Magnificent Macedon and its many mushrooms

The Avenue of Honour

Luke and I visited Macedon - the township and the mountain - yesterday in search of autumn colour. Macedon's Avenue of Honour, a stretch of road lined by pin oaks, is renowned for its autumn display, but we were probably a week or so too late to see it in its full glory. A lot of leaves were already on the ground.  

But once I spotted the fungii, I didn't care about the trees and their leaves. There were some growing beside the road...

...but in a paddock beside the road there was a veritable wonderland of fungii growing, including quite a few amanita mushrooms - the red ones with the white spots - which are like something from a fairy tale.

We also visited one of the open gardens in the area, Tieve Tara, which is very pretty. 

 Autumn carpet

 Tiny snail 

 Pond 

 Geese

Fountain 

 Leaf carpet

There were mushrooms there, too

Then we drove up to the top of Mt Macedon to see the memorial cross. There were amanita mushrooms growing under the pine trees there, but you've probably seen enough fungii in this post already.

 The cross (with flowers from Anzac Day)

View from the lookout

It was a fun day out, but the fungii were the highlight for me. 

More Fawkner Park fungi

I walked through Fawkner Park today on the way to the Alfred Hospital (more tests...) and I kept my eyes open for fungi. I was not disappointed - and these are only some of the fungi I saw.

I passed by a lot of beautiful deep red fallen autumn leaves on my way too, but I didn't have time to stop and take photos of them. I will be taking lots of photos of autumn leaves tomorrow though (and probably bringing quite a few home with me for flat lays) because Luke and I are going to Macedon, which is known for its autumn display. Have I mentioned I love autumn? 

Friday wanderings

Luke and I had a pleasant day out in the Dandenongs on Friday. We visited two gardens and two waterfalls and had lunch at a (former) piggery. 

I'd often seen pictures of the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens on Instagram and thought we should go for a look, so we did. Then we spotted the George Tindale Memorial Garden just a few hundred metres down the road, so we had a look at that too. 

The Piggery Cafe is just next door to the Alfred Nicholas gardens and we had a quick lunch there. We said hello to the two pigs who live in the grounds (until they end up as lunch, I guess. I think they might have an (o)inkling of their fate because they were not as happy as pigs in mud are supposed to be. They seemed pretty glum.) 

Anyway, here are my photos (out of order but *shrug*):

 On the walk to Sherbrooke Falls

 Mossy log on  Sherbrooke Falls walk

 Even the fungus had moss on it

 Moss

 Sherbrooke Falls (or, more accurately, Sherbrooke Rapids)

 Conifer at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 Succulent at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 One of several lovely old lamps at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 The pigs at The Piggery (yes, he's peeing; no, that's not why I took the photo)

 Bee watering hole in the trunk of a tree fern

 There were a lot of hellebore at both gardens 

 Bugs

 Both gardens also have a lot of azaleas which are a riot of colour right now

 Another hellebore

 Very big insect (the leaf  is bigger than my hand)

 More fungus

 The lake at Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens

 The lake again

 I took A LOT of photos of the hellebore

 Curly leaf thing

Another leaf

Not Monday

Fungus in the garden beside our driveway

Me this morning on waking: Ugh, Monday. Oh, wait! It's Sunday! Not a bad way to start the day. Then I went back to sleep and woke up at 9.30.

Fungi Wonderland

Luke and I spent the day in Fungus Wonderland today. We visited the redwood forest at Warburton and the trees were amazing, but the mushrooms! There were so many different varieties and some you don't see very often. Well, I don't anyway. 

The last one we saw was remarkable, but I'm going to keep you in suspense until the end of this post...oh, all right; scroll down if you must. 

It rained on the way to Warburton and while we ate lunch, but it cleared by the time we got to the forest (it was still chilly). I had decided to take my (never-before-worn) gumboots with me, which was a smart because it was very damp and muddy in places, but I just tramped through all the sludge and puddles. It was very liberating!

 Rockstar gumbies yet to be muddied

Rows

 The sun shone in 

 Overhead

Cement Creek at the rear of the forest (and me)

Anyway, enough of the trees and the creek. On with the funguseses! 

 In the grass of a clearing

 At the foot of a mossy tree

 Teehee

Leggy 'shroom

 Gimme shelter

 I think this is a little fly agaric

 A bigger fly agaric - about the size of my hand with outstretched fingers

And an even bigger one - dinner plate size and about 30cm tall

I've only ever seen one fly agaric before and that was in the garden at the nursing home where Luke's grandmother lives, so not quite as 'wild'. I find them enchanting (even though they are poisonous). You'd think i'd spotted unicorns in the woods the way I gasped when I saw these. 

  

Lichen and fungus

And now for the fungus you have been waiting for, if aren't the impatient type. It's HUMONGOUS FUNGUS! 

 I have a normal sized head by the way

Another view of the humongous fungus

Astounding, no? Kind of ugly though and when I poked it, it was spongy and gross, but wow! Luke spotted it growing on a bank on the side of the road as we approached Hoddles Creek between Launching Place and Gembrook. Well spotted, Luke! 

All in all, a great day out.  I leave you with an old Wagons song called Redwoods.