Melbourne Adventures

 On the 14th I went for a bird-walk along the Northern Bank of Albert Park Lake.  It was quite successful with 26 species recorded .  The yellow track is my path to the Toorak Rd tram stop. Only one family of cygnets, near Mud Island. Lots of Australian White Ibis (estimate adding various groups 370).  These are onthe Southern side of Gunn Island. 2 Stilts on Mud Island facing MSAC. I found another 3 in the Northern Ponds Swamphen chick and Stilt Swamphen Chick and parent.  An Ibis took a swipe at the chick and the adult Swamphen retaliated quite fiercely. I think I saw 2 Great Crested Grebes in different places.  I was surprised at how quickly this one swam about. A fuzzy shot but shows the size of the Grebe cf the Coot Red-rumped Parrot at Yacht Club. Big family (22 Ducklings)  of Australian Wood Ducks.  They weren't fussed by people walking along the path, just past the Yacht Club. A smaller family in the Northern Ponds.

 This is sort of a companion to my post about the Sunshine Mosqu e.  When we first came to Melbourne I thought the imposing building on the corner of Toorak and St Kilda Roads was the Shrine.  Then I out where the Shrine actually was and that this building was the Toorak Synagogue.  Getting into the place for a look round involved some administration which I didn't fancy, but a concert was advertised with no administration required (other than that of Westpac and Mastercard).  So we signed up. It was a little amusing that the by chance the concert followed a pro-Palestine demo coming down St Kilda Rd (see later section of this post ).   We dodged the crowd returning from the US Consulate to town by walking up Fawkner Park.  There was a minimalist security check (Frances had to open her handbag, but they didn't inspect my walking stick - I guess they aren't fans of Frederick Forsythe ) but in we went. The music was a piano performance by  Alex...

Our last visit to Shepparton was a mess as we  arrived at school pick up time, having driven from Robe SA (about 580km, so no too fresh).  This time we had an uneventful 200 km from Lake Boga.  Our aims were the Art Museum and the Painted Cows.  This (Angel Cow 2) wasn't the first we saw but I think it is one of the oldest (although they have no details on the website ). The next two were the first, as we turned on to the Midlands Highway. On getting to the Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) we found cows being used for advertising purposes.  Not surprisingly this is a Brown Cow. I shall come back to SAM later.   After our visit there we then found our way to the large element of the herd we had noticed on the way in. This one is B1 - there is also a B2 but we didn't find it.  Strawberries & Cream. Skeleton Cow and friends. We called in to the library and not surprisingly found more cows. (They were selling surplus books for a gold coin: I bought a...

 This is our full day at Lake Boga.  We began with a step to the right ....   And found a preserved Pump: From Trip Advisor: " This pump was donated in 1955 by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission. The steam driven pump was originally installed in 1903 in Long Lake, adjoining Lake Boga, as the source of supply for a channel system then being constructed through 1553 kilometres of drought-stricken farmlands. "In 1926 the pump was transferred to Cannie Ridge Pumping Station which had been installed in 1910. The pump worked here until it was replaced in 1952 by a diesel driven pump. "The Cannie Ridge Pump consists of a steam engine and pump, both of the horizontal and reciprocating type, connected by common piston rods. Total weight of the unit is 55 tons. So the good news about that is that this tourist attraction can never be stolen. :)" Mosaics at the Melbourne end of the town.  \ The main aim of this trip was to go birding in Goschen Bushland Reserve....