A final wrap-up from the Protect Our Land, Our Water rally

The NSW Farmers' Association, in particular, warrants enormous praise for "negotiating" this coalition of forces, not always an easy marriage, apparently. Hardly surprising.
Also, the Rally went of seamlessly. A little rowdy when Mr Stoner was speaking, but apart from that, a good humoured rally. Pretty amazing.

Fiona Simpson,
President of NSW Farmers' Association

The CWA was particularly well received by the Media and the public, as apparently it was their first ever "demonstration". As their own signs say, "Not just Tea and Scones". Indeed.

"Not just Tea and Scones"
The Country Women's Association.

More generally, congratulations to all participating groups, including (notably, as far as this email distribution is concerned) RiversSOS and the local Coal and CSG opponent groups, and the Nature Conservation Council, National Parks Association,  Wilderness Society. 

Kim, a founding member of our
Australian Water Campaigners group,
and the Shoo Cockatoo group.
A supporter of RiversSOS as well.

In my own list of photos I have attempted to identify the participating "regions" - from whence the various people carrying the signs came.

Southern Highlands Coal Action Group.

Such a clear message.
Love it.

Pat and Barry
RiversSOS members and NPA members.

Maureen, (from Victoria) and I carried signs on behalf of Bimblebox. Cannot say we made a huge impact (because the crowd was so huge) but certainly people were keen to ask "where's Bimblebox?" and "what's that all about?" At that point it was easy - mention Clive Palmer's and they understand. Clive's name really resonates with the environmentalists - its a great "sales pitch" (unfortunately).

Here are the major TV news reports.

Channel 9 - http://youtu.be/AfUb3-ekSQw

Channel 7 - http://youtu.be/FiXCBHobj80

ABC 2 (NSW) - http://youtu.be/CS9Honnm8zs

Channel 10 - http://youtu.be/-SBJQaZL7fI

Ali Dee's photos. Possibly not accessible for everyone.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3882618905682.2162374.1285134243&type=1

Two of my photos albums from yesterday.

https://picasaweb.google.com/113268294402913437731/ProtectOurLandOurWaterRally

https://picasaweb.google.com/113268294402913437731/ProtectOurLandOurWaterRallyAlbumPart2

Kate Ausburn's photo gallery (also a Facebook Album - so possibly not accessible to everyone.)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150680131462315.383939.580242314&type=3

The Wilderness Society (NSW Branch) photos (mostly of their own team).
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150789715294395.425096.161882069394&type=1

The NSW Farmers Association gallery
http://www.nswfarmers.org.au/srlup1/home

Can't Eat Coal, Can't Drink Gas - reporting the event

Some people have been busy uploading their images from today's rally in Sydney against Coal Seam Gas. Unfortunately, my images are still inside my phone, as I do not have the Mini-USB (or is it a Micro-USB?) device I need in order to download a bunch of images. Hopefully I can get one tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I will rely on links to other people's images.


This video is good - it shows the large number of people well, and with sound it presents the atmosphere better than still images.


These images cover the main part of the rally, although I am heartbroken I am not visible in any of images. ;-)) I guess that just shows how many people were present, that I could hide amongst them, all. By the way, the Banners and Posters are great, as often they show where the people are from. That's important.


It was a good natured rally, and its good for people from all across NSW and some Queenslanders (facing the front line of the same battle) to meet and share experiences.


Tim Duddy spoke well, on behalf of the Caroona Farmers. We wish him well next weekend as a candidate for the Upper Hunter.
Cate Faehrmann was particularly forthright in her comments - good on you Cate.
Bev Smiles gave a good rallying speech too.

It was good to see Rob Oakeshott there - the Federal member for Lyne, whose electorate includes the Gloucester area, which is part of the Manning River Catchment. Amanda was pleased to see him there, as I know she has been knocking on his door in recent months. Good on you, Amanda.


The Mudgee people and their neighbours at Bylong (and the famous "Costa" who told me he grew up in Bylong) were there today. Costa certainly looks the part of a genuine "Bushie" in the "Driza-bone". The Hunter Environment mob were very well represented. Good to see Colin and Julia there, and Lance Batey and Jan Davis and heaps more I did not know. The Gloucester/Stroud people were there, as well. Gloucester Shire Councillor Julie Lyford spoke very well. Rod and Robin (the GRIP team) and Amanda Albury were there as well.


Notable absentees? The Labor Party and the Liberal Party and the Nationals. Tells you something, I think.


But, for those who might be concerned about an apparent Green political bias in the crowd - yes, probably to some extent (but you have to remember who has offered the most support for the Rivers SOS and anti-coal mining movement over the last 5 years. But, for the record, it was it was definitely NOT JUST A GREENS event.


Rivers SOS campaigners were scattered throughout the crowd, (Caroline Graham and Betty and myself travelled up together on the train). We met Dave Burgess and Sharyn Cullis on the way to the event. Graham Brown spoke well, too, which is good as he has great "cred", as a former Coal Miner. He is convinced by Newcastle Uni research that alternative energy sources are available, and that the jobs created in "alternatives" would outweigh jobs lost in mining - almost straight away. Way to go, Graham!

What heavy rain looks like.

I know lots of people have had heavy rain recently (at least in NSW).
But I had to chuckle (just a bit) at the reports of apparent torrential rain in the northern and northern beach suburbs of Sydney last night. They got close to 100 mm, and in some cases, most of that fell within an hour. That can make for a messy situation, I do understand. But to listen to the ABC radio this morning, one would have thought it was the end of the earth.

Society needs to understand that we need to build to match the conditions. And with Climate Change, our weather "events" are become more and more extreme.

Roofs of nightclubs and supermarkets which collapse under such rain are simply not built adequately, or more likely, their drainage is not adequately maintained. But somehow, "God" is supposedly to blame. I disagree. Poor foresight by planners, and builder shortcuts and lousy or even corrupt Council admistration and the inspection and/or approvals process is where I would lay the blame.

I hope Tony Kelly MP, NSW Minister for Planning, and Frank Sartor MP, NSW Minister for Climate Change and the Environment, are reading.

Anyway, as the weather is against me, still, I thought I would publish two photos of what real Robertson rain looks like.
This is the normal view from the back deck. The Power Pylon, just visible in the distance (about 600 metres away) will be familiar to regular readers. Strangely, the rain was coming from a light coloured sky. It was definitely not a thunder storm - which is why it managed to keep going for so many hours on Thursday of last week. It was genuinely post-cyclonic rain, the remains of a cyclone washing down the Queensland and then the NSW coast. When these low pressure cells arrive over the Illawarra Escarpment, they seem to intensify again. The effect are accentuated, of course, by our proximity to the coast, and our altitude.
It is as if the hills of Robertson reach up their claws and tear the rain out of the clouds. That's what it feels like, to me, anyway.

It has been raining in Robertson

It has been raining in Robertson since Monday. We had 10 mm on Monday, 40 mm by Tuesday morning and it was pissing down (a technical term in Robertson for heavy rain) when I left Robbo this afternoon. It is so good to see, as the local creeks have been bone dry, recently.

I am now in Sydney for the launch tomorrow of the Australian Water Network by Maude Barlow. This will be a private event for prospective members only, at this stage. But we hope that a number of friends will gather with us, to "launch the good ship AWN".

Maude will be with us tomorrow, as our international Patron, seeing as she is national chairperson of The Council of Canadians and founder of the Blue Planet Project. She has been appointed the first UN Senior Advisor on water issues by Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd session of the United Nations.

Storm at sundown - leads to sharp frost at midnight.

Monday evening saw a very loud thunderstorm roll up from out of the Kangaroo Valley. I was sufficiently alarmed to turn off the Computer and TV.
Eventually the storm passed over, and I heard on the radio, about an hour later, that it had dumped a bucket of rain on Wollongong, and was heading into the southern suburbs of Sydney. It was a fast moving storm. We are exactly 100 Km from Sydney (directly - according to the Bureau's Radar Map - which has a neat distance measuring device on it).
Just after Midnight, Lena needed to go out for a wee. She was keen, at first, then stopped on the front verandah, and looked back in some alarm. I went out myself, and realised that the temperature had plummeted. I could hear the frost on the ground crunching under my feet. That is a sound I remember from my days in Canberra.

I grabbed the camera, and obtained this image of a sharp frost on the much cover over the soil - taken with flash, of course. You can see the pinkish red shoots of the herbaceous Peonies (hybrid varieties) at the top of the image.
I imagine there will be a very white frost in the morning. I know Lena will be reluctant to go out then. As we got some rain before the sky cleared off, we will probably have a bit of permafrost, with ice crystals lifting up small stones and the very friable soil here. Brrrrr! Chilly, but pretty.

Doing nothing - is it honourable or dishonourable?

Today I have a difficult task. I wish to discuss the politics of doing (or saying) nothing.

My first example is from the Beijing Olympics - and it is a comment on the way in which the Chinese People (there are so many of them they deserve a Capital P) are quietly protesting about the Beijing Olympics - by staying away in their droves. The mainstream media have noticed the numbers of empty seats but have not realised its full significance - as a slap in the face for the over-arching authoritarianism of the Regime in China.

Here is a little Haiku I wrote to commemorate their "passive resistance" - an example of doing nothing as a Political statement.

SIXTY THOUSAND EMPTY SEATS
WILT UNDER YOUR OPPRESSIVE GAZE.
LETTUCE LIES LIMP ON PLATE.

My second example is a local body, the Upper Nepean Groundwater Community Representative Group. This group has submitted two excellent, detailed reports. One has been published by the SCA, but buried deep with the SCA's Website. I have personally republished it. The other has not yet been responded to. That has been re-published by Leon Hall, one of the CRG members, via the Robertson Environment Protection Society website. I am glad that Leon has done that.

Some of these people have (individually) done good work as a way of providing a feedback to the local community about what the Sydney Catchment Authority has been doing with the Kangaloon Aquifer.

However, I must ask, why has this body has been so passive, and inactive, at a time when the most crucial decisions about the Aquifer are about to be made? The CRG has gone missing. According to the SCA website, they have not met since 26 November 2007 - but that cannot be right, as I know they met to finalise their submission on the Environment Assessment, in May 2008. The fact that the SCA has not bothered to publish the CRG Minutes tells you something, though. And the CRG is not demanding further meetings, or even for the records to be updated. Is this a case of simply not rocking the boat?

The SCA is preparing its final submission to the Dept of Planning under the Part 3A legislation. Supposedly it will be a "Preferred Plan" which would appear to be a shifting of at least part of the Borefield into the heartland of Kangaloon - the rich red basalt soil country which has been the home of the local dairy industry for a hundred years. This is some of the most productive land in the State. No environmental studies have been conducted on the forest type involved. It seems incredible. I have personally raised this with several of the members of the CRG, and they just say: "Oh, that can't be right". Well, I am here to tell you that it is right. I have checked with the Environmental Consultants whose job it ought to have been to do such studies, and they said: "It was not part of our Brief".

I have emailed my concerns to the majority of members of the CRG (I do not have email addresses for all of them) - and have had not a single response from any of them.

What about sticking up for the local Dairy Farmers? The SCA have even been trying to buy up their water licences, for heavens sake. That would directly put these farmers out of business- and not just for now, but for all future generations of their families. This has been reported in the local Media, and is well understood by many members of the CRG.

What is the CRG doing about this threat to the livelihood of the community?
Nothing. Nada, SFA.

So, by contrast with the Chinese people staying away from the Olympics as a kind of passive resistance, the CRG is just doing nothing. They are not lobbying behind the scenes. They are deluding themselves that the crisis for the Aquifer is over. It is not.

So, back to the theme of the day:
In my opinion, doing nothing can be honourable, or dishonourable.
Passive resistance in the face of an oppressive regime, can be seen as honourable.
Inaction because it seems there is no immediate crisis to address, or else, perhaps you believe the task is beyond your power to control, or because you have simply not thought about it enough - that is, in my opinion, dishonourable silence.

It is time for the members of the CRG to shake off their lethargy, and stand up to counted. It is now or never for the Kangaloon Aquifer. Please convene a meeting, and demand to be briefed on the SCA's "preferred plan" before it is submitted to the Dept of Planning. For after it is submitted it will be too late.

The community needs you to fulfil this role - it is after all, what you have undertaken to do. The Community needs you to recall your title - Community Reference Group.

Camellias - for a change.

These flowers will be recognisable to most readers, at least in terms of their size. No microscopic flowers to day, I promise. They are all Camellias - mostly are in a group known as "Williamsii hybrids". One was bred in Australia, by Professor Waterhouse. There are two exceptions, which are old European varieties of Camellia japonica.

The first of these old varieties is known as "roma risorta". It is a lovely flower in "formal double" shape, with red flecks over a pale pink background. Unlike some plants with variegated flowers, this plant is a lovely healthy plant.
The second "old" variety is "Dona Herzilia de Freitas Magalhaes". Please do not dispute the name, it is so frequently misspelled that I can do no better than refer to the checklist of Camellia varietal names from the International Camellia Society. It is NOT "Donna Hertzilia.... " OK?

This Camellia is a Robertson special, because, when grown in normal soil, it is a dull red plant. When grown in Robertson's rich red basalt soil, the plant fades to purple, as it ages. This is apparently because of the low pH readings of the soil here (highly acidic soil). From the first spring season in which I lived in Robertson I wanted to grow this plant, for it can become truly spectacular. Now I have smallish plant established. I have to decide in a few weeks if I need to transplant this and many other Camellias, for when I first planted them I had very little protected garden space, so I planted them at the spacings I would have used in my former garden, in Canberra. But Camellias grow far more strongly here in Robertson than they ever would in Canberra. So, my plants are too close together, and too close to the house.
The next plant is one of which I am no longer sure of the true name. I believe it to be the species Camellia saluensis. If it is correctly named, then it is the parent of an important group of hybrid Camellias known as "Williamsii hybrids". That is an old phrase, which according to newer nomenclature rules ought not be used, as the name "Williamsii" comes not from a plant, but from the person who owned the plants which were hybridised - Camellia japonica and Camellia saluensis.

That was an important cross, for the Saluensis parent plant brought a degree of hardiness which helped growers overcome a limiting factor of lack of cold tolerance in the original Camellia japonica plants. It also helped add a particular silver/pink tone into many of the resultant hybrids. So, this plant was responsible for a "colour break" in Camellias, introducing a delicacy in the range of pink and lilac-pink shades which the true "Japonicas" did not include.

This next flower is Camellia "Brian", which according to the books, is a Williamsii x reticulata hybrid Camellia. It is one of my favourites, showing that elusive lilac pink shade of which I have just written. Another feature of the Williamsii hybrids (which I like) is that as the flowers age, they drop from the plant. So you always have a clean plant, without old, dead flowers hanging on the bush. And now for an oddity, which is Camellia "Jamie", which is classed as a Williamsii hybrid, because it was found as a chance seedling growing under Dr Waterhouse's original plant of Camellia saluensis. Its pollen parent is not known. However, coming from Camellia saluensis, it is classed amongst the Williamsii hybrids.

It is a totally atypical Williamsii hybrid, however, for the reason you can see - it is a pure scarlet red. A most amazing plant - and not carrying any of the typical delicate pink shades of which I have just written. Its foliage is fine, and slightly "toothed" in a manner typical of the Williamsii hybrids.
The main known fact about this plant is its historical provenance. It was bred in Professor Waterhouse's garden, Eryldene, in Gordon, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. It was named by Professor Waterhouse himself for one of his grandchildren. Professor Waterhouse founded the Camellia Grove Nursery, originally at St Ives, from where I bought this particular plant. It hardly gets more direct than that, does it?

Save Water Alliance won Award

Much to our amazement, last night the Save Water Alliance won an award from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) in the category of "Member Group Award" - for the most outstanding community group campaign of 2008.
Anyway, the background is that Bernard Eddy, our Vice-Chairman, has been liaising with the ladies from the Nature Conservation Council for a long time, and also the Wilderness Society, and the Environment Defender's office. So these key environmental campaigners are well aware of the Save Water Alliance's efforts.

Anyway a few weeks ago, the key NCC Secretariat people came down to have a look at the Kangaloon Aquifer, and Bernie and I, and Leon Hall from REPS, showed them around the general area.

