Another afternoon down the drain

To celebrate a hard day of work at home (I mean it!), I celebrated by going for a skate. But halfway to the skatepark, I thought why don't I go for a wander at the drains instead?



I was there with my trusty sidekick Tess. She was loving it just as much, if not a tiny bit more than me.



We had to clamber up the sides through some parts when it got a bit wet, then we'd run down the banks and start skating/skittering along on four legs.



Interesting bridges. It's a different world down there!



A dark hole. On the way back walked on the other side and I nearly slipped over going past this hole on the mossy wet concrete. Tess slipped over a couple of times: hilarious.



More dark holes. As we followed the drains further north, the skate-friendly concrete banks were replaced by charming cobbled ones.



As the houses and bike paths disappeared, the vistas reminded me of lovely impressionist paintings, but with a gritty urban edge.



Without much warning, the drain ended. Well, the water continued, but there was no more concrete or track. And it suddenly started feeling sinister, like someone was watching me. I took a photo of this cactus and turned back.



I noticed lots of debris hanging off branches and things on the way back. A reminder of how much water can appear down there, I suppose - and the wastefulness of our society. I liked the look of this silver paper though, and stopped to take a photo of it. Then my camera battery went dead. So you may as well forget about the rest of the walk.

Hangin' at Hanging Rock

The car works again so we thought we'd take a little sojourn out to Hanging Rock. It was cold and rainy, but we were like 'what the hell'



There is a track around the base of the rock that you're allowed to walk your dog 'on a lead'. Tess was in heaven.



Mossy rock with Rosie looking odd up the top there



This photo was taken moments before Tess chased a rabbit into the bush and disappeared for what seemed like hours. It would have been only about 10 minutes, but it freaked us out good and proper.



Then she just rocked up. We had been walking around through the bracken like fools calling her name, sort of like the movie.



Speaking of rocking up, we decided that since we had broken the rules already, we should just climb up the rock. Tess was on the lead this time.



It's a very surreal place. I think it was nice to go up there when it was all misty and rainy, because it felt even more otherworldly.



Back at the car, Rosie spotted some kangaroos having a go on the nearby racecourse.





Back at home, Tess tried to apologise for the whole thing with the rabbit



Actually she just wanted one of the pistacchios I was eating