Autumn_Pizza

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
I LOVE a good pizza....flavour, colour, texture...and plenty of "fruit"!!
:glu:clap:
An autumn-afternoon in Melbourne's Eastern Backblocks after a few unsettled days, some rain overnight...and a gusty, blowy day peppered with clouds and some threatening blackbellies hanging over the northern ranges all day is just like a good pizza. All the colour, all the toppings!!

Starting the usual winter's "checking-out-new-roads-and-tracks" routine, this one was "staying close to home" to collect some fresh material for another "'hood"-ride later in the year.


After making sure of continued access to a tiny track above the old Fern Tree Gully Quarry (Hi, Squizzy :), it was into the back of Belgrave South via some ups+ downs :eek:


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The top-end of that rollercoaster :so



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Bellany Rd. turned out a sweet, scenic one with views to Cardinia Lake...



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....and towards The Patch on the other side of the short ridge




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Snapshot...



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Back on Engelke Rd. and tacking south...the views are stumping!
Across Dandenong towards Seaford/ Chelsea....and some freighter on Port Phillip Bay, maybe 50k's away.



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Barely 200m further down the gravel road it's a different world and the contrast is stunning.


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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Blumm Rd. is another dead-end of glorious views, grand homes tucked away in the valley, dressage-rinks, private tennis courts, steep drops and fantastic views.



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There must be some local pollies living here...is this how they grow bullshit?



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Winter's not far off...


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Tacking south towards Wellington Rd. again...



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Back off the main drag and into the "undergrowth", confirming that the Selby-Aura Rd. will always be a bloody slippery/ greasy clay-puddle
(with EXCELLENT views!!) there's another of those signs that to me are like a red rag to a bull:


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The bottom end is STEEEP!! as it winds itself around those massive, brown tree trunks, then flattens out to neatly join School Rd., right across the Puffing Billy Menzies Creek Station.
Another tack north and up the steep dirt of Jacksons Hill, looking for the southern end of Gallemonda Park Rd., a tiny lane across some open paddocks.
It just doesn't exist, however often I circus-act for U-turns on the narrow and steep gravel.
Found some cracker-views from the northern end of Gallemonda, though...


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Cardinia Dam at my feet, Red Hill Range on the Mornington Peninsula in the distance.



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nev

Super Térrarist
you have to press refresh (F5) once or twice and let the page reload until they all appear.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Finished backing up the site manually, looking around for a decent server at the moment to hopefully fix that issue for good by the end of next week.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Silvan Reservoir and the Kinglake Ridge in the background with the thunderstorm brewing that hit the eastern suburbs through the night... from Johns Hill Reserve.



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Ridge Road colours...


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Along a shortcut into Monbulk...




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Looping back from Monbulk towards Emerald before hitting gravel again on a deserted, tiny, twisty Uren Rd.




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2 tractors :wink:


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Lots of colour on Carters Lane in Yellingbo...




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...with the thunderhead now over Mt. Donna Buang.





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....and a cackleberry-"manufaktura" on the other side of the ridge.




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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
:clap: Cracking pics, nothing like a clear Autumn day for that .

Wow, great pics. :clap:



More on the way :)


Being Melbourne's market garden area, Wandin isn't just the East's strawberry patch and therefore of prime interest through the summer months.... but there are also some small lanes tucked away from the main thoroughfares.
The odd former hall, tennis court and even Primary School. All abandoned and left to rot, driveways and small lanes and carparks mostly overgrown or blocked by fallen trees and prickly blackberry hedges. Some tracks deliberately screened off by neighbouring owners

But there's the odd one that's still passable, if not by car, then by bike, pushy or on foot.


Some start with a proper street sign on one end, while looking like a narrow footpath at the other.

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Some sweet views a bit further in...


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The damp, red earth is as slippery as a greased pig's tail


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Ducking into the dense bush, it's getting dark again.


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The old Wandin East Primary School (1916-1991)



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What a schoolyard! :glu


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End of the fruit season, end of the farmyard's hustle + bustle.
Mt. St. Leonard in the background.



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tbc
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
...and just up the road.... same thing.
Season finished, all cleaned up, plants trimmed for the next lot of shoots...wind-down-time!


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Peace and solitude at the little 5 Oaks Winery, the owner leaves me to wander about the place after checking out the lonely visitor.



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The end of Aitken Rd.?



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Oh no!!




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Popping out from what looks like an overgrown, private drive...



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Following a string of small ponds that make up Wandin Creek, it's up a narrow gravel lane without a name....but should be Progress Rd, as the Melways later proclaims.



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Nosy locals




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Waiting for the bus....




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110k's door-to-door... 5hrs...138shots....and a bagful of peace, colour and soul-fodder for the week ahead.
You've gotta love your neighbourhood!!

:thumbs: :scull:



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