The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just called 'the Dandenongs') are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.
After European settlement in the region, the ranges were used as a main source of timber for Melbourne. They were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The ranges experience light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, frequently between late winter and late spring.
Today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme.
Lygon St is the home of Melbourne's Italian culture. Melbourne's 'Little Italy' buzzes day and night with a mix of outdoor dining, bars and traditional shops. An evening stroll along Lygon Street enjoying a gelato or an exquisite Italian cake, or dine in one of the many Italian restaurants.
Café Trevi is a perennial favourite for Carlton locals and partygoers afflicted with a sudden late-night urge for wood-fired pizza, pasta or risotto. Of course as any self-respecting café in Lygon St, they make great coffee too.
Unfortunately, the mural at Café Trevi has been defaced. I get very annoyed with the brainless idiots who do that sort of thing. It is a sad and frustrated life they must lead, where their only joy is to go and scrawl their inane nonsense on something they are incapable of creating...
This post is part of the Monday Murals meme.
St Augustine's Roman Catholic Church is a relatively small one, built around 1869-1870 and is one of only two catholic churches in Melbourne's Central Business District (St Patrick's Cathedral is outside the CBD in East Melbourne). It is built of Malmsbury bluestone (Malmsbury is 100 kilometres north of Melbourne on the Bendigo rail line).
Its design is more ornate than the more centrally located St Francis, this being Georgian. Historically, this church has enjoyed a strong connection with seafarers. The gardens are pleasant but the church is somewhat overshadowed by nearby developments.The church is only 100 metres from the Southern Cross Railway Station.
The church may not be a popular tourist spot, but it is cosy and beautiful enough to visit at any convenient time if you are staying at the central business district. It is usually open during business hours and of course during the mass times. It is always a wonderful spot to enter, enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, think and pray.
This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
On a walk around my neighbourhood, I came across these highly reflective windows in a light industrial area. Quite off-putting turning around and seeing oneself reflected in the glass. A little further down, was Darebin Creek, with its own reflections, quite natural and relaxing...
This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.
Sunrise in the suburbs can be very beautiful, apartment buildings notwithstanding. At least we have a back yard with some flowers and trees that attract the bird life. Two rainbow lorikeets can be seen hurrying to breakfast as the sun rises.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.
Corymbia ficifolia or the red flowering gum also known as Albany red flowering gum (previously known as Eucalyptus ficifolia) is one of the most commonly planted ornamental trees in the broader eucalyptus family. It is native to a very small area of south coastal Western Australia (measured in just tens of kilometres) to the east of Walpole (430 km Southeast of Perth), but is not considered under threat in the wild.
In nature Corymbia ficifolia prefers infertile, sandy soils but it is readily adaptable to most temperate locations, provided it is not exposed to severe frost or sustained tropical damp. It is an ideal street tree as it is hardy, moderately fast growing, and rarely grows large enough to require pruning. The largest known single-stemmed tree in the world (216.5 cm diameter) is located on Princes Street in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Because of its big and lovely colourful flowers, genetic improvement for cold resistance is being carried out in the Dublin area in Ireland, by collecting seeds from Western and Southern Australia in the coldest parts where it grows. In Ireland most of the plants were killed by severe frosts but the surviving shoots have been kept by tissue culture.
It is difficult to graft but grows well from seed, typically taking about 7 years before it flowers for the first time and 15–20 years to reach something approaching its full size of anything between 2–8 m. For the home gardener, buying a "red flowering gum" from a nursery is something of an adventure: It may or may not be a ficifolia, and the flower colour does not breed true - there is no way to find out what colour the flowers will be short of planting a seedling and waiting for it to reach maturity.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
Darebin Creek is a creek that runs through the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the main watercourse of the Darebin Valley and a major tributary of the Yarra River. For tens of thousands of years it was used as a food and tool source sustainably by the Wurundjeri people, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation alliance.
The creek rises on the northern urban fringe of Melbourne north of the suburb of Epping, following a general southerly route and meeting the Yarra at Alphington. The creek forms much of the municipal boundary between the City of Darebin and City of Banyule. Formerly an intermittent stream, increased stormwater runoff with urbanisation of the Darebin Creek catchment has resulted in permanent water flow.
This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
The first signs of Autumn are making themselves obvious. This tree with ruby leaves is along the Darebin Creek in Ivanhoe, in Melbourne's northeast.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.
Another stroll along Brunswick St and some more Graffiti/Murals. Great weather, blue skies!
This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.
The Bet Nachman Synagogue, Walpole Street, Kew, was built in1962 by the post-war architectural partnership of Bridge, Hayden & Associates, which was established in 1956 by Arnold Ernest Bridge (1904-1980) and Anthony Abraham Hayden (1921-1984). The stained glass windows were designed by Louis Kahan (1905-2002) and installed in the synagogue in 1982.
This is a Modern Orthodox Congregation under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Stephen Boroda. The aim is to provide spiritual, cultural and social activities for the Jewish community as well as to foster and promote Jewish religious education now and into the future for both adults and children.
This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.
And here is Steven Isserlis playing Ravel's "Kaddish" for cello and strings:
