#mallee

[ostracartderms]

Progura campestris, a pleistocene megapode bird calls to intimidate a varanid who is approaching where she has just buried her eggs

[dry-gold]

[syncarida]

Anyway here are my photos from gluepot

[classicjalopy]

The Long Way Euround – Day 2: Mallee region and Silo Art Trail

Today was the second day of our big Classic Mercedes road trip through NSW and Victoria.   Yesterday, we finished up in Cobram, Vic, after a day driving the windy roads of the Upper Murray Region.   Day 2 had the longest distance driving of the trip, so we woke up early. ready roll out by 6AM. The morning greeted us with grey skies and steady rain.   It didn't look good for our longest day behind the wheel.  A check of the rain radar showed the storm moving east and only scattered showers to the west of us, our direction of travel.

Sure enough, that proved to be the case.  The rain had largely finished by the time we hit our first stopping point in Echuca for breakfast.   We hit a local bakery, and I had an English Breakfast in a pie.  This mean a pie containing Egg, Bacon, Sausage and beans.   It worked much better than it sounds. This area was very lush and fertile, and there was a combination of olive groves and livestock as we drove along.    The roads were mostly straight and we just cruised admiring the scenery and seeing occasional glimpses of the Murray River as it meandered along.   All the cars were running well, with only the 380SEC suffering from a minor hot start issue, likely a fuel accumulator. From Echuca, we continued to follow the river, and left the main highway to take smaller roads that were far more interesting.   We stopped for a break tat Lake Charm, which was quite windy and then continued into Swan Hill to regroup.   At Swan Hill one of the guys produced a cake and some oranges which was a great way to take a break from the driving.

As we continued along the river from Swan Hill, the weather kept getting better, and the scenery continued to change.   The lush greenery gave way to red dirt and scrub.   The olive trees and sheep gave way to more and more wheat fields, as well as trees growing nuts. This was part of the trip was a gentle cruise with minimal traffic and interesting scenery that was slowly changing.   Our lunch destination was Robinvale, where after driving over 400km we stopped at a Vietnamese take out store.   The owner was a real character and he also owns the local Chinese restaurant.    By the time we hit Robinvale the weather was really good, and it was quite hot at 27C.    We refueled the cars, and since the morning involved very relaxed cruising, I got 13.7l/100km which is about as good as it gets in an ADR 450SLC. After Robinvale, we headed south towards the viewing Platform at Lake Tyrell.   The afternoon driving was quite different to the morning.   We were really in wheat country, with wheat as far as the eye could see.   The roads were empty and quite good, with lots of curves as they went around the various wheat fields.   The area was full of undulating hills, so the road had lots of ups and downs as well as the curves around the fields.    This was some of the best driving of the day.

We stopped for a break at Lake Tyrell and had a bit of a look around.   The scenery is quite good here, and it was well worth taking a short detour to see it. The rest of the afternoon was planned to follow part of the Silo Art Trail.   The Silo Art Trail is a collection of 15 grain silos in the Wimmera and Mallee area.   It covers 700km, and you could probably spend two days doing the whole thing.   We didn't do the whole Trail, but six of the silos that were generally on our way to Horsham, where we planned to finish for the day.

The first one we visited was the Sea Lake silo.  It has a vibrant mural of a little girl siting on a swing in a windswept area.   We stopped for a longer break here as this is one of the two we had identified as ideal for shooting some good photos of the cars with the silo in the background. The next one was at Lascelles.  This wasn't one of the Silos we had identified for a longer stop, but we ended up taking one anyway.  There was something eerie about this silo.  It was of a local Farmer and his wife.   The Farmer looked like had weathered a few too many droughts in his life, and the town of Lascelles mirrored this, looking rather down and out.

Next were short stops at Rosebery and Brim.   Brim was the one that kicked off the whole thing.   These were interesting, but not as vibrant as some of the others.  We only stopped for a few minutes. as we really wanted to get to Sheep Hills while the light was still good.   Sheep Hills looked like the most eye catching silo of the ones we were visiting, and it didn't disappoint.    We arrived just as the sun was starting to get long and the vibrant mural looked great with our classics lined up.

It was generally about 30 minutes or so between each silo.  The roads meandered through the wheat fields, mostly along side the railway tracks. We had originally planned to see Rupanyap, but we decided to skip it and see the final silo in the town of Horsham.   We almost didn't bother going to look at this one, as it was getting dark.   I'm sure glad we did.   It rivaled Sheep Hills for visual impact.   It wasn't just the silo that was painted, it was also ancillary buildings, for example one with a black cockatoo.

After our final Silo, we refueled and checked into our hotel in Horsham.   I checked my oil level, and like yesterday, I was at the low mark.  Even after adding a liter this morning.   I topped it off again, and as I shut the bonnet, all of a sudden one of my horns started to blow continuously. It was rather loud in the parking lot of the hotel, and I quickly put on a head torch and got under the car to take a look.   Sure enough, my drivers side horn was blowing, but the passengers wasn't.   This seemed to rule out the switch being the issue.   If I held the horn tightly, it at least stopped making noise.   While this solved the immediate problem, I couldn't stay there all night.   Since I wasn't able to let go, one of the other guys found my tool kit and extracted a screwdriver for me to remove the connections to that horn.   However, the horn was cowed by this display of tools and stopped blowing once I had the screwdriver in my hand.   This time I shut the bonnet less vigorously so as not to disturb the horn. After this we adjourned to the local pub for dinner.  As with last night, the pub was very good. Amusingly, it provided the option to add a side of Chicken or Beef to the vegetarian meal. It had been another great day on our trip, and very different to the sort of driving we did yesterday.   This was my first time in this area of Australia and I enjoyed it.

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[whats-in-a-sentence]

In the Centre in 1876 the poet James Grassie noticed a template in range and variety unlike any other newcomers reported:

remarkable . . . in the Mallee territory, and thence to the vicinity of Cooper's Creek, is the rapidity with which the vegetation changes, and the straight lines each class maintains, running close and parallel to other classes. One sand rise, for instance, is clothed with pine trees, while the next at a few yards distance has only Mallee bushes, a third porcupine grass [spinifex], and a fourth salt bush, the whole growing out of pure sand apparently of the same deposit. On one sand rise you see . . . quandongs, and all at once you enter an enormous garden of hops all-ready for picking. From the hops you emerge upon a vast plain of pig faces, from the pig faces to salt bush, and from the salt bush to heath or scrub, and so on during the whole route. The pine will run close to the Mallee for miles as straight as an arrow, and the other vegetation seems to be all separate and in well defined paddocks – each paddock being as large as a dozen of German principalities.³⁴

34. The Border Watch, 23 Nov 1876, c/- Darrell Lewis.

"Country: Future Fire, Future Farming" - Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe

[biancarogers]

Lake Tyrrell Salt Lake | DJI Mini 3 Pro | #djimini3pro #DJI #4K #landscape The recommended emojis for this paragraph are: - 🎥 - 🏞️ - 📸 https://applevideos.co.uk/mac-studio/lake-tyrrell-salt-lake-dji-mini-3-pro-djimini3pro-dji-4k-landscape

[stellarheartart]

Sunrise. Somewhere between Culluleraine and Mildura, Victoria.

[zeeinkzquill]

This is a canon event that happens in my AU… Poor Pomni🙃

[strflr]

Mallee Emu-Wren & Florida Scrub Jay for #avianaugust!

carrd / patreon

[redrcs]

Conducting a symphony

Dead Mallee tree at Lake Koorkoordine

On my travels

[malleepp]

What your couples favorites of Ultimate?

Hmm good a question I think these three

Not that I would ship they actually just I like their relationship I think

Also using moment I want say I like how @autisticnova draw spideyfist, they so sweet

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

on a day like today, here in Victoria, I figured it's a good opportunity to remind y'all about thunderstorm asthma!

it's most common to affect people with existing conditions like asthma or hayfever, but not everyone even realises they have those conditions (and it can occur to anyone anyway). it can cause severe flare ups that may require hospital support.

if you have prescription medication like a preventer, or something like Ventolin, make sure you're using your preventer regularly, especially during spring and summer. even if you don't use it often, make sure your Ventolin is in date and that you have it with you if you're going out. on high risk days, hospitals can be overrun with people and they may run out of Ventolin (I've heard of it happening).

don't stress over it too much, but exercise caution in what you do on high risk days, and remain mindful of your personal risk. this has been a psa!

[birdisbagirdis]

Day 7 - Mallee emu-wren!

[avian-aves]

Day 7 of #avianaugust2023 - Mallee Emuwren

Reference photo was by Owen Lishmund

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/59853591

[mrgabel]

Avian August Day 07, Mallee emu-wren (Malleeborstenschwanz)

[bumblebeeappletree]

Josh shows us why eucalypt mallee trees in pots are perfect for the home garden.

Eucalypts have incredible diversity and are part of the fabric of Australia. Their distinctive silhouettes, the texture of their trunks, their striking flowers and that telltale scent of their leaves. Not all of them become towering giants like the Eucalyptus grandis, so if you do have ambitions to grow a eucalypt at home, there are plenty of smaller species well suited to a garden bed or even a pot!

Mallees:

These are eucalyptus that grow multiple trunks from a woody lignotuber at the base. Mallees tick a lot of boxes for home gardens as they are typically smaller than their single-trunk counterparts, and often range between 4 and 10 metres tall. They also respond well to pruning, so you can keep them compact.

Swamp Mallee | Eucalyptus spathulata:

The fine blue-grey leaves are the highlight of this tree, giving it a tight and frothy form at a distance. This tree is from the wheat belt region inland from Perth, and in season it produces tiny white flowers.

Fuchsia Mallee | Eucalyptus forrestiana:

It's the buds that are the draw card for this tree which comes from the Esperance region of WA. The buds are bright red and appear at the very end of the branches for maximum exposure, a bit like Christmas tree ornaments. These buds give way to bright yellow flowers.

Illyarrie | Eucalyptus erythrocorys:

This tree from the Jurien Bay to Shark Bay regions north of Perth is also a feast for the eyes. It has red buds and large yellow flowers which develop into big woody gumnuts. The strappy leaves and smooth bark are also standout features.

These three examples illustrate why selection will be your most difficult task. Each has its own charm and all of them would make the striking feature plant in a pot.

Mallee Pot:

Choose a plant that is big enough to make a bit of an impact but not too big that it’s difficult to handle. The pot needs to be big enough so the tree can grow in it for a couple of years and develop decent roots. It also needs to be big enough and heavy enough, so the tree won't topple over in the wind when it develops a canopy. Avoid pots that taper towards the top as this will make it impossible to pull the root ball out when you want to re-pot or plant out later. Decent drainage is a must, so make sure there are holes at the bottom.

The right potting mix is critical. A few years back, Josh had a young Eucalyptus rhodantha in a pot that died because the mix didn't have adequate drainage. A good mix for natives in pots is a blend of sand, coir and composted pine bark because it's porous so the roots won't rot. Add a bit of coarse mulch on top to help keep the roots cool and the look tidy. Water regularly during dry periods but make sure the water is able to drain freely.

Eucalypts prefer full sun, so find a good spot for it. You'll also need to repot it every few years, or better still, plant it out into the garden so it can reach its full potential. In the meantime, you'll be able to enjoy it just like this – your eucalypt in a pot!