SPRING IN GIPPSLAND

Gippsland is an economic rural region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of that state. It covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres, and lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, and to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps.

Gippsland is generally broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, and the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions. As at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, being Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

PELLEGRINI'S

Pellegrini's Bar is a Melbourne institution on Bourke St, City, which has remained unchanged in decades. The iconic espresso bar serves authentic Italian food and fantastic coffee. It is the place to go to for generous bowls of spaghetti, plates of delicious lasagne piled high or steaming bowls of minestrone soup. The long bar teems with patrons conversing amongst themselves and with the cordial staff. A wonderful restaurant always abuzz with conviviality, a place that is uniquely Melbourne.

Last Friday on November 9, an attack at Bourke Street mall in Melbourne in which one person was stabbed to death and two others injured is being treated as a terrorist incident. The man responsible, identified as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, 30, drove a 4x4 truck loaded with gas bottles into the city centre, ignited the vehicle in a ball of flames and then attacked passers-by with a knife. He was shot by police at the scene of the attack and died in hospital on Friday night.

Sisto Malaspina, 74 years-old, the co-owner of Pellegrini’s was killed in the attack after reportedly rushing to the aid of the attacker, thinking he had had an accident. He was knifed to death by the attacker. Sisto was a kind, generous, giving man with a big heart and a winning smile. His good humour and welcoming manner created a special atmosphere in the Café and he only had friends amongst the people that frequented his restaurant.

RIP, Sisto, Melbourne has lost another little bit of its soul with your passing.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

BUNYIP HOLE

This is a place in the Yarra Bend Park that I like to call "The Bunyip Hole". It's situated in a well-treed area off the walking track, not far from the river, but looking as though it's a complete, self-contained little world of its own. Perfect lair for the Bunyip!

bunyip | ˈbʌnjɪp | noun Australian
1 A mythical amphibious monster said to inhabit inland waterways.
2 [usually as modifier] an impostor or pretender: Australia's bunyip aristocracy.
ORIGIN
Mid 19th century: from Wemba-wemba banib.

I've made a seamless mosaic from three different photos and then separated them again in a frame to form the triptych that you see here.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

                                                                 

REMEMBRANCE

Sunday, 11 November 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War (1914–18). One hundred years ago, on 11 November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after four years of continuous warfare. With their armies retreating and close to collapse, German leaders signed an Armistice, bringing to an end the First World War.

From the summer of 1918, the five divisions of the Australian Corps had been at the forefront of the allied advance to victory. Beginning with their stunning success at the battle of Hamel in July, they helped to turn the tide of the war at Amiens in August, followed by the capture of Mont St Quentin and Pèronne, and the breaching of German defences at the Hindenburg Line in September.

By early October the exhausted Australians were withdrawn from battle. They had achieved a fighting reputation out of proportion to their numbers, but victory had come at a heavy cost. They suffered almost 48,000 casualties during 1918, including more than 12,000 dead. In the four years of the war more than 330,000 Australians had served overseas, and more than 60,000 of them had died. The social effects of these losses cast a long shadow over the postwar decades.

Each year on this day Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts. The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne is a fitting monument to the memory of our fallen.

Lest we forget.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

KOOKABURRA

Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28–42 cm in length. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. The loud distinctive call of the Laughing Kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve a jungle setting. They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water.

Even though they belong to the larger group known as "kingfishers", kookaburras are not closely associated with water. This laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is a large robust bird occupying dry eucalypt forest, woodland, city parks and gardens. Here it is perching on a gum tree in the Darebin Parklands in Melbourne's inner northeastern suburbs.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

CHANGEABLE WEATHER

Our Spring weather these past few days has been extremely changeable and wayward, with days that are often filled with several different kinds of atmospheric phenomena. We've had rain and hail, fine spells, wind and great variations in temperature, often all of these on the same day. Looking out of my bedroom window, I can see the change coming in and the clouds rolling, bringing the rain.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

TRIGLOCHIN - WATER RIBBONS

Triglochin procera is an aquatic Australian native plant in the family Juncaginaceae, with common names: Water ribbons, Nareli, and Pol-an-go. Aborigines use the tubers as food, either raw or roasted; the fruits are also edible. Here it is seen growing in the Darebin Parklands in Fairfield.

