Mount Dandenong Favorites

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Favorite thing: Oh, the difficulty of deciding whether to place this tip in “General” or under “Shopping” or even “Tourist Traps”! Sassafras is the first little village you encounter as you enter the Dandenong Ranges from the Burwood Highway. It isn’t large and you won’t find a newsagent or hardware store here – instead, the street is full of those shops intended to attract the female of the species. Luckily for me, the garden shop was closed when we arrived! (Photo 2)

You want cute smelly things with pastel colours? There’s a choice. Likewise, you’ll find antiques and eating places. Maybe the most unusual was the shop claiming to have the largest range of teapots in Melbourne (Photos 3, 4). Me? Well, I couldn’t find a pub or a place selling bits for old motor cars, or power tools, but I finally settled on the House of Coffee (Photo 5) and yes, I’m enjoying a brew from the coffee I purchased right now.

House of Coffee, main street, Sassafras. (03) 9755 1100.

Favorite thing: Time for a quick botany lesson! What’s the difference between trees and ferns? It’s not necessarily size: the “Soft Tree Ferns” (Dicksonia antarctica) in this photo taken in the Dandenong National Park are as large as many trees. The difference is that trees produce seeds, while ferns produce spore. And yes, I did have to look that up! Either way, Australia has many members of the tree-fern family and the Dandenong Ranges are a good place to find some impressive examples. Just look at the size of these examples, and remember that these were around long before the flowering trees evolved – then it becomes easy to conjure up an image of dinosaurs peering through the fronds. Watch out Pauline!

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Favorite thing: Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus Regnans) have been recorded growing to a height of almost 100 metres – they are the world’s tallest hardwoods (flowering trees). You will find them, plus other gums, in the quite surprisingly dense moist temperate forests of the mountain ranges near the coasts of Victoria – the Mt Dandenong area is probably the easiest to reach for most people.

I was not fortunate enough to be able to photograph the forests with mist passing through them, but the effect of mist among these superb trees is unforgettable. In the photos, the large trees with white bark are tall Manna Gums (Eucalyptus Viminalis).