A love affair with the Australian landscape

Since arriving in Australia fourteen years ago, I have had a fascination with the plants and animals in the country. While I have only seen a small part of this rather large country, I still love exploring my local area in and around Sydney. When circumstances allow, I will explore further afield , but I am going to talk about why I love the landscapes I have seen.

When I moved to Australia from an English winter to an Australian summer, it was a bit of a shock with the temperature change! Beyond that, there was the most amazing smell of the eucalypt oils coming from the eucalyptus trees. It has to be my favourite smell. Unfortunately, I don’t always smell it that much today because I have got used to it after living with it for the last fourteen years. When I do notice it, it has usually been raining in the summer. It was really nice on my recent cruise as we were approaching Sydney Harbour as I could smell the eucalypts well before we passed through the heads go the harbour. In the dark of the early morning, it was a really nice welcome home!

I’ll move on to the gum trees now-so many species of Eucalyptus, along with the closely related genera of Corymbia and Angophora. As well as the great smell, many of these trees are so interesting. The bark of many species in these three genera shed their bark every year. While it isn’t known for certain why they do do this, there are a few theories, including adaption to fire, they are quick growers-shedding bark provides space for this new growth, conservation of water, the removal of any accumulated toxins and an aid to prevent pest infestations.

The fact that these trees do this is beyond fascinating to me, mainly because I grew up with trees that didn’t have this feature. I also love the colours of the bark as this process is happening. Depending on species, there can be greys, reds, oranges, purples grey-blue, and white or cream. There are also trees in these three genera that don’t shed their bark, which can also be interesting to look at as the bark is often fissured.

Staying with bark, the genus Melaleuca has interesting bark. The general common name for these trees is ‘paperbark’. This is because the bark looks like paper with its many layers.

There are also the flowers of many plants in this country. From banksias to any plant on the Myrtaceae family (like eucalypts), bottle brushes (Callistemon), and wattles (Acacia).

Smaller plants also have really nice flowers, including native violet, dianella and sea rush.

It isn’t just the plants that I love, it is the animals too. From the colourful birds like lorikeets, kookaburras and king parrots, to the massive lizards, ecidnas and kangaroos.

There is also the non-living stuff. Sydney has a lot of sandstone cliffs which have a range of colours and patterns. I also enjoy looking at these, as no two are the same. Many of these cliffs are covered with trees as far as the eye can see, which is another thing I love to be around.