Another Sunny Saturday Afternoon.

Well this morning dawned dreary wet and grey as so much of our weather has for months.

But by lunch time the sun was looking like it might show its face.

So Deb and I got out and about.

 The best time for spring wildflowers is not far off, so I thought that as well as my usual wander I would have a bit of a look for early starters.

Because we set out late we stayed fairly close to home, only venturing as far as the Kinglake National Park. 

We headed out to Mount Sugarloaf. Like the area I was in last week this place was devastated by the 2009 Black Saturday Fires.

 The skyline is dominated by dead trees.

I was too optimistic, most of the flowers are still tucked up waiting for warmer weather, although I did see a lot of native irises growing (not yet flowering) so it may be worth a few more visits in coming weeks.

Having said that one native was doing its best to cheer things up.

Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia violacea)  was growing everywhere, in some places the vines were almost like a carpet.

 

And here are some close-ups.

I love their happy little faces!

 

 

Happy Wanderer

My piccie of the day is of Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia violacea) flowers. A very common Oz native.

According to Wikipedia it is used as a landscape plant in the southwestern U.S. where it is commonly called lilac vine, and occasionally Mexican lilac vine.

It does originate "south of the border" but an awful lot further than Mexico!

I detected a slight air of disbelief when I posted about Emu sausages, well to silence the sceptics we do indeed farm Emus in Oz. When you think about it Turkeys are native to America and farmed, chickens native to South-Asia and farmed. We just do things bigger down this way!