Truth and Illusion

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Corkscrew Clouds from the You Yangs - looking toward Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay

An impromptu invitation for a picnic.
Accepted with pleasure today.
A quick 50 km drive to the country and back.
Just 3 and a bit hours for the pleasure of sitting on a small rocky mountain to eat lunch.

My son Will and his partner Jess whisked me up and away from my plans to pack a box or two and to tidy home a bit.
They even provided some rice paper rolls, crackers and dip, yogurt and lemon lime and bitters. Delicious.

The sky even provided a few curly clouds.
I don't see these very often.

The You Yangs are a series of granite ridges that rise to 364m (Flinders Peak) above the Werribee Plain approximately 55km south west of Melbourne and 22km north east of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. The main ridge runs roughly N-S for about 9 km, with a lower extension running for about 15 km to the west. Much of the southern parts of the ranges are protected by the You Yangs Regional Park.

Although only 364 m at their highest, they dominate the landscape and are clearly identifiable from nearby Geelong, Melbourne and beyond. Camping is not permitted in the You Yangs. The foothills to the north of the peaks are home to Ford Australia's proving ground.^[1]^[2]

The You Yangs are also the home of a Geoglyph constructed by the Australian artist Andrew Rogers in recognition of the indigenous people of the area. It depicts Bunjil, a mythical creature to the local Wautharong Aborigines. The creature has a wing span of 100 metres and 1500 tonnes of rock was used to construct it,^[3] and was unveiled in March 2006.^[