Oli's After Work Adventure...to the Town of Casey...

Hope Melbourne, my church, is embarking on an adventure as a church this year!!!!! Hope Melbourne (both Waverley centre and City centre) are looking to each start one care group / centre in one of the towns that surround Victoria. Waverley Centre's focus will be the south and east areas of Victoria, while City centre will look towards the North and the West side of Victoria.

The map above shows the regions that Hope Waverley has been assigned to cover...The place that I drove to today is one of the cities to be covered by Team No. 4. Thank You Lord for the wonderful weather today so that I managed to take some really pretty photos of the City of Casey and just enjoyed the solitude time I had...singing P & W songs to and fro even as I drove to the City of Casey. Took me much faster than expected. From Wellington Road, I was at the turn off to Casey at Belgrave-Hallam Rd in less than 10 minutes on M1, one turn-off earlier than I planned at the start of the route, from my office @ 350 Collins St. But it was a good choice as I had a chance to drive pass and see more of Berwick, especially as I drove into it...See the route I took from Melbourne city centre outlined in RED on the map...View this map for a closer view.

First sign of Berwick! As I drove, I was just amazed at how pleasant the place was and how new everything was...it is one of the fastest growing cities in Victoria at the moment, with the highest increase in number of schools in the last 5 years. It comprises of mainly young families or couples in their start up phase of life as land and houses there are still relatively cheaper. I decided to keep driving till I see the coast...Driving and taking photos at the same time is no easy feat man.

I kept driving...passing the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre (on the left)...passed more housing estates. Very nice...all peaceful and quiet...new. Then stopped at KFC to buy some popcorn chicken cause I was hungry...haven't had dinner and only had salad for lunch...Then went on driving. At some point, was wondering whether I took the right turning. Then I came to a place which looked very familiar (I have visited the Berwick campus once before) and saw the sign "Monash University Berwick Campus" pointing to turn right. So I stopped at that place, which is called Berwick Market Place ...a pretty little township with different kinds of shops there...bakeries, inns, restaurants, supermarket...etc. So I stopped and read the map again...decided to go to Cannon Creek which is far enough, finished my popcorn chicken and drove onto Cranbourne / Clyde Rd...which led to Monash University Berwick campus. It's a very nice campus this one...new and very high tech aparently. It's not as ulu as many think it to be...Then immediately after Monash uni, came to a new housing area that is very very nice...Eden Rise Village...can see that this is a higher class housing area. The houses were very modern, very new and looked more expensive. A lot of show houses around this area as well...all the major builders like Metricon were all here...

After that, the landscape and scenery started to change drastically. It was like crossing the border into the country (or the bush as Aussies would call it). This was really Moo-Moo Land as one of the ex-Monash Berwick students used to call Berwick. It was just a very scenic drive all along the way...I kept driving on Cranbourne Rd till I had to make a slight turn onto Fisheries Rd. For a while, it was so quiet and deserted that I wondered whether I was going the right way. I also turned into Fisheries Rd as a guess. Had to stop and recheck the Melway at that point...

THEN, I finally arrived in Cannon Creek after another slight turn off and onto Cannon Creek as a sign showed...It was just beautiful!!! Very tranquil environment...the whole place is a Nature reserve so there weren't many houses...just a few. Tucked into the bushes of Hardy Dr...very windy but then had the sun shining brightly so it wasn't too bad. Got a little chilly as the sunlight dimmed and went back to car and decided to do Quiet Time there and journal while waiting for the sun to set. No hurry...So i decided to sketch the scenery in front of me...

Sketch of the jetty at Cannon Creek...

You can see from the map below that the area is mainly a Nature reserve land...Mainly mangroves along the river and creeks. I drove down Cannon Creek Rd till I came to the very end...and parked next to the Jetty...and got off for a walk and took pictures. At this point, my camera was running out of batt (bad thing about Canon digital cameras are that they never show you how much batt is left till it is too late!!!). Had to turn on and off to take photos...but still managed to squeeze in quite a lot of good photos, especially of the sunset over the creek...
Mental note to self: good place to bring team for a walk on the 26th Jan after exploratory trip...either Cannon Creek or Watson Bay...but Watson Bay can't drive all the way to the very south most areas...Need to plan the route properly to maximise the one day we have to go around Casey. It's going to be so much fun!! Then I'm gonna hop onto the plane and fly home to Malaysia for Chinese New Year! Boy, am I going to be tired!!! Hope I won't snore on the plane ride home....Looking forward to time with family and friends...AGAIN! :P

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Finally, after the sun had set, I started to head home...need to look for M420 and follow it till it hits M1. And when i did find it, I realised that it is the same route that we always take to drive home from Philip Island...passing Cranbourne. Then my petrol indicator came on...LOW ON PETROL. Lord, you've protected me thus far...I will be able to get home safe and sound and I did...

Happiness is...seeing the great beauty and wonder of God's creation time and time again and thanking Him for the beautiful world that He created for us... Thank You, Lord for this wonderful day of adventure...With You Lord...wherever I go, I know that I will be safe and never alone....