Red Hill revisited: Mitchell outback Qld

About a 30 minute drive north of Mitchell, up the Forest Vale Road -- there's a hill covered with red sandy soil in which an amazing diversity of plants grow. This location also has the advantage of being a frost-free zone.

On previous occasions in my blog, I've shown you photos of acacias (wattles), and angophoras with their massive white trunks, Wonga vines in flower, and many other interesting plants.

Today's blog shows you the same acacias, but they're now dripping with elegant green pods. By chance, we came across a grevillea we've never seen before, and when home, we looked it up in our books and found it to be a Grevillea juncifolia subsp. juncifolia -- with the common name of honey grevillea. Its golden-orange flowers attract many species of honey-eater, and lots of insects as well. Aborigines burn the bark for use in healing sores.

This is red dirt country and I love it!

Wattles and kookaburras declare Australia

Wattle and kookaburras are well-known things that symbolise Australia. Our floral emblem is a wattle (usually Acacia pycnantha, commonly called golden wattle). No matter where you live in Australia, there is nearly always at least one species of acacia in flower.

The photos included in this blog were taken up the Forest Vale Road, north of Mitchell. When viewed against the red earth of this particular hill, the gold of the wattle looks striking.

Whenever I hear a kookaburra laugh it makes me smile, lightens my spirits. It is as if the sun has emerged from a bank of heavy cloud. The Laughing kookaburra is Australia's largest kingfisher. It has a massive bill able to tackle large snakes. The Blue-winged kookaburra lives in northern Australia, and as its name suggests, has striking blue markings on its wings.

A kookaburra's laugh is a joyful sound that rings through the Australian bush. When combined with wattles in full bloom, the effect is dramatic and uplifting.

A pair of kookaburras live in and around the river red gums over the road from us here in Mitchell. Often we hear their laughter and my hope is that they help clear the area of venomous snakes.