Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Sydney Trip June 2011
On our way home from visiting family in Sydney earlier this year we stopped for a short break in the Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens, just a short detour from the main road through the city. We only stayed long enough to have a quick bite to eat, a refreshing cuppa and to have a brief look at some of the flowers blooming in the gardens. Yesterday I showed some of the photos I took; today I add a few more, including some beautiful grevilleas.
Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Wagga Wagga Botanic Gardens
Edithburgh Nature Reserve
Eucalyptus erythrocorys (red-capped gum), Edithburgh Nature Reserve
On the last morning of our recent holiday on the Yorke Peninsula we stopped for about an hour to wander through the Edithburgh Nature Reserve. This reserve, set up and maintained by a local community group, has been a focus of ours every time we visit the small coastal town. The reserve is at the western end of the main street and is open at all times to the public. Several excellent gravel paths suitable for wheelchairs meander through the reserve.
The reserve is not great for checking out a wide range of Australian Native Plants which interest my wife, it is also a good place within the town to see many of the local bush birds. Being only about 500 metres from the coast it is also possible to record a few sea birds flying overhead. My brother in law used to live opposite this park so we know it and its inhabitants quite well.
Apart from the birds I also enjoy the challenge of taking photos of wildflowers. I’ve dedicated this post to the plants in flower that we saw.
Calothamnus quadrifidus (one-sided bottlebrush), Edithburgh Reserve
Grevillea flower, Edithburgh Nature Reserve
Hakea laurina, Edithburgh Nature Reserve, Yorke Peninsula
Edithburgh Nature Reserve, Yorke Peninsula
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, Adelaide
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
On a visit to the Wittunga Botanic Gardens in the Adelaide Hills last year I managed to get some lovely photos of the various plants which were flowering at the time. This was early spring last year and many of the plants were already in full bloom.
On the downside, I didn’t see many birds. Admittedly it was around midday and one of the hottest days we’d had since the winter. I guess the birds were feeling the sudden burst of heat.
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
My wife and I always enjoy wandering through botanic gardens when we are away from home, travelling or visiting places where there are gardens open to the public. My main interest would have to be the bird life, but I also enjoy taking photos of the scenery, especially the plants that are flowering.
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
Wittunga Botanic Gardens, Blackwood, South Australia
Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Over the last week I have travelled three times to Adelaide to attend the 2010 Adelaide Writers’ Week. This is an integral part of the biennial Adelaide Festival of Arts. Writers and readers come here from all over Australia for this important festival, one of the best of its kind in the world. A fine array of talented international writers are also on the speakers’ list or on panel discussions on books and writing.
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
The sessions run from 9:30am to 6pm every day for six days and admission is free to all sessions (except the evening sessions in the Town Hall). Sitting there all day is a marathon effort for both organisers and audience members. The audience would have to number well over 500 at any one time, often swelled for popular or well-known writers, or during the lunch break of workers in the nearby CBD, a five minute walk away.
Adelaide Writers' Week 2010
Three large marquees are set up for the week in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Gardens located beautifully between the CBD and the River Torrens. The East Tent and the West Tent host the writers’ talks and panel discussions, while the central tent is the Book Shop. The shop stocks many of the books of the visiting authors as well as stocks of new books launched during the week. Every guest speaker is encouraged to sit at tables in front of this tent for book signings, and to meet their readers.