Australian Flora

Hello Possums, one of my favorite Australian plants is pictured above – the Black Boy (Xanthorrhoea). I did think better of putting the common name in the title of this post (who knows what type of weird internet searcher it could attract!). Black Boys grow in semi arid and coastal regions of Australia. The Grampians National Park is an example of both. Despite being in central Victoria, it was an ancient inland sea that has been uplifted and folded.

I love Black Boys because each one looks as if it has its own distinct personality. They are so person-like that you feel their presence as company as you walk. This does sound strange, doesn’t it? But if you have ever been there you will understand. And if you’re the sort of person that talks to plants anyway, you will probably understand too. If you have wikka beliefs, its likely you will also get it. My great grandmother was wikka incidentally.

The Black Boys are often the only thing in large expanses of bush land that survive bushfires. If you are from Victoria you will know that the Grampians area suffered from a massive bushfire last year. The photo below shows me amongst the black boys trying to blend in as one of them, but also the barren landscape of the bushfire aftermath even eighteen months later.

Compare this to the area directly across the road where we begun our walk up to the summit of Mt Abrupt:

This area missed out on being burnt and has retained its undergrowth. When we were there the heath was blooming in shocks of red and pink, but November is really the time to come if you’re into wild flowers. Many people pilgrimage to the Grampians at that time for the display.

The kids walked incredibly well this year. As well as the hike up to Mt Abrupt we did the Wonderland circuit which has been rebuilt after the fires. The kids were blown away by the view from The Pinnacle and virtually ran back down. I forgot to bring my camera on that walk though, so here are a couple of shots taken on the ridge before Mt Abrupt:

Soggy week

Hello Possums. This morning I woke up to the warm sound of steady rain. We have had gorgeous rain on and off all week. The funny thing is, although we need and want the rain, I have mixed feeling about the the timing of it.

The CONS: My eldest daughter has been on school camp all week, camping in tents and doing activities such as surfing and bushwalking – outdoor activities. I have to pick her up at five o’clock this afternoon, and I’m looking forward to seeing her again, but I predict that she won’t be her normal chirpy self. I think she will have had a wet, miserable week. She is more likely to be complaining than raving about the experience. We’ll see.

On top of that, the three loads of washing I hung out on the line on Monday are still out there! We’ve had so much rain that they haven’t had a chance to dry. I might have to take out the white flag soon, and bring them in. Another go on the spin cycle is probably in order.

The PROS: We need the water, no question. There is never a wrong time for it to rain anywhere in Australia. AND, personally, the rain brings with it added excitement for me, because on Sunday I will be competing in my first slalom kayak race. The rain this week will lift the river level and I’m guaranteed some good paddling!

Rejuvination

Hello Possums, I’m pleased to be able to report that its been raining in Melbourne since yesterday. This is a blessing.

I had a house full of girls yesterday. Sally requested a “double play-over”. These three little friends had been cooking up schemes to build a club house together all week and Sally was determined that they follow up their plans over the weekend. We had them here from midday. Emma felt left out, rang a friend, bringing the girl-total here to five, not including me. Then it rained!

As I have found out recently, there is an unwritten law about mothers traveling or having fun. When you get home, one of your appliances will go on the blink! Poor Charlotte (of Charlotte’s Web) had three appliances go on her, including her car, after her fabulously decadent holiday in Europe; my friend L (the mother of Emma’s friend) had been to a reunion in New Zealand and her microwave packed it in on her return. Me – well, I’ve been to Chicago, had a hoot of a time, came home to vomiting children and a washing machine that decided to pack it in. Those of you with children will understand the seriousness of this situation: vomitous doonas and no washing machine!

Well the technician came on Friday. The doonas hadn’t quite dried, so on Friday night I left them out. When it started to rain on Saturday at about three in the afternoon, I had forgotten they were out there. Perhaps if I had remembered to bring them in, it wouldn’t have rained so much. Because, Possums, we have had a lovely soak.

The girls had fun playing outside with umbrellas for hours. This shows how much of a novelty rain is for us these days!

When one of the fathers came to pick up his daughter at five. We talked about the weather (of course):

I say the mandated conversation starter. Isn’t it fantastic! Great for the garden.

Yes, but it isn’t going to last, he says authoritatively.

Oh, it looks pretty well set in. I say, looking up at the greyness that had closed in around us just beyond the canopy of our gum trees.

No, unfortunately, he elaborates, it won’t last. I’ve been on the internet looking at the radar map. And its going to pass within the hour.

Well, it rained and it rained. This morning I woke up to the sound of heavy, steady rain on the roof – beautiful, rhythmic, peaceful sounds. The doona is still on the line but I don’t care. The garden looks rejuvenated, and I feel as though its flowing through to me. I’m so glad he was wrong about the rain passing quickly. Not just because we need the rain so badly, and because I adore the sound of it on the tin roof, but because I love it when those scientific and statistical types get it wrong! He he.

Collapse

Hello Possums. It was a hot day in Melbourne today. A hot north wind was blowing and on my ride home from uni I had to peddle against it.The wind has dropped now. I went outside about an hour ago to hang out another load of washing and all was still. Some thunder clouds were brewing and it was still warm. Unfortunately over the last couple of weeks the pattern has been for the clouds to dissipate and no rain has fallen. Tonight I figured that I would do my bit for the drought and hang out my washing – that way it will rain tonight! (Murphy’s Law, Possums).We are desperately waiting for some rain. In Melbourne we’re in the middle of stage 4 water restrictions.There are rumors that a cold stream of water has been detected in South America and that this heralds the end of El Nino. For those of you not from Australia, El Nino is part of our weather pattern. Instead of getting predictable rain every year like the changes of the seasons, our weather is governed by the El Nino/La Nina pattern. The hot, dry conditions of El Nino can last for years. The end of El Nino would mean rain for Australia.Providing enough water for our cities is not just a geographical problem, but also a political one. In Queensland the Government wants to build new dams. There have been heated protests about which towns should or should not be flooded. I found the arguments against the new dam compelling. Apart from people losing their homes, there seemed to be no evidence to suggest that there would be enough rainfall to fill the dam if built anyway.This is just the tip of the iceberg, Possums. Building more dams won’t save us. Other suggestions to conserve our drinking water supplies have included industry using grey water (for cooling towers in power plants, for example) and rethinking our use of water for hydroelectricity. I have read Collapse, by Jarred Diamond, and am worried that we need to change our practices much much sooner than later. These concerns are not just for our plight during this drought, but also around the world as we face global warming.It is still very hot outside. Hard for the children to get to sleep in this weather. I usually read to them before they go to bed. Tonight we all lay on my bed and finished ‘Rohan of Rin’. Lying down was my idea because I was exhausted after my ride in the heat. It was a great ending to the book. Rohan became the hero of his town and it brought tears to my eyes. The kids now expect me to misty up at these bits. They look across when my voice wavers because they love to tease me about it:Mum, are you crying? laughterNo, of course not, its only a book!Oh yeah, sure! I can tell. You’re crying!Am not! cheeky grinWe read the entire Deltora Quest series prior to Rohan of Rin, all whilst waiting for Harry Potter 7! The wait is driving us crazy! For those of you who are not into Harry Potter, you won’t know that Voldemort is back! Dumbledore is dead!! And it’s not looking good for Harry… Will it mean the end of the Wizarding World as we know it?