MOOROODUC QUARRY

It was raining this morning, it had the look of a miserable day. We spent most of it doing housework while the kids played. The sun showed it face in the afternoon, so when Luna and Jai had a nap, me and Tanis decided we would go for a walk. I thought I would take him somewhere he has never been.

Moorooduc quarry is a short drive from our place. So we headed there. I used to come here a lot when I was a teenager, its a pretty cool place to kick back and relax as you will soon see.

Tanis was keen to get moving. This is one of the main tracks in. It is wide enough for the rangers and fire trucks to get up. they have had a few fires here that I can recall.

We have bush!

Spotted a few trees with ribbons around them. They are probably tagged to be removed, or maybe they are planning to put shrouds on them. What are shrouds you ask? I'll show ya later.

It has turned out to be a nice day after all.

I used to see this a bit when I used to go metal detecting a lot. This pile of rubbish is someones camping gear. They have bailed and left it. The wife probably let him come home. Just on the couch though.
I stumbled upon one years ago in Langwarrin bush (see previous #walkwithme posts). It had been there for years. It looked like whoever lived there left in a hurry as they had left everything there. It just looked like a normal camp site just covered in leaves and mould from the wet. It was a bit spooky. I had to look around for a body before I left.

DOH!
They have put a gate across the entrance to the quarry.

Luckily theres a little path that goes around it.

Tanis is pretty stoked that we just stuck it to the man. Those rocks are there to stop people driving cars into the dam. The cops have pulled tons of cars out of there in the past.
here is a news article about one incident
Thats not Tanis's soft toy on the ground by the way.

Theres the quarry!

Hello minnows! I feel the connection!

Lilly pads! Tanis wanted to walk across them. Damn cartoons.
No Tanis.

There are a lot of dragonflies hanging about.

Thats where me and the lads used to kick back and smoke some weed. We used to climb the cliff to get up there. We did a lot of rock climbing here. Dangerous stuff. No safety gear at all. We used to joke about the front of the cliff collapsing while we were up there. We turned up one day and it had collapsed. There used to be about two meters more of cliff face on what you see now. We found a new spot after that.

We used to time our selves to see who could get to the top of this one the quickest. The trick was to get to that horizontal crack on the left and spiderman your way up there.

The story about the quarry goes like this.
The water here is three times as deep as the highest cliff. The quarry has been around since the 1880s. They quarried the rock and crushed it for use on the rail line that goes right past it. It was eventually bought by the gov and they used the rock for rail lines and for road base etc until the early sixties when they had to close it down after they hit a natural spring. The spring filled the quarry with water gifting us this great swimming hole! They reckon there is still machines etc down there. They probably don't work any more though.

Some of the old quarry rail track sticking out of the top of the cliffs.

Tanis is really enjoying the walk. that makes me happy. Sometimes he just wants to go home.

Now he's enjoying the view. Soak it up lad!
We had some great parties here in the summer. I bet they still do!

That was a fun cliff to climb until I fell from it. I skidded down the cliff face and my bro grabbed me on the way past, halting me in my tracks. Thanks bro! I swore I would never climb there again after that. I saw a couple of friends fall while climbing, one was really lucky. He bounced right to the edge of a sheer drop. One of his legs was hanging over. He was ok though.

We might try and get over to the other side.

Some nice blue flowers growing over there. Lets go have a look!

DOH!
The only way past this is in the water. Pass.

Can you see the faces in the rock?

Damn blackberries!

Tanis is running of. He does that. He will be ok though, he knows not to get to far ahead of me here.

Oi! Where are you going? O.K, wait up for your old dad though!

Here are some of those blue flowers we saw earlier. They look like they are on some kind of vine.

Jeez Louise, these steps just keep on going. Tanis is flying up them, I need a rest!

A bee doing what bees do!

Finally at the top! What a mission!

We turn left here, the other way brings us onto the street.

Loving life!

thats a nice little flower. Purple is my favourite colour.

I wonder what lives in there!

Maybe these fluffy looking creatures.

Not creatures! Flowers. Cute looking though.

This is how I remember the tracks out here. When this stuff is wet it gets really slippery. Ive fallen on my arse here many a time.

Nice view of the quarry. You can see the lilly pads I showed you earlier.

Damn, more steps!

These are the seed pods of a sword grass plant. Check the spikes out on it! I'd hate to accidentally grab that! Ouch!

Great view from up here! You can see for miles.

Heres the lookout. I was wondering if it was still there.
See the trees over to the right there. That plastic wrapped around it is a shroud. They put them on the trees to stop possums climbing them. i don't know why they would do it out here in the bush though.

I can see some bikes where Tanis was sitting earlier. Where are the riders? I bet I know what they are up to! Some things never change!

I had a mate fall down here. When he landed, a stick jammed up his nose. When he pulled it out, it just kept coming and coming. Lucky it didn't pierce his brain or something.

I thought Tanis would like to take a few shots from up here. His grin said it all when I handed him the camera. Here are some of his favourites.

Fence view. The world looks different from the perspective of a child. If only he was another foot or two taller he would be able to shoot over it.

Or just stick the camera between the wire and take this awesome shot!

Thats me.

Another shot of the fence.
What? he liked it, so do I.

He is taking in the view. I think he has found his new favourite place. I like it up here to. Good memories.

This little billabong is looking a bit dry, although, we can hear frogs croaking.

Steps. Going down. These aren't just any steps though. I helped build them!

Looking up the stairs. I helped build these when I was 17. I got in some trouble with the law and this was my punishment. It was hard work but I really enjoyed it. I learnt my lesson though. Ive never been caught since! Hahaha.

This bullant wants to fight me! Guttsy.

I think he has had enough.

They are even putting barcodes on trees these days. Mark of the beast to some, a sense of identity to others. This is no longer a tree. It is tree number PO15349. Pleased to meet it!

There is some bracken fern going out off this old tree stump. That is the fern you rub onto a bull ants bite if one ever gets ya!

A beastie! I'm not sure what this is but it looks kind of nasty. I think I'll just leave it alone.

This little guy dropped on my arm as I retreated from the beastie. It is tiny. Yeah I know, I need to shave my arms.
(I don't really do that by the way!)

Check out the vine wrapping itself around this branch like a snake. I wonder if it will kill its host.

This is where the quarry workers used to store their explosives. It looks like FAYGO was having a rough day when he painted the old door.

Dragonfly! It was a bit evasive but I was determined to get a good shot of it. Tanis waited patiently and I finally got a shot after five minutes of trying!

Blackberries. They are everywhere in this bush. They are a real pest. They will eventually kill all the other plants in the undergrowth. You can't even eat their berries because they have most likely been sprayed with poison to help eradicate it.