Happy 10th Birthday Trevor’s Travels
No Comments »28th December, 2015; Category: Africa, Australia, Ethiopia, Exotic Destinations, Himalayas, Morocco, Nepal
Alhambra, Spain
CONGRATULATIONS!
TREVOR’S TRAVELS SITE IS TEN YEARS OLD TODAY.
Ten years ago today I started this travel blog.
Over the years I have shared hundreds of photos and over a thousand articles describing the places I have been.
Over that time I have travelled extensively here in Australia, had a short visit to Thailand, been about half way up Mt Everest in Nepal and visited many places here in my home state of South Australia.
On a more recent trip I visited my daughter who was teaching in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, had a wonderful holiday in Morocco and then went wandering around Spain for a few weeks, falling in love with the country in the process.
All of these I have shared with readers on this site – except for Spain; those photos and articles are coming in 2016, as well as a few more featuring our trip in Morocco. And more travels in Australia.
Over the coming years my wife and I intend travelling to many more places. We just hope that both our health and our budget allow it. These travels may include another visit to Ethiopia; our daughter returns there to teach again in 2016. If this trip eventuates we plan to visit several more countries on our way. Some possibilities include Italy, France and… oh, it is so tempting to return to Spain. We’ve only just had a taste of that wonderful place.
In the meantime, readers can enjoy the many articles and photos here on this site already. Just go to the archives, click on any of the categories on the sidebar, or use the search facility near the top of each page.
Happy reading.
Trevor
Mosque in Casablanca
Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia
Ama Dablam, Everest region, Nepal
Floriade, Canberra, Australia
Photos of wildflowers in Peterborough
Wildflowers in the Greg Duggan Nature Reserve
Today’s photos of wildflowers were all taken in the Greg Duggan Nature Reserve. The small 10 acre park is on the outskirts of Peterborough in the mid north of South Australia. Although it is only small, it is well worth a visit by anyone interested in native plants and birds, especially in the late winter and early spring. All the photos shown here were shot in mid September last year.
The reserve is named after a local council worker who has made a long study of the plants and birds and reptiles in the district. Lists of these can be obtained at the local information centre – a train carriage in the main street (just east of the Town Hall).
Wandering through the reserve is relatively easy through the grassland area and the wooded area in the south where the plants are predominantly native pine (Callitris spp). For those who find it difficult to wander through the scrub there is a well maintained walking track through the reserve, as well as a ramp leading up to the lookout with great views over the town of Peterborough. Watch out also for the excellent interpretive signs at the entrance gate just off Government Road.
For more photos of this reserve, look back over the last few posts and come back over the next few days as I post more.
I have written many articles about this area on this site, so for more information on things to see at Peterborough, use the search button in the top right hand corner.
Further reading:
- Mallee Native Plants – for more information about and photos of Australian Native Plants
Wildflowers in the Greg Duggan Nature Reserve
Wildflowers in the Greg Duggan Nature Reserve
Wildflowers in the Greg Duggan Nature Reserve
Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, Sydney
No Comments »19th August, 2015; Category: Australia, Botanic Gardens, Parks and Gardens, Picnics, Plants, Sydney
Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Gardens picnic area
Earlier this year we visited family in Sydney. We love spending time with our grandchildren but we also love going out to see various places around Sydney on days when the children are not home. One of the places we love visiting is the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Gardens just off Mona Vale Road in St Ives in the northern parts of the city. We have visited on quite a number of occasions and it is only about a half hour drive from my son’s home.
On the last occasion we visited – just after Easter – we took a picnic lunch with us and ate in one of the designated picnic areas as shown in the photo above. There are several other picnic areas in the gardens. The term ‘gardens’ is a little bit of a misnomer. Sure, the local council and a friends group as well as other interest groups such as the Australian Plants Society have been busy planting and maintaining sections where visitors can see some of our wonderful Australian native plants. The vast majority of the ‘gardens’ is actually uncleared natural bushland boasting a great range of local plants.
There are many good paths leading through interesting sections of the gardens, some of them suitable for wheelchairs. In coming days I will share a few more photos I took on this recent visit.
Banksia flower
Banksia flower
Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia
Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia
Just over a half hour drive from home is a place I like to visit but don’t get to as often as I would like. The Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills section of the Mt Lofty Ranges is a mecca for local and interstate birders. The wetlands consist of about a dozen ponds which make up the sewage works of the nearby town.
By the time the water reaches the final ponds it is purified enough to be used on nearby farms as irrigation water. In the meantime, the various ponds play host to a wide range of water-birds including ducks, ibis, herons, egrets, grebes, cormorants, dotterels, plovers, swamphens, coots and moorhens.
Purple Swamphen
The area around the ponds and the entrance paths have been wonderfully landscaped, with lawns, shelter sheds – it rains frequently in Mt Barker – barbecues and public toilets. Around the ponds and picnic area many trees, bushes and smaller plants which add the great environment which attracts many bush birds, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, honeyeaters, finches, pigeons, doves and swallows.
You can see more photos of the birds seen here on my other site Trevor’s Birding.
Further reading:
Galah
Grey Teal
Laratinga Wetlands on a cold misty winter’s morning
Peterborough Railway Memorial
Locomotive in the main street of Peterborough, South Australia
On my most recent visit to family in Peterborough in the mid-north of South Australia I took the photo above of an old locomotive on display in the main street. I can’t tell you any details of the loco – but I am sure that my brother-in-law could tell me plenty about it – and how to drive it. He cut his teeth driving a range of locomotives over many years.
I have managed to find the following information from the council website:
“On display in the centre of town, adjacent to the public toilets, is an 1880’s Y Class Steam Locomotive. She was one of the first Steam locomotives operating between Silverton, Petersburg and Port Pirie hauling iron ore to the smelter and wharf for export.” (Petersburg was the pre-WW1 name for Peterborough.)
What caught my interest in particular this time, however, was the memorial plaque in front of the locomotive, show in the photo below (click to enlarge). I’ve probably seen this memorial many times in recent years but have never taken the time to peruse the inscription.
The memorial celebrates the contribution of a large number of local railway workers who died in the course of duty on the railways. I am sure that there must be other memorials like this in other parts of the world, but I know of none, nor have I seen any in my travels. Very sad, but quite fitting to pay tribute to those workers.
Railway memorial in the main street of Peterborough, South Australia