Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Thursday, September 07, 2006

More from Melbourne

Today I drove into the Dandenongs, from Upper Ferntree Gully. I decided to go to Emerald, a pretty village which is on the Puffing Billy track.

Indeed I drove under a wonderful old wooden railway bridge which is much photographed by steam train enthusiasts (for whom Puffing Billy is the most iconic train in Australia).

The Wikipedia site tells me that it is a 2 foot 6 inch track (ultra narrow), so I am sure that it travels very slowly up the hill, and across this rickety looking bridge.

I wanted to find Menzies Creek, as this is a place where my favourite Daffodil growers, JN Hancock and Co grow some of the very best cultivars of Daffodils available to the general public in Australia. They run a very good Mail Order service. Hancock's range of daffodils completely outclasses the much larger and more commercial and much better known "Catalogue Bulb Nurseries" from the Dandenongs. I don't want to be sued, but if you think of names starting with Tessel... or Broers... you would not be far wrong.

Anyway, I did find Menzies Creek, recogisable by the wonderful fields of golden daffodils, growing on steeply sloping hillsides, with a wonderful backdrop of swards of green grass, and trees. Millions upon millions of daffodils. A wonderful find in the green Dandenongs. My photo will be posted after my return to Canberra (I promise).

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