walking in beautiful surroundings

Penny and I are fortunate in the variety of places we can walk together. Here's a recent location:

It's easy to take these wonderful places for granted, but I was reminded recently that such bushy surroundings occur only because of the work put in by local government,  indigenous people and groups of volunteers.

I thought this sign at the Willsmere billabong in Kew had an excellent explanation of why we dog-walkers need to respect the other users of our spaces, both human and non-human.

These plantings are newer than the one pictured at the top, but in time they will be just as lovely:

 

dogs make us take note of interesting things

Penny and I had a look at the new bicycle path that is soon to open between Kew and Ivanhoe. We've seen both ends of it now, from Willsmere in Kew, to Ivanhoe.

In writing this blog post, I've come across the startling fact that people in Alphington won't be a able to get onto the path. Amazing. How could so much money - 18 million dollars -  be spent on the path and then not allow one whole suburb to access  it?

However, I do see that there is a suggestion of an entry in the future from Alphington.

At any rate, Penny and I are fortunate to be coming in  from either the Kew end or the Ivanhoe end.

When we set off, from Ivanhoe, we passed under a tree that we've never taken any notice of before.

But what were these things on the ground that seemed to look like tennis balls? Penny, of course, wasn't fooled, because they sure didn't smell like tennis balls. 

But I had to have a second look. 

OMG! Osage orange. I once spent ages trying to source one of these trees, because I was keeping silkworms in my classroom and the students needed lots of leaves. We were running out of mulberry leaves and I knew osage orange could be used as well. And there was this tree, right near the school!

Oh, well...

Penny was more interested in meeting other park-goers. 

We headed off along the new path, but Penny wasn't too keen to walk. We're never quite sure whether this happens because of her arthritis, or because it's nearly dinner-time. 

When we turned for home, she led the way by a long shot. 

finding new dog walking places along the Yarra River

How could I not have known about this great off-lead walking place so close to where we usually walk?

We regularly go to Willsmere Park, since the day I surreptitiously followed a car with a dog to see where they were going, because the windmilling tail of the dog in the back seat signalled that it must be a good destination.

But I didn't know there's another huge area adjacent to Willsmere, reachable by a ten to fifteen minute brisk on-lead walk along a bike path.. We've walked along this path before, but never gone far enough to find the new area.

I went further with Penny this time because she's having some problems with her joints and the vet reckons walking on lead is the best exercise. He says an older dog (or one with joint issues) is prone to injury if she races off from a standing start to full speed - which she did a couple of weeks ago when we were walking at night. She, with her super doggy senses, knew there was a cat hiding under a nearby car, shot off, came back when called, and - to our dismay - she was limping on the leg that so long ago had the cruciate operation.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, that's why we walked further than usual on lead. And this is what we found...

We are so lucky here in Melbourne to have all these lovely off-lead walks along the Yarra River.

Polish pottery and dog walking

You might be seeing more posts in the future saying we walked at Willsmere.

Why, you might ask. (Or you might not.)

It's because a new shop has opened in the vicinity of the park, just at the right distance for the humans to have some afternoon tea or a light meal before or after our walk. How convenient!

It's The Cup and Mug, selling gorgeous pottery from Poland, including the lovely dinner dish Penny eats from every day.

We have bowls too. Here's one of them.

should dogs stay away from alien crop circles?

When I posted recently about the strange circular marks on the grass at Yarra Bend park, Lassie and Benji commented that perhaps aliens made the marks.

And here was I thinking it was just park rangers preparing for new plantings of indigenous vegetation!

Today when we walked at Willsmere Park, there were more strange circles. Maybe crop circles?

Or just patterns from the ride-on mowers...