Bel Air...

Orchids









... obviously not the glamourous suburb with the swimming pools and limos (that’s just across the other side of Portrush Road).

Adelaide is great for having real countryside within a spit of the suburbs. None of this farmland in between (there’s no water anyway so no farms), there are real hills and everything.

So, given a still relatively fragile state, I drove to Bel Air Conservation park for a quick walk. Went to see the falls - the word “waterfall” depends on two premises – and there was definitely a 6m drop. Actually the upper falls had water and a drop. Around four drops a minutes to be precise (see piccie).





There are definitely flowers. It’s very odd walking around not knowing the names of anything, but everything seems to have an equivalent. So there’s the pea-bush (that smells incredible and is bright yellow), a vetch-like flower, a daisy-equivalent, cream coloured forget-me-knots – and those-things-that-I-bought-from-Sainsburys-that-were-labelled-as-*new*-bulbs (see blurred piccie) growing wild. And a whole field of freesias (you can imagine the scent). And the orchids – far more than your average British orchid which is a small, unpreposessing pink flower that can be seen on exactly the right weekend in Spring if easter hasn’t been too early and too many people haven’t chased it away. These aren’t big, but lots.

Actually it’s amazing how many of the wild flowers from here can be bought at Homebase. The nasturtiums just aren’t as caterpillar-eaten.

And I saw koalas – just sitting (sleeping?) in the trees, including one with a babe.

I’ll get over it.