Getting my Sunday hike on

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I had to dodge a few people but managed to get a really pleasant Sunday hike in today. The weather was pretty decent, cool of course considering its winter, but the sun showed its face and warmed my back a little as I hiked my way to a small group of ruins where I stopped to write this post and have a bite to eat.

The image above shows the Acacia pycnantha, or more commonly the golden wattle. It's a late-winter/early spring bloomer, very fragrant and very Australian. It's good to see them as it sort of heralds the beginning of the end to winter in southeast Australia.

When Merrell's attack
My hike was solo today as Faith is unwell and decided to stay home. She has a head-cold, nothing serious, but she feels pretty badly. I headed off around mid-morning as she'd gone back to bed for a snooze and by 1030 my Merrell boots were attacking the trails with enthusiasm driven by the legs of yours truly. My lungs were breathing fresh air to the melody of about a thousand birds and a breeze ruffled my hair, or would have if I had my cap off. Mr. Sun chimed in with some rays and I was on my way, crunching along walking trails up to the ruins. Selfie stick photo to right, below.

Old machinery and Paterson's curse
Pretty much everything was green except the sky, which wasn't. The yellow flowers weren't either, they were umm, well, they were yellow, except when they were not, at which time they were purple. Savvy?

Here's a non-yellow one below, called Salvation Jane. It is an invasive weed here, an introduced species, usually common to west and southern Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia. It's called Echium plantagineum but is also, and perhaps more commonly, called purple viper's-bugless, Paterson's curse, blueweed, Lady Campbell weed and Riverina bluebell. It kills horses and affects the udders of dairy cows and human skin also. If eaten by livestock it reduces weight and can cause death. It's an asshole, brought here by an asshole. Sort of nice colour though huh?

My hike brought me past this old farm machinery from, circa 1900 as well. I'm not sure what this twisted pile of rusting steel actually was however I'm assuming it dug, ploughed, harvested, reaped or some such thing. It reminded me that 160 years ago this entire area was scrubland and that a bunch of tough and enterprising buggers came along to turn it into farming land. It didn't work.

Busy bee's and bastard weeds
Onward I hiked enjoying the cool breeze, lack of flies and a packet of dried apricots I'd brought along. Everything seemed green and yellow, except of course the sky which we established earlier was, indeed, not. I came across this bastard all by itself and thought it would make a decent photo. This is Oxalis pes-caprae. It's also called Bermuda buttercup, African wood-sorrel, Bermuda sorrel, buttercup oxalis, Cape sorrel, English weed, goat's-foot, sourgrass, soursop and what I've always known it as...Soursob. Another introduced noxious weed. It hails from South Africa and has been introduced to America, Europe, Israel and Australia.

Soursob has a sour sort of taste due to the oxalic acid it contains and is sometimes used in cooking. Not here though, in South Africa. A dish called waterblommetjiebredie I'm told. Yeah, no thanks. It can kill sheep though, soursob I mean, and is not well-received here for that reason. It's sort of pretty though I guess.

In the right side image below you can see one little fella that is happy to see soursob's though. A bee inside the flower. I caught this bee stealing pollen from this flower to take back to its hive for honey production. Good bee. Anyway, after photographing it I said bye bye to the bee, and let it be.

And then there were ruins
The hike up to the ruins wasn't too strenuous, despite being quite steep, because the track was quite smooth. Before too long I came to the ruins which are pretty cool. Many don't even know they are here. They have been preserved in more modern times to prevent further crumbling and decay however give a really nice image of what it would have looked like back in the mid-1800's.

No one really knows why this homestead was built at the top of this hill with the closest water a fairly strenuous walk all the way down in the valley. But here it is regardless. It was built in around 1850 by the Roberts family then bought by the Teakle family in 1883 and subsequently the Tilley family in 1920. If the walls could talk I'm sure there'd be a few choice stories...Not the bedroom walls! Get your mind out of the gutter you!

It's now just a nice ruins to visit and a good spot to sit down for lunch, soak up some rays and to write a post, especially on a nice day like this.

I enjoyed some crackers and tuna from a can, beef jerky and the remainder of my dried apricots then set to writing this post. I don't always take my MacBook Air on hikes with me but this hike wasn't going to be too strenuous and the day was so nice I threw it in my backpack and brought it up. A couple of people came by and probably thought I was a weirdo. Sorta am I guess.

I spent an hour up there writing this post, swigging water and wishing I had some dried apricots left but alas, all good things come to an end right? No bloody apricots left.

