A day trip in Lilydale

Posted by Yuka as Hot Cities

I get on the bus 901 in knox s.c. stop and it takes about 30min to go to the Ringwood train station and then around 15 min for the train to reach Lilydale, the destination of my trip. Both the bus and the train are clean with few passengers, quite comfortable.

Leaving Lylidale station, passing the bus park, following the passengers i walk to a main street. Suddenly i find a post standing by the street showing with big words “Lilydale Campus of Swinbourn University —> ” That is really a surprise to me: How can it be found so easily !

But in fact on my 15-min walk to the main building i have to ask two passers-by for direction .One is a warm-hearted white lady and the other is an Asian girl with a boy–i thought they are Chinese students but i still talk to them in English.it cost me some time to find the room where i should go, which i cant find until i met Lorrain on the corridor.

After i see the OSHC staff ,Lorrain shows me around the campus, the student accommodation houses and the lilydale lake. She also introduces me to a black guy in the campus who is a volunteer campus-tour guide. But finally i walk around the lake by myself.

The lake is quiet , large and beautiful, rounded by trees, lawns and student accommodation houses. there are some little wooden corridors over the water here and there where people can get close to the water center and the birds swimming in the lake. i see one bird fanning its wings slowly by the edge of a wooden corridor, seems to show in a stage although it doesnt expect many audience. While on the other side of the lake i see another bird standing still on a half log over the water. it is so quiet without any move that i almost regard it as a false model, but it is true, and living, yet somewhat sad,i think, so lonely.

I also see a post beside the lake. it says “please dont feed us”, warning people not to feed the birds for fear of causing biological imbalance, contamination and food dependence, things like that. let the birds live naturally in their habitats is scientific,but also reminds me of Naturalism in English literature, which is cold, cruel and desperate, too.

Some people with their kids or dogs are walking along the lake bank,some are running for exercises, others are playing on the lawns beside the lake. there is a woman training her two yellow dogs far away on the lawn. the two dogs are trailing each other,playing happily. this view attracts a black dog passing by me on the path although they are far away from it. it stops,looks at the two,making some low noises, wants to change its direction to join them. its leader,a girl,trying her best to hold the ring, says” come on,@##$^& <the dog’s name>, you cant play with them now”. the dog walks forward two steps,stops, looks at the far again, trying to run over again, and the girl speaks to it again….again and again….

I almost lose my way around the lake but later i finish my round-lake trip and walk out. there is a bus stop in the campus but seems no bus waiting for me. i still walk along the path back to the train station. on half way i go shopping in a supermarket where i buy my lunch and then i get on the train. before i arrive home by bus, i go to two other markets at stud field and knox. at last i come back home with many pakages, exhausted and tired to die.