DESKTOP 3104 - AT SOUTHERN CROSS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3103 - STUCCO

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3102 - POSSUMS

The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus Phalangista) is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the second largest of the possums.  Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats.

In most Australian habitats, leaves of eucalyptus are a significant part of the diet but rarely the sole item eaten. The tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. There are four colour variations: silver-grey, brown, black, and gold.  It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrives in cities, as well as a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3101 - SUMMER STORM

The last couple of days we have had subtropical Summer storms in Melbourne. It's been very humid and uncomfortable, and some areas have received huge volumes of rain, with flash flooding occurring. 

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

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DESKTOP 3100 - TWEEDIA

Oxypetalum coeruleum is a species of flowering plant, native to South America from southern Brazil to Uruguay, in the Apocynaceae family. The synonymous name Tweedia caerulea is also used. Growing to 100 cm, it is a straggling evergreen perennial with heart shaped, gray-green, downy leaves. It is grown for its clear pale blue, star-shaped flowers, which are long lasting and cut well.

The summer flowers age to purple and are followed by 30 cm long, boat-shaped seed pods. The seeds have downy parachute-like tufts (cypsela). The cultivar 'Alba' has white flowers, while 'Rosea' has pink flowers. Oxypetalum coeruleum requires full sun in a well-drained soil that is dry.

Propagation is via seed. With a minimum temperature range of 3–5 °C, it can be grown outdoors in a frost-free, sheltered environment. Alternatively it can be grown as an annual. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3099 SUMMER FRUIT

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3098 - INVERLOCH

Inverloch is a seaside town located in Victoria, Australia. It is located 143 kilometres south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland Highway on the Bass Highway at the mouth of Anderson Inlet, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Known originally for the calm waters of Anderson Inlet, it is now also known for the discovery of Australia's first dinosaur bone. At the 2011 census it had a population of 4,960.

Inverloch is a popular tourist destination, particularly for swimming, kitesurfing and windsurfing at the calm waters of Anderson Inlet. Fishing and surfing are also popular. The town was first named Andersons Inlet after Samuel Anderson, the first European to settle here. It was later renamed Inverloch after Loch Inver (Lake Entrance) in Scotland. The town is also home to a tennis club which is home to the some of Australia's greatest players.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3097 - BASIL

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3096 - CAT

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3095 - SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3094 - SUMMER BOUQUET

A Summer bouquet of Delphinium and Bouvardia. Our relatively mild Summer this year has extended the flowering time of many flowers.

 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DESKTOP 3093 - YARRA

Walking along the Yarra River in Abbotsford, Melbourne, enjoying the vast areas of parklands and nature reserve along the river. This is amazing as these vast tracts of natural bushland are within a stone's throw of the bustling city centre. Melbourne has a population of close to five, million people, so I consider myself very lucky to have such splendid conservation areas within walking distance of my home.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3092 - SKOPELOS, GREECE

Skopelos (Greek: Σκόπελος) is a Greek island in the western Aegean Sea. Skopelos is one of several islands which comprise the Northern Sporades island group, which lies east of the Pelion peninsula on the mainland and north of the island of Euboea. It is part of the Thessaly region. Skopelos is also the name of the main port and the municipal centre of the island. The other communities of the island are Glossa and Neo Klima (Elios).

The geography of Skopelos includes two mountains over 500 m; Delphi (681 m) in the centre of the island, and Palouki (546 m) in the southeast. With an area of 96 square kilometres, Skopelos is slightly larger than Mykonos (85 km2) and Santorini (73 km2). The nearest inhabited islands are Skiathos to the west and Alonissos to the east. According to legend, Skopelos was founded by Staphylos (Greek for grape), one of the sons of the god Dionysos and the princess Ariadne of Crete. Historically, in the Late Bronze Age the island, then known as Peparethos or Peparethus (Ancient Greek: Πεπάρηθος), was colonised by Cretans, who introduced viticulture to the island.

Perhaps because of the legend of its founding by the son of the god of wine, the island was known throughout the ancient Greek cities of the Mediterranean Sea for its wine. The play "Philoctetes" by Sophocles (first performed at the Festival of Dionysus in 409 BC) includes a wine merchant lost on his way to "Peparethos, rich in grapes and wine".

The economy of Skopelos is now fully dependent on the tourism industry which supports construction and other development-related industries. Though tourism is greatest during the summer months, Skopelos is also a year round retirement destination for Northern Europeans. The popularity of the island with tourists increased due to the filming of "Mamma Mia!" on the island in September 2007.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3091 - TESSELLATION

Tessellation:  An arrangement of shapes closely fitted together, especially of polygons in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3090 - BARK

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3089 - UNDERSEA

 Virtual reality at the aquarium!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

DESKTOP 3088 - EVENING

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3087 - MINT BUSH

Prostanthera, commonly known as mintbush or mint bush, is a genus of flowering plants of the family Lamiaceae. There are about 90 species within the genus, all of which are endemic to Australia. The word is derived from the Greek for an appendage. Within the flowers are small spur-like appendages on the anthers.

