeding the hungry little blighters.

Was not till we went for a walk and met with friends that we heard it actually got as low as MINUS 2.9 deg.

hope you are out enjoying your day 

somewhere warm, hopefully in regional Victoria!

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a little bit of exploring in Regional Victoria

Get off those main freeways and highways and start exploring the small country towns that you only 'see' on the road signs as you whizz by....

If you think of country roads and roadsides as home to nothing more than a few motley old trees, think again! 

Nation-wide, the network of winding bitumen, dirt tracks and roadsides covers in excess of 1.6 mill km’s which offers a significant conservation upside- 1.6 mill km’s of remnant vegetation.

above: map of one of the rural roads from Ballan to Bungaree, via Gordon and Wallace.

Ever heard of WALLACE or GORDON for example?
The tiny village of Gordon is true to its Scottish meaning, “big hill”. Nestled amid rolling hillsides it is home to the slightly eccentric Wild Trout’s Gordon Hat Shoppe which offers a unique range of Scottish and Irish inspired apparel and music.

above: the township of Gordon

Wallace is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located 99 kilometres (62 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne. The township was established in the 1880s, the Post Office opening on 22 February 1885

Wallace can a quick detour from the Western Freeway on the way to Ballarat, but better still don't use it as a "quick detour" but rather as another town to explore!

Difficult to find out exactly where the name came from, but on searching Google it seems that Wallace was named after a Mr R. Wallace or perhaps even a John Wallace, who was a notable figure on the Central Victorian goldfields.

above: the township of Wallace, showing the Wallace Hotel at the intersection.

the following article was located in an article titled "Did Matthew Flinders go one river too far?" that was on the ANPS website.

So when next you go exploring, you can do some research even after your journey ... it's amazing what you can learn about some of these country towns you have visited!

For some good old fashioned country fun, colour, festivals, markets, atmosphere, bakeries and a warm welcome .... 

you can't beat the smaller towns of Regional Victoria!

useful links:

Australian Place Names Survey

road trip: Gordon to Wallace

road trip: Ballan to Gordon

Visit Moorabool website

Visit Moorabool - Gordon 

Visit Moorabool - Wallace

Visit Moorabool - road less travelled

 

come springtime, we will be out in full force 

exploring Regional Victoria, 

so stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

a winters walk ....

Here we are in the middle of winter, but every now and then we actually do get a nice day ... nice enough to put on a jacket and go for a walk that is.....

with the camera!

so here are a few captures of what I saw on yesterday's walk...

above: this is moss sitting in between the pavement.

  
above: tiny purple flowers outside the school

above: yellow flowers blowing in the breeze!

above: an old fence, full of this bush, hiding these tiny berries.

 

above: lovely colourful leaves and berries against a tin shed.

above: there are always daisies somewhere, dead and alive!

above: strange green shrub with white, furry bits on the leaves!

above: blue daisies

above: white daisies spreading out over the pathway!

above: I think I have captured every colour available in a daisy by now!

above: I did spy, high up above me, a flowering gum.

Now I thought they flowered about January / February and was surprised to see this example.

Then I found out there are probably more winter flowering gums in the southwest of the country where winter rainfall makes it the season of plenty, but winter flowerers occur all around Australia, in a myriad of colours.

At a conservative estimate, there are over 900 species and subspecies of eucalypts in Australia. They make up the very essence of 'the bush'. Generally the mass of olive foliage overpowers the distinct, star-like flowers of eucalypts.

But at certain times of the year, gum trees burst into vivid pink, red, yellow, orange, purple or white flowers. Many of them spread their colours in spring and summer, counting on attracting the fresh influx of insects brought by the warmer weather.

Insects also pollinate some late autumn and winter flowering species.

But come winter, there are fewer insects to transfer the pollen of eucalypts, and the winter flowerers turn instead to the birds, and the mammals.

With all this beautiful foliage around to brighten up the coldest winter walk, there's little excuse for not getting out and checking the winter flowers. After all, the birds and the bees do it, so why can't we?

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Visualise before your shoot!

We have a friend in Singapore (Alvin) who has created a Facebook page titled VISUALISE BEFORE YOU SHOOT  so am trying to do this more and more as I walk around with camera in hand.

above: an old fence post, makes me wonder how old it is!

We have known Alvin for about 4 years and in that short time has been a great mentor to me and with my photography.

