Australia Day…and seeking the sunshine..

Today is Australia Day, and while the most appropriate date for Australia Day is still being debated, and not all of us know the second verse of the National Anthem ……

….the good news is……  there’s still a lot of sunshine out there!

Although it is reasonable and important to have debate for change in a democracy….. let’s not forget all the reasons for loving Australia, or where ever you live in the world..

Here are some of my reasons for loving where I live….

 

The National Library of Australia and a small electric boat that cruises around Lake Burley Griffin almost every day..

The gardens of the National Gallery of Australia.  Bronze statue of Penelope (isn’t she grand?) by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle  1912 (cast in 1984 by Susse Foundry Paris )

Looking out from the Australian Parliament House towards Anzac Parade and the Australian War Memorial, on a clear blue day…

A winter’s day in the city of Canberra, statue of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

An autumn day at Lake Tuggeranong, in the suburbs of Canberra

Lake Tuggeranong on a very cold winter’s day for these Buddhist monks from a nearby temple.

A Crimson Rosella eating Peppermint Sage on our deck on an autumn morning..

 

a golden wattle flower, the floral emblem of Australia.

A Sulphur Crested Cockatoo on his way to Mount Taylor, near where I live..

Kangaroos at sunset on the playing fields at Lake Crackenback

Holidays amongst the Melaleuca trees in Palm Cove, North Queensland.

The Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, with the best food and coffee in the state, thanks to a multicultural community.

St Mary’s by the Sea, a heritage listed non denominational church at Port Douglas, Far North Queensland…

Palm Cove, Far North Queensland….what can I say?

I enjoyed picking a few photos out of so many of this beautiful world…

In the ending words of Desiderata verse

“with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be Careful

Strive to be happy.”

Found in Baltimore 1692..

Do you have a favourite place in your part of the world?

 

Copyright Geraldine Mackey: All Rights Reserved.

 

 

Far North Queensland, Melaleuca Trees in Palm Cove

On a cold June morning, we flew out of  Canberra, and four hours later we landed in a very different Australian city, Cairns, in Far North Queensland.

Cairns is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, and the Daintree Forests, part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage area.

Despite its international airport and city status, Cairns has lost none of its original laid-back Queensland character.

view of the cane fields and the mountain range as we drive from Cairns airport to Palm Cove

Driving from the airport there are cane farms on either side of the road, and some original old Queensland houses dotted around the countryside.

We are heading just a short distance away to our favourite spot, Palm Cove…where the winter temperatures at this time of the year are around 14 degrees to 26 degrees.

…let’s just keep that a secret…

We have been visiting Palm Cove with our family for about twenty years.

When our children were young, you could take camel rides along the beach, and an old hippie had a little wooden stand where you could have a foot massage…..those were the days!

In  the colder southern states of Australia, the gardens and parks have died back for the winter, so it is almost like sensory overload seeing the glorious colourful flowers and shrubs that seem to grow anywhere and everywhere…

 

 

 

 

However, Palm Cove’s signature for me, are the most incredible Paperbark Melaleuca trees.

The trunk of the tree is layered with papery bark, which is in a continuous process of peeling and replacing. In a monsoonal tropical climate like Palm Cove, this discourages parasites from getting a hold on the tree.

(It is also very hard to pass a tree and resist peeling a fine layer of bark as you go.)

Tea tree oil is distilled from the fresh leaves and twigs of the Melaleuca, and come to think of it, this is probably what the hippie used, all those years ago, for his foot massages.

These distinctive Melaleucas were here when Captain James Cook sailed his ship, the Endeavour, within three leagues of the Palm Cove foreshore on 10 June 1770….some of the species are reported to be over 400 years old.

It is said that Captain Cook tried using the oil from the leaves to make tea, as a possible way of preventing scurvy.

The beauty of the Paperbark Melaleucas in Palm Cove is the seamless way the buildings, paths and people fit around the trees.

I have read that the local council regulated, many years ago, that buildings in Palm Cove could not be built higher than the Melaleucas…what a visionary decision!

Palm Cove will never be one of the many beaches lined by generic high rise buildings, all looking exactly the same.

Rainbow lorikeets, the busy noisy local parrots in this area, are regular visitors to the trees, as are honey eaters, sunbirds, fruit bats, native bees and many other species that feed on the Paperbark trees.

My apologies, I couldn’t find a Rainbow Lorikeet in Palm Cove the day of taking photos, so  I had to borrow a busy Lorikeet from a trip we did to Sydney’s Centennial Park. This Lorikeet is feeding on equally striking flowers from a tree called Cape Tulip Red, originally from Africa, but also very common in the warmer parts of Australia.

The camels and hippies have gone, but, thank goodness some things stay the same, Pete’s Place, with the best fish and chips in Palm Cove.

Barramundi is a locally caught fish here, and is absolutely out of this world….may it never change.  I haven’t got a photo of any of our fish and chip meals because they were eaten so fast!

….and, I need never feel too far away from home, because one of the noisiest cockatoos I’ve ever heard, is nesting just across the way from our balcony

…well, if you can’t find an almond tree in Canberra, then a Paperbark Melaleuca tree is a pretty good second…

Not even a cockatoo winging in like a Boeing 747 could ruin an evening walk on Palm Cove beach.

I hope you are enjoying your good fortune if it is summer in your part of the world, and if you are in the middle of winter, as Monty Don says, make it a restorative time.

In my next post Paul and I will go on a bird watching tour in Port Douglas…

 

Copyright:Geraldine Mackey: All Rights Reserved.