A Good Friday on Mt Dandenong

It was a really Good Friday! The weather was chilly in the morning, but after that, it was perfect. Our cellgroup had a perfect day up in Mt Dandenong. After church in the morning, 9 of us went in 2 cars up to Alfred Nicholas Gardens to have a picnic.

Alfred Nicholas Gardens

It took us about an hour plus to reach there. The road up was narrow and winding, very much like the road up Cameron Highlands. In the car, somehow we touched on the topic of Brunei, and the Sultan of Brunei (don’t ask why we were talking about Brunei). And Jason, who was in the car with us, must have nearly died of boredom hearing us talk about Brunei.

Anyways, lets continue with the garden. The Garden is very serene and peaceful.

Walking to our picnic spot

Nope, this is not our picnic spot, but it looks like a good spot to pat toh right

Upper Ponds

When we finally reached our picnic spot, it felt as if you’re in a fairy tale garden. It felt so serene and peaceful. With tall green trees and foliage and some flowers surrounding you, and once in a while you hear birds, and most importantly, no mosquitoes buzzing at your ears and stinging you like a vampire.

Our picnic spot was beside this lake and boathouse

If you’re an enthusiastic photographer, this is a perfect place to take pictures. The place is so picturesque.

A picturesque lake

We were very fortunate to get a good spot beside the lake.

Everybody having a lovely picnic

So much food! Egg sandwiches, ham sandwiches, coleslaw, pasta salad, potato salad, chicken pie, crackers and dips, and a cake. We couldn’t finish all the food. But after eating, we took a walk around the park to take pictures…

… and also took pictures of each other

We also played a few games of Uno to exercise our full stomachs.

Packing up

After the picnic, Daniel brought us to 2 other places on Mt Dandenong. The first stop, Sassafras Village, Shire of Yarra Ranges… wah seh, sound like a place in Lord of the Rings.

Welcome to Sassfras Village Green, Shire of Yarra Ranges

There’s a restaurant here called Mrs Marples Tea Room, which people claim to have the best scones. Unfortunately we couldn’t try any, because the restaurant was packed. Maybe some other day, then I can compare with the scones on Cameron Highlands eh?

Mrs Marples Tea Room – photo courtesy of Daniel C.

But we each had a “pinch” of roasted marshmallows roasted by Wen Li.

Wen Li roasting a marshmallow

Hmm… this guy looks familiar…

A very “geng” Doll House

One of the rooms of the doll house – everything is so detailed

On our way back to the car, we saw some toys commited suicide. Why would they want to hang themselves?

A teddy bear commited suicide

NO… NO… DON’T DO IT!!!!! You have children to cheer up. They’ll hug you, and kiss you, and shed tears on you, and sometimes drool on you, and after a while, your arms might rip off because of wear and tear, and sooner or later, you’ll be packed into a wooden chess, or stuffed into a box and be packed away into the store room, and have spider webs and moth balls all around you……. hmm… maybe thats why you hung yourself… oh well.

Ok, back to travel. After Sassafras… did you manage to pronounce it? I nearly pronounced it as safari. So after Sassafras, we went to Sky High.

Sky High Mount Dandenong

Sky High viewing point

You can see the whole of Melbourne here.

Daniel, Jason, Mat and Wen Li trying to see where the city is

Somehow, we nearly couldn’t locate where the city is, because there was a layer of haze above the city.

Haze hovering above Melbourne

There is also a park here. So we took some time to walk around and snap somemore pictures.

Me on the wishing tree. I wish I …. hey, cannot tell you right… or else won’t come true… hahaha

Bird Bath

Jason trying to see the maze which we didn’t go in, cause have to pay

Daniel met a new friend in the Secret Garden

Flora and I – photo courtesy of Daniel C.

Igor the Giant’s Chair – photo courtesy of Daniel C.

I really enjoyed this trip. Beautiful parks, excellent weather, wonderful company. Thank you Lord for a wonderful blessed Good Friday.

Group photo- photo courtesy of Daniel C

p/s On our way back to the city, somehow our topic of conversation went into the Brunei Dollar currency. I think Jason got so bored he fell asleep.

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