As we haven’t been down to Lane Cove National Park for a while, we thought it would be a nice thing to do on a sunny Easter Sunday morning. We have two or three loops that we do frequently when we go walking there and the one we did today is my favourite.

Below is the trunk of one of my favourite banksias, Old Man Banksia or Banksia serrata. I like these trees precisely because they are a bit knobbly and gnarly on the trunk. They have a certain character to them that just says it’s an Australian plant, its a bit weird and that, to me, what makes it really cool!

Here is a scene that I walked past today, with grass trees (Xanthorrea sp.) and Eucalypts of various descriptions. This is a really nice part of the walk because it is relatively open, but still has plenty of trees and interesting plants to look at.

Again, this is another part of my walk. This is taken at the top of the hill looking towards the narrow river valley below. It is a typical view in this part of the national park in this area. Australian ‘bush’ can be slightly scruffy in looks, but it is has a charm to me and the smells that you smell as you walk around is my favourite smell of all time.

My favourite tree of all time is a Sydney Red Gum, or Angophora costata. I love those trees for the colour of the bark colour and the branches can be quite twisted and sculptural, so are interesting to look at.

Here is a picture of the branches of another Sydney red gum tree in the foreground.

This is a species that is have never seen before, but somehow noticed it for the first time today. I’ve got to do a bit of research on this plant to work out what it is. I’ll update this post once I know more.