April Autumnal Adventures

It is holiday time again, and with the family I set off for the coast via two open gardens in the Monaro district east of Cooma.

To get to the open gardens we passed through a tiny town called Numeralla. I would like to return here one day, the little town in a valley surrounded by poplars looked very appealing. 

As we drove through I was singing "There's a happy little valley by the Numeralla shore" which is actually about the Eumeralla, a river in Victoria, but hey it rhymed! Here's Slim Dusty singing the Aussie folk song about cattle duffing (stealing). I love the bit which goes "When the moon has climbed the mountain and the stars are very bright.."
 



The first garden was "Wondalee", the garden of Sue and Mike Litchfield on the Tuross Road at Countegany. This lovely, well established country garden surrounds a fibro house. From the garden there are beautiful views of the countryside.
This is a cold climate area, and there were autumn leaves in abundance as well as late blooming roses.

 In the cabbage patch

An old fashioned country tennis court. In the background is a gigantic silver elm

 Looking towards the house. I quite liked the combination of garage with loft above, separate from the house.

Folk enjoying tea and a chat 

 These rounded steps with white seaside daisies growing along them were quite unusual. I have always loved crazy paving too.

My husband and daughter stride across the lawn, leaving me to admire the roses growing up the verandah  pillars. I plan to plant an ornamental grapevine like this one on the northern side of my house, but I have to build it a metal pergola first.

                                             An oak tree along the drive

Ducks waiting for someone to turn on the tap. They've been waiting a long time I feel.

 The wind here in winter is very strong and freezing cold. So a windbreak is essential.

Wooden gates were available for sale. Here my husband is chatting to the gatemaker, Tom Brown. I liked the look of these sturdy tree guards. If I had tree guards like these the kangaroos would come off second best.

There was a sheepdog trial demonstration. Here the dogs are having a rest after showing us all how they round up the sheep. The farmer is chatting to the visitors about how to train a dog without destroying its spirit. 

I admired this stone wall.

 

The next house was completely different. It is the garden of John and Shilo Bowe, surrounding the house and nursery of their business, Tableland Trees and Shrubs. (there's a great photo on their website of the nursery in the snow).

This garden is 25 years old, and serves as a source of plants for the nursery and to demonstrate the specimens for the customers. To get to the garden we drove higher up the mountain, along a windy track through tall gum trees and scrub then to a clearing.

Walking in the gate, we saw an interesting cow sculpture.

 

 Just look at this beautiful golden elm. I like the log seat underneath.

 

 Looking out from under a weeping silver birch across to the willow by the dam and the gum trees in the background.

A lovely old gum tree. Can you spot the cubby in its branches? 

I think this one is a ribbon gum. Gum trees are evergreens but they shed their bark at certain times of the year, which can be an amazing sight.

       
A dam provides water for the nursery. The owner collects the water once it has been used to water the plants and sends it back into this dam for reuse.

 

I am an admirer of vegie gardens and hope to put one in at my place before too long. This one had a handy tip for defeating the dreaded cabbage white butterfly that longs to nestle in your brassicas, lay its eggs and poop to its heart's content. The trick is to enclose your cabbage patch with ordinary white netting - the butterflies can't get through the mesh and your broccoli etc will be safe.

I have a blue spruce like this at my place, but it is nowhere near this tall and majestic. Maybe one day....they seem to grow really slowly. 

The Pickle found me some chestnuts. We saw some in the supermarket the next day for $6.99 a kilo!

 

 Rather interesting retaining wall made from pine logs.

The little trees in the nursery each have a dripper for irrigation and are buried under weedmat. I fought back the temptation to buy a few for souvenirs since we had a car load of stuff and were headed off on holidays.

This is a swamp oak. The Pickle was interested to hear that there are deciduous conifers. We like to listen to a They Might be Giants song called "C is for Conifer". 

This one is turning a lovely yellowy hue.

 Each tree in the garden was labelled so you could jot down its name and ask for one at the nursery. What a great idea!

 

Here's the song about conifers:  

When we sat down for a rest, I asked the Pickle "What tree is this leaf from?"

 

I was very proud of her when she answered "The tulip tree!". Then I realised she was reading a label on the tree. D'oh! We have one of these at home but it had the misfortune to collect a passing kangaroo and is not looking so good.

 

Well, that was a great start to our holidays.

I will fill you in next week on our adventures at the beach. Until then, here's a photo from when I was down the coast on year seven camp last week - coincidentally at the same little town where I am staying with my family.

PS I found a house which was for sale in the same road as the gardens, and I'm including the link because the photos of the landscape are just stunning and much better than mine! It's very rustic and the toilet is a dunny out the back but really I think I'd be in heaven here. So long as I had an internet connection, that is!
http://www.raineandhorne.com.au/properties/70026

Batty for Bathurst

Hello Folks.
Having rambled on for ages in my last post, I will try not to blather on so much this time.

Last weekend my husband and I and our two dogs (who have been renamed Beauty and the Beast) set off on a jaunt to Bathurst.
Bathurst is a town I know and love since my paternal grandparents were both born and raised there and it plays a big part in the family history. My husband was also born in Bathurst and he returned there as a young adult to attend Charles Sturt University.

To get to Bathurst from Canberra, we took the road through Gunning, Grabben Gullen, Crookwell, Binda and Tuena. It was approximately a four hour drive.

Binda, by the way, was where we lived for a few years when I was a kid.

Here is a little stone church at Tuena, where we stopped to let our doggies out for a run around.

(R)The view looking back towards Binda. That's Maggie (the Beauty) in the foreground looking for a stick to chase.

Tuena is in a hilly little valley with the Abercrombie River running through it. The town was the site of a gold rush back in the 1850s, but it is hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of a mining settlement on a peaceful Friday evening.

                                                                     Here's the Beast. 

The Beast doesn't like to look at the camera. This is not because he is shy (far from it). He has been blinded by the flash a few times and so decided to never smile for the camera again. Even when the flash is off!

Bathurst is also a gold mining town, but much larger and more prosperous than little Tuena. It is the oldest inland town in Australia, having been founded once the convict settlement in Sydney ran out of land for agricultural purposes. Explorers crossed the Blue Mountains to find rich grazing land and Bathurst was doing very well from sheep and cattle grazing before gold was discovered there in 1851. The gold rush brought prosperity to the town and also bushrangers who would rob the stagecoaches transporting the metal to Sydney. 

Here is the view from the house we borrowed for the weekend. It was on the road out of Bathurst towards Orange. 

Here are the iceberg roses lining the front verandah. Icebergs are not my favourite rose, but you can't beat them for a dramatic display of white blooms.

We had breakfast on Saturday at a cafe in an old hotel called the Royal Hotel. During the goldrush days many fine buildings were constructed in the town. I wish I'd taken a photo of the outside. But a photo of some of the timberwork inside will have to do. Back in those days beautiful Australian cedar was in plentiful supply. It has sadly all been logged out and is now very precious and rare.

 

Here is the beautiful park in town.

A rotunda frames the cast iron fountain underneath shady trees.

Geraniums used as bedding plants

We went to Morrisset Street where the residents were having a monster garage sale. I wanted to buy this house. I looked but I can't find any information about it on the web. One of my dreams is to wait until I win the lotto and have unlimited funds, and then buy an old house to do up. Of course all of the restoration will be historically accurate and when it is finished I will sit on the verandah and knit while waving at passers by. Sounds like a nice dream, right?

Lovely old plane trees have been butchered to fit round the power lines. I guess the trees were planted first?

In the afternoon we ventured out for a drive through the countryside. We went to historic Millthorpe. If you want to see some lovely photos, have a look at their website. The red marker on the map at the top of this post shows the location of Millthorpe.

Here's an old pub. The Grand Western Lodge. Note the stone gutter running down the street.

enormous silk tree.  

 Millthorpe is in a cold climate grape growing region. Here is a vineyard across from the railway station.

roses + picket fence = ♥

(L) A room at Millthorpe station. Was this the lost property department? 

This cute little building is the Millthorpe CWA. The Country Women's Association is an Australian Institution. Most country towns have a little building like this where women can meet for tea and companionship as well as participate in charitable activities.

Autumn crocuses growing in a front garden in the town. Swoon! Someone remind me to plant some of these later on in the year. 

Well thanks for reading my blog post. If you have any questions about Bathurst, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.