A short drive inland from the coast the mountains of Southern Wales hold both waterfalls and rainforest.
The Waterfall Country Walk provides a great way to see and experience the beautiful Atlantic Rain Forest.
The waterfalls are beautiful.
Beautiful green rainforest, and
Beautiful birds like this grey wagtail that was catching insects over the river.
Gower definitely is an area of natural beauty.
The Strawberry Full Moon hung high in the sky, overlooking the Solstice Celebrations.
The sky sure had a wintery feel, looking across Port Phillip to the City of Melbourne.
But in the old ship building shed us locals celebrated the coming of winter.
On the Sunday, my motorbike club, the Moto Guzzi Club of Victoria, conducted its winter breakfast in the Yarra Ranges.
I rolled the mighty Breva out of the shed in the morning twighlight on a cold, clear winter morning.
I was riding through the city as the sun rose and three hot air balloons drifted overhead.
The BBQ was already under way as I arrived at the Badgers Creek Weir picnic ground.
A small group of local residents are waiting for to share.
While the BBQ was attractive with the temperature of 2c, the pot of soup was where I headed.
The best thing was that for the motorbikes built on the shores of Lake Como in the Italian Alps, the temperature was perfect, and all the bikes ran perfectly.
After a huge breakfast of minestrone soup and eggs and bacon, I needed a bit of a walk in the bush up to Badger Wier.
As winter settles in, it’s only two weeks till I head to the Northern Hemisphere for my next European Adventure.
Gariwerd, in Victoria, is the southwestern tip of the Great Dividing Range that runs 3,500 km up the east coast of Australia.
Its a beautiful place for riding the back roads, walking in beautiful bushland, and taking in the views from mountain top lookouts.
Geriward is also a place of significance for Australian Aboriginals. There are over 200 sites of Aboriginal Rock art in Gariwerd. It has the largest number of rock art sites in southern Australia.
Gariwerd can be translated as meaning Mountains created by Bunjil. Bunjil is part of the Aboriginal creation story.
I visited a couple of sites on this trip.
‘Bunjil shelter’ is the only known representation of Bunjil with two dingo helpers.
Ngamadjidj is another site that is accessible.
The art is generally found in rocky outcops in Gariwerd.
There are beautiful walks through the forests…
To waterfalls…
And mountain top views…
For the motorcyclist, the riding both on and off road is excillerating.
The film ‘Force of Nature‘ has recently opened in Australia. Parts of it were shot in the beautiful temperate rain forests of the Otway Ranges.
Hopetoun Falls features in the movie. Its currently approaching summer, so the waterfalls in the ranges are flowing slowly. Some, like Henderson Falls, gently cascade over the cliff face.
Henderson Falls, are near a rocky feature in the ranges named The Canyon. I think I recognised it in the movie.
Its a beautiful walk through the forest to reach the Canyon in a quiet part of eastern end of the ranges.
The western end of the ranges faces the incoming weather and is a thicker forest. With more Beech trees, ancient Beech trees.
The Otways are a mountain range that abuts the sea. The Southern Ocean, to be precise.
So after a long hike on a hot day, it’s easy to cool off with a swim in the cool ocean waters.
I camped a couple of nights at Apollo Bay, which sits on the ocean about halfway along the ranges.
It’s a beautiful town, at night as dark slowly descends over the harbour.
Or as the sun rises over the rolling surf.
Eric Bana is the star of ‘Force of Nature’
But you will have to endure having me in the starring role here.
From Ohrid, the route to Kosovo continued through the mountains of North Macedonia with Albania to the west and Kosova to the North.
The small village of Janche is nestled in the mountains of the Mavrovo National Park.
Where remnants of old Yugoslavian industry can be found.
Beside the new highway heading to Peje in NW Kosova sits the Terzi Bridge. A fine example of Ottoman architecture.
The destination, though, was the White Drin Falls in the Accursed Mountains near the border with Montenegro. A spectacular natural park. With the waterfall….
And limestone caves.
This area of Kosova and its border with Montenegro is home to significant forests of Spruce, Beech and Fir trees.
Just over the border with Montenegro is the village of Rozaje and nearby nested in the forest in the most beautiful camp ground.
These forests are the best I’ve visited in Europe, amazing old growth forests.
It was late September in the mountains so turning cold. But the welcome at Sastanci – Grahovaca was as warm as the fire and the home cooked meal fresh and delicious.
It was hard to find but worth it!
