Sunday, November 16, 2008

MY WORLD ~ 5 Our House on the Mountain

This is our personal Phoenix, rebuilt with the
original walls from 1850 or so, after the extensive
bushfire of 1983, which devoured 76 homes including
ours. Not much survived in the historic garden as well.

The house itself stands on the ridge of Mt.Lofty at an
elevation of 650m, overlooking Gulf St.Vincent and
Adelaide, the capital of South Australia on the western
side, and on the other, the eastern foothills and on a clear
day Lake Alexandrina at the mouth of the Murray River
some 100km as the crow flies, to the east.



As you come into the yard from the driveway,
the first thing that strikes your eyes is this
magnificent Camellia tree. Three of these were
planted in front of the original house probably
in the early 1850's. They have withstood the
force of two major bushfires and managed to
regrow again. This one has recovered much
better than it's siblings which were closer to the
front porch and much more severely burnt.



Close up of the Camellia whose name has been lost
in the depths of time.



The shadow on the gravel is from a Beech my
husband planted, The flowering crab apple is
Malus floriunda.



On the right a massive Snowball bush, another
survivor, burnt to the ground and regrown.



Looking up to the back of the house over
terraces of lilacs, Syringa vulgaris, in lilac
purple and white.



View from one of the dining room
windows towards the west.



My precious white Rhododendron, before the fire
the size of the Crabapple above, has taken 25 years
to regrow to this. Again, the name has disappeared
into the mists of history.



Looking up fron the eastern terraces in spring



'Papa Meilland' and 'Mr.Lincoln' on our bedroom wall



Taken through my car window heading down the drive,
a kangaroo grazing in the orchard with a backdrop of
Camellias, Rhododendrons and bare Oak tree.

This is just a fleeting impression of the three acre
garden that surrounds the new old house.

Thank you SkyWatch/My World team for making
this venue a delight to us all.
To visit amazingly beautiful and interesting places,
click on the logo on the right.

58 comments:

  1. Your home is lovely - I love the natural plantings in the garden.

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  2. Your post is a beautiful tribute to the fact that nature and the human spirit will overcome the destructive force of fire.

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  3. what an absolutely peaceful and beautiful home!

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  4. What a lovely place! i love the picture taken out of your dining room window.

    An Arkie's Musings

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  5. Beautiful your home and Nature.

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  6. Arija, your garden is wonderful and your home just lovely. I admire you that you overcame the great fire and rebuilt your home!

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  7. Hi, Arija
    A beautiful property. very beautiful and charming place, I wonder how it must be nice in your world.
    Hugs, Denise

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  8. What an amazing and romantic home you have, Arija! So unique. Like the setting of a novel or film. Sigh. Maybe I will visit someday.

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  9. Your house is lovely and those gardens are exquisite. I cannot get over the Kangaroo, you lucky girl. You are living my fantasy.

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  10. Willow dear, don't leave it too long or i may well have stuck my psoon in the wall, kicked the bucket or sold it since it is more and more beyond us to keep up two properties.

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  11. What an incredible place to live. The flowers and trees are all so beautiful. I especially love the shot out the window.

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  12. Fantastic pictures.You must enjoy living in such a beautiful 'garden'.

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  13. How wonderful that some of the old plants have grown back after such a devastating fire.

    I can't imagine having a camellia bush in my yard. Sounds like heaven. ;-)

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  14. WOW! Such lovely photos and I really love the photo of the window overlooking outside! Perfection:)

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  15. Your home and garden is lovely. I can feel the gratitude in your writing and see it in your beautiful pictures.

    Have a great Monday.

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  16. Thank you for inviting us to your home and giving us a great tour.

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  17. Arija: What an amazing place to share. I can't even imagine seeing a kangaroo as you go down the driveway. Your house has risen like the Phoenix for certain.

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  18. Oh, what a delight! Your home is indeed lovely! and the flowers take my breath away! And I love the kangaroo! Not anything we're likely to see here in Seattle! Thank you for sharing!

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  19. It is so Beautiful I especially like the artistry of the through the window shot.-- Forgive my ignorance but kangaroos run wild near your home?

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  20. In your small world, you got so many wonderful photographs ro share, the camellia photo is very dramatic and lovely. I like the window shot...wow! living there is surely a photog's haven!

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  21. Arija..what wonderful photos you have...I haven't been vsiting for a bit...love the old home and the roses...

    Also the roses in Today's flowers are exquisite...

    O and your water post was just perfect..divine..very beautifully composed and put together...thank you!

    Annie

    ps Thanks for your visit to my blog, and for the "cycad" name...gosh I can't believe I forgot that name...but, I am encouraged, on looking at google, to find that a zamia is a type of cyacad..whew...I am not going totally silly..yet!