So it was with this in mind that I set out with my camera for a walk to the Post Office and this is what I captured:

above: I have walked past this fence many times, each time trying to visualise how I would take the photo.

 above: an old gate on the main road.

 above: part of an artistic fence in the township of Ballan.

above: some artwork seen on the above 'artistic' fence.

I am no expert - far from it - but I enjoy taking photos and sharing them when I do. 
On this very same walk I took a few images of the flowers we had seen as well. Considering it is winter I am surprised at how many flowers there were!

Check the next blog post for the photos.

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spring is on the way ... soon!

well we must have hope and faith - right?

here it is 12th June, this morning's temperature was 2.5 deg and there was crunchy, frosty grass out the front ... but there is evidence that spring is on the way .....

above: new buds forming on our Weeping Mulberry Tree

The weeping mulberry is a flowering tree native to China and is used for cultivating silk worms. It is a small, grafted, deciduous feature tree.    Weeping Mulberries will grow to a height of around 4m with a spread of 4m.  The eventual size of the tree will be affected by the manner in which it is pruned.  

 

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

If you live anywhere along the Western Freeway, Victorian  Central Highlands or near Bacchus Marsh, Greendale, Ballarat, Daylesford or Ballan, this is a friendly reminder that the BALLAN FARMERS MARKET is on again this coming Saturday.

A couple of months ago I did a blog post on our first visit to this friendly little market in the town of Ballan and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

If you would like to read about our visit, click HERE.
The Ballan Farmers Market website is HERE, which will give you any updates and how to contact them too.

... and of course there is always Facebook!

So don't forget the market is on this coming Saturday rain, hail or shine ... its still worth visiting for the fresh produce and a warming cup of hot chocolate maybe.

can't miss it, follow the traffic and the crowds along Inglis St.

Road Trip (Gordon to Wallace)

We are lucky to live in such a lovely part of Victoria and have the opportunity to view the surrounding countryside.

Last week we drove from Ballan to Ballarat for some shopping and visiting friends. But instead of driving on the M8 we took the back way.

The previous blog post was on the drive from Ballan to Gordon as seen HERE. This posting is the continuation of that post and is from the township of Gordon to Wallace as seen on the following map.

 

 

After we drove through Gordon along The Old Melbourne Road till we reached the intersection of Careys Road where St Patrick's Church is located. 

On 23rd March 1872 Dr Goold laid the foundation stone of St. Patrick’s Church, Gordon. So there is quite a lot of history here, I think next time we drive through Gordon we will stop and explore the area, in particular St Patrick's Church!

We turned right onto Careys Road and followed it till it turned into Chapmans Road, passing some lovely scenery along the way. I think this will be a beautiful drive come springtime!

Once we reached the intersection of Butter Factory Road, we turned left and continued on until we reached the township of Wallace.

Wallace is a small regional town in Victoria with a population of 343 in the 2006 Census.  The town is located in the Shire of Moorabool  99 kilometres (62 mi) north west of the city of Melbourne.

The township was established in the 1880s, the Post Office opening on 22 February 1885. Wallace was the birthplace of Edmond Hogan, twice Victorian Premier in the 1920s.

We had dinner at the Wallace pub last month and highly recommend it. You can read the blog post HERE on our visit to this lovely little pub that is seen in the image below:

Will upload further blog posts on our "road trips" as we begin to explore the Central Highlands and Goldfield area's of Victoria.

Road Trip (Ballan to Gordon)

Just a short journey on our way to Ballarat last weekend when we decided to bypass the M8 (Western Freeway) and travel via the Old Melbourne Road towards the township of Gordon.

Ballan and Gordon are west of the city of Melbourne, on the way to Ballarat as seen on the above map.

The road we took runs parallel to the M8 (Western Freeway) and is called the Old Melbourne Road.The following image was taken at the intersection as you leave the town of Ballan, the signpost points the way to Ballarat via the freeway. Instead of turning right, we continued straight ahead to the town of Gordon.....

Was well worth the extra time, as it was quite pretty as you can see by the following images:

Gold was discovered in the Gordon area in 1858. By 1885 Gordon had developed as the centre of a mining and agricultural district.

Although mining is no longer active in the area the township still retains a post office, police station, store, hotel and is now a peaceful cul-de-sac in a district renown for it's heritage, natural beauty and fly-fishing.

When next you travel via a freeway, check your map to see if there is another road you can follow to your destination. It is often quieter as in less traffic and often the scenery can be quite spectacular.  The bonus being that you arrive at your destination far more relaxed and happy that you got to see something beyond the busy freeway!


stay tuned for our 'next road trip'.