walking in Yarra Flats park

After our recent two- and three- hour walks along the Ninety Mile Beach when we holidayed at Best Friend Retreat, it seemed boring to do our usual walks near home, so yesterday I drove up to Yarra Flats park with Penny. After we set off, I had the bright idea of calling home and asking Human Number Two to pick us up at the other end of the walk, so we could explore and see where the path eventually ended.

She agreed. So Penny and I set off along the river. (I've just realised, in researching for this post, that dogs should be on lead in the park. I'm sort of glad we didn't know that. Next time I guess we'll have to abide by the law. Maybe we won't go there. It's boring having Penny on lead.)

Well, it was a rather long walk. Only an hour, but slippery, and steep in some places. Trees were down across the path in many places, which wasn't a problem for a dog, but was harder for a not-so-young human.

I guess the trees fell in the big storm while we were away on holiday, last week. Someone had made little tracks around the fallen trees, which was handy, but I wasn't too happy when I realised Penny and I were walking on flattened wandering trad (sometimes known as wandering jew). 

What a shocking weed! I've always disliked coming across it on our outings, because so many dogs are allergic to it,  but I hadn't realised why it is such a hated week in Australia, until I saw how it had smothered all the other plants. Kilometres of this plant, with only trees hardy enough to struggle up through it!

We enjoyed our walk, but I made sure to bath Penny as soon as we arrived home, to get any allergens from the wandering trad off her skin.