The fascination of king tides ...

Last Friday we ventured over to our city's beautiful bayside district of Wynnum-Manly to see the king tide which proved to be an interesting spectacle.  Bear in mind that this extra high king tide only occurs in daylight about once a year!!  Lota Creek, at one end of the esplanade drive swelled on to the low-lying road sides.  Along the fore-shore, much of the familiar vegetation was just peeping out of the high water like little islands. 

Wynnum Manly foreshore - king tide 14 Dec 2012

At the northern end, the 530m long Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk was a mere 30cm above the encroaching water level and the wind was stirring it up into a choppy salty muddy soup!  

We had intended to walk the full circuit but to our amazement, the boardwalk track was completely cut off by the unusually high water line!!  Oh well ... perhaps another time. Upon our return, I was lucky enough to spot what I am fairly certain was a Collared Kingfisher (sometimes referred to as the 'Mangrove Kingfisher' or 'White-collared Kingfisher'.  I'm no expert though, so I'm happy to stand corrected on this.

Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk

  Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk - king tide 14 Dec 2012

?? Collared Kingfisher

?? Collared Kingfisher

Maritime Safety Queensland have a very good chart;  Highest Tides for Year 2012 that is useful to compare the heights along the major coastal regions.

Native Grasses

Dianella caerulea 'Blue Flax Lilly'

Native grasses are successful plants because of the way in which they grow: from the base of the plant rather than from the top. This means if grass is burned or eaten or walked on it is able to grow again easily from the bottom. They have long, thin leaves so they don't lose moisture quickly, and their deep, thin roots help them to survive dry periods.

Grasses and strappy plants in a variety of colours and shapes can be used in the Aussie native habitat garden to provide food and shelter for our backyard wildlife such as insects, small marsupials, reptiles and ground-dwelling birds.

In recent times some new ornamental native grasses have been developed for the landscape and home garden use and these have become very popular due to their aesthetic appeal, denser foliage and ability to be used in mass plantings. These new varieties still have the quick establishment characteristics of the common native grasses and provide a quick and easy landscape planting.

These are some of the grass plants that I am growing with success in my Brisbane sub-tropics garden ~

•  Poa labillardieri 'Large Tussock grass'
• Dianella caerulea 'Blue Flax Lilly'
• Ficinia nodosa 'Knobby Clubrush'
• Lomandra longifolia 'Spiny Mat Rush'
• Lomandra glauca 'Blue Ridge' 
• Lomandra filiformis 'Lyrebird'
• Lomandra fluviatilis 'Shara'
• Lomandra confertifolia rubiginosa 'Crackerjack'
• Juncus ursitatus 'Common Rush'

Native grasses are  extremely adaptable to varying conditions and prove very useful in filling up the under-storey of a bush garden.

Location - Brisbane Botanical Gardens at Mt Cootha

Lomandra 'Tilga' at Brisbane Botanical Gardens - Mt Cootha

Lomandra 'Blue Ridge' at Brisbane Botanical Gardens - Mt Cootha

Lomandra filiformis 'Lyrebird'

Young Poa with seed heads

Poa labillardieri 'Large Tussock Grass'

Lomandra longifolia 'Spiny-head Mat-rush'

Ficinia nodosa 'Knobby Clubrush' (one of my favourites)

This post has been linked to OUR WORLD TUESDAY

Xanthorrhoea 'Grass Tree'

I think it's fair to say that the Xanthorrhoea 'Grass Tree' epitomises the Australian landscape and that every Aussie plant enthusiast yearns to own at-least one of these in their garden!! Xanthorrhoea is native to Australia and apparently there are 28 species and five subspecies.

I have the X.johnsonii in my front garden and I've had it about 4 or 5 years now.  It produced it's first flower spike within a year of planting it and since then I've had a flower every year, but this year there were two flower spikes!

While they do grow slowly, apparently short trunks (about 10cm) and leaf crowns of up to 1.5m (to the top of the leaves) can be achieved in 10 years. That means I only have to wait 6 more years!!

Gibraltar National Park, NSW
This massive Grass Tree must be hundreds of years old !!

 Two flower spikes on my X.johnsonii in 2012

I had left the old spike from the previous year on the plant, so that as you can see, 
it made a nice contrast with the new blooms. 

This post has been linked to OUR WORLD TUESDAY

  

Lamington National Park

Camping in a tent can be easier than you think !!  We recently stayed in an on-site 'safari tent' for 3 nights at Binna Burra - Rainforest Campsite (one hr drive from Brisbane).  It was great and best of all, it's just a stones throw from the entrance to the magnificent Lamington National Park!!  

Our Safari Tent at Binna Burra Rainforest Campground

They are furnished with pine beds and mattresses, table and chairs, timber floors, screened opening windows, lighting and your own private veranda with rainforest or Numinbah Valley views. Each cabin has its own fire pit, and wood is available to buy from the Lodge. BYO linen, blankets and pillows or hire the lot.

Lamington National Park covers 20 590 ha and boasts extensive walking tracks along the McPherson Range, which allow visitors to explore the area's forests, creeks and waterfalls.

  

Lamington is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, which includes the most extensive areas of subtropical rainforest in the world.

The Gondwana area, originally listed in 1986 to cover rainforests in New South Wales, was extended in 1994 to include rainforests on the Queensland side of the border.  Gondwana meets three of the four natural criteria for listing:

• represents a major stage of the earth's evolutionary history
• is an outstanding example of ongoing ecological and biological processes.
• contains the most important natural habitats for conserving biological diversity.

Protected areas in this property include Lamington, Springbrook, Mt Barney and Main Range National Parks. An estimated 2 million people a year visit this World Heritage area.

Lewins Honeyeater

Eastern Whipbird

Satin Bower Bird (female)

I'm not a practiced birder so I was quite chuffed to capture the Eastern Whipbird and the Female Satin Bowerbird which incidentally were both taken only metres from our camp-site.

I really liked this location and would love to return again whether it's with our own tent or staying in an on-site safari tent. Either way, it's a lovely place to wind down and also very close to home!!  

To read more on the nature, culture and history of Lamington National Park, click here !!

More fascinating wild birds from around the world can be seen at Wild Bird Wednesday

Australasian Figbird

This handsome male Australasian Figbird [Sphecotheres vieilloti] that frequented my garden was often accompanied by it's female companion, but she was too evasive for the camera.  

The Figbird lives in rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, but is often found in urban parks and gardens, particularly those with figs and other fruit-producing trees.

There is an extremely large Australian Lillipilli tree [Syzygium] growing on our side boundary and because it was prolific with its berry fruit at the time, we were seeing quite a lot of this Figbird. This is the second year in a row it has returned for the tree's fruiting season.

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You can see more magnificent birds at Wild Bird Wednesday.

Brisbane Botanical Gardens - Mt Cootha

 

   

  

Melaleuca 'Reeves Pink'

These photos were taken during a recent excursion with members of the SGAP Qld (Society for Growing Australian Plants) to the Brisbane Botanical Gardens at Mt Cootha. They have an extremely large Australian Plant Communities section which includes a Grevillea Garden, Lake Walk and Rainforest Walk.
  

The Grevillea garden was a riot of colour!! There were some incredible Melaleuca specimens also!!  Unfortunately, I can't remember the names of all the species that I photographed, but here are several of them. Enjoy ... I know I did !! 

Grevillea 'Bird Song'