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  22. I really enjoyed your post. Your home sits in a beautiful setting!

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  23. Bonsoir... Belle balade à travers la montagne.. Et jolie maison...

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  24. You have an amazing area in which to live in... I can't believe that I see a kangaroo there. That is so special! Wow... what a beautiful post!! =)
    {Hug}
    ~Michele~

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  25. Wow you have a beautiful house with a lovely garden. Thanks for letting us take a look at your lovely place...:)

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  26. I love all the different flowering plants you have. We have a much smaller camellia in front of our house (Winter Star). Your home and grounds are beautiful.

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  27. I'm in awe - how serenly beautiful!
    And a Kangaroo in the backyard! How neat is that!
    Cheers, Klaus

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  28. Arija, que belas fotos!
    Um beijo. lili

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  29. How utterly gorgeous it all is and a real phoenix, as you say. Well done you.

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  30. What great place you live in. Roos in your garden. We have wild wallabies roaming here in the IOM. Thanks for sharing.

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  31. What a beautiful post Arija. I am a little gun-shy so I won't be doing any official "My World" posts, but I am thinking of doing some unofficial posts about where I live...
    New Rambling Woods Site

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  32. Your world is astounding! A true proof of survival. The colorful birds and flowers, a peak of dormers. Love the roo. Great photos as usual. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  33. You have a lovely home! I particularly like the shot through the window! I'm envious that you're in spring now while we're enduring a dreary fall. :D Come on over to see some of my world in the fall.

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  34. I think of all the fires here recently, over 500 homes gone and your story reminds me that in time, all will regrow and be replaced. Life moves on.

    Thanks for the tour of your place. I'm wondering if kangaroos are as familiar to you as deers are here depending on where you live. :-)

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  35. You have a lovely home indeed, I especially like the view from your dinning room. Thank you for your visit and greetings from Croatia.

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  36. It`s delightful to see your home place with all those flowers and space around the house!
    We see now only white outside :)

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  37. What a beautiful house! Be happy in there. Excellent photos.

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  38. Wonderful Colour in all of your Flower Posts. I hope to see a Kangaroo up close in Nature someday. I hear about Australia just about everyday now. Between looking at Blogs, Looking through Magazines, hearing Australians on American Television, It's all telling me to visit your country someday. Thanks for showing us your world through your eyes.

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  39. You have such a wonderful garden, thanks for the tour.

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  40. Your house and garden is so beautiful. That's sad about the fire but you did a superb job rebuilding.

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  41. Adelaide was a place my father went while serving in the South Pacific in WWII. He did not talk much about anything but did talk about that.

    Your grounds around your home are wonderful...thanks for sharing.

    Erin

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  42. I have snowball envy, i thought my bush at the cottage was big!

    I wonder how many air miles it take to fly to Adelaide?

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  43. WOW! This must be a beautiful and wonderful place to spend some time. I wish I was there;) Your home looks very very lovely:)

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  44. It's a wonderful garden! To live in your beautiful world!...Alas, such a tragedy, the house and brushfire! Did your family own it then? But it is so beautiful now! Oh, that camellia! Well, all the flowers are just stunning! And I love your new header photo!

    Marie

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  45. It reassuring how lovely it looks now, and how much has grown back. The fires must have been scary, even aside from losing your lovely old house.

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  46. What a great place you have! If I got jealous, I would be right now.

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  47. You have a lovely home. The flowers are georgous. Thanks for sharing.

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  48. OMG! What a beautiful spot. It's wonderful that even with the fires you have some of the original house and vegetation. I'll bet the Camellia bush is amazing when it's full bloom. And that little visitor in your yard, wow!

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  49. What a beautiful part of the world - the gardens are so lovely!

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  50. Your home is amidst beautiful settings, I am glad the place recovered fast.

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  51. What a beautiful home, truly a phoenix from the ashes. Aren't plants amazing the way they regrow after being ravaged by fire?

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  52. Arija, This feels like HOME.. a home I could live at... such beauty of landscape and flowers ... such coziness with the surroundings enveloping...

    ...alluring... the strength of stone... You must love it so much..

    it looks magical!!!
    and sounds truly amazing...

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  53. You have a lovely home and gardens. I have always loved "cottage-type" plantings that encourage birds and wildlife and seem to swallow everything with charm and beauty. Your photos were delightful to see on a drizzly gray day here in Tennessee, USA.

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  54. You have an interesting world and it's lovely going through it. Thanks for sharing.

    - celine
    http://indicainq8.wordpress.com

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