WATERFOWL

Ducks, coots and moorhens at the Darebin Parklands in suburban Melbourne.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

STORMY

We are in the midst of Winter here in the Southern Hemisphere and our weather is predictably cold, often overcast and occasionally rainy. Such stormy, rainy skies are not all that common when I look out of my window, though, so definitely worth photographing...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

MELBOURNE WEEDS 11 - CAPE IVY

Delairea is a plant genus within the family Asteraceae. It is classified within tribe Senecioneae. It contains only one species, Delairea odorata, which was previously included in the genus Senecio as Senecio mikanioides, and is known as Cape ivy in some parts of the world and German ivy in others. Delairea odorata is native to South Africa.

Delairea odorata is a vine that climbs up trees and will reach heights of five metres in suitable climates. Given time it will smother trees. It has 4 to 12 cm multi-lobed leaves that somewhat resemble those of the unrelated English ivy. Its flowers are yellow with a sweet distinctive odour that some people find unpleasant. A feature that distinguishes it from. This plant is grown as an ornamental houseplant for its foliage.

Delairea odorata has become an invasive species in California, Hawaii, Oregon, New Zealand and Australia. The plant will cover shrubs and trees, inhibiting growth and will also cover ground intensively over a wide area, thereby preventing seeds from germinating or growing. It is also toxic to animals who eat it and to fish where it trails into waterways.

The creeper can be controlled or eliminated by a combination of physical and chemical methods. Unless the root system is removed or poisoned the plant will regrow. Young plants can be pulled out with their roots but older plants will break off leaving the roots in place. In Hawaii an introduced species of moth (Galtara extensa) for the biological control of Senecio madagascariensis proved to feed also on Delairea odorata.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BRIGHTON IN BAYSIDE

The City of Bayside is a Local Government Area in Melbourne, Australia. It is located in the southern suburbs, with an area of 36 square kilometres and an estimated population of about 100,000 people. It comprises the City of Brighton, City of Sandringham, City of Moorabbin, City of Mordialloc and City of Bayside. As well as having quite exclusive and very expensive real estate by the seaside in Brighton, for example, it also has areas of industrial and business park usage, as in Moorabbin, for example.

Here are some photos from Brighton Beach where the bay is blue, the beach is beguiling, the boxes beautiful, the breeze bracing, and the bank balances buoyant!

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

MELBOURNE TRAM

Melbourne's tram system began operations in 1885, when the first cable line operated by the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company opened for business. The cable tram system grew to be very comprehensive and operated successfully for 55 years. Electric trams Australia's first electric tram line, from Box Hill Station to Doncaster, was built by a group of land developers using equipment left over from the Great Exhibition of 1888. It opened in 1889.

At this time the line must have been right out in the sticks, since Box Hill itself was many kilometres beyond the existing tram system. It had one or two problems, such as arguments with land owners who fenced over the line and pulled down the power lines, and poor reliability, since its owners knew nothing about running a tram system, and it died by 1896. The only hint now that there was ever a tram system in the Doncaster area is a road along the former route - Tram Road.

The first serious electric trams in Melbourne began in 1906 with the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company (NMETL) who built a line from the edge of the cable system out towards Essendon, and the Victorian Railways who built a line from St. Kilda to Brighton. The NMETL, a British concern, was interested in selling electricity to customers along the route (and the same motive led to the establishment of the Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong electric tram systems). The company commenced operations with single bogie saloon cars (later classified U-class) and unpopular "toast-rack" cars (later classified V-class).

This photo is of Melbourne's classic tram. When the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board was formed to take over the operations of the various Municipal tramway authorities, it found itself with a unified cable system, but an absolute plethora of electric tram types, which it gave letter codes from A through to V. The board decided that it was time to introduce a standard design. The new W-class design, first introduced in 1923, was an outstanding success, and has been the mainstay of the Melbourne tram system for the bulk of the last century. It is a two-bogie, drop-centre design, which has had many variants over the years. The oldest W-class tram still in active service was built in 1938! Originally, W-class was the term given to those trams built before the W1 was introduced, but now the name refers to all the variants as a group. Some of the trams are denoted SW (for sliding doors). It's here shown "hurtling" down La Trobe St towards the West...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FOGGY MORNING

In Yarra Bend Park, Fairfield, by the Yarra River on a Winter morning. Find the mosaic!

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.

HOSIER LANE

Hosier Lane in Melbourne, is found between Swanston and Russell Sts, extending from Flinders Street through to Flinders Lane. In the 1920s businesses in Hosier Lane were diverse and included an organ manufacturer, a warehouse for a men's clothing company, and a costume manufacturer. The nearby Higson and Oliver Lanes had warehouses that were predominantly used by businesses involved in the manufacturing of clothes and the name of this lane reflects its association with clothing.

Hosier Lane today is well known for its bars but mostly for the graffiti and stencil art that can be seen on its 19th century brick walls. The artwork decorating the walls near number 1 Hosier Lane and near Misty Place at number 3-5 Hosier Lane have been approved by the City of Melbourne as registered street artwork. Melbourne City Council regards graffiti as primarily a product of an urban environment that should be engaged with creatively, not something that it merely takes a strict zero tolerance approach to. This engagement is seen as a diversion that hopes to tame a vigorous and diverse form of expression. By having certain areas of the city where street artists can express themselves, graffiti on unacceptable locations can be controlled.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

HENS

It's still not unusual in Melbourne to walk by a house in the suburbs and suddenly hear a cock crow, or the clucking of chickens. Some people have hens in a coop in the backyard, or some more adventurous, greener souls allow them free range in the front yard...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

SILVER SUN

On July 13, a partial solar eclipse was visible from the southeastern coast of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand’s Stewart Island, as well as the northern coast of Antarctica. Earth has not seen a solar eclipse fall on a Friday the 13th since December 1974. Adding to the phenomenon, this moon will be a so-called dark supermoon—a new moon that arrives when the lunar orb is especially close to Earth.

While I was unable to catch sight of the partial eclipse, the diagram below shows the tiny sliver of the sun was obscured by the edge of the moon at maximum eclipse.

What I did get to photograph earlier that morning, however, was a foggy sky and a silver sun amongst the gum tree leaves. That too was quite beautiful on a cold Winter morning in Melbourne.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

PRIMULA IN THE GARDEN

Primula malacoides or the Fairy Primrose have dainty clusters of flowers that are carried in spirals on an erect, hairy stem, well above the dense rosettes of attractive, mid-green foliage. The colours range from white, through pink, to magenta. These are classic mixed border plants and are generally amongst the earlier flowers to bloom making them a very good start to the season (Primus means first in Latin).

These do best if planted in any fertile soil in which well-rotted animal manure will help to promote larger blooms. Regular watering will ensure long blooming times, otherwise easy to grow and need little other care. Snails can be an occasional problem, especially with young plants.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.