DAREBIN CREEK

Fish ladder in the Darebin Creek, at Darebin Parklands, Alphington. A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon, is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movements of potamodromous species.

Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps (hence the term ladder) into the waters on the other side. The velocity of water falling over the steps has to be great enough to attract the fish to the ladder, but it cannot be so great that it washes fish back downstream or exhausts them to the point of inability to continue their journey upriver. 

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

MAKE HAY...

...WHILE THE SUNS SHINES

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

SUMMER

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

SUMMER WALK

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

BRUSHTAIL POSSUM

The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus Phalangista) is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, native to Australia and invasive in New Zealand, and the second-largest of the possums.

Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, eucalyptus leaves are a significant part of the diet, but rarely the sole item eaten. Its tail is prehensile and naked on its lower underside. The four colour variations are silver-grey, brown, black, and gold.

It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city dwellers, as it is one of few that thrive in cities and a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids. Its once vast distribution has been greatly affected by drought, epizootic disease and intrusion of invasive mammals into its habitat.

Here it's seen at night, using the cable supplying electricity to our house as a superhighway...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

NEW YEAR SUNRISE

Happy New Year, 2006!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

RED VALERIAN

Valeriana rubra is a multi-stemmed perennial herbaceous plant up to 80 cm tall with red, pink or white flowers. The leaves are generally 5–10 cm long, the stem leaves being sessile and branch leaves sometimes having a petiole up to 5 cm long. The leaves grow in opposite pairs and are oval or lanceolate in shape.

The inflorescences occur at the tips of the branches, in multiparous cymes with a hundred or more flowers. Each plant has either red, pink or white flowers. Valeriana rubra 'Albus' (about 10% of individuals) has white blooms. The cultivar 'coccineus' is especially long-blooming. The blooms have a strong and somewhat rank scent. They are pollinated by both bees and butterflies and the plant is noted for attracting insects. 

Flowering takes place in early summer and, in cool summer areas, continues sporadically throughout the summer and into fall. Red Valerian is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including angle shades. Fruits have feathery projections similar in appearance to the pappus of dandelion seeds that allow wind dispersal, and can self-seed freely and become invasive if not properly controlled.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2026

Dear Friends, Best wishes for a New Year filled with health, happiness and peace!

MOONEE PONDS

Moonee Ponds is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Moonee Valley. At the 2024 Census, Moonee Ponds had a population of 16,400. Moonee Ponds is home to Queens Park and the Moonee Valley Racecourse.

Puckle Street is the main shopping street and there are many shops and cafes along its length. At its eastern end is Moonee Ponds Junction and at its western end is Moonee Ponds train station. It is a lively and colourful, old fashioned strip shopping centre.

New development with residential towers has changed the character of this suburb and further building works will  increase its population and put further stress in its infrastructure.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

BRUNSWICK ST

Brunswick Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, known for cafés, live music venues, quirky shops, street entertainment and alternative fashion boutiques. Brunswick Street runs north-south through the inner northern Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy and Fitzroy North, from Victoria Parade at its southernmost end, crossing Alexandra Parade, and continuing until it reaches St Georges Road in Fitzroy North, near the Edinburgh Gardens; there, its former northward course is continued by a much smaller residential street named Brunswick Street North. Tram route 112 runs along the entire length of Brunswick Street for part of its journey.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme