Friday 22 September 2017

Toowoomba - a city of colour, but so brown.

Wednesday 20 September 

This week is the annual Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. The Hungry Hikers made a visit on Wednesday. Whilst the gardens, given our drought conditions, were a spectacular blaze of colour, it was alarming to see the depth and extent of the brown, from this lack of rain. The farms across the Lockyer Valley were brown and desolate. In Toowoomba the images were repeated unless we were visiting a display garden or park.

Showers and thunderstorms were forecast for this afternoon. It appears only one or two areas were fortunate enough to have any rain fall. Tomorrow the temperatures are set to rise well into the 30's C.
It is worrying that this scenario covers most of Queensland and New South Wales. In March inches and inches fell, causing devastating flooding. There has been nothing since.

Congratulations to the owners of the carnival gardens. They were magnificent. Their water bills will be high.

I didn't think to take a pic of a brown suburban street, but these 2 images tell the brown story. These fields were beside winning gardens.


Our first port of call for the day was a return visit to Spring Bluff Railway Station, halfway up the range to Toowoomba. It was wonderful, but not quite as colourful as on our visit last year. Many trees and plants were still coming into bloom.




We were excited to see not only one, but two trains come through. The first a long coal train.

The second was a carnival train with 350 passengers descending to enjoy the beauty. These three  men were volunteer railway workers for the week. 

Top L - the passenger train arriving.
Bottom pics - the engine re-positioning.

This garden inscription seemed very appropriate to start my photographic journey in Toowoomba. It was seen in the garden of an 86 year old entrant.


Cottage garden 1.




Cottage garden 2.




These flowers were created from beer bottle caps.

And hi back to you!

Sorry, no time to join you in a cuppa.


Cottage garden 2's neighbour.


 The garden of the lovely 86 year old woman.

Laurel Bank Gardens - one of few parks with green grass.



This beautiful peacock had been an entry in the carnival parade on Saturday.








The botanical gardens section of a very dry, brown Queens Park.

A lovely nook for a coffee and cake before our drive home.

 A wondrous day. Please let the rain the rain fall long and heavily very soon.

17 comments:

  1. I'm dizzy from all that colour. Must have been hard work to keep the gardens looking so good in such dry weather. Hopefully the rains will fall soon

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    1. The lightning from the storm was a magnificent production, when it eventually passed over here, but only a few drops fell.

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  2. Oh such joy to see all of those wonderous blooms. The scents must have been amazing. I think I may have spotted a sculpture of Prunella with her sunglasses on!!
    Amazing sculptures and I agree they must use a lot of water to keep all of the flowers and shrubs in such pristine condition. Sad you haven't had some rain.
    Thank you for sharing these amazing images. You gals certainly know how to have a great time.
    Enjoy your weekend Helen :)

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    1. I thought the 'sculpture' reminded me of someone. Prunella's fame is spreading around the world.

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    2. Hi Helen, hope you're having a fantastic weekend. It's been beautifully warm here especially for an Autumn's day.
      In answer to your question.
      To make the gifs you need to upload your photos to google photos and then hit the create button. It animates your photos for you just as it will create mosaics. Have fun :)

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  3. I remember the wonderful train station from last year. I really liked the peacock and the engine.... Great pictures. Great trip.

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  4. Oh the color is so lovely! What fun to walk around and see all these dazzling gardens. Your brown lawns look like our area right now. After a wet winter and spring, we didn't get a drop of rain from mid-June until last weekend.

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    1. It certainly was. The seasons are definitely out of whack!

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  5. Wow - all those flowers are just beautiful! Hope you get some rain soon.

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  6. Drought conditions! I hope that you don't have a bad fire season!

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    1. We have just received a fire alert. Our area is on severe, like most of our state. The weather conditions over the next few days are not good.

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  8. We have been in drought conditions for a couple of months, so we have been so thankful for 2.75" of nice, gentle rain today. It will be so helpful in getting our wheat planted. A blessing indeed! I'll hope the same for you, too!

    The gardeners have certainly not spared the water bill to produce those magnificent flowers. WOW! It's a feast for the eyes. I also loved the quote on the garden stone. As always, thanks for sharing the beauty, Helen.

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    1. Thrilled for your rainfall. Sincerely hope more follows soon.

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