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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

TOOWOOMBA

Yesterday we had to drive to Toowoomba a large country town about an hour and a half 's drive from Brisbane.
It is situated about 2000+feet above sea level at the top of a fairly steep climb.
To get there we drove through the Lockyer Valley, parts of which were scenes of heartbreak and devastation during the floods earlier in the year.

Once we had finished our business in the town we drove to Picnic Point, a lookout back over the valley towards Brisbane.




It was a beautiful day with lovely views through the trees over the valley way below us.


( click to enlarge )


By now it was quite late in the day - about 5 o'clock. It's amazing the temperature difference being at this height makes and Toowoomba is quite famous for being a cold place.


The cafe at the kiosk was closing so no chance of a coffee there


and the temperature was falling quite rapidly so we had a quick look around the gardens.

We spied a Kangaroo Paw in full flower


and this interesting plant now called a Grass Tree
 ( once called a Black Boy in less politically correct times )


They are extremely slow growing, almost impossible to transplant from the wild and produce a single brown, spear -like "flower" spike that sticks straight up in the air.

Toowoomba is famous for its flowers and its famous Carnival of Flowers begins next weekend so the gardens in all the public areas are just beginning to come into bloom.


This striking plant was covered with large blue flowers spikes


and the big beds were full of colour.


I love this one.
We call it May but it is not a Hawthorne which I think they call that May in the UK.


This is the flower close up.



Don't you love these decorative Kales?  (I think !)
It seems that Spring is a little late here this year and the tulips are just beginning to poke through above the Kale....


except for one lonely yellow one which will be on time for the carnival.


Huge clumps of Cliveas were everywhere in two distinct colours


dark


and light.


and you know my weakness for the blue / yellow combination which formed a border of many of the colourful beds of flowers.

Next we headed home down the steep mountainside.


This is a major transport linking highway , travelled by huge road transports


and the warning signs and emergency escapes filled with gravel to slow down out of control trucks,


  make it an interesting descent.


I'm always glad when we are able to get clear of the trucks and arrive at the bottom unscathed.


Home just on dark.

Cheers.

ps. We will try to revisit Toowoomba for a better look at the flowers in a week or so when the crowds have diminished a little.
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16 comments:

  1. Love your photos especially the flowers.I wish we were approaching Spring!

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  2. Hello Helsie, I am glad your daughter is home safely, did she have tail wind for her flight home the other day? If so then surely she would be home in "jug" time lol. It is so sunny and calm today which is lovely, and we have a nice couple in for B&B from Ireland so all in all a very nice day. Is Baker your dog? we had a lovely female BC called Hana up until she died in april 2010 :-(
    we would love another one, so maybe after our trip to Australia we will look to find one that needs rehoming :-)

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  3. You two love birds out together for a day and a stop at picnic point. I am thrilled all your flowers are starting to bloom, as I am starting to put mine away for the winter season. I swear I looked out my office window this morning and saw a snowflake. Just one, but that's not a good sign. So, I will count our you two for my fix these next few monthes.

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  4. So much lovely growth and colour, you should see it here, it's quite Autumnul now. We didn't get to the gardens you mentioned I'm afraid, can't do everything I guess!

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  5. Love those cliveas. They'd look lovely under two very large trees I have in my backyard. Dont the rest of the flowers look pretty. It must be Spring !

    I drove through Toowoomba once. It was a very lovely looking place.

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  6. Those are lovely flowers. Might it be cool enough there for your beloved daffodils? You could secretly plant some then go and visit them every year.
    What marvellous wide views too. You do have some stunning places there.

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  7. Stunning views - how chilly was chilly I wonder?!!! Pity you didn't get a coffee before that hair raising descent and trip home. Those flowers are beautiful and very different from our spring flowers which of course will be another 6 months in arriving!

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  8. I do like those spires of blue flowers, do you know what they're called? Hawthorn is called May here in England because - it flowers in May.With luck and warm weather the strong scent fills the air, too.

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