Thursday 16 February 2012

CLIFTON HILL FROOTZ!

Clifton Hill is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 4 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. The border between Clifton Hill and Fitzroy North is Queens Parade and Smith Street. Merri Creek defines the eastern border of Clifton Hill. At the 2006 Census, Clifton Hill had a population of 5386.  Clifton Hill was named after Clifton Farm, one of the first properties in the area. The word "Hill" was added by land developer John Knipe to spruik the new estate. The first subdivision of 64 freehold properties was auctioned by Knipe, George and Co. on 18 September 1871. For many years a centre of Melbourne's bohemianism, the suburb has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years.


The strip shopping centre along the length of Queens Parade is still very busy and popular with shopper and diners. The corner fruiterer has a rather resplendent sign advertising his wares and knowing that many readers fo this blog are in the Northern Hemisphere, I am including some shots of our summer fruits, just to whet your appetite. We are fortunate in Victoria with fresh seasonal produce being available year-round with many market gardens and orchards close to the city.


This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.




Prickly pears (Opuntia ficus-indica)
Sultana grapes (Vitis vinifera - Thompson seedless) 
White-flesh peaches (Prunus persica)

19 comments:

  1. What a fun, colourful sign.

    and for the benefit of anyone else who also wasn't familiar with "spruik"
    I googled it << australian slang to harangue or address a meeting or potential customers to entice them into a premises>>

    ;)

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    1. Ah yes, sorry, Lesley. One does lapse into the vernacular on occasion.
      It IS a very useful word! :-)

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  2. I'm in the tropical part of the northern hempisphere, so we have fresh fruit now, but your pictures still made me drool -- we love to visit farm markets. Thanks to Lesley for looking up the word spruik. Saved me the job. (I think it's fun when you and my other Australian blogger friends use some vernacular.) And yeah, I can imagine that word would come in handy.

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  3. This kind of place is my favorite!! We have a wonderful one called Pike's Market and it's a great place to spend the better part of a day!! Love your photos as always, Nick! Colorful and delicious looking fruit! Thanks for the tour!

    Sylvia

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  4. Cute sign! I think the spelling is funny.

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  5. Great shots. We have prickly pears here in Arizona. I've had prickly pear ice cream - it's pretty good!

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  6. It's funny how Prickly Pear is considered to be noxious pest in Australia but they still sell it in fruit shops. I only figured out spruik was an Aussie word quite recently when someone else used it in their blog and confused others. :)

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  7. Love that sign but really liked seeing people in shorts - summer will come again!

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  8. Love the Frootz on Parade sign in the window. It is so unique and colorful. You cannot help but want to go in and see what they have.I noticed the shorts, too. It has been warm enough this winter here in VA to actually wear shorts. I do not think we are ever going to get a real snow. genie

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  9. Every time I go to the market Nick, I think how very lucky we are with the beautiful fruit and veg available to us. Love the sign and the 'fab frooty' images..btw I don't know how I missed your Valentine's day post, all those roses...my idea of heaven!!

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  10. Looks like alot of tasty fruit there.

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  11. The older I get, I appreciate a great fruit & veg shop (almost) even more than a great chocolatier!! Is that maturity? OR am I just becoming *gulp* boring??!!

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  12. Mukavaa katsella hienoa kuvaustasi kesäisestä maasta.
    Meidän maassa talvi on kovimmillaan.
    Terveisin Eko
    Suomi/Kuusamo/Lapland

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  13. Colorful and enticing sign! I would love a bite on those fruits:-)

    Pet Sematary

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  14. Hello,
    Vvry interesting life-scenes and the photographs of the fruits are great!
    Regards Senna

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  15. WOw, my mouth is watering, Nick. Thank you for sharing them.

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  16. looks like a vibrant place. i love the colorful signs.
    the prickly pear is interesting--i haven't seen one before.

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