Along with the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, the Royal Sydney Botanical Garden is a jewel in the tiara that forms the city of Sydney’s foreshore. Glimpses of the city buildings in one direction and the harbour in the other create a perfect setting for a floral visit. On a hot…
Category: Out and About
Christmas Colours: December 21
Is it bending the rules of Six on Saturday to include six photos of the same thing, I wonder? Will I incur the wrath of our leader The Propagator? Time will tell, I suppose. Recently, I wrote about the King Parrot in my post ‘A Single Man?’ as I wondered whether he had a mate, and I’m…
Mintaro: a step back in time.
When travelling on a touring holiday, it’s a good idea to take note of those brown signposts that point to tourist attractions, and it’s exactly what we did when driving through the Clare Valley area of South Australia recently. Having already passed a sign to the historic town of Mintaro before we realised what we’d…
Fit for the Climate
In the very south of South Australia, at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula, we spent a couple of days in Port Lincoln. The climate there is a so-called Mediterranean climate, so rain falls in the winter and the summers are very hot and dry. We were astounded at how green everything was after the…
Arid Botanics
As you might guess, the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden in Port Augusta, South Australia, is devoted entirely to plants that grow in the driest parts of this continent. To the casual observer, the arid areas might seem dull and lifeless, but there’s plenty to see: discovery requires careful observation. The Botanical garden was established…
Silverton
Only 26 km from Broken Hill is the historic almost-ghost town of Silverton. Its origins also lie in the silver mining industry and in fact, silver was discovered there first. In 1885, 3000 people lived there. Now there are 50, mostly artists and people who cater to the tourist trade. When the mines became established…
National Tree Day.
It’s National Tree Day in Australia today, a day when folk are encouraged to plant a tree. We have planted 19 trees on our suburban block to add to the five we inherited, so although we won’t be planting a tree today, I think we’ve managed to add something to Australia’s tree count. The special…
Into the Outback
Following our March road journey to Melbourne and back, and encouraged by the enjoyment we experienced on that occasion, we set out just over two weeks ago to South Australia, a trip that covered 4500km, and provided us with many wonderful experiences, from strikingly diverse scenery to dining on delicious seafood and much else in…
Singing Saul
This week I’m departing from the topic of gardening because I’ve just had a wonderful weekend during which I had the privilege of singing, along with 599 other people, in the Sydney Opera House. Each year, for the last thirteen years, Chorus Oz has provided enthusiastic choristers with the opportunity to take part in a…
Tropical Glasshouse
Recently, whilst enjoying the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne, we visited the Tropical Glasshouse. I’ve thought long and hard about writing a post about the glasshouse, because what I know about tropical plants would fit on – I was going to say a tropical plant leaf, but they seem to have quite large leaves, so it…