Death from above in Victoria's Mountains

            Last weekend I spent Mother’s day away with Penni in the Victorian alpine towns of Beechworth and Bright.  This was a nice weekend away where, thanks to Penni’s parents looking after Ambriya, we were afforded the luxury of sleeping in; which we both did until 9 am, I time I don’t remember being in bed since possibly last decade.

            When awake we spent two pleasant days wandering through the towns and driving along the Great Alpine Road.  The towns themselves are reminiscent of Banff and Jasper back in Alberta but much smaller and less alpine.  The non-native leaves were in full autumn glory and provided a lovely backdrop for our trip.  More than anything I have experienced on my trip so far, this reminded me of Canada.

            Most interestingly, in the town of Bright, we were confronted with a sign that warned of the danger of massive falling pinecones.  Upon seeing the sign I thought to myself, “How foreign can these fir trees be that the Australian’s need signs warning them of pine cones?”  Not readily seeing any cones on the ground I was then of the belief that these cones were so massive as to disintegrate upon landing.  You can imagine my surprise when I was confronted by 60 cm + cones that had seeds like jagged shark teeth.  To be honest, if these things were falling from trees back home I would be angry that there weren’t signs warning me of impending death raining on me from the forests above.

            After returning to the safer confines of Bendigo I cannot begin to say how surprised I was to find that I was not the only celebrity wandering the streets of this central Victorian town.  Turns out that another one of Rosedale’s teachers is doing his part to make this city, and country a better place.  In fact, he is so important here he has been canonized.  However, if you want to find out whom you will have to read the article attached.