Thursday, August 13, 2009

Bush Tucker

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Bush Tucker Walking...





One Sunday I took a walk
with the Noosa Parks Association
to look at Bush Tucker vegetation



Aliyxia, Chainberry



Bush Tucker refers to plants whose
leaves, fruits, nuts or roots may be edible.

The Australian Aboriginals' diet included
many items we now call bush tucker





A shaggy grass tree
resembles an English sheep dog





The mistletoe vine fruit





I think this little fellow
who came to sit near me
is an Eastern Yellow Robin





Textured tree trunk





Cymbidium madidum - epiphytic orchid
perches high in an old branch,
the fruit was used as a contraceptive






another one of the Xanthorrhoea grass trees
this time with a single long stemmed flower










Forked Comb fern
forms a green fan
on the leafy forest floor





A sparkling young Banksia tree
with serrated leaf edge
starting out in life





Bracken Fern





The young fronds and rhizomes are edible
and were sometimes roasted
when fish were scarce





Flindersia,
Bumpy Ash,
creates a lacy sky






A dessicated Grass Tree head





A trunk which resembles
Aboriginal painting
or does Aboriginal painting
resemble nature...






Mossy old log





Coastal Banksia
shining like a torch
in the rain forest






and on the way home
I spy a bank
of Tufted Iris - Patersonia


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31 comments:

  1. Hello Delwyn, we're so blessed with all of this beauty around us. Have a happy evening.

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  2. Your post is so interesting, such a bounty of nature. The shaggy grass tree does look like a sheep dog!
    Sunny :)

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  3. Its amazing the variety that you see when you take the time to look. Nice photographs Delwyn, I see echoes of New Zealand here - the ferns and the smooth grey tree trunk.

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  4. Hello Delwyn...Shadows, bark patterns, intricate seed heads, odd growth appearance, textures, and natural beauty all catch my eye...and your post contains all.

    The spotted tree is like the Aboriginal Art you showed in an earlier post.

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  5. Hi Delwyn, have just found you last week, thank you for such a lovely blog on this part of our sunny QLD.
    When I was a child we used to call the Patersonias "snake flowers" don't know where that name came from.

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  6. Hello Alaine

    Yes Australia really is a land of bounty...in so many respects...I love to notice the treasures that abound around me...

    Happy days

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  7. Hello Sunny,

    there are always a few plants in the forest walks that are foreign to non - Australians...and even to some Australians...I know there are many I couldn't name and many I am only just learning...but then I have only spent 1/2 my life here...

    Happy days

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  8. Hello Alden

    Yes there are some similarities in the flora...

    I have learned to see more...by carrying my camera with me and by fracturing an ankle...no not really...but it has meant that my walks now are very slow and I stop often to listen to birds.

    Happy days

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  9. Good evening/morning Wanda

    Bingo!

    We are birds of a feather...

    Yes, you can see why aboriginal art is the way it is when you look closely at nature...the lichen on the trunks, the patterns on the pandanus trees...

    Happy days

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  10. Hello Abbeysmum

    welcome to Noosa, it's nice to have a local fellow blogger/chatter ...

    Do you have a blog?

    where are you writing from?

    Happy days

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  11. Abbeysmum...P.S. Maybe it's their long sinuous stems...

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  12. Hi Delwyn:

    What an educational walk that was. So much to absorb I will have to go back to fully appreciate it all. Right now it was the tree trunks that stood out for me especially the one that looked like a shaggy dog and the one that looked like art - I'm sure it did to the Aboriginals too.

    You are creating quite a lay person's record of flora and fauna in your region. Perhaps a book in the works?

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  13. Hello Bonnie

    The grass tree comes in a number of forms but all have very green grassy stalks that contrast with their black stumpy trunks...the shaggy sheepdog one has its trunk hidden under the skirt of old foliage...

    Oh I am just a nature student Bonnie. I bought some local plant and bird books and try to identify the species that I am not familiar with when I return from a walk...

    I pestered the Noosa Parks Assoc people with questions on this walk...they of course are very knowledgeable...

    Happy days

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  14. Bonnie P.S.
    If you take the link to Ari's painting you will find some interesting info about the grass tree.

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  15. hello delwyn, the wealth in nature (both visually and edibly) amazes me!! i look at those tree trunks and i do see the connection to aboriginal art - which i love - and the gorgeous ferns. i see them and i feel calm. i cant explain why but they just seem so peaceful. the grass tree is so unlikely and yet there it is!!! that'd be a great walk anyhwere in the world - learning about what you can and cannot eat in the wilds. thanks for this lovely post delwyn and have a peaceful day by the river. steven

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  16. Good day, Delwyn. Thank you for the walk ~ as always, it was amazing and refreshing.

