the me yangs

Took a drive to the You Yangs last week. Climbed Flinder's Peak and hung out there for a while. The following are some pictures I took on my phone (hence the terrible quality):

A koala. A New Zealand guy drew my attention to it. He said excitedly, "Wow, I've never seen one in the wild before!" (actually it was more like "wiw, I've niver sin one un the wild biffore!" but I'm not one to stereotype). Not wanting to burst his bubble (or the bubble of any other foreigner who thinks Australia is overrun with kangaroos, koalas and other native furry creatures), I swallowed my own excitement and nonchalantly drawled back, "Well, now you have eh?"


A rock. Trust me, it was much better in person.


The view from Flinder's Peak. It's surprisingly high. You can see Geelong in one direction and Melbourne in the other, and right across the bay.


The view from the other side of Flinder's Peak. Turns out the name You Yangs comes from the Aboriginal words 'Wurdi Youang' or 'Ude Youang' meaning 'big mountain in the middle of a plain'. It's a name entirely devoid of irony.

The view from the spot I eventually settled on.

Anyway, the upshot is I have to do this stuff more often. Turns out being by myself suits this introvert.