MELBOURNE STREET TREES 144 - PAWPAW

The papaya (papaw or pawpaw) is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, and is one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, perhaps from southern Mexico and neighbouring Central America. It was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classical civilisations.

The papaya is a large, tree-like plant, with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 m tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 cm in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. Unusually for such large plants, the trees are dioecious. The tree is usually unbranched, unless lopped.

The flowers are similar in shape to the flowers of the Plumeria, but are much smaller and wax-like. They appear on the axils of the leaves, maturing into large fruit - 15–45 cm long and 10–30 cm in diameter. The fruit is a type of berry. It is ripe when it feels soft (as soft as a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue. Carica papaya was the first transgenic fruit tree to have its genome sequenced.

The climate in Melbourne is mild enough to allow the growth of this tree in many locations.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BY THE SEASIDE

Mornington is a sea side town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, located 57 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the local government area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula.Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beautiful beaches. Mornington is a popular tourist destination with Melburnians who often make day trips to visit the area's bay beaches and wineries.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FLINDERS ST STATION, MORNING

Flinders Street Station is a railway station on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Australia. It serves the entire metropolitan rail network. Backing onto the city reach of the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the complex covers two whole city blocks and extends from Swanston Street to Queen Street. Flinders Street is served by Metro's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland. It is the busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with some 92.6 million passenger movements recorded in 2011/12.

It was the first railway station in an Australian city and the world's busiest passenger station in the late 1920s. The main station building, completed in 1909, is a cultural icon of Melbourne, with its prominent dome, arched entrance, tower and clocks one of the city's most recognisable landmarks. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Melburnian idiom "I'll meet you under the clocks" refers to the row of clocks above the main entrance, which indicate the time-tabled time of departure for trains on each line; another idiom, "I'll meet you on the steps", refers to the wide staircase underneath these clocks. Flinders Street Station is responsible for two of Melbourne's busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street, including one of Melbourne's few pedestrian scrambles.

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.

FITZROY MURALS

The streets of Melbourne are decorated with a number of murals, which come and go as they get vandalised, tagged, overpainted and scrubbed clean. Adnate in collaboration with Twoone created a huge mural in one of the alleyways at 120 Johnston St, at the back of Brunswick St in Fitzroy. The Australian-Japanese duo painted this mural in 2014, and it survives until now. The bottom has been overpainted slightly with another mural, but the result is not too jarring.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme.

MORNINGTON SEA DOG

Mornington is a sea side town on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, located 57 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula. Mornington is known for its "village" atmosphere and its beautiful beaches. Mornington is a popular tourist destination with Melburnians who often make day trips to visit the area's bay beaches and wineries.

The Post Office opened on 21 May 1856 as Schnapper Point and was renamed Mornington in 1864. The town centre runs into the foreshore area and local beach, which features a yacht club, restaurant and park with playground facilities. Mornington is an attractive destination for shopping and features some excellent restaurants and cafes. The north of Mornington is also home to several horse breeders and stables.

This post is part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

CITY EVENING

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme.

PARKLANDS GUMTREE

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

GINGER LILIES IN OUR GARDEN

With the arrival of Autumn, Melbourne gardens are at their best again. A wide variety of flowers, many of them fragrant, grace the gardens of the suburbs. Our garden is no exception and we have a large variety of roses blooming (the fragrant ones being: 'Tatiana', 'Perfume Delight', 'Fragrant Cloud', 'Just Joey', 'Mr Lincoln', 'Double Delight', 'Friesia'). As well as these, there is the Summer jasmine, the loquat tree, myrtle, Mexican orange blossom, and of course ginger lilies - all of these flowers being very fragrant also.

Hedychium gardnerianum (Kahili ginger, Kahila garland-lily, or ginger lily) is a plant native to the Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan and is in the Zingiberaceae family. It grows to 2.4 m tall with long, bright green leaves clasping the tall stems. The very fragrant pale yellow and red flowers are held in dense spikes above the foliage. They appear towards the end of summer.

Ginger lilies have flourished in the wild in Australia and are now considered an invasive weed here and in NZ. Ginger lilies generally have yellow flowers but can also be hybrids with cream, orange, red and white flowers.

If you celebrate Easter, my best wishes for a peaceful, happy and restful holiday!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

KANE'S BRIDGE, KEW

Studley Park is part of the 642-acre Yarra Bend Park and the Yarra River runs across the park. It is located 4 km north-east of the Melbourne CBD in the suburb of Kew.

Kane's Bridge was built in 1929 to link Studley Park and Yarra Bend Park. It was washed away by the floods in 1934 and rebuilt in 1935. The bridge was named after Councillor T J Kane of Collingwood, who was a member of the Yarra Bend Management Committee. It is a suspension bridge and looks quite solid and substantial. However, like all suspension bridges it does vibrate and sway. While we were crossing it, a group of 5-6 joggers ran past and we could feel the bridge move quite substantially in response to the rhythm of their footfall.

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

AT MONTSALVAT

Montsalvat is an artist colony in Eltham, Victoria, Australia, established by Justus Jorgensen in 1934. It is home to over a dozen buildings, houses and halls set amongst richly established gardens on 48,562 m2 (12 acres) of land. The colony of Montsalvat has a detailed history that reflects the life of Jörgensen and his friends and family; there is also a legend behind its name, while its buildings and gardens are steeped in the art and culture of Melbourne and its surroundings.

Visitors can pay a small fee to walk throughout the colony's historical gardens, artists' houses/workshops and explore the surrounding buildings. All of the buildings on the site were designed and built by residents with locally available materials, from various sources. The Great Hall offers an extensive network of spaces from extravagant halls and vast exhibition spaces, to small corridors and tiny balconies overlooking the gardens.

Currently Montsalvat's grounds and buildings are mostly used for exhibitions, performances, conferences, seminars, weddings and receptions; however, many artists (such as luthiers, jewellers, painters, sculptors and a writer) continue to reside in Montsalvat. Several classes on various disciplines of art are offered year round by the resident artists.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MOONEE PONDS MOSAIC

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 2011 Census, Moonee Ponds had a population of 13,532. 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.

The mosaic mural illustrated here is found in an arcade just off Puckle St and it was created in 1994 to commemorate the International Year of the Family. Local schoolchildren contributed to the creation of the mural.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme.

WERRIBEE RIVER

The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip.

A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres. The river flows through the Werribee Gorge State Park before being utilised for irrigation of market gardens at Bacchus Marsh, then through Werribee where it is crossed by the Maltby By-pass. It then flows through the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Werribee Park, and finally the small coastal settlement of Werribee South before entering Port Phillip.

This post is part of the Friday Greens meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.