Sweet Wayfaring

I found it hard to capture how this road hugs the coast line with all its twists and turns.  This will have to do.

The sun is shining and the sea is blue.  Perfect weather for cruising along the famous Great Ocean Road.

With it's lovely alleys Melbourne is a nicer city than most but my photographic eye just snaps shut in any city.  All those tired and busy people jostling about.  We're back out in the countryside tomorrow.

We camped the night at Seymour.  I wasn't really thinking Royal Hotels on this trip as there are not a real lot in Victoria.  Then as we were turning out of town the next morning I spotted this one! My Royal collection is sadly not at all up to date.  I have not even added the ones I picked up in Queensland 18 months ago.  I must get back to it.

Here's the big thing for this trip ... the Big Ned Kelly at Glenrowan. A new Royal Hotel is coming up tomorrow which is my big thing.

Today is Australia Day so let's celebrate with some of our historic railway silliness. Here is the very impressive Albury Railway Station.  It gets even more impressive at the platform which is really really long ... the longest in New South Wales. Albury is on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.  Victoria had broad gauge lines and New South Wales standard gauge so at this point all the people and cargo had to be transferred between trains.  This went on until 1962 when the standard gauge line was extended to Melbourne. It was also a major transport hub for troop movements during World War II.  My Dad's war diaries often refer to transfers at Albury.

I have a love affair with railway stations and the romance of railways.  Here is the historic railway station at Gundagai.  It is just so typical of the timber railway stations dotted throughout rural New South Wales ... tomorrow something altogether different in railway stations.

Posted for no reason other than I liked it.  I am always rather thankful for the lovely old trees (usually exotic varieties) found in caravan parks ... someone a long time ago thought to plant them.  It was hot, shade and soft green grass were welcome.

Here's the new bridge.  Just as long and impressive.

Gundagai has these wonderful old timber bridges stretching across the river flats - one a road bridge and other a railway bridge. The caravan park is nestled between them. You can see the bridges in the image below, taken from the local lookout. The road bridge was part of the Hume Highway until 1976 when it was replaced by the first Sheahan Bridge ... I will show you that tomorrow.

I think of caravanning as a great way to get different views from the kitchen window.  Our first night at Gundagai gave us a perfect view of the Murrumbidgee River ... I love to camp by a river. More on that timber bridge tomorrow.

It was high summer on the road down to Victoria, along the Great Ocean Road and back again. We were running to a deadline so travelled rather quicker then we would have liked so the photos from this trip are be few.

Windows peep out to a world beyond.  This is the end of this Favourite Things series. I always think of our caravan as being a way to get a different view from the kitchen window.   How about I show you tomorrow where our trusty little caravan took us this summer.  For me the summer holiday is over, I am back at work today.

Followers my blogs will know I am bit besotted with wildflowers so it was hard to choose but settled on the fringe lily because I just love that fringe.

Webs make for interesting shots.  I chose this one from the neighbour's garden because I don't think I have posted it before.

There are lots of waterfalls on mountain walks but this one on the track down the bottom of our street is one of my favourites.

All trains are exciting but there is nothing quite like a steam train. BTW, I seem to have got my counting wrong and have more than 50 favourite things so this series will go on for a few extra days rather than finishing tomorrow.

Its lovely to go on a summer drive, windows down to feel the warm air and feast my eyes on the summer bounty. Around these parts we've had quite a lot of rain so its much greener than the summer when this photo was taken.

I like a nice stone stairway - even when they are a bit rough and ready.

I am often surprised by small creatures found in my images, especially of flowers, but this is the biggest surprise I have had yet.

There is a beauty about rural sheds especially when they are genuinely old like this one but any old corrugated iron shed appeals to me.

It's such an Aussie thing, shearing sheds.

I have taken lots of sea lines shots but settled on this one because it was taken at dawn which in itself is remarkable given my distaste for early rising.

The babble of a rocky creek, soft music to the ears and a soothing sight for the eyes.

Remarkable trees are those old, large or unusual.  This curtain fig tree wins my vote as the most remarkable I have seen.

Forests are fabulous places but I think there is none quite as magical as the rainforest.

The romance of rail has me in its embrace.  Railway stations fascinate me and it is quite interesting to see the differences in the building styles between states.  But this one simply says Outback regardless of which state ... taken at Silverton out near Broken Hill on the border of New South Wales and South Australia.

I know these are not cars but I loved the light and the feathery grass that had blown into the barn so it got my vote. Incidentally this photograph of genuine old cars  is the all time top rating post on this blog.

Abstract images from nature as so delicious and there is no better place to find them than at the seaside.

I love mountains too and it was tempting to choose another shot of our beautiful Blue Mountains which I showed yesterday or the Flinders Ranges which I showed at number 25.  But instead I chose a mountain in the desert ... the Breakaways in South Australia.

I could not pass by Mountain Mist even though I have already had mist shot the other day.  It is so lovely the way it forms a sea at the feet of the cliffs but disappointing for tourists hoping to see the magnificent wilderness vista.