Bushland at Heathmont (Dad would have loved it!) 23.9.2017

 Whilst our lastborn and family have been away on holidays I have been going over to walk the dog along the Dandenong Creek trail near their home. As I have already covered a lot of the nearby  area from previous walks I decided this time to both extend the area I covered and also to cover some of the nearby bush reserves too.

 While walking through Dexter’s Reserve along its footworn narrow tracks, the thought came to me that my father would have loved it there, even though he was never a city person! That said once (when he was thinking of retiring from the Green Grocery Round,)  he did briefly contemplate doing an Uncle Ted. That is selling the farm (In Uncle Ted’s case, it was an Orchard,) and buying a house In Panton Hill, close to the shops etc. I think Mum would have liked that with a newer house and more modern facilities, but I think one of my cousins talked him out of that reminding him of the open land still around him compared to suburban closeness.

 Whatever the reason, it never happened and they remained there and Dad, for as long as he could, lived out his retirement there and often taking long walks with the dog, children or Grandchildren up along the creek and along bush tracks and enjoying the bush and sights there. The memory of those walks came back to me as I was walking along the bush tracks through the small but seemingly large Dexter reserve. And the thought came to me that I loved it there too. Although very close to the heart of Melbourne, there, along the Dandenong Creek it seemed like one really was out in the bush in the middle of nowhere!