It has stems 20-50cm high and is a robust, tufted perennial herb with thick roots ending in cylindric tubers. Leaves and stems are erect, leaves bending down to float with the current, more erect in still water. The leaves are long, glossy, ribbon-like erect to floating leaves 3.5m x 40mm, thick and spongy at base. The greenish-white flowers are borne August to April on a dense terminal spike 6-50cm x 17-40mm with 50-320 small flowers. Fruits are round to elliptical, longer than broad, segments attached over most of their length, straight to spiralling around each other.

This aquatic plant grows in fresh, slow-flowing water to 2m deep and in permanent swamps and streams or in areas which may dry out briefly, when plants are smaller. It grows in full sun to semi-shade. In the garden it makes for an attractive plant for flowing water, leaves moving with the current. Also suitable for small pools.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

RAIN

Over the past couple of days we've had a lot of rain in Melbourne. It rained on the racegoers in their finery at the Melbourne Cup, it flooded some parts of the City, it disrupted public transport and traffic. However, we weren't complaining as October was quite dry and much of the country is experiencing a drought...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

MELBOURNE CUP

Today is Melbourne Cup Day here in my home city. At 3.00 pm, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup. If you cannot be in Flemington Racecourse to watch the Cup live, you can listen to the race call on radio, or watch the race on TV. Even those who don't usually bet, try their luck with a small bet or entry into a “sweep” (a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse).

ince 1877, Melbourne Cup Day has been a public holiday for Melbourne, and crowds have flocked to Flemington. By 11.00 am the grandstand is packed to its 7,000 capacity, and by 3.00 pm, many tens of thousands of people usually gather around the racecourse. The party atmosphere often means that champagne and canapés, huge hats and racetrack fashions overshadow the business of horse racing. American writer Mark Twain said of a visit to the Melbourne Cup in 1895: “Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.”

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 at Flemington Racecourse and was won by Archer, a horse from Nowra, New South Wales, beating the local favourite, Mormon. The prize was a gold watch and £170. Dismissed by the bookies, Archer took a lot of money away from Melbourne, refuelling interstate rivalry and adding to the excitement of the Cup. Australia's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, combined great stamina and speed. He was foaled in New Zealand in 1926 by Night Raid out of Entreaty and he grew to 17 hands. Over his career he won more than £65,000 in prize money and won 37 of his 51 starts. From September 1929 he was the favourite in all but one of his races. Phar Lap became the darling of Australian race crowds during the Great Depression of the 1930s - winning all four days of the 1930 Flemington Spring Carnival including the Melbourne Cup carrying 62.5 kg. Phar Lap is the only horse to have started favourite in three successive Melbourne Cups. He came third in 1929, won the race in 1930 and ran eighth in 1931.

The Melbourne Cup is one of the world's most challenging horse races and one of the richest (the total prizemoney, including trophies, for the 2018 Lexus Melbourne Cup will increase to $7.3 million, up from $6.25 million in 2017. The winner will receive $4 million - plus $250,000 in trophies, second place $1 million, and third place $500,000), and is the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival. The race is run over 3,200 metres and is a handicapped race. This means that the better the horse is, the more weight it has to carry in the race. The distance and the handicap ensure that the Melbourne Cup is a horse race in which the occasional punter has as good a chance of picking the winner as those who follow the form. It is a day when all Australians are considered to have an equal chance on the turf as well as on the lawn.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

CREEPY CRAWLIES

Our weather has been quite unstable with great variations in temperature and precipitation - typical of late Spring. Nevertheless, this seems to have enhanced the growth of all sorts of creepy crawlies out in the Parklands...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.