All roads lead to home
This is not actually the case as we all know. I mean some roads lead nowhere near home at all! I've been on roads that went in the general direction of home but then lead in completely the other direction. Let's just say that all roads lead somewhere...Well, except dead-ends...They sort of go nowhere. Anyway, the road you see below isn't a road, it's a walking trail. A road for feet...Hmm, maybe it really is a road! It sure doesn't lead to home though, but is does lead to my Landcruiser in the carpark which was the direction of my travel considering I'd made my way down the hill.

A short drive later I was home, cleaning mud from my Merrell's and putting the last touches to this post, after checking on on Faith who was still sleeping, curled up with the cats.

I hope y'all enjoyed your weekends and managed to get up to some mischief, good mischief I mean. I hope the roads you travelled took you someplace that inspired you. I have to go look after my sick wife now so I better go.


Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default and aim small, miss small.
Discord: @galenkp#9209 🇦🇺



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21 comments
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Awesome day out and I hope Faith gets better quickly. And I guess you will be preparing to watch the F1 tonight 😁

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Yeah, just thinking about dinner at the moment then the race later tonight. Should be good.

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Well my mind goes back to the bedroom no matter what you say? If bedroom walls could talk...

I loved this line;

Anyway, after photographing it I said bye bye to the bee, and let it be.

The repetition of /b/ makes it sweet on the tongue.

The weeds, were they introduced deliberately or did a traveler carry pollen without knowledge?

I am spending my weekend friendsitting (kind of like babysitting). I am not much of an outdoor person and the rains are no help. The drops come basically every day and it floods the road. One needs a canoe to move from point A to B.

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Well, I'm sure if the bedroom walls could speak we'd all like to hear the stories. 😁 I was hoping someone would comment on that B line. Just came to me in a moment of Bee-rilliance! 😄

I love the outdoors, but yeah, if it's all flooded there's. It much to do but...Go kayaking! 😊 I haven't had my yaks out for a while (winter here) but am looking forward to it.

Enjoy the friend-sitting.

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Lol it was nice. Hey kayak would be good because there are some waters here that a canoe would not suffice.

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👍🏼Kayaking is awesome.

I forgot to answer your other question:

Salvation Jane was brought here as an ornamental garden plant a long time ago. Unfortunately I think they didn't consider how widespread it would become.

Soursob was introduced, from South Africa, as a fodder alternative in the 1800's but didn't work out.

Hope that helps.

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so it was deliberate. how awesome!

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Yeah, lots of things that seemed like a good idea at the time have gone pear shaped. Like bringing in Cane Toads to eat the cane beetle...Now the tropical north east of Australia have a massive cane toad problem.

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We have acacia or akasia (that's in our language), but it does not like what's in your photos.

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They might have thought you were a journalist or a blogger or a writer, that’s the type that would be having a solo picnic at ruins with a laptop 😜

Looks like a really nice walk and a nice spot, and it never fails to amuse me that Salvation Jane and Paterson’s Curse are the same plant 🤣

Kids seem to like eating soursob around here 🤔

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What a beautiful hike! The pictures were amazing. I share your frustration with asshole plants and the assholes who introduced them. It can be hard to hate the plants when they're pretty, but I spend a lot of my time pulling noxious weeds by hand so my goats don't eat them and get sick. I loved the picture of the path winding through the yellow flowers. So idyllic.

I hope Faith feels better soon. I keep forgetting it's cold season down where you are!

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Hey you. Yeah, hard to hate the plants and it's funny that some of the most noxious ones often have nice flowers.

Faith is on the mend, sitting right here on the couch watching the F1 pre-race show with me before the race live from Hockenheim. She has tomorrow off too so should be able to rest up a little more.

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I used to love watching F1. I haven't had TV for close to twenty years now, so I haven't seen a race in forever. I'll watch it vicariously through you guys!

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Oh really? Cool. Yeah, been watching it for 40 years myself. I'm a bit of a fan. 😉

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It seems odd that you are saying winter in combination of these wonderful photos you shared in the post. That is not the winter I know, but for you Aussies I guess it counts :)

Oh the asshole and bastard weeds cracked me up and yet they are indeed kind of nice looking weeds even though mostly deadly.

Awesome hike. I did my walk in the morning around the lake and the forest. I was almost eaten alive by gadflies so I was forced walking quite quickly xD

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Yes, our winters are so mild compared with the northern hemisphere I guess. We still call them cold though. 😆 It was a nice walk and even the bastard weeds made for a nice view! 🤣

Thanks for commenting @m31 I'm always grateful to those who do. 😘

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