Dandenong Ranges National Forest

Gorgeous path through the forest.

When you think of a national park you think of pristine wilderness, places to camp and relax but not residential communities.  Driving through the park we passed several communities within the forest.

Most of the forest floor was covered with ferns of different species and sizes.

Close to where this picture was taken we saw what looked like a bear cub or wild hog laying down in the sun.  Kyle made the boys stop so he could make sure what it was before letting them pass.  It turned out to be a dead wombat.  The boys wanted me to take a picture of it but I thought it was gross.  So they settled for poking it with sticks instead.

Most of the trees looked like these ones.  Very tall, skinny and with the bark peeling off.

Another fun trail to walk down.

I saw a tree that had fallen over a stream and the boys and I took a seat for a picture.  It was rotted in the middle and beginning to break.  We had to move fast or risk getting wet.

The lovely little stream with the fallen log across it.  You can see a bit of the log in the lower left hand corner of the picture.

We were following a trail that was supposed to lead us to this waterfall.  There wasn't much water and it wasn't very high.  We were on a bridge above the falls.

I love the way the water splashes off the rock.

Beautiful, peaceful scene.

We found a partially hollow log.  Jacob stuck a stick inside and it wasn't very deep and there was some icky brown goo coming out of it. We had a great time and will have to go back for a longer hike.