They are bushy, evergreen shrubs, usually with strongly aromatic leaves, and 2-lipped, 5-lobed flowers. They are cultivated as ornamentals and for essential oils and spices. All require varying degrees of winter protection in temperate regions, and are usually grown under glass. Prostanthera species are used as food plants by the larvae of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus including A. eximia and A. ligniveren. \

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3086 - BAMBOO

Bamboo is a tribe of flowering perennial evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae; although, the forestry services and departments of many countries where bamboo is utilised as a building material consider bamboo to be a forestry product, and it is specifically harvested as a tree exclusively for the wood it produces, which in many ways is a wood superior in strength and resilience to other natural, fibrous building materials. In fact it is often referred to as a tree by cultures who harvest it as wood.

Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. In bamboos, the internodal regions of the stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, even of palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering. Bamboos are some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 90 cm within a 24-hour period, at a rate of 0.00003 km/h (a growth of approximately 1 millimetre every 2 minutes.

Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product. Bamboo has a higher compressive strength than wood, brick or concrete and a tensile strength that rivals steel. The word bamboo comes from the Kannada term bambu, which was introduced to English through Malay.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3085 - NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA

The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas. It is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area which includes most parts of the local government areas of City of Newcastle, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Cessnock, City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council.

At 162 kilometres NNE of Sydney, at the mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting over 97 megatons of coal in 2009–10 with expansion of annual capacity to 180 megatons in 2013. Newcastle exported 160 megatonnes of coal in 2017. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits. Geologically, the area is located in the central-eastern part of the Sydney basin.

Newcastle is on the southern bank of the Hunter River mouth. The northern side is dominated by sand dunes, swamps and multiple river channels. A 'green belt' protecting plant and wildlife flanks the city from the west (Watagan mountains) around to the north where it meets the coast just north of Stockton. Urban development is mainly restricted to the hilly southern bank.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3084 - COLOUR MY SEASON

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also the Blue Monday meme,
and also the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3083 - HEDGE

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DESKTOP 3082 - BRONZEWING

The common bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera) is a species of medium-sized, heavily built pigeon. Native to Australia and one of the country's most common pigeons, the common bronzewing is able to live in almost any habitat, with the possible exception of very barren areas and dense rainforests.

 

Males of the species have pale-yellow to yellow-white foreheads, and pink breasts. Both males and females have an easily discernible white line around and proximate to their eyes. Common bronzewings also have patches of red, blue and green on their wings, a feature which is characteristic of all bronzewing pigeons. Young birds are usually duller in colour and browner than the mature common bronzewing.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

DESKTOP 3081 - KINDERDIJK

Kinderdijk is a village in the Netherlands, belonging to the municipality of Molenwaard, in the province South Holland, about 15 km east of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is situated in a polder in the Alblasserwaard at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands. The windmills of Kinderdijk are one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DESKTOP 3080 - ALSTRO

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Alstroemeriaceae. They are all native to South America. Almost all of the species are restricted to one of two distinct centres of diversity, one in central Chile, the other in eastern Brazil. Species of Alstroemeria from Chile are winter-growing plants while those of Brazil are summer-growing. All are long-lived perennials except Alstroemeria graminea, a diminutive annual from the Atacama Desert of Chile.

 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

DESKTOP 3079 - FEATHER MOSS

Here is some common feather-moss (Kindbergia praelonga):

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESKTOP 3078 - FREMANTLE

Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour is a commercial marina in Fremantle, Western Australia, adjacent to the more recently constructed Challenger Harbour. It provides large sheltered mooring areas, wharf space for vessels up to 60 metres, refuelling facilities and support services to the Fremantle fishing industry. The harbour was built in 1919 when a 300-metre breakwater was constructed to provide an anchorage for fishing vessels. South Jetty was immediately adjacent and included a fish market which was removed in 1929.

A southern breakwater was constructed in 1962 and land reclaimed to house fishing companies and service industries. Between 1969 and 1972, up to 120 fishing boats were housed in the harbour and in 1982, construction of a boat lifting facility commenced. Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour is now surrounded by a well established tourism precinct, and over a dozen restaurants and a brewery are immediately adjacent.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DESKTOP 3077 - YEARBOOK

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

DESKTOP 3076 - DRY SUMMER

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme,
and also part of the Weekend in Black and White.

DESKTOP 3075 - KOI

Koi fish are often associated with strength of character, perseverance, accomplishment and courage. The fish also symbolise good fortune, success, prosperity and ambition. Their long history and hardy nature has also led to koi being associated with longevity. They are the perfect symbol for a beginning New Year, so here's wishing you a Very Koi New Year!

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme