Ivanhoe Shopping Centre is an old-fashioned, strip-style shopping centre along Upper Heidelberg Rd in Ivanhoe. We enjoy shopping there, much more so than in the newer style shopping malls that all look the same and are full of boring shops, cranky staff and impolite, presumptuous security guards.
A beautiful florist shop we often frequent is the Jaclyn Roma Floral Designs at 168 Upper Heidelberg Rd. We enjoy going there because of the friendly staff, lovely fresh flowers and tasteful accessories. We went there today and the smell of Spring greeted us as soon as we walked in. Here are some of the photos we took there.
This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
Ballarat is a city located on the Yarrowee River and lower western plains of the Great Dividing Range in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately 105 kilometres west-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. It is the third most populous urban area in the state, with a population of 85,935.
It is the state's most populated inland settlement, and fifth most populated inland settlement in Australia. People from Ballarat are referred to as Ballaratians or Ballafornians. The City of Ballarat local government area encompasses both the Greater Ballarat urban area and outlying towns.
Lake Wendouree is an artificially-created and maintained shallow urban lake located adjacent to the suburb of the same name in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The name Wendouree comes from a local aboriginal word 'wendaaree' which means 'go away': a story is told that when settler William Cross Yuille asked a local indigenous woman what the name of the swamp was, that was her reply.
The lake is home to many black swans (Cygnus atratus), ducks and coots. Note the cygnets in photo 4, which are gray in colour.
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,
and also part of the Wild Bird Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.
The Queen Victoria Market (also known as the Queen Vic Markets or the Queen Vic, and locally as 'Vic Market') is a major landmark in Melbourne, Australia, and at around seven hectares (17 acres) is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The Market is significant to Melbourne's culture and heritage and has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
The Market is named after Queen Victoria who ruled the British Empire, from 1837 to 1901. The Queen Victoria Market is the only surviving 19th century market in the Melbourne central business district. There were once three major markets in the Melbourne CBD, but two of them, the Eastern Market and Western Market, both opened before the Queen Victoria, closed in the 1960s. It also forms part of an important collection of surviving Victorian markets which includes the inner suburban Prahran Market and South Melbourne Market.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.
CERES - Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies, is an award winning, not-for-profit, sustainability centre located on 4.5 hectares on the Merri Creek in East Brunswick, Melbourne. It is no accident that the acronym was chosen mindful of the fact that Ceres was the ancient Roman goddess of agriculture (hence "cereals").
It is also a thriving community, an urban farm, Australia’s largest deliverer of environmental education, an event and conference venue and a place rich with social and cultural diversity. CERES is recognised as an international leader in community and environmental practice. Built on a decommissioned rubbish tip that was once a bluestone quarry, today CERES is a vibrant eco-oasis. 350,000 people visit CERES each year.
CERES’ green technology displays, buildings, education and training programs and social enterprises (CERES’ Organic Market, Café, Permaculture Nursery and Fair Food organics delivery) demonstrate food security, sustainable agriculture, energy efficiencies, renewables and water conservation in action.
The entrance is adorned with a mosaic mural that outlines some of the things that CERES stands for. It was designed and created by artists Gordan Mandich and Paul Jesse. Over the next few weeks I shall be posting more of the art that is scattered throughout the CERES site.
This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.
"There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope." - Bernard Williams
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.
Eucalyptus albens known as the white box is a common eucalyptus tree of the western slopes and plains of New South Wales and adjacent areas in Queensland and Victoria. An isolated population grows in the southern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The scientific and common names is derived from the white deposits over the leaves and gumnuts, while the epithet "box" comes from the box-like tesselated pattern in the bark.
George Bentham described the white box in 1867 from material collected by botanist and explorer, Allan Cunningham, along the Macquarie River. Joseph Henry Maiden had regarded it as a subspecies of Eucalyptus hemiphloia in 1904. It is related to grey box (E. moluccana) and inland grey box (E. microcarpa). Hybridization with grey box has been reported in the Hunter Valley.
Eucalyptus albens will grow into a medium to tall tree. The trunk is short and straight. The crown is rounded to spreading. Bark is persistent, light grey to whitish with bleached patches. Branches are smooth and white. Leave are oval to lance-like and are grey to bluish-green on both surfaces. The buds are carried in clusters of three to seven and are spindle-shaped. Large flowers are profuse and creamy-white. The gum nuts are barrel-shaped.In the winter and spring white boxes flower generously over a long period. Large honeyeaters and rainbow lorikeets fill the trees with strident bird song as they eat the nectar.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
The Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia which flows through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It begins in Wallan north of Melbourne and flows south for 70 km until it joins the Yarra River at Dights Falls. The area where the creek meets the river was traditionally the location for large gatherings of the Wurundjeri people and is suspected to have been the location for one of the earliest land treaties in Australia between Indigenous Australians and European settlers.
The creek was the site of heavy industrial use throughout much of the 20th century, being home to quarries, landfills and accepting waste runoff from neighbouring factories. This has degraded the riparian ecology of the creek leaving behind pollutants such as heavy metals and various greases. Recent decades have seen some regenerative planting and the foundation of several community groups dedicated to protecting and regenerating the creek's ecology. It is on its way to becoming a living natural waterway again.
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.
