Tooradin Village

Saturday night we picked up our two Grandchildren for a sleep over, so we decided to take a drive to Tooradin. Buy fish and chips for tea and sit and eat them by the water as it was such a warm night. After we had eaten we explore the town a little more thoroughly and took some photos. I was quite surprised how much Tooradin has to offer and how pretty the location is if you take the time to look around. Having walked along the inlet, I was pleased to find fantastic picnic and bbq facilities right on the waters edge, historic buildings and shaded play equipment for the kids.

Tooradin is a small township on Sawtell Inlet, it is a picturesque little town 64 km south-east of Melbourne on the South Gippsland Highway. It is situated on the reclaimed swampland of Sawtell Creek Inlet at the northern tip of the Westernport Bay. So it provides a safe anchorage for local fishing boats.

Tooradin has long been a rest stop for travelers driving between Melbourne and Phillip Island and is a very busy place every weekend, especially the second Sunday in the month when they have the Tooradin market.

My Garden

I am starting re-gain my passion for the garden, after the devastating effect that the weather has had on my garden recently. I have stopped over the past couple of days to think of what some people have lost here in Victoria over the past weeks with the bush fires. I have nothing to complain about, with the loss of plants in the garden, I still have my home and my garden and I can re-plant. What I can do is start to pot up plants and take cuttings for those that have lost everything, homes and gardens, help others get their gardens re-established when the time is right and homes are re-built.

There is nothing more satisfying than to see new growth and colour in the garden and there is colour once again in my garden. Even if it is in a wheelbarrow that I planted out several weeks ago.

Fire Sky

Since the fires of last Saturday I have noticed the sky at sunrise and sunset, show that the fires are not yet over. The moon at times is fire red as is the sun.

These photos were taken on Sunday night 8.2.2009 and I know depending viewing the sky from in places it look quite red.

Australian Bush

The Bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country in Australia.

Australia is a dry continent with two-thirds of it's area classified as arid or semi arid. The indirect consequence of this dryness is seen in the prevalent occurrence of bushfire in Australia. The Australian bushland, so unique, so beautiful and yet at times so very deadly. The Australian bush has the ability to regenerate after bushfire, due to the dormant (or epicormic) shoots.

Photos Trees showing regeneration after bushfire

Victoria's Fires Storms

Saturday the 07.02.2009 will forever be one of the saddest, darkest days in the history of the State of Victoria.The day dawned still and calm with no indication of horrendous carnage and devastation that would befall Victoria by the end of the day. Although authorities gave warning that the predicted weather conditions forecast for this day, would equal or surpass those of Ash Wednesday 1983. Warnings to implement fire plans and be ready and if need be evacuate early if you had made the decision to leave rather than stay and fight.

Searing temperatures and gale force wind blasts, created a firestorm that swept across the state of Victoria, and traveled more quickly than anything seem before. In some cases traveling 20 kilometers in 2 minutes, the skies rain ash and trees and home exploded in the inferno, survivors said that temperatures of 117 degrees Fahrenheit and blasting wind created the furnace like conditions.

Police believe that a number of the fires were deliberately lit, I find it hard to imagine what goes through the mind of a person that would deliberately put life and property a risk. I can only hope that police in the days to come are able to trace the culprits, so that they can be punished to full extent of the law.

Entire towns almost completely destroyed, so many life's lost, houses can be replaced, people can not. How do these people start to re-build life's shattered, homes lost , communities destroyed and how do we help them??

The Australian spirit, community spirit is alive and well if news reports are anything to go by, this tragedy has touched our nation. As a nation we will band together, you'll dig deep and give what we can, we will do what we can to try and help families and communities rebuild and put their lives back together. We can only hope the bureaucracy doesn't get in the way, what these families and communities need is for efforts to rebuild to be fast tracked. With so many displaced families the need is great to get them housed and back into some resemblance of normal life as soon as practical. We all need to do what little we can to help make this happen.

Colour In My Garden

After the devastation in the garden after the heat wave a week ago, it is lovely to see something in the garden had survived was and actually growing well. On the 25.1.09 I planted out a wheelbarrow with Portulaca so that I could have some extra colour in the garden as the natives I have are not flowering much at this time. Wednesday some of the Portulaca begun to flower and are giving mixed vibrant colours. It will be interesting to the the wheelbarrow as all the other plants begin to bloom, I should see the effect that I was after. A mass of beautiful mixed colour.

Gum Display At The Junction

The flowering Gum Trees are out in all their glory and there are some stunning colours just around Junction Village. The term flowering gum is a bit misleading as all gum trees flower, some just have more spectacular flowers than others.

The humble gum has a lot to offer they attract birds, insects, smalls native animals, beautiful flowers and you have a choice of hundreds of species and varieties.

The Red Flowering Gum Eucalyptus ficiifolia / Corynbia ficifolia is the most spectacular of the Bloodwoods and has red, pink and white flowers.