    As I am slowly ingesting each image that you present, I am in constant awe of the incredible flora and fauna that surrounds you. And even though I know that what you have around you is, indeed, distinct and perhaps exotic, I find myself wondering if it is the subjects that are that extraordinary or if it is simply you.

    I am sure there are awe-inspiring bits around each and every one of us, but we do not take the time to stop, look and listen. You do, and then share with us. How wonderful.

    And while I promise that I will try to slow down and pay attention a little more, I am grateful that you are here to guide us along the path.

    Happy days are created not given. Thank you for the lesson...

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  17. Such a bounty of nature here! I loved the Shaggy Grass Tree best, too. Mother Nature sure has a sense of humor! Blessings!

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  18. You are a treasure trove of interesting facts and so knowledgeable. "Tucker" is food then... how fascinating. How much time do you spend on your walks? Your walks inspire me to want to visit someday even more than I have always wanted to! Blessings to you :)

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  19. Beautiful photographs and so much information to be had. I was especially enamored with the orchid. Living in Florida for many years, we had orchids growing in the most unusual places..at the tops of trees such as this. I find nature so amazing with the beauty that abounds. Glad to find your blog!

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  20. I'm so glad I got a few moments to follow your photographic walk...I always enjoy it. It's almost like being there, looking at things and hearing you comment on them.

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  21. Your last several post have been absolutely fascinating, again. I am always taken by how strange and wonderful all the flora and fauna are in your part of the world. And the names are all so interesting (and entertaining to say)!
    :0)
    The aboriginal-related background is always of particular interest to me, too.

    Thanks again for all your efforts in putting together your wonderful blog, dear Delwyn!

    Hugs,
    Angela

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  22. Good morning Steven

    and another warm winter's day it is here...I will enjoy it because I daresay Christchurch will be very cold tomorrow...

    Bush Tucker has become a little industry here with products purchasable in delis and TV programs to educate us all...

    Ferns are always fresh and calming -the greenly green again, and the newness of then - you can almost see them growing down there in the shade of the trees.

    Thanks for your great additions Steven

    Happy days

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  23. Hello there Cyndy

    No I do think that being where I am, where the forest meets the ocean, where there is bush and wallum and gum tree forest and tropical rain forest, there is such diversity...

    But you are also right in that I do look closely and stop to pick out the little details that my eye catches.

    Thank you Cyndy for these encouraging remarks and for being such a grateful and interested reader. If it weren't for people like yourself I may not feel so inspired to put these images into posts.

    Happy days are indeed created ...thank you

    Happy days

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  24. Gidday Marion

    Didn't that grass tree seem like an old shaggy dog...
    thanks for coming today...

    Happy days

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  25. Hi there Vicky

    Tucker - yes it means food. I don't know the origins of that slangword but it goes right back and is found in to what many people think is our National song 'Waltzing Matilda' by Banjo Patterson...when the swagman was caught by the billabong for stealing a sheep that he wanted to put in his tucker bag...

    Our National song is Advance Australia Fair.

    Before I fractured my ankle I would walk about 4 or 5 times a week, a walk through the park is usually 1.5 hours - 2 hours. Then we were making longer excursions through the national park and onto the beach at the other side of the headland.
    If I walk from home to the Noosa River I am only away an hour - but now my life has slowed down I have been driving to the river and strolling for an hour to help the foot recover.

    I am looking forward to getting back onto the forest tracks. So far I have kept to the flat path on the coastal walk...I took you there last week on my first walk back in the park...

    Please plan a trip one day...there is so much to see here...and so beautiful...I can boast freely as it is my adopted country...

    Happy days

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  26. Hi Alicia

    You must find some of the flora familiar then...to what you knew in Florida.

    I am glad that you have joined us too Alicia...thank you for coming on the bush tucker walk...

    Happy days

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  27. Hi Mark

    I am glad that you could get away from the doogies and find time to come for a walk with me...

    We can take the dogs down on the river walk but not in the park...

    Happy days

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  28. Hi there Angela - who are you today, you have that Moddy tilt to the head happening...

    Thank you my dear for being an appreciative audience. I love to make these posts for friends like you...

    You also, might like to check the link to Ari's painting of the Noosa environment, being an artist yourself...



    Happy days

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  29. Loving the resonance you find between nature and aboriginal art. Theres a lesson for us all there. To watch, listen, absorb the qualities around us and tell their story. Hmmmm...sounds a little like your lovely blog Delwyn!

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  30. Hi Delwyn,
    Hope you enjoy your trip across the water.
    No I don't have a blog, still working long hours,maybe when I retire,perhaps a year or two.
    "here" is the Garden City on top of the mountain, but I get up to Mudjimba when I can.

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  31. Hi Abbeysmum

    Is that T******** ?

    Happy days

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