Sunday driving

After spending the last few weeks between the office and moping at home trying to shake off the last of what the doctor thinks was whooping cough, it was wonderful to finally get out and about on the weekend. My eldest niece was home on holidays from Uni in New Zealand, so I packed up the car and the pooches, and I headed down to Tony and Leanne's at Ballina, a little over a 2 hour drive south from here in Brisbane.

As always there was lots happening in his garden (next post) and, since the dogs and I missed our Sunday morning visit to the beach, I decided to extend our country weekend with a drive through the Tweed Valley on the way home.

We left the main highway to detour through the town of Murwillumbah - always a popular day trip when I was growing up - taking the scenic option and emerging at Currumbin, only a couple of kilometres from where we lived. The surrounding countryside was as beautiful as ever.

Mount Warning dominates much of the Tweed Valley. It is the eroded plug of an ancient volcano that formed most of the surrounding mountains and hinterland.

Nearby Cape Byron is the most easterly point in Australia, and because of its proximity, Mount Warning is the first place on mainland Australia to be touched by the sun's rays at dawn each morning.

The groves on the hill are part of a macadamia nut farm and the tiny yellow daisies in the foreground are Fireweed, a serious weed that is poisonous to livestock.

It has been unseasonally wet the past few weeks, so the fields are a vivid green.

The Tweed River, near Stokers Siding

Distant view of Mount Warning, named by Captain James Cook because  it  was visible from the sea close to some dangerous reefs.

The conifer on the left is a Hoop Pine. They are native to the area, and their distinctive silhouette makes them a real favourite of mine.

Blue mountains across the sugar cane fields

I have loved this house just outside Murwillumbah since I was a child. It is called Lisnagar and was built in 1902. It is still in the hands of the original family, the Twohills.

As you approach the border between New South Wales and Queensland, the road skims along the top of a mountain ridge. This is one of my favourite parts of the drive. Initially the view is to the east and the coastline, and then on the western side, the great escarpment and Springbrook National Park come into view. 

The best of both worlds, autumn colour and palms.

There are some great produce stands on the roadside near Tomewin, and I was able to supplement my supply of home-grown avocados and passionfruit from Tony with some bananas and paw paw (and I'm still kicking myself that I didn't snap up some custard apples while I was at it!)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day June 2012

In case you haven't dropped by recently and are thinking this doesn't look like suburban Brisbane, you are right! I have been on unpaid leave from my regular job to complete a 75-working-day contract in an advisory role in Jakarta, Indonesia.

I have been home from my first instalment  for nearly a week now, and head back for another 8 weeks in a couple of months. However, my early winter garden is not particularly interesting and is in desperate need of weeding and tidy-up, while I have been flu-ey and not up to it, so I thought I might once again 'borrow' from the gardens I saw in my travels in Indonesia for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

The photos that follow were taken last Wednesday, my last day in Indonesia, which was Day Three of my R&R visit to Jogyakarta in Central Java. After a morning tour of the Sultan's palace or kraton, I still had several hours to lose myself and wander around the streets and laneways adjoining the palace, before plane-hopping back to Jakarta, then Sydney, and finally home to Brisbane.

A single bloom of Justicia coccinea above a bright yellow doorway.

Typical roadside food stall or warung

Becaks - a popular means of transport around Yogya.

You don't have to have a big garden bed to have lots of greenery in Jogya.

Love the citrusy croton against the aqua, and check out the great collection of Desert Roses Adenium (right). Together with euphorbias, which I included in my previous post, they were the most popular potted plants throughout the city.

The same aqua-coloured walls, this time with papaya or paw paw, a sprinkling of Desert Rose flowers and, I think the taller shrub with multiple leaflets is a Curry Tree. 

Love the intense blue of this pea flower

Yogya's batiks are traditionally in shades of brown - displayed here against the city walls.

(No blooms of note - but I have a weakness for doorways!)

Another collection of desert roses.

And yet another.

My doorway fetish strikes again. This one is illustrated with wayang shadow puppets.

Space is no impediment to a garden in Jogya.

A great collection including mother-in-laws tongues, cordyline, euphorbia, croton, and diffenbachia.

Meet the locals!

The boys!

Can you see 'Ginger's' shyer friend? (Behind the back right table leg)

Croton, euphorbia, diffenbachia.

Final glimpse - Jogya has vanished beneath the clouds, but the menacing Mount Merapi, about 17 miles to the city's north,  looms above them.  The name  'Merapi' means mountain of fire, and it is the most active volcano in Indonesia.

To see other gardens around the world  (without the holiday snaps and doorway photos), visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day on the 15th of the month.

Home Sweet Home

I have been home four days now since my Indonesian sojourn. In the last week or so, I had been planning what to do in the four days I had at home before I start work again (tomorrow). Should I try to get the recovered couch delivered and play at interior decorating with my new purchases? Of course, there would be a major gardening onslaught, not to mention writing up a report of my last 7 weeks' work, unpacking, laundry, a dozen other chores, but most importantly, cuddling the pups.

Gentle reader, I must confess that I have accomplished nothing - except the cuddling. The bug that I thought I had shaken in Jogyakarta returned, and I have spent much of my time in bed. Onslow doesn't mind at all. It's cold, windy and wet outside. He thinks that if he sinks really low into the doona beside me I won't notice him.

Miss Bella comes up to the bedroom door to check on us from time to time.

But she prefers downstairs on the couch, especially if she has a extra rug or old towel tucked around her to keep her cosy.

And, of course, I had to sneak out for a quick look at the garden.  The weeds are thriving; there have been a couple of losses in the potted plant collection (mainly those that were undercover); and it is mid-winter, but there was still some colour to be found.

Some bromeliads were in bloom...

Guzmania wittmackii

 Aechmea fulgens 'Burning Bush' 

so  too, the little Rondeletia.

Rondeletia splendens 

The aloes and succulents are always stars during the winter months. Mine are just coming into bud.

'Diana'

Aloes 'Gemini' and 'Southern Cross'

One big surprise was waiting for me in the backyard. How often have I complained that my heliconias never flower?

Finally, one of my favorites... The foliage had been given a good chew, but there was still a perfect bloom to welcome me home.

Hibiscus 'Wilder's White'