I recently found a beautiful way to spend a cool, drizzly Sunday in the Springtime - wandering (or rather tip toeing) through the masses of tulips at the Tesselaar Tulip Festival located in Silvan (up in the Dandenong Rangers).  An unbelievable display of over half a million Tulips made up of more than a hundred different varieties and colours.

A grey and miserable looking morning greeted me as I looked out of my bedroom window last Sunday.  For some reason I thought the weather man said it was going to be 20 degrees and sunny....humph!

But what a day it turned out to be.  Pouring down rain one minute then bright blue, sunny skies the next.  Ahh, the joys of Melbourne weather in the Spring.

After taking the 'scenic' route (yeah ok, I admit I was the navigator and got us lost) and of course suffering car sickness because of this (pay back), we finally made it up the hill.  I love heading up to the Dandenongs, no matter what the weather, however I think it's particularly special just after it's rained with the smell of wet wood and leaves drifting through the car door and everything shining that little bit more.  Everything just seems that little bit more fresher.  

To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting much of the festival. Of course I expected to see tulips, and maybe some fast food vans (which there were plenty of) but that was about all I was expecting, so I was pleasantly surprised with how 'cute' the set up was.

And the colours.........

This was my favourite flower of the day (almost the colour of deep red wine).

Confession Time:

  The thing we admitted to loving the most about the day was the Japanese tourists who arrived by the bus load, clomping through the mud in their designer outfits (and shoes), posing down

in between

the tulips - I was having a great time just watching them have a ball!

So finally, after braving the elements, being covered in mud and a dose of car sickness - I was ready to head home to a nice hot bath and my pj's.

(I kinda felt a little like this guy below)