Back From the Xmas / New Year Break.

Yes I'm now back from a fantastic Xmas / New Year break with my eldest son and my grandchildren.  We always have such a wonderful time when we visit with them and we bring back many, many treasured memories.

We once again made it to the New Year's Eve fireworks show down at Southbank.  It's such a great spectacle.  We went to the 8.30 pm show with our grandchildren, and joined in with a crowd of around 80,000 spread out along the banks of the Brisbane River. 


Here's a little a taste of the show.

I also managed to visit my favourite spot in the city, the Roma Street Parklands, on the morning of my last day in Brisbane.  It's a haven, even on a hot summer's day.

Here's a collection of photos taken on January 4, which is mid-Summer for us.  I put the photos together as a video clip.

Welcome 2012!

Happy New Year everyone.  I can't believe it's already the middle of the first week of 2012.  I've had a little break over the past couple of weeks and really enjoyed the Christmas / New Year holidays. 

I welcomed the New Year in way down south in the A.C.T. which is where our nation's capital is located.  We were visiting Canberra to attend a friend's wedding and had organised to stay a few days to catch up with old friends who were also going to the wedding. 

It became apparent to me that my interest in plants and gardening has now turned into a bit of a passion when I looked at the photos I had taken while jaunting around our naiton's capital city.  I found that there were not too many of the usual touristy type photos ... you know the usual shots of streets, buildings and attractions filled with swarms of tourists.

Now don't get me wrong ... there were a couple of shots like this one above. This is Anzac Parade which is a major ceremonial avenue in our nation's capital.  It stretches from the National War Museum at one end, to the Houses of Parliament at the other.  It's a significant thoroughfare that is the site for many major military memorials and is used for important ceremonial occasions. 

It certainly is something to see ... but what did this gardener notice most?  Those magnificent Eucalyptus trees flanking each side of this thoroughfare really caught my eye.  They were simply stunning.

They are Victorian Blue Gum trees, Eucalyptus bicostata.  I'm afraid I didn't take many photos of the numerous military memorials as we walked along Anzac Parade ... but I did take photos of the beautiful foliage of these Gum trees!

During our week in Canberra, we spent a lot of time visiting the various wonderful attractions such as the National War Museum, the National Art Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum.  I can recommend them all very highly ... but you're not going to see many shots of these buildings.

One thing I noticed particularly at all these places was the beauty of the natural surrounds.  All these buildings were surrounded by wonderful native trees and plants, and my husband and I spent time just wandering around the grounds outside enjoying the almost Australian-bush feel to it all ... and yes, I took some shots of these lovely surrounds. 

Here's a view of our High Court of Australia building, through the weeping branches of more fabulous Eucalyptus trees with native grasses planted all around.

This is the view towards the front entrance of our National Art Gallery of Australia ... once again surrounded by tall Gum trees where you can sit and enjoy a lovely cuppa!

This is the view of the front entrance to the National Portrait Gallery of Australia ... where there are garden beds filled with native grasses and trees.

There are magnificent views of Lake Burley Griffin almost everywhere you care to wander in the city, and there are walking tracks all around it.  We spent quite a few hours just wandering around the lake and enjoying the sights.

I noticed there seemed to be a lot of Plane Trees planted around the city centre, known as Civic, and we were lucky enough to be staying in this part of Canberra where we could enjoy strolls along the shady city streets.

The apartment building we were staying in had the most gorgeous rose garden filled with what were obviously very old rose bushes ... and the perfume was intoxicating!

There were also lots of lovely Hydrangea shrubs in bloom.  What a treat!  These do not grow in my corner of Oz, so I just had to get some shots!

I really enjoyed my stay in Canberra and I fell in love with their summer weather!  It was just so pleasant compared to the conditions up here in the north.  Of course, I'm back home now and back to sitting in the air-con for most of the day.   It's almost impossible to get out and do any work in the garden at all, apart from the watering that has to be done early in the morning or in the cool of the evenings. 

So, another gardening year has begun ... and I'm hoping that the rest of the summer will pass without any of the extreme weather events we experienced at the beginning of last year.  Here's to a great gardening year for us all!

Mosaic Monday ... Magnificent Million Dollar Views!

My beloved other half and I have just returned from a fabulous birthday celebration weekend at our favourite getaway location.  Just four hours drive along the highway north is Mission Beach where we've often spent weekends away in the last decade or so.  Well, this past weekend we didn't stay at our usual resort hotel, right on the beachfront, which I've written about before in an earlier post titled - On A Mission.

No, this time we stayed at a resort hotel that's atop a high cliffside with million dollar views out over the ocean.  When you arrive at the reception area you get a sense of the magnificent scenic views that await you as you walk through the foyer and bar area.

The pool area has million dollar views out over the Coral Sea.

If you walk over to the railing at the back of the pool area you realise very quickly just how high up you really are.

The resort is nestled in amongst a rainforest area that's been filled with loads of fabulous tropical plants.  The whole resort is interlinked with boardwalks that connect the rooms located at different positions on the cliffside.  Here's the palm tree lined boardwalk that led to our room.

The ocean views, of course, didn't stop at the poolside area.  There were magnificent views from our room,

and even when we went walking along various other boardwalks, the glorious blue ocean was always in sight.

Yes we did venture down to 'Lover's Bay', but unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me!

The food was divine and even after a simple lunch, eaten while relaxing in the bar area, we felt obliged to go off wandering again.  At least we made a few token efforts at getting some gentle exercise and therefore didn't feel entirely guilty about the amount of time we spent just relaxing and chilling out in this beautiful spot!

I'm ever so grateful that my darling husband went along to a Business Luncheon and Auction organised to raise money for breast cancer research.  Luckily, his was the winning bid on a weekend for two package to the Elandra Resort and this even coincided beautifully with the fact that I celebrated a birthday in this last week.  Sometimes we really do feel rather blessed!

Please pop over and visit Mary at Little Red House for more fantastic Mosaic Monday posts.