While we were touring the district, Mithra from the NCC, happened to find 3 four-leafed Clovers. We figured that was a good omen. We now find out that it was indeed a lucky symbol for us.The NCC Secretariat, led by Kate Faehrmann, then put up an automatic response email system for responding to the Dept of Planning re the Kangaloon Aquifer Environment Assessment (via their website).

Then, unbeknown to me, Bernie nominated me for an individual award (which was nice of him). So he and I decided to go along to their Awards Night event, in Sydney, last night. Expecting nothing, I was not surprised to be "passed over" in the individual awards event (in favour of Doug Lithgow, from Newcastle who has been lobbying for 35 years for things in and around Newcastle and who has personally got Nobby's Lighthouse protected (from everything including the Pasha Bulker). So he was a well deserved winner.

But then we discovered that the Save Water Alliance (along with 6 other groups) had been nominated by the NCC secretariat . And lo and behold, we were awarded the prize by the judges (the NCC Committee).

David, (with his cow), with Paul Stephenson,
Mayor of Goulburn, and (at the time) Independent Candidate for the local NSW seat.
Bernie is working the phone on the far left of screen.
This was our our biggest publicity stunt, in Bowral last year.
we have also held three Public Meetings - two in Robertson and one in Bowral (so far).

I would especially like to thank Bernie and Dorothy, Mim, Olivia, David, and Kim and Peter for their loyal and untiring support. And Gavan for his sage advice along the way, and Lucy for her encouragement and publicity support.

For me, the most invigorating part of the evening was simply being amongst 120 other people who were all true believers fighting for environmental causes (large and small) around NSW (and Australia).

It sometimes gets lonely here, fighting for a cause, and thinking that everybody is against us. So, it was great to "feel the joy" for a change.

Storm which hit Sydney started at Macquarie Pass.

I watched an amazing storm developing this afternoon. I drove out to the edge of Robertson, overlooking Macquarie Pass, to get a good look at it, before it really burst. Here is a link to the views from this same position, early in the evening, and at dawn. The views are amazingly different from tonight's storm.

Mt Macquarie, overlooking the Macquarie Pass, looks very imposing with a tiny patch of sunlight showing up the forest just underneath the cliff face. The white cloud was being whipped up and over the escarpment face. There were strong lightning bursts, every 3 or 4 minutes.
On the way back into Robbo, I listened to reports of water over the Princes Highway at Albion Park, then heavy downpours at Bellambi (northern Wollongong), and then it moved north, towards Sydney, 100 kilometres away. It took a little over an hour to get there.

This image shows a wall of water being dumped out of this thunderhead, over Albion Park and Dapto, just south of Wollongong. This was the peak intensity of the storm, from what I could see.
According to the Weather Bureau's website, tonight, Huntley Colliery (the other side of that bluff, at Mt Macquarie) reported 35 mm tonight, and Bellambi scored 46 mm of rain. Both from this single storm. Tonight the news reports are carrying stories of 100 Km per hour winds at Holdsworthy (southern edge of Sydney) and then it went to Blacktown, where people are still waiting to have their roofs repaired after the last big storm, in early December.

This is a panoramic image. Click to enlarge it, to see the "full picture" of this storm - it spans from Albion Park (under the clouds, far right) back to Mt Murray at the very far left of the picture. Wollongong is under the storm, in the middle of this image.
And this is what the local birds thought of it all. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) flew up out of the forests below the escarpment, heading north and west, away from the storm. Like the "Harpies" from a Greek tragedy, these birds were giving their full, drawn-out wailing cry. Very atmospheric.No sooner has these 3 birds flown past than a full flock (of 27 birds) flew up out from the valley below, also putting a lot of distance between themselves and the storm.

If you have ever seen these birds, you can possibly image how loud and ominous their combined 27 calls were. You can listen to the call by clicking here! Thanks to the "Birds in Backyards" website - from the Australian Museum (Sydney). The main site to the BiBY Bird Finder is permanently linked from the side bar of my blog.A very impressive ending to a very impressive storm.

POST-SCRIPT: The Illawarra Mercury has reported that the storm which I have witnessed here was caused by 3 separate storm cells merging.

