MY WORLD ~ 41 Pildappa Rock, Eyre Peninsula

15km north of Minnipa in the Eyre Peninsula lies
this giant granite turtle.




The countryside is arid with sparse vegetation and
from here it does not look particularly preposessing.





Come a little closer and it has a way of growing on you.
It was not easy to find a spot to get onto the rock itself
without a ladder because of the eroded layer at ground
level.

A you can see, we did manage it and this granite

boulder turnes out to be quite extensive. There are

a number of these outcrops in this otherwise flat plain.
I put this shot in for a measure of scale, the Prof in

the distance is 6'2" tall and that is only a part of the

rock showing.

On the horizon you can see the Gawler Ranges.

Here again the Prof's legs are an indicator for the size

of the moulins some of which still held water from the

rain some days previously.

A large part of the top of the rock was like a pock marked
lunar landscape.

All this is still part of one single rock. Frost has broken

layers off the top which look small at a distance but in

reality are anything but.
There are a number of fingers of rock stretching into

the landscape

and some bright spark has at some time dumped his

garden waste there thinking nothing of it and certainly
not expecting the hardy plants to take root and create
a garden of exotic species here in the wildernes.

It you ENLARGE, you will see the Geraniums.

As always, click and the photos grow by magic.

The Logo will lead to many wonders in this world.

To Klaus and the My World Team my thanks as ever
for continuing this meme.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ 29 Calla Lilies

All photos ENLARGE by a simple click on them.

Calla Lilies that I planted on the overflow depression
from one of our dams, just a tiny corm from our mountain
garden poked into the side of a paddock, never watered
or tended but with a lot of love and hope lavished upon it.



This year it has prospered into a real clump and is
a joy to behold.



Calla Lilies are survivors, like me. When the old
homesteads have long ago crumbled back into rubble,
they still grow along the winter creek bed in this dry
country, a reminder of what once was, a greeting from
beyond the grave.

Their pristine white beauty telling the discerning of times
of yore and gladdening the eye of the passer by.



This heart I dedicate to all flower lovers everywhere.





To call them Lilies is a misnoma since they are grown
from corms not bulbs, but somehow the appellation has
stuck in the English vernacular.

A click on the Logo will take you to a world full of flowers.

Thanks to Luis Santilli Jr. and the other hosts of this joyful meme.

SkyWatch ~ 48 Melbourne and Vicinity

For more effect and greater enjoyment, please ENLARGE.

Coming into Melbourne, Victoria from the east, the sky
looked threatening as I wielded my camera while the
Prof. drove at a steady 110kph .



Getting out of the car at my sister's, the sun lent a
golden glow to the houses on the other side of the road.



The dark clouds and slanting light brought out the
red in the recently cut Eucalyptus branch seen from
our bedroom window.



Heading home along the Western Highway next day,
we passed Ballarat and caught a glimpse of the rainbow



over the completely dried out Lake Burrumbeet. Although
the water levels have often fluctuated in this lake, in our
40 years of driving past it and having picnics there, we
have never seen it in this dessicated state before.



This last drought was definitely no joke.

To fly to other skies or join in, click the Logo.

To Klaus and the SkyWatch Team, thanks guys for this great meme.

Nature Notes ~ 2 Rain

Please ENLARGE, especially the landscapes to
appreciate the datails.



At last, like manna from heaven, the rains came.
So long awaited by the parched land and us.



Nature instantly reasserted itself with everything
bursting into leaf whether it was the right time to do
so or not. All that had survived the drought was doing
its level best to catch up after that long period of leafless
dormancy in summer, Roses are flowering two months
early.

I found this huge European wasp in the sink on a warm day.
European wasps are a rather nasty import here and have a
way of not just stinging once, but pumping their poison into one
repeatedly. This one was over an inch long.



The sustained rain changed the barren landscape
from this,



into the fields of Elyssium almost over night.

These Pansies having barely survived on sink water, were

af last getting a decent shower to wash off the accumulated

dust and give them a much needed wash through with

sparkling clean water.

Here's hoping for good follow up rains as well.

This meme is hosted by Michelle of Rambling Woods,

click on the Nature Notes logo to join in or visit the others.

Watery Wednesday ~ 15 Moods of the Ovens River

Please ENLARGE for full enjoyment!

Ducks at sunrise on the Ovens River in Victoria.



Gently rippling over stones as it meanders through
a shallow valley,



and mysteious in a twilight mist where the banks are
steep and treacherous with flood-broken stones.



For water in all its glorious forms dive into the Logo and swim.

Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for this rippling meme.

MY WORLD ~ 40 Mt.Torrens, South Australia

This blossoming little township is Mt.Torrens, in the
eastern Mt.Lofty Ranges. We had occasion to stop
here on our way back to the farm
to buy some pump fittings from the most helpful
rural suppliers.



It cannot rival the Cherry Blossom festival in Japan or
Washington DC but nevertheless the Plum blossom was
spectacular enough to keep me in the street with my
trusty camera.



