Vineyard Creek Reserve

Whilst I've known for years that this little patch of bush 5 minutes walk from my house exists, I've never actually bothered to walk through to whats there. Seeing that today was such a perfect spring day in Sydney, I decided that the time had come to explore the Vineyard Creek Reserve.

On the way there, I noticed that the theme for this spring must be pink-purple because all the gardens were aflush with white, pinksh-white, pink, purple and violet coloured flowers. It was amazing to see how many gardens, despite differences in landscaping and plant choice, were full of white-pink-purple flowers. There were of course, plenty of yellow weed flowers, as in natural in spring, and the odd rose bush (the lady two houses down with her gigantic 2.5m tall rose bushes!!!). The only plants that didnt fit were the multitude of dark orange orchids which were also featured in every third or fourth garden. As I walked down to the reserve, I thought I would take photos on the way back; as it turned out, my phone battery went dead when I was down by the creek....

Its quite amazing that in the middle of a residential suburb is hidden this quiet, green and surprisingly unlittered patch of forest can exist. On the peripheries, the noise of day-to-day life, domestic squabbles, cars and kids playing can intrude on the calm, but a bit deeper in, the only sounds one can hear are those of nature.

The song of the birds, the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, the slow flow of the creek, the scampering of lizards (snakes, perhaps?? who knows...) and of course, the buzzing of bees, the most recognizable sound of spring.

I even found a nice little cave to sit in; its actually just an overhanging rock with erosion underneath, but still, its the perfect spot to sit and think, or contemplate, or just daydream.

At the halfway point, down by the creek, I was lamenting the dearth of wild flowers; the only I'd seen were some small fluffy white ones hanging down from a tree. But almost as soon as this thought came, I came upon a clump of yellow wattle. When I tried to take a photo, my battery died! After this, I walked past dozens of flowering bushes. Cursing my luck, I came upon the overhang that served as my cave, and I took a little break, thinking about what a wonderul evening I had out in the radiant spring sun.....

[I tried to post some photos but blogspot wont let me for some reason...]