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RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Tuppence — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:56:46 GMT

Thanks, Kath. Will enjoy looking at the photos on the site.

:)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:50:19 GMT

And here is a link to my Dutch friend Anneke's website with an account of our 'working-side' of the holiday (expect you would all like the English version, with my photos and translation :D, so here we go :))

http://www.annekeoostmeijer.nl/verslag-uk.php

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Tuppence — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:42 GMT

A very fuschia-like begonia! Really enjoyed the photos. I was going to post and say how much I like eucalyptus flowers. They're not anything like I imagined.

:)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:05:30 GMT

I never knew that there are more than 600 varieties of Eucalyptus, here's another, grows more as a bush than a tree, such delicate flowers.

And now to our little cuddly friends who live entirely on Eucalyptus leaves. They sleep anything up to 18 hours a day, this is after they have fed, I think they must get a bit 'high' on the ingredients of the leaves, if they move it is always slowly :)

Asleep

Snoring

Red Kangaroo

White Kangaroo

Wallaby

This Ibis decided he liked ice-cream

Wonderful display of begonias at Ballarat Botanical Gardens

A species variety of begonia, now what does this remind you of?:)

That's all for today folks, have a nice weekend :)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Tuppence — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:55:43 GMT

Yes, importing water must be very expensive. When it rains here, and we had rain in the night, I think of places that suffer from lack of it and don't complain about the amount we get.

:)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:53:56 GMT

Yes Penny, they're still producing wine, I think they have some of their own bore-water, but as you can imagine the rest is very costly.

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Tuppence — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:49:10 GMT

Very interesting, Kath, but the shortage of water doesn't presage well for the future. It's amazing how people manage to live in such areas. I suppose, eventually, lack of water will force them to areas where there is rainfall. Without the creek, is wine still being produced at Jacob's Creek?

Very nice to see the photos.

Penny

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

christianne — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:54:25 GMT

:PLove the red flowering gum

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:53:24 GMT

:) All done Don :)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Stymie — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:14:10 GMT

I think that your photo at Jacob's "creek" would yield a nice new avatar.

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:49:39 GMT

The beginning of die-back on yet another eucalyptus, but heh, let's move on to a more cheerful subject, as you can see this grass and the vines have been watered, and where are we now ????????

:):):):):):) I've found it, my favourite vineyard.

Yes, this is Barossa Valley and those are the vines for Jacobs Creek - Semillion Chardonnay. Sorry, but there is no more water in the 'Creek', it used to be where the small shrubs are now growing in the foreground.

But heh I'm still here :)

..............and some of my dear Australian friends, who unbeknown to me, purposely bought me here for a surprise, as they know that this is my favourite wine :)

These were growing in the car park, young trees atm.

Red Flowering Gum (close-up)

White Flowering Gum (close-up)

That was a grand day out :)

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:32:08 GMT

I really don't know Don. Driving through South Australia, we passed thousands of hectares of fields where the corn/wheat had been harvested, poor yields. I was told the farmers look to the weather forecast each day, if there is any sign of a shower, they plough the fields, hoping the showers will fall onto this newly ploughed earth, they can't do it too early as winds in between would blow all the topsoil away.

Then after the first showers, they wait for the weather forecast again, when more showers are forecast they quickly plant the new seed, hoping that the showers will settle it into the soil before the next winds come along, if there are no showers the risk of seed and topsoil being blown away is very high.

RE: Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Stymie — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:24:50 GMT

Groooo! How on earth do they ever grow any food?

Some photos from my visit to Australia.

Kath — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:44:18 GMT

I visited states of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. In respect of rain fall Queensland still looked 'green' but as I flew to Victoria and then later to South Australia you could then see the vast difference between these states. Some places I visited are now in their 8th year of very little rainfall. As you can imagine water restrictions are quite severe. eg whilst visiting the Botanical Gardens of Ballarat, inside a huge glass house things were still being watered, but outside, not the gardens, really the only thing surviving were the plants from the Crassula, Agave, Cacti families any of the drought resistant plants. Large trees are just managing to survive, but in some places it is clear to see that some of the ends of the branches are dying. Some trees are already dead, but luckily some are still thriving, how, I do not know.

Here's an example:

Toowoomba, Picnic Point, Queensland:

Outskirts of Adelaide, South Australia, view from an aeroplane, so dry.

also driving through South Australia another dry river bed.

and this is what I call 'moonscape'

I think what impressed me most, was the 'VASTNESS' of this beautiful country. The landscape and also the weather can change so quickly, unbelievable.

Taking a coffee break now, back later :)