Belair Railways Station Signal Box

Today was a very special occasion as we were being shown the restored signal box that was destroyed in the arson attack of May, 2003. We are very proud of our 120 year old heritage listed railway station. The Belair Railway Station is in the Adelaide foothills, 20 minutes by train from Adelaide, and on the main interstate railway line from Adelaide to Melbourne.

 Here is a photo of a typical inter-state goods train that passes through this station every few hours. These trains are usually 1.5 kilometres long and have 3 engines. Today was a typical day and I though you may like to see the first engine of the train as it passed through this station on the way to Melbourne.
The steam engine I blipped on October 27th used to pass through this station on weekends till they removed the broad gauge line.

Finally it was on to the Belair National Park and this Raven would have been my blip of the day till he was pipped at the post by the Noisy Miner bird.

Bee Gymnastics

Today was bee macro day for me. The Adelaide Hills are a really good spot for bees with a plentiful pollen supply, especially in our garden. I had no problem getting lots of potential photos to blip.
Here are the 4 photos that just missed out.

 In spring with the Salvation Jane, Cape weed, Lavender and for todays blip, the bees were all over our echium. Then we'll move on to the various different gums in January.

Young bees are house bees, and they graduate to field bees as they get older. Field bees do all the foraging for nectar, pollen, water and propolis.

To make honey the bees evaporate the water reducing the water content of the nectar down to a little under 20%. The honey is then ripe and viscous as we know it.

There are four main varieties of introduced bees in Australia. The bees in our backyard are simply the common bee that is most prolific in the Adelaide Hills, the European honey bee (Apis mellifera). We do have a pure strain of Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island, 30 miles away.

Pollen provides the protein which allows the bees to grow. Pollen is also required to stimulate the glands which produce the royal jelly for the queen and the young larvæ.

Roselea Garden Visit - Mt. Pleasant

Today Paladian and I visited an Open Garden called Roselea in the small country town of Mt. Pleasant in the Adelaide Hills, on the way to the Barossa Valley. It was a huge garden with a lot going on, spread over 4 acres.

My goal as a blipper has always been to blip a diversity of photo types, and with my 100 blips fast approaching, it was time to do more macros.

From my best 4 pix of the day, I blipped a shield bug, and the other 3 pix that just missed out are shared below.

 Here is a general view of part of the garden with some nice reflections.

This iris had interesting lighting making it really stand out from the background.

Here is my macro on a tiny little flower called a Capeweed. It is a very invasive weed and a total pest, often mistaken for a dandelion.

2012 ANZANG Nature Photography Exhibition

Our 2012 ANZANG Nature Photography Exhibition visit, 22nd October, at the Museum of South Australia, North Terrace in Adelaide.

Here are a few more shots from the area around the Nature Photography Exhibition. To complement my pigeon blip of the day for October 22nd. Some of the photos are by Paladian as well.

This modern grouping of fountains is in front of the museum. Much loved by the pigeons.

This pigeon preferred to drink directly from the water running down the side of the fountain.

This is the front on view of the photo I blipped, a closer version with a change of angle.

The sandstone building next door is the State Library of South Australia (pictured above).

You can see the side of the Library reflected in the window of the museum in this photo by Paladian. Some of the fountain photos are also by Paladian.

 This is the Art Gallery of S.A.

There is no underground parking for the museum as it is right opposite a huge multi-storey car park.

Lucky Lupitas Mexican Restaurant

Today we took Hector, our Mexican born web designer, to lunch at our favourite Mexican restaurant called Lucky Lupitas at Bedford Park. It is also the very best Mexican restaurant in Adelaide - and we have tried them all. The owner/chef is an American who settled in Adelaide some years ago.

I would say that we developed our love of genuine Mexican food (not Aussie Tex-Mex) from our love affair with the state of New Mexico in USA. Along with its many outstanding Mexican restaurants.

It was a toss up for my blip today between a photo inside the restaurant, or a shot of their sign. Having blipped an inside eating photo earlier this week from the Central Market, I went with the outdoor sign.

The restaurant is usually packed out as it was today.

There are plenty of hot chile sauces available.

Note the contemporary lighting that looks like plumbing!

Magpie Day!

Today we had a visit of our 3 regular magpies to the seed bowl of the bird feeder. Usually they only come down to the railing of the deck for mincemeat or bacon rind. Today they stole the seed we put out for the smaller birds.

These photos are the ones that did not quite make it to be blip of the day on blipfoto.
In the top photo you can see the female magpie, beak open, warbling at the top of her voice to attract our attention.

Adelaide's Central Market

Once again there were more interesting images today from the market and environs than could not be used as blip of the day on blipfoto. Here are some of my favourites.

This is the photo that just missed out on being blip of the day, as it epitomises what the Adelaide Central Market is all about.  Superbly displayed fruit and vegetables, bought fresh - straight from the growers. This stall has superb organically grown produce and regularly receives our business. No flash was used and all photos were taken with available light.

I feel that this particular photo was also close to being runner-up today as I simply love any and all types of blue vein cheese. This one must be quite special based on the price. It is made from organic cows milk and is imported from Wales in UK.

You always need good fresh bread to go with the cheese so this was my next choice today of a food that Paladian and I absolutely love. Most times we eat home baked bread, but you still can't beat the variety on offer to tempt you at the market.

Following on from the bread, this is where Paladian buys all of her grains for bread making and other foods such as our oatmeal. They offer almost every grain known to man including the rarer ones such as Quinoa from Peru, plus of course every type of grain grown in Australia.

They sell everything from Amaranth to Xanthan Gum and everything inbetween. Paladian bought some buckwheat flower, millet meal and some organic oats today.

This is where we had lunch today with a beautiful fritatta along with a tabouli, chickpea and fava bean and fetta salad. Delicious!

Who needs to go to Europe for a great selection of cheeses when we have this right in the centre of the city! We get cheese from all over the world, from France, Italy, UK as well as our own beautifully hand crafted and produced local cheeses.

Some more wonderful fresh bread to go with the cheese selection above! Rye bread is at the front.

Here is another colourful fruit and veg stall offering a huge array of exciting foods. Includes tropical fruit such as pineapples brought in from Queensland to locally grown asparagus and apples. The berries are seen at the bottom front and oranges and seedless grapes above.

These are the famous Chinatown lions guarding the entrance to the Asian sector of the market. Known as the Chinatown Gateway, they were unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Adelaide on the  2nd October, 2004. They are facing Gouger Street.

For my final photo, here is a look at the entrance to the Chinatown Food Court and Market Plaza. Every type of Asian food and delicacy can be found inside along with many great restaurants. We have often bought soy jelly from the Asian grocery store here.