Spring Down Under the Australian Way

The colours, the fragrances and the texture.  They may be a little different to our British cousins, but The Australian native flower is equally as beautiful, if a little less honoured around these parts.  Out here in the antipodes, we have tended to fill our gardens and vases with exotic flowers from Europe and neglected the beauty of what is in our own 'backyard' so to speak.  I am as guilty of that as the next person.  

Well the Festival of the Wildflower is putting and end to all that.  Last weekend we attended this free fete and it was a great day, jam packed with native flora and fauna, great indigenous culture and a chance to attune with nature right on the cusp of Spring.  As we draw in our belts, with a worsening economy that has hit boat building hard, we have been looking around for some inexpensive entertainment and I found this festival listed in the "free" section of the what's on guide in the Sydney Morning Herald.

So off we set with picnic basket and rug.......Mr Beach House was dragged along too, but he ended up having a great day.  He is hard to pin down if there is no sailing involved, but I insisted and as with all times when you expect very little, you are usually very pleasantly surprised.

We tasted bush tucker and as usual when there is food involved I forget about photography so sorry no shots of wattle seed pancakes or wild spinach and macadamia pesto.  But I did learn that if you stick a banksia or grevillea flower into a jug of water when the kids leave for school, then the nectar will have turned it to cordial upon their return.

We also went on a bush tucker walk and learnt where to find all this food in the natural environment and how to harvest and eat it.  We even learnt how to make bush rope, which from the looks of it,  Mr Beach House may use on his next sailing adventure.

Now that's strong!!!!!

But when Spring brings out the beautiful flora it also brings out the native fauna.  These diamond pythons are harmless tree dwellers, so I was OK when the kids got up close and personal, but I'm not looking forward to their poisonous cousins raising their heads....although I must say I haven't seen a dangerous snake in the wild  for over 10 years.

We did some serious pond dipping too but it was a little early in the season.  I think we had more luck in grandma's pond last week.

Oh how the Beach House Brats enjoyed their little brush with nature.

Have a great weekend everyone

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