Arrival in Australia on February 5, 2008 and Sydney is our first stay.
This is a view of Sydney from the Botanical Gardens.
This is a view of Sydney from the Botanical Gardens.
Notice the dangling dark bit hanging from this palm tree...
It is not a coconut, but a Grey-Headed Flying-Fox, one of Australia's largest bats. It has a wingspan of over one meter or over 3 feet and yes it looks that huge when gliding in the night sky over the Sydney streets. They are fruit eaters, or more correctly, fruit juice eaters, and in the daytime at the Botanical Center we saw them hanging from trees, stretching their wings in the sun, and vocally squabbling for space in the branches.
Large groups or 'camps' of these bats had congregated in the trees. I could not believe how many of them were overhead. I think I could have stood there forever and watched them scratch and swivel and stretch and fight. I even saw one open up its wings to reveal a smaller bat clenched on to its belly, then to rewrap its wings and completely enclose the younger bat.
Coastal Banksia tree that I saw in Sydney. The Banksia trees, there are approximately 60 types, are endemic to Australia.
Historically, indigenous Australians obtained nectar from B. integrifolia by stroking the flower spikes then licking their hands, or by steeping flower spikes in a coolamon overnight. They also used the flower spikes as hairbrushes. Early settlers used the nectar as a syrup for sore throats and colds; and bushmen would impregnate barren "cones" with fat to make a slow-burning candle. (from Wikipedia)
I note this historical fact about the Banksia tree because I am interested in the way plants and trees are or were used by local people. A word that seems specific to this country is BUSHFOOD:
The word Bushfood refers to any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines, although it is sometimes used with the specific connotation of "food found in the Outback while living on the land". It is also called bush tucker. It includes both animal and plant foods native to Australia. (from Wikipedia)
Many of my images will probably revolve around discoveries of this sort, not just foraging for foods, but any use of local natural materials.
Sydney skyline, day and night across the street, Cleveland Street, from our Alfred Park hostel.