[Photos] Chittering.

[moonvoice]

On Sunday morning we had an impromptu roadtrip
through Bullsbrook / Bindoon and the Chittering region in general.
It was a lot of fun,
and is part of our habit of being 'tourists in our own state.'
One of my favourite things to do.


Patersonia juncea - Rush-leaved Patersonia






Catholic Agricultural College - An hour out of Perth, and kind of in the middle of nowhere, this was awesome to stumble across.





Administration





Another building - not sure what it's for - they conduct tours, but Glen and I were just there to take a quick look.





Delapidated house - On some blocks, houses have become unliveable, and instead of getting rid of it, people have simply built another house close by and left the other one to rot, like this one. You can still see the chimney.





A beautiful morning in Bindoon - A region of citrus orchards, wineries, herbs, horses, alpacas, sheep and some cattle.









Acacia saligna (or 'Orange Wattle')









Conostylis neocymosa





Anigozanthus menziesii - A young one.





Grevillea





I have no idea what this is, and Florabase yielded nothing useful (I trawled about 200 entries). I suspect it's not in full-flower yet, but as it's nothing like what I've seen further south, it shall remain a mystery until I do a proper trawl of my books.









Lichen - Growing directly on the substrate.





Scholtzia





*waves*

Comments

[endlessbees]

I like Australian flowers. They're not all bizarre and a bit wild/weedy-looking, but a lot of them are. I just...like them like that. <3

[moonvoice]

Heh, I like them like that too. Kind of scraggly and straggly, or just a little bit unkempt. And then bam, these amazing, complex flowers. And as you say, they're not all like that, but it's kinda cool that a lot of them are. :)

[jensurvivor]

Lots of spiral-racemes in these flowers.

[moonvoice]

:D Yes! And I do not get to hear the word raceme nearly enough. *bounce*

[jensurvivor]

:)

[ariestess]

That first picture is GORGEOUS!

[moonvoice]

Thank you! It was a looovely plant.

[bunny_m]

A beautiful morning in Bindoon - A region of citrus orchards, wineries, herbs, horses, alpacas, sheep and some cattle.

And pea-gravel, some parrot-bush, pea-gravel, and more scorpions that you ever want to think about.

Also the most ludicrously variable weather I have ever seen or heard of. (There's a really good reason they put the Army Training Centre up there, and it's not just the scorpions...)

The colours on that Patersonia are sublime, and the pic of the wattle makes me want to sneeze. Bloody wattle pollen!

In fact, all of your pictures are wonderfully evocative, and I really love the peaceful feeling I get from the decaying house.

Thanks for sharing these pictures with us!

[moonvoice]

Heh, while we were there we had about 30 minutes of intense rain, followed by moody skies, followed by beautiful clear skies, followed by about 30 minutes of intense rain, followed by sprinkling, followed by blue skies again. That's why the clouds look so freaking awesome! *grin*

[bunny_m]

One memorable mid-January day waaaay back in the early 90's I had the distinct pleasure of being part of a platoon that marched 3-ish km to one of the grenade ranges up there, with 5 folks coming down with borderline heat-stroke.

90 minutes later, we marched back over the same ground through a hailstorm.

(Note, hailstone the size of small marbles *really* hurt when they ping your fingernail between said stone and a rifle.) >.

[callistra]

You take gorgeous pics. I particularly like the wildlife in the last one!
:p

[moonvoice]

Heh! Two feral creatures there!

[feralkiss]

Thank you for sharing these, as always. :)

[moonvoice]

You're welcome! <3

[spider_fox]

Cuz Lichens are just that badass.

[moonvoice]

They really are. I was actually climbing up this slope to get a photo of a wildflower when I saw it and I was like 'ooo, even better.'

[fred_mouse]

If you have no luck with your books in identifying the interesting specimen, I'm willing to find out whether I have references that you don't, and whether I can find it in one of them.

[moonvoice]

That would be awesome. I'm mostly working off Florabase / Guide to the Wildflowers of Western Australiia (Nevill / McQuoid) and Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia (Corrick / Fuhrer). My other references just aren't up to scratch, unfortunately!

The plant was about a metre tall, on a red gravel / clay substrate, in the shire of Chittering. But don't feel like you have to, :D

[brushwolf]

Seriously, looking at your photos consistently are pretty much the only times I've ever particularly wanted to visit Australia. Just scope out all of this stuff, how the land looks and what it's like, even if it's not something I particularly identify with.