Panton Hill Vineyard and Winery at 145 Manuka Road Panton Hill is a boutique winery that we have visited a couple of times and have enjoyed much. There are magnificent stone buildings reminiscent of Tuscany, in a typical Australian bush setting. This winery is only 40 minutes from central Melbourne. There is a warm fire in Winter, while in Summer, the stone buildings keep the inside nice and cool.
The job of transforming a 20 acre, rocky, dry bush block to the property you see below, began back in the early 1970's when Teunis Kwak arrived from Canada, and began the process single handedly. The buildings, all of recycled timber, stone from the property as well as some convict mined stone from the Grampians, have risen over the years. The vines which are biologically grown and manged, are mature. The youngest vines are over 18 years old, and have adapted well to the lean growing conditions of Panton Hill.
Wine is intense, fruity and complex and does very well in the cellar. The low rainfall, careful cropping with yields averaging 1.5 T per acre and long growing periods contribute to this. Gourmet platters are there to enjoy with the estate grown and produced wines - dry, sweet, sparkling and fortified.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.
The South Melbourne market is a covered food and general goods market located in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It began operating in 1867, and is a Victorian style of building with wood and red brick. The market has undergone various refurbishments in its lifetime, some of necessity, after numerous fires. The worst of these was in 1981 when two of the original sheds were destroyed and, later in the year, stalls were damaged by bombs. In 2007/2008, the market's produce areas were redesigned, and in 2012 a new roof was added to reduce leaking and heat load.
With almost 150 stalls operated by small business owners, and 2 hours free parking in the undercover rooftop car park, the market features a huge range of products. As well as that, one may find interesting touches of art and culture int he market, including some quirky murals. The market is just 10 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD and is easily accessible by tram, bus, bike, foot or car.
This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.
St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, is the metropolitical and cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Victoria in Australia. It is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne and Metropolitan of the Province of Victoria. The cathedral, which was built in stages, is a major Melbourne landmark.
More information about this church and shots of the interior can be found in this previous blog post I have put up.
This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme.
The Darebin Parklands has a sophisticated water treatment system that is used to clean leachate derived from the landfill areas of the old rubbish tip that used to be in the site. Leachate is the liquid that drains or 'leaches' from a landfill. Leachate can be generated from the precipitation of water into landfill sites via rainfall or other surface water sources and from underground aquifer activity. The Darebin Parklands landfill has both sources of leachate generation with the majority of water coming into the landfill site via underground aquifer activity and the associated Alphington water table.
Leachate is contained and prevented from seeping into the Darebin Creek. Secondly it is treated via aeration and bio-filtration using reed beds and bacteria. Then it is moved through a series of wetlands where it is polished with macrophytes (aquatic plants) through luxury uptake (nutrient removal). Evaporation from wetland areas and sub surface irrigation outside of the landfill site is the main method of disposal.
On average around 350,000 Litres of leachate a week is treated. The main constituent of the leachate is Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), with the most common chemical constituents being phosphates, nitrates, sodium, calcium, chloride and potassium. Heavy metals, tannins and dyes are mostly contaminants at lower levels.
The water treatment pond is a great place to catch some stunning reflections, especially on a sunny Winter's day, as is seen in these photos.
This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
I was fooling around with the camera tonight and took some shots very quickly out of the balcony, looking out towards the Southwest from an apartment building in Southbank. The contrast between sky and brightly lit buildings and roads was quite marked, but there is a hint of the lovely dark blue of the sky.
The last image is a very quick and dirty collage of several shots, which has the advantage of showing the moon in the East.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.
The almond (Prunus dulcis, syn. Prunus amygdalus, Amygdalus communis, Amygdalus dulcis) is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. "Almond" is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus Prunus, it is classified with the peach in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated shell (endocarp) surrounding the seed.
The fruit of the almond is a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed (which is not a true nut) inside. Shelling almonds refers to removing the shell to reveal the seed. Almonds are sold shelled (i.e., after the shells are removed), or unshelled (i.e., with the shells still attached). Blanched almonds are shelled almonds that have been treated with hot water to soften the seed-coat, which is then removed to reveal the white embryo.
The almond is a deciduous tree, growing 4–10 m in height, with a trunk of up to 30 cm in diameter. The young twigs are green at first, becoming purplish where exposed to sunlight, then grey in their second year. The leaves are 7–10 cm long, with a serrated margin and a 2.5 cm petiole. The flowers are white to pale pink, 3–5 cm diameter with five petals, produced singly or in pairs and appearing before the leaves in early spring.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
The Darebin Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians which follows Darebin Creek in the inner and outer northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The path consists of an 8 km section north of the Western Ring Road and a 17 km section south of the Western Ring Road. The two sections are separated by a 0.85 km section of path along the Western Ring Road Trail.
These photos are from a section of the Creek between Darebin Rd (South) and Bell St (North), as illustrated on the last satellite image. The industrial area to the West and the residential area on the East are separated by the creek reserve in the middle. This is a welcome patch of nature not only for humans, but for animals as well. On this walk we saw the omnipresent ducks, some galahs and rainbow lorikeets.
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.
