August, September, October in Melbourne

 

Photos by Maria Ngo

August to October in 2021 in Melbourne was pretty quiet. This was because Victoria had its 5^th and 6^th lockdown with barely a week in between the two lockdowns. The 5^th lockdown started on Friday 15 July and lasted until 27 July. The 6^th lockdown started 5 August and ended midnight 21 October. Melbourne had experienced a total of 262 days of lockdowns since the first one was announced in March 2020.

We were allowed out for limited essential exercises of 2 hours in duration and 9pm curfews were in force. We could also only travel within a 5 km radius from home – this was later extended to 25km towards the end of the period before being lifted completely.

People who could work from home did so. Business like supermarkets, food retail, restaurants (only takeaways) and pharmacies were allowed to continue to operate. Others involved in distribution as well as some manufacturing were allowed – these operated under limited capacity and with strict rules about square metre space per employee. Elective surgeries were also cut back. Other retail businesses were shut. You could order items online from places like hardware stores and department stores for pickup or delivery.

This period also happens to coincide with the Victorian school 3^rd term (from mid July to mid September). For those people without kids in school, this would normally be part of our ski season which starts on the last long weekend in June until 4 October. July and August are the coldest months and the best time to go skiing. This year, our ski resorts were not open.

While people were kept indoors and away from one another during this period, nature was not hindered. So, I only have photos of nature during this period.

AUGUST

Towards the end of August, cherry blossoms and stone fruit start developing flowers. I love seeing the cherry blossom trees especially come alive to announce the coming of spring. Several species of orchids continue to bloom while irisis also join in to add to the floral cheer. Dandelions develop their puffy balls that invite you to blow on them. Crisp clear blue skies add to the lift in our spirits while onion weeds and snow drops start putting on quite a show with their bell shaped flowers.

 

Cherry blossom tree, onion weed, irises, dandelions

SEPTEMBER

In September, I have enough irises and arum lilies that have blossomed to pick them for my dining table. The tiny Australian native orchids, the dendrobiums, are at their best at this time. Scented white jasmine, purple ajugas, lilac dropping wisteria, fragrant freesias that pop through cracks in brick walls and driveways as well as garden beds and lawns. These and the various types of white and yellow daisies sing their glorious praise.

Jasmine, ajugas, arum lilies, daisies

Kookaburras also add their distinct voices to my creek trail walk. It appears that they mate for life and are very territorial. They have been observed to respect territorial boundaries and not cross into a neighbour’s patch to retrieve food that had been tossed to it. This day, I saw one of them dive into a hollow in a nearby tree - I surmised that they must have a hatchling. 

You can read more about them on the Nature Conservancy Australia as well as the Australian Museum websites.

The warmer weather invite me out to do more cycling. I take the opportunity to do so with a friend. I love the long distinct shadows cast by leafless trees at this time of year when you get a clear blue sky day with just a faint nip of the last fingers of winter in the air. 

Jasmine, wisteria, dendrobium orchid, sunset, kookaburras, iris 

OCTOBER

By the end of October, rose buds turn to fully formed flowers. As this is the first round of rose blossoms, everything is just perfect – there are no dead or dying flowers or leaves to prune or pick off. It is simply glorious. The perfume of roses in their masses is simply one of my favourite scents. They elevate the spirit and fill one’s senses with such heady delights.

The protea in my backyard are at their grandest at this time. This year I have the most magnificent show on my bush – it could have been the extra rain we had been getting this year. Even the creeks are nosier than usual as they tumble over the rocks. Cherry blossoms continue to develop in October and stone fruit add more colour to the landscape.

Ramping fumitory, quince, picnic at the park, everlasting, pardalote, very full creek

Seasonal ‘weeds’ like the White Ramping Fumitory with their deep maroon tipped narrow white petals and our native yellow Everlastings start popping up along my regular walking trails. The white oxeye daisy with their yellow centres and later blooming wattle can be seen in the neighbourhood parks and nature strips. Quinces can also be seen ripening in gardens.

In one wetland precinct I saw a grey headed heron wading in the shallows. Another tiny bird I spotted was the pardalote – I had only seen pictures of them until now. It was at Westerfolds Park where I saw it. On previous visits I even saw kangaroos bounding and also lazing in the cool grasses and under the trees. There are many kilometres of walking tracks you can choose from in this huge parkland which has retained much of its natural vegetaion. As restrictions eased further towards the end of October I was able to organise picnics there as well as at Wattle Park.

October is a lovely time to get married as well – with limited number of guests being allowed still this year (5 I think), most of us watched it online. This would be the third wedding I had attended online since one virus turned the world upside down in 2019. I made it into the city as well and with clean clear air free of pollution, the sky was the most incredible blue. What a magnificent backdrop it made for my cityscapes.

Grey headed heron, protea, wattle, Melbourne city in spring

 

While these three months appeared rather quiet this year in Melbourne, nature is never completely still. There’s always something to discover and enjoy if you know where to look.

 

  

June in Melbourne and the Victorian Alps

June launches Victoria’s ski season. This season usually lasts until the first week of October. Melbourne is the gateway to six places to enjoy the snow. 

 

Melbourne in June

 

(You can view more photos here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqEcO3CrLK0) 

 

Lake Mountain is very popular for families for tobogganing and cross-country skiing. You can easily do this as a day trip. Mt Stirling is another spot for cross-country skiing and it is the larger of the two.

The other four ski resorts are Mt Buller, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham and Mt Baw Baw. Mt Baw Baw is good for those who are just starting out on the snow while the other three have well developed ski networks for green run beginners to advanced black runs. Snow boarding continue to grow in popularity on Falls Creek and Mt Hotham.

 

As it so happens, Victorian school holidays which falls during the last weekend of June and early July is perfect for a winter getaway.

 

This year, we based ourselves in Bright  to catch what we could of the snowfields and explore its surrounds. Bright is a lovely well supplied country town, just 3.5 hours’ drive from Melbourne. Bright has a number of dining options as well as a very large well-provisioned Woolworths supermarket. There is an ample supply of chalets and accommodation in town.

 

From Bright, Falls Creek is just over an hour’s drive away. This year, because of contactless pre-booking for entry as well as parking, it made for a quick seamless process. I had found in previous years that the bottleneck at the check through point as well as fitting of chains (if required) could add up to half an hour extra to our drive time.

 

It does rain in June in Bright and the snowfields and it can make for some sleety weather. If you stay on the ski resorts itself, this might not be such an issue, but if you have to drive to and fro, up and down the mountain each day, it can pose a problem. As it turned out, I only skied once that week, but my son and hubby braved it three times. I do find that glasses and ski helmets in sleety weather don’t go that well together. Yes, helmets are compulsory on these Alpine ski slopes. I am glad for that provision because I was tripped up by a snowboard while getting off the chair-lift one year and fell backwards, hitting the back of my head with a great big thwack on the chair on my way down. 

 

Bright has some beautiful walks along the Ovens River as well as the Murray to Mountains Rail-Trail to explore and enjoy. The deciduous trees were in various shades of yellow and wrinkly brown and even green at this time of year.

 

Damp mosses, lichen, hopping spiders and various fungi can keep nature photographers quite occupied in Bright while the cloud covered hill tops that surround the snug little town make for picturesque views. The Ovens River Canyon Walk  still bear vestiges of a gold-mining era with tail-races embedded into the cliff sides.

 

Mt Buffalo has a number of scenic stops as well as walking tracks that are more accessible during the warmer months. This is a very scenic drive even in wintry weather. It was snowing near the top on the day we drove up there. We didn’t go all the way up to the Horn carpark – we stopped at the Cathedral-Hump Track carpark  and did a short fifteen minute walk. I was not prepared for the snowy conditions that day and was not dressed for slushy snow.

 

We hired our ski gear and snow chains from Porepunkah Ski Hire  which gives exceptional family service. They personally fit and demonstrate to you how to fit snow chains to your car.

 

Bright is surrounded by nature and you can’t get more natural that kangaroos bounding into your resort!

It is possible to find some sufficiently dark corner even in the resort so that you can indulge in a bit of astro photography. My first! Not perfect, but I was pleased with my first efforts.

 

In the meanwhile, down closer to shore in Melbourne, at historical Princes Pier, fishermen, roller-bladers and photographers congregate. An information sign on location informs us that Princes Pier was “[b]uilt between 1912 and 1915” and that it “was the third major pier constructed at Port Melbourne. Together with the adjacent Station Pier, it served as a major passenger and cargo terminal in the twentieth century until its closure in 1989. Restored and modified to allow safe public access, Princess Pier reopened in 2011.” This pier is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

 

On a crisp evening, when the sun sets at 5:07 pm in the middle of June and the lowest temperature is 7C and the maximum 16C, it pays to dress warmly to catch those last rays of the sun on a clear blue day to watch the sky change to violet, mauve, pink and yellow as the last rays of the sun dip along the water’s edge. It is eerie, mesmerising and hypnotic gazing along those rows of aged pylons stretching into the distance of what was once a bustling pier. Satellite imagery comparing Princes Pier and Station Pier gives you an indication of just how much of Princes Pier has not been restored. Standing on this pier, you can often see the Spirit of Tasmania in the evening before its departure for Devonport, Tasmania at 7.30 pm.

 

Now at this time of year when bare tree branches cast long shadows upon the street even at 2 in the afternoon and camelias, cyclamens and orchids add their cheery countenance to our yards, and gum nuts are well formed and comfort foods beckon, there’s nowhere sweeter than home. 

Thank you for dropping by, hope to see you at the next instalment of what Melbourne is like in July.