Toowoomba on the Darling Downs Queensland

I know, it's been a helluva long time between updates. So - a few pictures of Toowoomba - the Carnival of Flowers has just finished so there are lots of pictures of flowers in this post.



But first of all - here's some pics I took of Toowoomba in the winter - and oh brother, was it cold! Much colder than we have been used to - and sometimes it was just plain awful! We did eventually use the open fireplace and it was bliss - but the electricity bill was not ! Nearly $700 for the quarter - just shows you what using two electric oil filled heaters cost when you are in a colder climate!


This is the countryside around us - and you can see it is very dry - Toowoomba is in the midst of a bad drought - although for the first few weeks after we moved here, in May and June, we did have some healthy falls of rain. But since then, rain has been in short supply, and water restrictions are in force. Bore water has been added to the water supply to eke out the water from the catchments and reservoirs.









This view is taken from Picnic Point, on the highest point in Toowoomba, looking down across the valley towards Ipswich and Brisbane.

This is taken in Winter and again, you can see how brown and dry everything is.


We live a few minutes walk from Queens Park - a very beautiful place, and next to it is Toowoomba's Botanical Gardens.


Here is a baobab or bottle tree in Queens Park. The trees in this park are beautiful; apart from the many camphor laurel trees, which abound in Toowoomba's streets, there are English Oaks, London Maples, Japanese Maples, conifers from all over the world, even a Sequoia tree!

These empty flower beds in Queens Park were taken in May - soon to be planted out with annuals for the big and beautiful display in September's Carnival of Flowers.















This avenue of Camphor Laurels is one of many in Queens Park - on a cold day, if you pick up a fallen twig and break it, then smell the fragrance , the camphor is very strong!








Camellias abound here in Winter - they grow like weeds!
They come in every imaginable shade, some are striped, some have blotches - all are stunningly beautiful!




Our garden is in dire need of TLC - we have two camellia bushes half the height of the house and they have lots of available cuttings - I think that we shall put them to good use and plant a cameliia hedge at the front fence!



I don't think I have seen so many gorgeous camellias to choose from!


This lovely Calliandra was growing happily between the camellias in the park!










This was Winter - more in the next - and it is Spring!