Eastern Water Dragon & Litoria Littlejohni

Living beside a National Park means that we share the property with many native species, wallabies, snakes, spiders and lizards are regular visitors. About two years ago the first water dragon appeared, we now seem to have two or three and they have grown a lot since the first sighting. They become very tame and enjoy a swim in our pool on hot days, the one in the following photo was resting in a staghorn near our kitchen, another favourite spot is under the cover of the BBQ. I think this one is female and is probably about two years old, they can grow to 50cms, males slightly larger than that.

Another recent arrival is this small frog, must have been named after one of our former prime ministers as there is a strong family resemblance, Litoria Littlejohni is its scientific name. It has been living in our sun umbrella for the past two weeks and is almost the same colour as the umbrella and the garden table. Just as well as I am sure frogs are on the water dragon menu.

Great Victorian Rail Trail

Mansfield - Alexandra - Yea - Tallarook

Opened earlier this year this trail adds to the growing number of excellent trails in Victoria. It's difficult to understand why New South Wales has not followed the same development plan, it is easy to see when you ride there how the towns and villages along the Victorian trails are benefiting from the thousands of bike tourists using the trails every year.

We used Alexandra as our base, this meant doing a shuttle with our cars each morning but saved doing each leg out and back.

The official guide book says the grade is mostly flat but undulating would be a more accurate description. There are toilets at regular intervals and quite a few pubs, cafes and restaurants along the route. Spring and Autumn would be a good time to ride, we did it early November and had one day at 37C and the other a more comfortable 28C.

Distances are,

• Tallarook - Yea 38kms.
• Yea - Alexandra 34kms.
• Yea - Mansfield 83kms.
• Alexandra - Mansfield 75kms.
• Tallarook - Mansfield 121kms.

 Mansfield to Merton section.

Alexandra to Tallarook section.

We stayed at the Alexandra Tourist Park, this is a well run park with a beautiful camping area set at the back of the park. It's only a five minute walk into the town centre.