Give me a home among the gum trees (from song by W. Johnson and B. Brown) Every Australian should have a gum in their yard somewhere! Pretty well every home I've lived in, and I've lived in a few, has had one in the yard or in the street just outside. My current home, in … Continue reading Snow gums
Travel
Time for another gum
This is, I believe, a Sydney Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna) though I could also be wrong as I'm very much an amateur when it comes to tree identification. It does look like: they can be found up and down the east coast of New South Wales, of which the Hastings River is part, and they … Continue reading Time for another gum
Kendall’s favourite son
...is the Australian poet, Henry Kendall. Except, he's not REALLY a son - he was not born there, and he only lived there for 6 years, from 1875 to 1881, when he was New South Wales' first Forest Inspector. But, you know the story, when you are on a good thing...! And, anyhow, as a … Continue reading Kendall’s favourite son
Here come some gums
Actually, the terms "gum tree" and "eucalypt" are more complex than many of us, I think, realise. The trees I have habitually called Gums or Eucalypts actually come from three genera: Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophera. I was quite shocked when I discovered a few years ago that in the 1990s there had been a reclassification … Continue reading Here come some gums
Home thoughts from abroad
Well, it feels like it's home thoughts from abroad as we've probably spoken to more non-Australians over the last ten days than Australians. And, interestingly, the highest proportion of those are not German as it seems to have been in the last decade or so but French. We spoke in more detail to one young … Continue reading Home thoughts from abroad
Climate change, ferals and Central Australia
While we generally prefer to go it alone, we did decide a few days ago, due to access challenges, to book onto an organised tour of Palm Valley. A good tour can work well and this one turned out to be one of the good ones – decent tour guide, uncrowded tour with congenial companions, … Continue reading Climate change, ferals and Central Australia
Some thoughts from Centralia
With daughter and dog minding the fort, Mr Gums and I headed out last weekend to Central Australia where we are spending ten or so days escaping the wintry south. It is an interesting place to visit, geologically, botanically and culturally; it is where we urban Aussies come across more indigenous people than we usually … Continue reading Some thoughts from Centralia
Whispering Gums 