• A merger of three storm cells south-west of Wollongong led to the extreme weather conditions across the Illawarra on Thursday afternoon.
• Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Chris Webb said that at 3pm on Thursday separate storm cells were recorded north of Nowra, south-west of Robertson and over Kiama.
• About 4pm the three cells came together around the Dapto area, resulting in strong winds, heavy rain and hail as the storm made its way north.

So there it is. You now know why this particular storm was so powerful. You can read the full report here.

Glenquarry Hall benefit concert

Yesterday, Sunday 25 November, the locals of Glenquarry put on their annual fund-raising concert at the Glenquarry Peace Memorial Hall (established 1919). It is a lovely hall, in bucolic surroundings, on the rolling hills of the basalt ridge which runs from Robertson to Mittagong. This spot is on the western end of Tourist Road. It is about 5Km from my regular stamping grounds along Tourist Road, Kangaloon.
There were dedicated local musicians, such as Bob McInnes present. Others came in from Wollongong (such as the group called "Crazy Creek"). Members of the audience came from Kangaroo Valley, as well as locals, and people from other areas of the Southern Highlands, and down towards Bargo.The a hall is a lovely country hall which dates from 1919, and is in good condition. The Musos love performing in this hall, because it has wooden floors, wooden walls and a lined ceiling. So its acoustics are terrific.
Some members of the crowd were inspired to do a bit of impromptu dancing, with the great music.

It was great to meet up again with some of the local people who had supported the work of the Save Water Alliance, in our campaign to protect the Kangaloon Aquifer. One of these people was the lady who drew the sign which became the Save Water Alliance T-Shirt design.
For it is in these very hills that the spring fed creeks begin, which flow down Menzies Creek, Doudle's Folly Creek and the Nepean River. It is also through this same area that the SCA transfers vast amounts of water from the Shoalhaven River, via the "Shoalhaven Transfers" scheme.

Shoalhaven Transfer water pouring into Menzies Creek, Glenquarry.

So, this peaceful area is right at the focal point of two different water schemes, both with significant environmental impacts. And why? To try to support the unsustainable use of water in Sydney. Its enough to make one angry!

But enough of that - the concert was a great success, on a lovely late-spring Sunday afternoon.

More Peonies open up in Robertson

Today was a nasty hot, windy day. Even by 7:30 a.m. it was hot and windy, and the Peonies were starting to pop open. I picked several of the herbaceous peonies, after taking a round of photos - to protect the flowers from being destroyed on their first day. My friend Lucy is looking after them for me.

I had to go to Liverpool Hospital this morning, for a P.E.T. scan. That meant asking David to drive me, as the instructions explicitly state that patients presenting for P.E.T. scans must be driven to the hospital by someone else, so that the patient is relaxed when they arrive. Apparently this is so that the muscles are relaxed, which otherwise masks the uptake of the glucose solution which they use as a "carrier" for the radioactive trace which is used for the test. Anyway, that was not much of an ordeal, but the drive back was very nasty, with strong winds buffetting all the traffic, including my little square, and "boxy" vehicle, which is susceptible to cross-winds. We made it back, all right, fortunately. But the weather was very unpleasant - hot as hell in Sydney - and this is just mid-October. Already there was a bushfire on the Illawarra escarpment today. Just as well it was on the east side of the catchment, for otherwise, the westerly winds today would have driven a fire right across the Catchment area, and nothing could have stopped it. Anyway, back to Peonies.

*****

Here is the first flower of the famous Coral Charm. This flower is slightly imperfect in form, unfortunately. It might open more evenly. It is showing the lightness of colour, which becomes more and more evident as the flower ages (fades) to a delicious pale creamy pink.
Here is the first flower of Paula Fay - just about to open properly. Strangely this flower did not react to the hot weather as much as Coral Charm did - for when I left this morning CC was still a tight bud, but by the time I got back, it had opened up (as you can see above). Paula Fay has a distinct bluish tinge to the flower, in contrast to Coral Charm. The next flower is Coral Fay, which you first saw in Sunday's posting. It looks different today, because of the brilliant morning light, and two days of age on the flower. Compare the two photos, for interest sake. Look at the earlier photo again here.

