OUR WORLD - Gin & Tonic in the Outback

A rare opportunity to head to the Outback

and settle on the porch with a G&T

as the desert light changes

over the diggings

yes, I had a rare chance to go to Andamooka again

where there are opal diggings in all directions

we found a welcome visitor in the house

a stumpy tail lizard who hat made himself quite at home 

being afraid he would not find enough food and drink inside,

I picked him up and took him outside

getting on in years and lacking driving endurance

I seldom get a wonderful chance like this

but when I do, I jump at it

walking among the old diggings

hoping to pick up an opal chip or two

and wondering whether it was worth

digging this Great Wall of China

it looked somehow as though all this effort had been in vain

it was only 4 nights away, 

two of them on the road

but so well worth it

if only to be away from home for a bit

Linking with 

OUR WORLD

TODAY'S FLOWERS & FLORAL FRIDAY - Weeds of the desert

The Opal town Of Andamooka

dry and hot in the desert

 yet in the harshest of climes

one still finds colour to attract and hold the eye

early morning light on wild hops,

an introduced species that has established itself

all through this region and the whole of

the Flinders Ranges

strictly not flowers as that fetching red

is the colour of their seed containers

Linking with 

TODAY'S FLOWERS

and 

FLORAL FRIDAY

SkyWatch Friday - Oh, the life of the open road . . .

The sky was blue

the company great

the road as straight as a dye

peak hour traffic

looking back

and the way ahead

if you go far enough,

a few days later you can reach

Perth in Western Australia

we however

were intent in staying in 

the desert landscape,

just a couple of hundred

miles further on,

Linking with SkyWatch

TODAY"s FLOWERS - Desert Blooms

I take you back to another year when I was privileged 

to spend some time in our inland desert

click on any photo to get the full colour sensation

as you see, it was awash with colour

when flowering, these native hop bushed look quite insipid

but their seedpods are an entirely different story

they glow with colour. especially when bathed in 

late afternoon light

as they ripen, they turn a brilliant ruby red

with variations  of pure red or these that retain pale centre

the desert is a wonderful place when you consider that this is 

but one of the stunning items in God's garden

As you may have notice, I have a deep seated hot spot for deserts,

beaches, mountains, forests and all of God's creatures and 

creations and wild, unspoiled places

I just shy away from from the man made, cities are the

bane of my existence 

villages and small towns I quite enjoy for a short while . . .

OUR WORLD - Perry's Sandhills

Perry's Sandhills, just outside Wentworth, New South Wales,

are like a mini Simpson Desert. They vary from deep red

through shades of gold,

with clumps of vegetation,

to a most appealing Naples Yellow or straw colour and cover

quite a large area. As in most of inland Australia, it is a hot

dry-land climate where harvests are good, if only there is rain

and rain is a very scarce commodity.

Time to post the best of your world on OUR WORLD, so get to it!

OUR WORLD - Rain in Desert Country

Rain clouds banking over Wirrealpa Station in the North of

South Australia, a place I dearly love.

After the deluge, the sun comes out and the deep red of the soil

quickly turns back to a light pinky sand, yet suddenly the grey

green of plants stands out more.

Within days, there are flowers, however small in the gullies.

Most desert flowers are small, even tiny, yet always a wonder

to see.

These little darling morning glories are less than half an

inch across,

as are these against the still wet sand.

Somewhere I have the name of this very prickly plant, one of

the few with a flower almost 3" across.

Suddenly you see a patch of bright red and stand in awe at the

wonder of Sturt's Desert Pea.

The first one gives you the kind of thrill a first flurry of snow

sends through your being, then suddenly, you are surrounded

by them

and the wonder leaves you speechless . . .

OUR WORLD is full of wonders, add your own and visit others

from all over Our beautiful World.

SkyWatch ~ A Desert Sunrise

A sad dawning, our last morning at Wirrealpa Station in the

North Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the first real

sunrise we had seen due to unseasonal rain events. Still some

clouds about as dawn broke and the first light grew.

The first glimmer of the sun as she peeps above the horizon.

She flexes her muscles and grows in strength admiring herself

in the mirror of the puddle on the drive-way I showed in

another post some time ago.

Shyly she blushes at the beauty she sees

and, encouraged by her own reflection, smiles upon the world.

We, having partaken of this spectacle, settle to the task of

packing having our last delicious breakfast, cleaning up and

saying our goodbyes whilst wishing all the time that we could

stay another week, a month, a lifetime . . .

If you like burning your eyeballs out, be adventurous, click to enlarge.

Thanks to our hosts at SkyWatch we can enjoy each other's skies.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Desert Flowers, Heading North

Heading north for the desert floriade lots of little flowers showed
their pretty faces as soon as we reached the southern Flinder's
Ranges. A sprig of blue near Hawker,



and the first of the tiny, 6"high, Statice in the palest of blue
against the red desert soil.



There I was, about to be erudite and tell you all the botanical
names and the great big tome on native plants I just bought
turned out to be a dud!



This one I know without a book, Solanum petrophilum.



This is one I know all too well since it is a common weed on
our farm and is the flower in my header, Echium plantagenium.
The really exciting flowers will start next week.



All photos enlarge as usual.

Our trip to the drylands in a wet season was amazing in many
ways among the high points were the flowers.

Thanks to TODAY'S FLOWERS we can all share our floral experiences.

Andamooka Opal Fields ~ Skywatch * 8

The opal mining town of Andamooka,

South Australia at dawn

Situated in desert country some 600km from Adelaide

The first rays of the sun kissing the mullock heaps

Mining shacks litter the landscape

The diggings leave a lunar landscape
anyone can get a miner's licence and leave

dangerous devastation behind

Finally, I thought I would invest in a vintage car
this is what I decided on

Click on pictures for the full effect.

To enjoy skies around the world, click
on SkyWatch logo on the right.