Established in the early 1840's, there are some charming
settler's cottages built right on the edge of the road after
the English model. Verandahs are imperative in our climate
to shade the walls and windows in the summer and a nice
place to sit and watch the world go by.



This house is more substantive and was probably the
home of a grazier.



One of the old churches on a rise, proudly sitting on it
own extensive greensward.



What nicer place to sit than under these flowering trees.

The initial settlers built the single story cottage on the right,

as conditions improved, the prosperous two-story addition
was added as well as the decorative cast iron lace and

railings. Here already is a semblance of a front garden.

Wouldn't you just love to enjoy a leisurely afternoom tea

on that verandah looking into the blossoms and savouring

their scent?

Just around the corner was this wonderful Japonica

bush in full bloom

and, driving out of town, can you beat this for a spring delight?

For other people's worlds click on the Logo.

Thanks to Klaus and the MY WORLD Team we can all join in

and enjoy this meme.

Birdphotography Weekly ~ 23 Superb Blue Wren

We were up on Mt.Lofty in our 3 acre garden the
other day and spotted this sweet little Superb Blue
Wren in glorious mating plumage. His little body is
only about walnut sized.



He was in pretty dark shrubbery so these were the
best shots I could get.



To check out all the other birds, click on the Logo.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ 28 From our Neighbour's Garden

Please ENLARGE for best effect.



This is only a part of the lovely bouquet our neighbour
of 38 years of adventures on the ridge of Mt.Lofty in
South Australia, gave me as we left after a short visit. In
1983 we both lost our houses and gardens in one of our most
devastating bushfires. In the early 1970's this was an isolated
bush area with a dozen or so historical houses and a few
modern ones. Now there is a freeway nearby and people lock
their doors and cars and this, the then pristine water
catchment in the highest rainfall area in the sate, is covered
by houses and roads. In the driest State in the driest Continent
it just highlights the idiocy of our State planners.



Our dear neighbour grows superb Camellias and this
bloom is almost 4"across. As it opened, this glorious red
bloom turned out to be Siamese twins with two centres!



Camellias need to be picked in bud to keep well in a vase
but these marvels have now lasted for three days in a heated
room and were fully open when I received them.



Photographed at arms length in the car on the way back to the farm.

Click on the Logo to join in r view many more wonderful flowers.



Thank you Luiz Santilli Jr. and flower power Team for keeping this
wonderful meme going.

SkyWatch ~ 47 A Spring Afternoon

ENLARGE and ENJOY!



Last Sunday we had occasion to go to the Barossa Valley,
one of our premier wine growing districts. No, we did not
go for the wines but rather to a book launch.




The day was blustery to say the least, at times we
could not hear the speaker with microphone for the
wind gusts buffeting the building.



The air was crisp and clear and the sky above as blue
as blue with white clouds chasing each other about,
just for the fun of it. The countryside was lush and green,
a balm to the eyes after the long dry and sere summer
and autumn.



A perfect day for a drive in the
country until we stopped at the top of Trial Hill
and looked back towards the valley we had left and
saw these dark an ominous clouds chasing us home.



Unfortunately it was all play and no pay and not a drop
of rain did we get.

Many more skies will appear when you click on the Logo.

Thanks to Klaus and the SkyWatch team we can all join
with to this great fun meme.

Watery Wednesday ~ 14 Sea and Silver

The Southern Ocean smashing against the heel of the
York Peninsula, South Australia.



Do enlarge both if you can spare the time!

For a complete change of scene, a trickle of molten
silver gleaming in the sun in a ditch on our farm.



Enjoy the waters of the world by clicking on the Logo.

Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy we can all join in this meme.

My World ~ 39 Pastorale

Once more my world this week is farm bound. A
hardly day old lamb ear-splittingly bleating for its
mother, not the grazing lady behind it,



gives up and bounds away to look elsewhere. Lambs
are funny creatures who love to play on rocks and
other vantage posts, probably an inbuilt reaction for
spotting danger from the days when sheep had to
survive without human intervention.




It is crutching time and for the uninitiated, that is
the time when it it is imperative to shave their dear
little (or not so little) backsides since the fresh green
grass tends to give the darlings the runs.
Here they are all gathered together in the little holding
paddock between our two houses. Emerging from my
bedchamber, this is what I see and hear in the morning
and bleating throughout a moonlit light.



Mostly we just have a flock of pets left this year
after having to sell the main bulk last summer when
we ran out of water.
The lady below was one of the irresistible lambs of
another season. We have had a succession of black sheep
starting with Eclipse, a Leicester long wool, Inkspot -
how can one sell a spotted lamb, and a few others
whose names escape me.



This year my granddaughter's eye is focused on this
dear little pair of black twins obviously destined for
a long and pampered existence on the farm.



One of our sheep again had triplets, unfortunately
she had moved into the flock before I could capture
the three new-borns with her.



While distracted by sheep and lambs and crutching
to prevent fly-strike as the weather warms, spring
crept almost unnoticed into my garden.



Enjoy your world where ever you are.

To see much more of it, click on the Logo.

My thanks to the MY WORLD team as ever for their efforts.