Coral Fay (this plant) and Paula Fay (above) were both introduced by the same grower, (Orville Fay) in America, from seeds collected in a monastery garden, but the plants do not appear to be closely related. Both have Paeonia peregrina in their breeding, but the flower above shows more influence of P. lactiflora, whereas Coral Fay (below) shows strong evidence of its P. tenuifolia origins visible in both its bright red colour, and especially in the finely divided foliage.
And now for something completely different. This is the lovely "Good Lady" - a hybrid Tree Peony bred in Melbourne by Dr Bernard Chow, a famous Tree Peony breeder. This is the flower seen in the very early morning light, as soon as it had opened. After one day of exposure to light, the flower was already showing a considerable colour shift to a lovely soft lilac pink. It is always amazing the tone shifts which this flower achieves. And it will change more in the next few days, as you will see. It has another strong characteristic, and that is the plant is a good strong grower, with lovely healthy foliage. I love this plant. Not only is it "different", it is just a truly charming flower.

500 posts, plus, Sydney Male Choir visits Robertson.

To my amazement, the Blogger system tells me I have published 500 posts. Goodness me - that makes it sound as if I have built a long fence line. I hope it has brought some interest to some of you. I have enjoyed the experience, at least. Thanks to the regular readers (from around the world) and for the comments passed by friends I meet around the village.

*****

Today the Sydney Male Choir came to Robertson, and the new hall at St John's Anglican Church, on Meryla Street, was filled with an enthusiastic crowd.Here the MC, Kevin Burg introduces the Sydney Male Choir, and the conductor, Alan Thrift, and the pianist, Lindsay Christian.
The first soloist, Adrian West, sang a song from Brigadoon "Through the Heather on the Hill".After the interval, the Choir came back "sans jackets", in view of the rising temperature in the hall, packed with people.
Winston sang a beautiful song "Bui Doi", from Miss Saigon. The song was about the mixed race children born in Vietnam, as a result of the Vietnam War. The audience enjoyed the performance, and at the end, Robert Goldsack thanked the Choir, and invited them to come back to Robertson again next year. That suggestion was enthusiastically endorsed by the audience.

Knight's Hill - a view to live for.

Instead of the platitudinal phrase: "a view to die for" why do we not use the positive sounding "A view to live for"?

This is certainly appropriate for a friend's property at Knight's Hill, overlooking the Illawarra coastal plain, all the way to Wollongong. Lake Illawarra is in the centre of the photo, just this side of the Ocean. The hills behind Wollongong are visible on the left. They are the main hills of the Illawarra Escarpment, of which Knight's Hill is the southern limit.

I am advised that, at night, one can see the lights of planes taking off from Mascot Airport, at Sydney, from this property. That would be approximately 90 Kms away.
There is, just below the cliff edge, a large plant of the Rock Orchid (Rock Lily) (Dendrobium speciosum). I need to go back and check this plant, for it might be the recently described Illawarra Rock Orchid - which (apparently) has paler flowers than the Sydney plant, and a slightly different flower structure.In case you did not see the Orchid flowers, (they are there in the photo above - go back and have another look), here they are (severely cropped).

I am sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but I was suffering a severe case of vertigo when taking this image, so I did not hang around the cliff edge too long. I had to go back from the edge, and sit down.

Here is another vertigo-inducing photo location - taken from the rock edge. In the green paddock below the hill is the next power stanchion - possibly a kilometre away. It is a mighty span of cable, below this point.
Here is another rock-loving Orchid - the tiny Dockrillia striolatum (formerly Dendrobium striolatum). It is growing in tiny crevices in a large rock, right on the edge of this massive sandstone rock which is the very top of the abrupt cliff face. And here is a specimen flower - just to prove that it is really an Orchid that I was showing you.
And here is a more normal form of Orchid - for this blog - a Ground Orchid. This one is the familiar Tiger Orchid, also known as a Donkey Orchid. It is one of a complex group of the Diuris family. As far as I can work out, this is Diuris suphurea. It is the first one I have seen this season - but I heard of one flowering at Burrawang, (close to Robertson), ten days ago.