Buckley Falls Walk

Buckley Falls, 5 kilometres west of Geelong, on the Barwon River, is named after an escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived with the aborigines for many years from 1803.

The walk along the river to the falls is very picturesque with deep pools, rocks, native vegetation and wildlife.
Steep steps lead down to the water and there are several lookouts along the way.

The area has historical significance with a paper mill constructed on the banks of the river in 1876 which continued production until 1923.

 Melaleuca lanceolata tree covered in white "bottlebrush" flowers.

Kangaroo Grass (Themeda Trimandra)

Old Paper Mill, Fyansford

Early photo of the Paper Mill

Old Bluestone Bridge

This old bluestone bridge is at Batesford, 10 kilometres west of Geelong. It is on the banks of the Moorabool River and was built in 1859. It is closed to traffic but still exists as a service road.

An early photo of the Batesford bridge.

Red Flowering Gum

The Red Flowering Gum (Corymbia Ficifolia) is a stunning, ornamental tree which is widely used throughout cooler southern Australia as a street tree. Its clusters of bright red flowers can be seen in summer. Once established flowers will often cover the whole tree.

Historical Bridge

At Fyansford, 4 kilometres west of Geelong, is the Fyansford Monier Arch Bridge. This bridge is of historical significance as it is the first reinforced concrete bridge built in Victoria.
It was built in 1899 by engineers Monash and Anderson of Melbourne.
Fyansford is one of the earliest places of settlement in the region and the first bridge over the Moorabool River was built in 1854 as a toll bridge.
The Fyansford Monier Arch Bridge was closed to traffic in 1970 but is still in use for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

This photo of the bridge was taken in 1908

Dry Stone Walls

Dry stone walls are a characteristic feature of farming properties in Stonehaven, Victoria, Australia and an important landscape feature of the volcanic plains of the Western District. There are thousands of kilometres of dry stone walls in Victoria.
The walls are built from basalt rocks without using mortar or cement.
They were originally built to clear the paddocks of rocks, and as an economic form of fencing.
In some parts of the country the walls were built by highly skilled craftsmen and were a work of art. The dry stone walls at Rocklea are constructed of a double stack of large pitted volcanic rocks wedged together.

Green Native Arrangement with White Agapanthus

Green is a very cool color in an arrangement in summer. This Australian native arrangement has eucalyptus leaves and gum nuts, hakea, melaleuca and casuarina foliage with white agapanthus flowers.

Summer Grasses and Foliage

This is another arrangement with mainly Australian native foliage and a variety of grasses. The foliage came from the property and includes casuarina, melaleuca, hakea, eucalyptus leaves and flowers. The focal interests are the banksias and brunias. The grass seed heads give the arrangement a feeling of summer.

River Walk

There is a lovely river walk at the Moorabool River Reserve, Batesford, Victoria, Australia.
This open eucalyptus woodland has  many very old River Red Gums along the river banks as well as Yellow Gums and Swamp Gums. Indigenous plants include - Acacias, Sweet Bursaria, Hop Goodenia, Drooping Sheoke, Tussock Grass and Kangaroo Grass.
There was not much water flow in the river as there has been very little rain this summer.

 

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Beautiful Australian Galahs

This morning there was a flock of native Australian galahs feeding on the ground eating seeded grasses. Galahs, also known as Rose-breasted cockatoos, are the most common species in Australia. They are a familiar sight throughout the year and I love their pink and grey colors.

Rural Sunrise

The sunrises at "Rocklea", Geelong, Victoria, Australia can be quite beautiful and this morning was no exception. Sunrise was at 6.19am on a warm, cloudy summer's morning.

Beach Walk at Point Lonsdale

Point Lonsdale is a popular tourist beach on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia

It was a lovely summer's day for a walk on the beach, but as it was high tide it was only possible to walk along the beach wall. This beautiful beach is being eroded by the waves and the sand is being washed away. Several groynes have been built as well as a rock wall.

There were sand dunes and interesting cliffs along the walk.

Coastal vegetation included -  Melaleuca Nesophila with its dense green foliage and showy purple flowers.

Pig Face which is tolerant to salt and wind and protects the sand dunes.

Cloudy Skies over Dog Rocks

Today is a cloudy, windy, summer's day with a temperature of 21C so it was time for a visit to Dog Rocks at Batesford, Victoria, Australia.
It is always spectacular especially on a cloudy day and today was no exception. The landscape is quite different to my last post which was in winter.
Today was about grey storm clouds, grasses blowing sideways in the wind, puddles of water on the rocks (after rain), and blue skies.
Each visit to this popular photographic place is very different and it was the cumulus clouds today which were the attraction.

Greenery Arrangement

As this arrangement is mostly green in color it relies on interesting foliage and textures. The foliage includes casuarina, gum leaves, melaleuca, and hakea. Interest us added with melaleuca flowers, eucalyptus Lehmanni buds and flowers and the stunning South African brunia.

Eucalyptus Lehmannii

Eucalyptus Lehmannii, or Bushy Yate is an ornamental small tree growing to about 5 metres. It has unusual, red-brown finger-shaped buds.

The buds open into clusters of green-yellow flowers in summer.

The flowers are very decorative and are used in this native flower arrangement.