A short drive out to visit friends last week had us exploring the semi-rural western fringe of our city. Depending on rainfall patterns, this area is either lush and green or it's dry and myriad shades of brown among the gum trees. With hot daytime temperatures and no significant rain for a long while now, the landscape seemed hazy and parched. The grass crunched and crackled under our feet and the dust billowed up behind the car as we bounced our way down the rocky and rutted driveway to our destination. This is what we found just fifteen minutes from home ...
A hand-painted sign looking after the local wildlife.
(No sign of these spiky creatures though!)
Rusting farm machinery by the roadside.
Long local driveways.
A silvery log in a paddock.
Low water levels in property dams.
Gorgeous grevilleas in flower.
Chooks scratching for tasty morsels and ...
... geese, cockatoos, kookaburras and rosellas.
Busy honeybees at the entrance to a hive!
The distinctive seed cones on native Banksia.
The hazy view from the top of a hilly road.
As we were leaving for home, the distinctive call of sulphur-crested cockatoos rang out over the hills and paddocks. A late afternoon farewell.
Meg
What a great post Meg. Your eye picks out all the things I would have too. I am having an early cup of coffee and enjoyed the read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mr. HM. I love that this area is so close to our place yet feels far away from the city. I grew up in the far North of Qld and I miss the bush. This area reminds me of home. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteI always think of Queensland as lush and green all the time, it's strange to see it so dry, I hope you get rain soon.
ReplyDeleteA lot of areas are pretty dry up here, Jan. Hoping the rain comes sooner rather than later! Meg:)
DeleteYes it is still dry here too, Meg and one of the grain farmers was on TV last night showing a paddock that was covered in sand. I wonder how low the dams are now. Lovely drive you had despite the dry.
ReplyDeleteIt must break a farmer's heart to see their dams empty or their paddocks dry and dusty with no rain on the horizon. I take my hat off to them because it's not for the faint-hearted. I think too that they don't get the recognition in our country that they so thoroughly deserve...without farmers we'd all be hungry!
DeleteI had a look at this SEQ Water webpage, Chel, for dam levels
http://www.seqwater.com.au/water-supply/dam-levels. Wivenhoe Dam is listed as currently being at around 68%.
Meg:)
Beautiful area Meg. I've never lived in the bush but I think I would love it. Isn't it amazing what you see when you take the time and look. It's around us.
ReplyDeleteKylie
It's beautiful country, Kylie. Dry at the moment but when the rain comes it will green up again pretty quickly. Meg:)
DeleteBeautiful photos and commentary, Meg. I live in the desert of California, so I can relate to the climate. I love the chooks!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I can't imagine living in the desert. Where does your water supply come from in your area? Australia can get really dry, most of us live on the coast but we have the hot and dry "outback" too. At the moment, in the state that I live in, it's pretty dry everywhere! Meg
DeleteGreat photos Meg. I guess there are a lot of us who are really looking forward to rain and replenished water supplies in tanks and dams. As I write all the windows and doors are closed as Don is just outside mowing, causing our nearly white soil to fly up in clouds. The dry is causing our grass to become quite patchy. It is already dusty inside due to the incessant winds that have been blowing for many days. Still you can't beat the serenity ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe rain will be very welcome when it comes, that's for sure! Meg:)
DeleteYou're really like to go out and about, exploring. Great for us spectators, to see other parts of the world. It's dry and brown here too. I was thinking of writing a post about it. Fingers crossed for all of us, the rain will FINALLY arrive on the weekend. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy fingers are crossed too, Chris. Rain would be so lovely right now. Meg:)
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