Mount Dandenong

When I had first arrived in Melbourne, Queeg took me to Mount Dandenong for the first time and it had been my favourite place ever since. I just love the little shops on the hill and all the famous eating places. The fact that there's a small little town called Olinda there just intrigues me. There's like a entire community living up there in the hills.

Today, I managed to convince Alvin to take me there for tea and scones at Miss Marples tea room. I was quite dizzy trying to navigate our way there using the Melways as the car was circling its way up the Dandenong Ranges.

Miss Marples Tea Room opens seven days a week and doesn't take reservations. It's forever packed with people!

It was just the two of us so the wait wasn't that long for us.

Alvin snapped a picture of me as we were waiting for our table. I was having a bad hair day. Actually I'm still having one now....

We finally got a table after 15 minutes or so.

Alvin ordered the famous Pot of Taylors tea.

It was a bloody hot day so I had a chocolate milkshake.

Fruit and plain scones.

Hearty Homemade Soup. It was pumpkin! I really liked it. I have a thing for soups... Especially hearty ones.

Bread roll and butter that came with the soup. I loved the fact that it was served warm. Like that bit!

We were deciding between the Trifle and Sundae's Best for dessert. We decided on the sundae after the waitress told us it was their best ice-cream and it was pretty big.

The sundae looked really impressive... It made all the people around stare at us!

Disappointedly the sundae didn't taste as good as it looked. Most of it was whipped cream and all the chocolate syrup was at the bottom. Wasn't feeling that satisfied after eating it.

After the somewhat satisfying meal, we wanted to feed the birds at the picnic grounds but I couldn't remember the name of the picnic grounds so we got a little lost and decided to head to the Sky High Observatory instead.

The last time I came here there was no admission charge. Cars could come and go as they please. Now it's four dollars per entry for a car. I'm quite disturbed. Talk about commercialisation. Sigh.

Darling was melting as I took this picture.

Thank god there was a cafe around the corner.

We ordered an iced coffee and a Sky Shake. The shake was too sour for me but still refreshing for the heat.

I was trying very hard not to melt.

You can see the entire of metropolitan Melbourne from here. Too bad it was a little cloudy today.

We managed to get directions to the place to feed the birds. It's called Grants Picnic Grounds on Monbulk Road.

Now let's start a Tutorial 101 on some of the native birds of Australia.

Let's start with the fiesty Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.

You can find this bird almost anywhere in Victoria and they have this very distinctive shrill sqawking that sounds like it wants to peck your nose off. It can be quite annoying.

They have very sharp claws so it's better to feed them off the ground. Not to mention that they can also be quite heavy.

I guess that they can peck quite hard as well.

Next is the lovely Crimson Rosella. It's been my all-time favourite among all the birds.

I love its colours. They are also the most friendly birds ever! I don't think you can find such a colourful and friendly bird at anywhere else but here.

I love feeding them from my hands. I guess it's because it makes me feel so special, haha.

The rosellas seem to like Alvin better. I just keep luring them away from him to myself.

The Australian King Parrot is now my new favourite. This is my first time meeting it at Grants Picnic Grounds. I was immensely captivated by the grace of its flight and charm.

It has the most beautiful coat of feathers. The colours are just so magnificent.

Awwwwwwwwww. It made me feel special too.

I've done some researching and I've found out that the male Australian King Parrot is usually more orange and the female ones are generally more green. So this must be a girl!

Oh alright, since we're both girls... I'll give you somemore bird feed... There you go....

The Galahs today were a little shy and scared so we didn't really have much of a chance to feed them by hand or even take a close up picture of them.

I've decided to use a picture that I've taken earlier this year when I brought my parents up to Mount Dandenong.

Pretty pink bird. I wonder how the male birds feel being pink. Ahhhhh. I feel special yet again.

Okay, that's the end of this tutorial and enough bird talk for one blog entry.

Hope I've imparted some knowledge on to all of you. I really love the feeding the birds today. It's just something I will always enjoy doing and I'll miss it so much when it's time for me to go....

Sigh, I really want to go there again!

Anyone? Anyone?

PS: Today it hit a top of 37 degrees and I heard tomorrow it would be up to 42 degrees! What a hot way to bring in the new year... LOL! Stay cool everyone... ;)