Melton Botanic Gardens

A photography mate

asked me to join her for a sunrise photography shoot in Melton Botanic Gardens. 

“Melton?” I say.

“Yeah, have you been?” she asked. 

“Didn’t even know they had a bot gardens”, I admitted, and secretly thought I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to check them out even if I had known. I’m not even from here and I know Melton doesn’t have the best reputation. 

I’m not a morning person so dragging myself out of bed at 4.30am to get there for sunrise was quite a commitment.
My mate was a bit worried I’d be disappointed. Especially as the sun decided to do a no-show and we were wandering around for the first hour in dull, gloomy, low light. 

But…

I was like a kid in a lolly shop

It’s bloody great. I was in my happy place, bouncing from banksias to kangaroo paws to flowering gums and back again. 

I’d even get out of bed early again to attempt another sunrise and get some better light.  

If you’re anywhere near the area I’d highly recommend checking it out. Heck, even if you’re not anywhere near there, tt’s worth a drive to check it out. Plenty of birds for those so inclined, a lake, a playground for the kids, BBQs, plant nursery, guided tours and more.

And it’s run by volunteers. Hats off to them for the great job they’re doing. 

I pretty much just concentrated on the flowers so you don’t get much of a sense of the place and space. You’ll have to check that out for yourself. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

PS. Imagine what it would be like with a bit of early morning sunlight to work with! I can’t wait to go back.

Melton Botanic Gardens

Gardens and their People - Thomson St Cafe

I go for the garden. Apart from the tasty coffee, the friendly service, the yummy food and lovely kitsch surroundings, it’s the garden …

At the moment it’s simply flourishing in colour, despite it’s person being laid up with an injury and unable to tend to it for the last few weeks. I’d say that’s a sign of a well designed garden. Of course, there is a loving and appreciative community who help pull a weed out here and there while they’re waiting for their morning coffee.

Ailsa lives across the road and down a couple of houses. I’ll have to do a part 2 on her own beautiful native garden with the well stocked street library in the front corner. A place I visited many times when I lived in the area during Covid lockdowns and we were allowed outside within a 5k radius.
The highlight of the cafe garden for me is the Bluebells. Special memories from childhood of carefree wandering and picking wildflowers.

I had hoped to interview Ailsa and get a photo or two but she’s out of action at the moment with aforementioned injury. I try to catchup with her in the new year and maybe showcase her garden as well.

Thomson St Cafe. 81 Thomson St, Northcote ( I would have said Fairfield), is closed now for Christmas and will reopen on 5th Jan.

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Heronswood - Photographing in the middle of a sunny day

Oh, dear Diggers Gardens, how I love thee. This love may possibly be enhanced by the first visit after being Locked Down. But really, I loved you before lock down.

There are three Diggers Gardens in Victoria and one in South Australia. Heronswood is situated at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula. In between lock downs I managed to get to Olinda to see the Cloudehill Garden in Autumn (which I’ve just realised I’m a bad blogger because I haven’t shared the photos!) . My favourite is Garden of St Erth and that will be next on my list to revisit on my way to Ballarat for the Ballarat International Foto Biennale which has thankfully been extended until Jan 2022 due to the Lockdowns. Speaking of photos and gardens, the middle of a bright sunny day is the worst time for photos, but getting out in the real world after lock down takes a bit of getting used to so it was midday before we got there. I decided to go for the harsh light challenge and see what I could come up with. I used the standard kit lens on the Fuji XT-2 and tried to show a bit more of the gardens and surroundings as opposed to my usual macro shots. A few shots needed a little bit of a lift of shadows in Lightoom but that’s the benefit of shooting RAW files.

I hadn’t seen a body of water other than the murky brown Yarra for ages, so the startling blue of the bay as a backdrop to the gardens was nourishing for the soul.

Apart from the gorgeous gardens there’s a cafe and a plant nursery. And the beautiful Historic Heronswood House is the anchor for the expansive gardens

You can learn a bit more and see a video from Gardening Australia

I have grand dreams of running a photography workshop in the great teaching spaces they have, either here or at St Erths.

I’m working on a book at the moment so once it’s finished, and good ol’ covid stops locking us down, I’ll be able to share the love of photographing flora.

Just a quick window selfie after checking out the conference room.

I spotted this little blue beauty just swaying in the breeze. I’ve never seen a colour like it. It looks like a white flower that’s been placed in a cup of water with blue dye. I have no idea what the flower is either so if you know, please leave me a comment below and let me know.

Gotta love it when the ladies co-ordinate their outfits to match the gardens.

There’s no right time to go check out the gardens. Go anytime. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by.
Deb

Time is a slippery devil. Tesselaars

I was just commenting on Facebook this morning (or was it yesterday?) about how much a broken wrist slows you down. I’m a few weeks out of plaster and hand therapy is going well but I’m amazed at how the year is disappearing. I picked up a brochure last week for a Flower Festival coming up at Tesselaars. This morning I was running through a list of possible things to do with the day when I pick up the brochure to check the dates. I was sure it was for the next month. Turns out today was the last day of an almost month long festival. Somehow, I was a month out.

I’ve been in Melbourne for nearly 9 years now (feels like about 2) and I’ve never been to Tesselaars. So I jumped in the car and off I went and spent a delightful afternoon amongst the flowers and gardens at Tesselaars. Here are a few of my favourites in no particular order.

Sarah and Rupert at the beach

It's been almost 7 years since Rupert the cheeky Dacshund went to live with his new Mum, Sarah, and I started commuting back and forth to Melbourne. It was a bold and somewhat rash decision but one of the better ones I've made in my time. Melbourne has been good to me. The Coast will always be 'home'. When I get stressed at the complexities of living between two places, I remind myself how bloody lucky I am to have the best of both worlds.
I went to visit Rupert and Sarah last week and we went for a walk on their local beach (Yaroomba, I think it is). I'm absolutely certain that Rupert got the best deal in the world when Sarah adopted him. He is so well loved and looked after. 
Sarah not only took on Rupert but she kept Wild Honey Photography running while I got up to speed with teaching photography. She's a great portrait and event photographer. You can find her at Your Life Photography.
I'd seen Sarah's great sunset shots and put an order in for a similarly spectacular sunset for my visit. And then I got lost and nearly missed it. The light was fading fast (up the ISO on the Fuji X-T2) but we got a couple of quick snaps with Rupert before heading back to Sarah's place for a Thai Green Curry and a bottle of red. 
Blogging is a good way to remember that amongst all the shit that goes on in the world, there are good things that life offers up. Beautiful beaches, sunsets, good friends, cute puppies, yummy food and red, red, wine. 

Alowyn Gardens

What an absolute delight these gardens are. I left Melbourne in the morning with an anxious, muddled mind and came back clear headed and relaxed. Best medicine ever. 

I'll be making a point of visiting this garden every season. It's such a wonderful design.