I’ve recently visited both the National and Adelaide Botanic Gardens and, of course, due to Xingfumama’s challenge, I couldn’t help but notice some special seating options.
At the National Botanic Gardens:
At Adelaide Botanic Gardens
You have to be keen, as it’s pretty cold and wet and the moment.
In response to Xingfumamas challenge, to reflect on what was lovely this week, I went back to the things I captured, just because I had to.
And the featured photo is a hibiscus from my garden, reappearing after a long absence.
The last photo on my Samsung S20FE, for Bush Boy’s challenge, doesn’t look like the last day of Summer.
I had left a friend’s place, 15 minutes away, high and dry. This was the view through the screen of my back door, and when I sent it she still had no rain. Ah, plains living!
Quieter this year, with few international visitors, the Adelaide Fringe Festival offers plenty of seating, and not just for entering in Xingfumamas pull-up-a-seat challenge.
For Cee’s fun foto Challenge, with the topic of leaves, I took a wander around and here’s what I came up with.
If it comes from a weed, is it sea leaves?
For Becky’s SquareOdds challenge, this quirky collection of windmills from Penong, in the far west of South Australia.
The outdoor museum features around 20 windmills that have been restored, including the Comet, the largest windmill ever built in Australia. Some have been donated from around outback Australia and as you drive through and past the town you can see more than is usual in properties.
Signboards give information about each one as you walk around. Odd, but enticing.
About 40km south of Streaky Bay, on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, lie the inselbergs known as Murphy’s Haystacks.
Local legend has it that coach driver Charlie Mudge named Murphy’s Haystacks following a remark by a Scottish agricultural advisor who saw the landmark in the distance while travelling on the mail coach. Shimmering like haystacks in the hot afternoon sun, he was very impressed with the sight before him and remarked, “That man must harrow, look at all the hay he has saved.” (https://southaustralia.com/products/eyre-peninsula/attraction/murphys-haystacks)
The pink Hiltaba Granite, which is 1500 million years old, has been weathered in such a way as to produce these landforms, which are believed to be 100 000 years old in their current form.
Initial erosion by water and wind would have formed upright stacks or inselbergs and plains. Over thousands of years, sand was deposited on, and around, the granite hills of the region, burying the prolific structures. Further erosion has revealed the forms on Murphy’s land.
The different formations indicate time periods and methods of erosion, and lichen now thrives on the exposed granite, adding more colour. It is a great place to photograph and only costs a small donation to walk around an area the size of a paddock.
Safe travels. Take water, hat and sunscreen.
These odd and nasty-looking weeds were along the path leading to Murphy’s Haystacks. Their inner formation is quite beautiful, but one look at the thorns is enough to deter tactile inspection. I’ve tried to find out what they are called but have drawn a blank.
They’re odd enough for Becky’s squares this month.
My third entry in Becky’s SquareOdds challenge, is Murphy’s haystacks. Located in the west of South Australia, it isn’t too hard to see that they are not, in fact, haystacks.
The crystaline rock has been weathered into these formations, but the story displayed at the site is this:
A Scottish agricultural expert who advocated that, to produce good hay, farmers should harrow their land for the best results, was travelling with the coach when he noticed the rock formations in the distance. He informed the coach driver and passengers that this farmer harrowed his land to produce so much hay and fodder.
Murphy was the owner of the property and I hope his stock received better fodder.
I will include more photos and detail about these ‘haystacks’ in a later post.
Underdown 