What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and the weather was glorious.  I was honoured that my brother chose me to be his Single Person Bubble Buddy so I am allowed to travel out of my 5km radius to his 5km radius to go for a walk together.

I take my responsibility seriously as his buddy, and will make sure we go for a walk regularly because being on your own, and working at home during lockdown is very lonely.  Also, as a bonus for me, I also get to walk in a different part of Melbourne for some much ...

As Melbourne is now two weeks into lockdown number six I am trying to stay busy.  But I think, like a lot of people, I am feeling a little gloomy.  Having the curfew brought back, and playgrounds shut makes it very real.

I took this photo on the way to the post office to send two parcels of completed quilts home.  I will get stopped at the railway crossing at least once each trip, and frequently both ways.  I find funny the picture of our premier Dan Andrews drawn on the wall of the liquor shop with his iconic phrase ...

With my foot injury finally starting to feel better, and Paul taking a week off work, we decided to tackle parts of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail.  This trail is 116km long and runs from Wangaratta to Bright with an offshoot to Beechworth.  Rail Trails by their very nature are mostly flat, or with gradual gradients, so therefore perfect for me to test out my foot rather than tackle a more difficult hike. 

Our Rail Trail trip was cut short with Victoria going into another circuit breaker lockdown, but at least we got two good days of walking in ...

There haven't been any hiking posts for a while as I haven't been hiking.  At the start of May I hurt my foot, so until recently I haven't even been walking which has been very frustrating.  I think it is finally on the mend, but I need to be careful I don't overdo it (easier said than done). 

Melbourne also went into a two week lockdown (that ended yesterday) due to a Covid outbreak.  We are still only allowed to travel within 25kms of our home under current restrictions so we can't go bush even ...

Paul and I went away for four nights to regional Victoria, and enjoyed a couple of hikes.  Our favourite was the one we did at Mount Buffalo National Park.  This hike wasn't particularly hard compared to a lot of hikes we have done recently, and the trail was well marked.  However, it had a lot of bang for you buck when it came to spectacular views. 

The hike started at Lake Catani which was gorgeous in the morning.  The water was so still there was a nearly perfect reflection.

We then hiked to the first lookout over Buckland Valley ...

When planning for Easter we decided a hike sounded like a good idea and decided to go Good Friday.  Our sweet spot is grade three hikes between 15 to 20 kilometres.  But sometimes we like to challenge ourselves so we decided to do a grade four hike in Lerderderg State Park.  I chose the Old River Circuit as it sounded interesting and isolated as we wanted to really go bush.  

The hike was challenging, with very steep inclines into and out of the gorge, a lot of rock scrambling, and two river crossings. 

Also part of it was off trail ...

Yesterday we did a loop hike at Mount Macedon which included a couple of detours to lookout points.  It is the best hike we have done so far this year with gorgeous views, some really magnificent trees, and variety of terrain along the trail.  To top it off the weather was perfect for hiking.

The trail notes recommend brining poles.  We hadn't used ours since we had moved, in March last year, but I located them and I am so glad we brought them as the ground was slippery and steep in places.

The hike was a lot more ...

With my husband injuring himself training for the Sunset Series runs, and my brother getting a new job, I have lost my hiking buddies.  Luckily there are some great bike and walking trails near home, especially along the Maribyrnong River.  These photos are all taken within 5 kms of my home so I could walk here during lockdown.

This photo was taken in July so everyone is rugged up for winter, and shows the ferry tram cafe serving coffee to people out for a walk.  Not being a coffee drinker myself I don't get the appeal, but Melburnians are ...

The past three weekends we have gone hiking in different parts of the Brisbane Ranges National Park.

Our first walk was through Anakie Gorge.

A detour to Lower Stony Creek Dam.

Then we did a circuit with some lovely lookouts.

A couple of places along the hike had stations where you cleaned your boots to reduce the spread of fungus.

The trail notes said that in dry weather it ...

Yesterday (Thursday) I knew my brother had the day off work.  Wednesday night I messaged him -  'I feel like a walk along the coast somewhere.'  He immediately messaged me back -  'City or regional.'  I responded - 'Maybe slight preference for regional.'  Within 15 minutes he had it all planned with where we were going and where to meet.  Lucky me - I have the best brother!

We had an amazing coastal walk from Bells Beach to Torquay and back which was about 15kms.  Both of us had not walked this stretch of the coast and we can't believe we haven't ...

We got away for a long weekend staying at Halls Gap and did two hikes in the Grampians National Park.  Whilst this wasn't the first time we had got out of metro Melbourne since the restriction was lifted on Sunday the 8th of November - we did go for a day hike a couple of weeks back - this is the first weekend away we have had this year.

Our first hike was Mt Rosea circuit.  We have done a longer variation of this hike a few years back that included Sundial Peak with our nephew who would have been eight ...

This weekend was the first that the 25km restriction was lifted for Melbourne and we could go hiking.  It was so good to get away and listen to the sounds of the bush - including a couple of times some kookaburras.  It rained lightly at one stage, and it smelled amazing.

This photo was taken as I was walking past what we call the Homestead.  It is a flat area where a lot of non native trees and flowers have been planted.  I surmise that in the past there was a farm here.

Churchill National Park is where we hiked regularly ...

Today Covid restrictions were eased and we could increase the travel distance from 5kms to 25kms from home.  So I drove to Spotswood and went for a walk along the coast for a change of scenery.