May 2007 - Marysville to Healesville via the back roads.
Taking Yellow Dog Rd past Mt Strickland and then down to Mt Donna Buang via Acheron Way, from Mt Donna Buang to Healesville via Ben Cairn Rd and then on home.
The sun was shining when we headed out from home but once we neared the Yarra Ranges National Park the weather closed in with rain and fog giving the forest an almost surreal quality. It was cold too, with the temperature hovering around the 5-6 Deg mark.
It was to cold to stop and eat our picnic lunch outdoors, so we ended up eating lunch in the car amongst the mist and tree trunks, whilst I took puppy for a bit of a run.
After lunch we turned down a narrow track, but half way along we decided to bail out and turn around. The track descended quite steeply and although there wouldn't have been an issue making our way down, it would have been near on impossible to head back up if we found that the track had been blocked further along.
Connor had his first encounter with leeches when we stopped and wandered around an old collapsed concrete building, its purpose still eludes me.
The intention was to do the Cement Creek Rainforest walk but with our previous encounter with leeches and the fact Meg was asleep at the time we choice to save it for another time and keep going.
Reaching the lookout tower at the summit of Mt Donna Buang, Caitlin, Connor and I climbed the stairs to the top of the tower where the wind howled and visibility was non existent, being barely able to even see the car park below.
From here we headed down to the picnic shed at the bottom of Mt Donna Buang where we fed the wood barbeque with any sticks we could find, which successfully made copious amounts of smoke but no warmth to speak of. Here we ate afternoon tea and the kids and puppy ran around inside the shed, whilst Cath and I had a hot cup of coffee.
Heading home we took the Ben Cairn Rd where Lyrebirds continuously ran across the road with all the elegance of chickens competing in a 3 legged sack race. Along the way there would have been some amazing views but due to the mist we could only get a sense of them.
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Day Trips in 2007, Mt Donna Buang
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May 2007 - Marysville to Healesville via the back roads.
