November flowers

The tibouchina is in bloom.

And a beautiful rose, a gift from my mother.

Here are some of the exquisite flowers in bloom right now. 

Peach Blossom

Plum Blossom

Magnolia

A furry Magnolia pod. And, yes, the sky really is that blue.

Dawn

Dawn is such a peaceful time of day. We are in the habit of waking just before the sun rises so that we can watch the sky flood with colour and light, and listen to the morning chorus of birds. The calls of whip birds, kookaburras, magpies, butcher birds, finches, honeyeaters and more echo through the bush. From our vantage on top of the mountain, we can see over the tops of the eucalypts, down to Gold Coast and the sea beyond. Here are a few photos of this morning's gold and silver dawn.

Fruit and Vegetables

The produce up here is great! Every Sunday morning the local organic growers' sell their produce at the Green Shed markets. We get up bright and early to buy our week's worth of goodies and we are always amazed by the freshness and the diversity of the harvest.

Bounty - some from the markets, some from our garden

Here's some tomatoes and greens growing at the Community Gardens.

Scarecrow Festival

I live in such a quirky place! There seems to be something of interest around every corner. The third annual Tamborine Mountain Scarecrow Festival was held in late June. We followed the 'scarecrow trail' to see some fantastic scarecrows. Here's a few of them.

Scarecrow and dog

Tin scarecrow

Fence scarecrow

Scarecrow made of flowers

More Birds

Here are some more bird images, taken from our back verandah.

Bar-shouldered Dove pair

Crimson Rosella

Little Wattlebird

Birds

The birdlife up here is incredible. Here's a few photos, taken within a couple of minutes of each other. I simply stood on the back deck before breakfast, pointed and shot (so to speak). I'll post more as I capture them.

Rainbow Lorikeets.

Lewin's Honeyeater.

 

Blue-faced Honeyeater.

Eastern Spinebill.

Eastern Spinebill feasting.

Tamborine Mountain

Here I am on Tamborine Mountain. We have moved to a wonderful house on the eastern escarpment of the mountain, looking out over the bush, the Gold Coast and the Pacific Ocean. The flora and fauna here are absolutely magical. We have a delightful garden surrounding the house, with many bird-attracting plants, trees, flowers, ferns, fruit trees, herbs and vegetables. I am so enamoured with it all, this blog may well become more about the garden than my creative endeavours.
Here is a photograph of the first flowers picked from the garden.

A Gordonia tree sits outside the bedroom window and another beside the verandah. The Gordonia, otherwise known as fried egg plant for its vast white flowers and bright yolk-yellow centre, attracts both birds and bees by their hundreds. At dawn, the tree becomes a hive of activity. Birds of different genus flock to the Gordonia to feast on the nectar, and bees, often two or three in each flower, to collect pollen. Here's a photo of a bee at work.

Also exciting is the amazing quality of the produce that is being grown up here. Tamborine Mountain is rich in red volcanic soil, ideal for growing a plethora of fruit and vegetables. We have started going to the Green Shed markets early every Sunday, to buy fresh, locally grown and mostly organic food. I will tell you more about these markets in a later post. Here is a photo of a fruit and cheese platter that we shared on the weekend, made from the local fruit, Witches Chase goat cheese made here on the mountain, and organic chicken balls left over from a soup I made earlier in the week. So good.