TOORONGO FALLS

The Toorongo Falls Reserve protects two waterfalls, Amphitheatre Falls (first below) on the Toorongo River and Toorongo Falls (second below) on the Little Toorongo River, including the confluence of those two rivers, in West Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It is located approximately 6 kilometres north-east of the town of Noojee, approximately 100 kilometres east of Melbourne.

The reserve contains two bush walking tracks, which total 2.22 kilometres, taking a loop around the two waterfalls, and allowing the visitors to take the wide range of native experiences the area has to offer.

The Reserve is home to wet forest types, including mountain grey gum, mountain ash, manna gum, blackwood and Austral mulberry. A variety of ferns thrive in the damp conditions including the necklace fern, soft tree fern, and the long fork-fern. Animals found in the reserve include common and mountain brushtail possum, ringtail possum, sugar glider, and a variety of bats. Red-bellied black snakes are commonly found during warmer periods.

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.

FOGGY COUNTRYSIDE

Wintry landscape in country Victoria. The fog is lifting ever so slowly in the morning, but the grazing horses don't seem to mind. Gum trees are evergreen, and normally snow doesn't fall in low country such as this. However, there are plenty of cafés, pubs, delis and restaurant where fire is roaring in the fireplace and lots of delicious local food is served with piping hot drinks.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

STORMY

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

I created this as a digital collage using three different shots and stitching them together in Photoshop

ON TIME

Yes, the train was on time this time....

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

BUSHYMOUTH CATFISH

The bushymouth catfish (Ancistrus dolichopterus) is a species of armoured catfish native to Brazil and Guyana. It is found in the middle Amazon basin and in the basins of the Rio Negro, the lower Trombetas, the Tefé, the Madeira and the Tapajós Rivers. This species grows to a length of about 12 centimetres. This species is found in the aquarium trade.

These catfish are usually a dark spotted colour, but there are albino, gold-coloured and the red rarer ones shown here. Ancistrus Super red is a variety with an orange colour, turning red. The male has appendages on the head, which give the sensation of being horns, while the females have only thin tentacles. They are rarely seen for sale, and the one photographed here was in an aquarium.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE "COLD MOON"

June is the first month of our Southern Hemisphere Winter here in Melbourne. On June 12th we saw the full moon, called the "Cold Moon". Although we had a fairly cloudy sky last night, the moon did peek through several times allowing photos such as this below to be taken. I used my iPhone for a quick take. The temperature in our garden early this morning was 2˚C.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

EPIPHYLLUM HYBRID

Disocactus is a genus of epiphytic cacti in the tribe Hylocereeae found in Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. It should not be confused with Discocactus, which is a different genus. Species of Disocactus grow in tropical regions either on trees as epiphytes or on rocks as lithophytes.

They have two distinct growth habits. Species such as D. phyllanthoides have stems which are round at the base but then become flattened and leaflike. Many of the cultivated plants known as epiphyllum hybrids or just epiphyllums are derived from crosses between species of Disocactus (rather than Epiphyllum) and other genera in the Hylocereeae.

The one illustrated here is blooming in our garden at the moment and is probably a Disocactus × jenkinsonii is a hybrid between Disocactus phyllanthoides and Disocactus speciosus. It is perhaps the most commonly grown orchid cactus and seems to survive and flower under most conditions. It has a very complex taxonomic history and has been mistaken for Disocactus ackermannii for a long time.

And I thought my family history was complex!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

YARRA RIVER & CITY

I took this photo from a moving train in Richmond, while crossing the Cremorne Railway Bridge over the River Yarra looking towards the west and the City. Although we are well into Winter now, most of our native trees are evergreen Eucalyptus, and our climate is mild enough to give us this type of view, during the cold winter months. We still have quite a lot of natural reserves of native vegetation, especially in many parklands associated with the Yarra. These pockets of indigenous flora and fauna are worth preserving in our City for the future generations...

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

LAKE MOUNTAIN

Lake Mountain is a 1,433-metre-high mountain peak on a plateau that hosts a cross-country ski resort that is known by the same name. It is located in Victoria, Australia, approximately 120 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

The 1,483-metre-high Mount Bullfight, which is within the Mount Bullfight Nature Conservation Reserve, is the highest peak that can be reached by a cross-country ski trail from Lake Mountain. Access to Lake Mountain's summit is restricted to a snow shoe track in winter.

The Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, located near Lake Mountain, is the most popular ski resort in Australia when measured in terms of total visitor numbers, including sightseers, due to its proximity to Melbourne. The Lake Mountain Alpine Resort is surrounded by the Yarra Ranges National Park into which its ski trails lead.

The resort is an unincorporated area under the direct administration of the government of Victoria, and is surrounded to the west, north & east by the Shire of Murrindindi and Yarra Ranges Shire to the south.

There is no lake at Lake Mountain. It is claimed that the mountain was named after George Lake, who was the surveyor-general of the area. Contradicting this, VICNames says that it is named for the "tarns, ponds and bogs near the summit".

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

WINTRY

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

AT THE MARKET

A young fireman has found his engine at the Sunday Market. A great buy at $2.00!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

CHICKS

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

WINTER IS COMING

After a sunny but cold day yesterday, we had the clouds rolling in, the wind brought the temperature down even further and then the rain came. Yes, Winter is here.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

DAISIES

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

WINTRY YARRA

Yarra River at Alphington on a wintry morning. As the crow flies, the City (CBD) is about 6 km downstream We are lucky to have such a wonderful swathe of nature reserve along the couyrse of our City's river.

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.

WINTER AND RAIN

It's Winter in Melbourne and we've had some rain. Hopefully we'll get quite a bit more as several areas of Victoria are affected by drought.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SEASONAL BEAUTY

The first days of June are usually ones that show us Winter's intentions for the year and tomorrow it will rain with a maximum temperature of 13˚C expected, We need the rain and I always enjoying rugging up in Winter! Do you like Winter?

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

MURRAY RIVER

The Murray River (Ngarrindjeri: Millewa, Yorta Yorta: Tongala) is Australia’s longest river, at 2,508 kilometres in length. The Murray arises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia’s highest mountains, and then meanders across Australia’s inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest into South Australia. It turns south at Morgan for its final 315 kilometres, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.

The water of the Murray flows through several terminal lakes that fluctuate in salinity (and were often fresh until recent decades) including Lake Alexandrina and The Coorong before emptying through the Murray Mouth into the southeastern portion of the Indian Ocean, often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean, near Goolwa. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of large-scale river regulation, the mouth has always been comparatively small and shallow.

As of 2010, the Murray River system receives 58 percent of its natural flow. It is perhaps Australia’s most important irrigated region, and it is widely known as the food bowl of the nation.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme.