Autumn colour in Western Australia - Balingup

Hi everyone, how is life treating you? Life is busy here for me. In our little south west corner of Western Australia winter is showing its presence with cold mornings and evenings, and we have been lighting our fire each night to warm up our house and ourselves.  The clear warm days of autumn are beautiful, but we really do need rain as it is very dry out there in the paddocks and the farmers are desperately needing rain to get their grain crops going and are having to hand feed stock. 

A week or so ago we took advantage of the beautiful weather (beautiful for us at least) to visit the Golden Valley Tree Park in Balingup, which is undoubtedly one of the best places to see autumn colour.

Only about an hour south of our home, it makes for a perfect day out. The park features a collection of deciduous trees which are showing off their autumn colour right now. But you need to get there before the leaves have all fallen. To see this colour is amazing for us Western Australians as our native trees are all ever-green, so we don't get the full flush of autumn colour like people living in the northern hemisphere do. So visiting the Golden Valley Tree Park is very special. 

I've blogged about the Golden Valley Tree Park before - you can click on the links to revisit
Autumn - Season of Change
Autumn in the Golden Valley Tree Park

Despite the drying paddocks and the smoke haze from burning off when we visited this year, the park was still beautiful.

 So different to when we visited the year before when the paddocks were green.

Leaves flutter down

    golden, orange, red, purples and dusky browns,

reflecting the hues of the late afternoon autumn light

   as it breaks through the sky's thin grey winter cloak,

and leafless branches

   stretch up toward the sun, shivering, 

stripped bare of their summer clothing. 
                                                                                                            by Jill, June 2017

Red Oak

I really love this avenue of Chinese Pistachios planted in 1999. 

Chinese Pistachio

Pomegranate

I couldn't resist picking up some leaves to take home and print on paper. These are Red Maple and Bradford Pear

The Golden Valley Tree Park is a sixty hectare landscaped park set in the picturesque hills of Balingup. The heritage listed site has a collection of trees that was begun over one hundred years ago, and is now the largest arboretum in Western Australia. Many of the trees are labeled.
The Park is managed on a voluntary basis by a not for profit incorporated association, Golden Valley Tree Park Inc., (GVTP Inc.) in partnership with the WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
 Entry is free but a donation will help the work of our volunteers.

 To find out more information on the Golden Valley Tree Park, please click here - Golden Valley Tree Park

 Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
Little Things Thursday
Friday Bliss at Floral Passions

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Autumn in Western Australia, Golden Valley Tree Park, Balingup

Leaves flutter down

    golden, orange, red, purples and dusky browns,

reflecting the hues of the late afternoon autumn light

   as it breaks through the sky's thin grey winter cloak,

and leafless branches

   stretch up toward the sun, shivering, 

stripped bare of their summer clothing. 
                                                                                                            by Jill, June 2017

My simple little ode to autumn, but still... here I have written and shared it. I've read a lot about "mindfulness" in the last couple of months, especially in a new magazine called "Breathe". Have you seen Breathe on your magazine shelves? 

Mindfulness is seeing, feeling, observing, absorbing, being still, just being..... or as Breathe says: "some of the key principles of mindfulness are, being open to new things, focusing on the present moment and being fully aware of what your body and mind are feeling."

Last week we went down to the Golden Valley Tree Park in Balingup, in Western Australia's south west, an hour or so from home.

 The area that comprises the park was first settled in 1898 by Frank and Margaret Cleverland.  Their home was built of bricks made from clay dug from nearby Yungerup Spring. The original 20 plantings of exotic species by Olwyn Cleverland during 1930-1940's has grown to an impressive world collection of over 250 species, represented by over 1000 individual specimens. The Park, which is heritage listed, is maintained by volunteers and sponsorship. From its first plantings over 100 years ago the the Golden Valley Tree Park is now the largest arboretum in Western Australia.

Australian trees are ever-green, so very little changes in the Australian bush in autumn, so the tree park is a lovely place to visit in autumn to see the blaze of fall colour. In fact any time of year the park gives up its delights. We are going to go back in spring to the Australian Collection when our bush is at its best with wildflowers.  I shared a post about the Australian bush in autumn a couple of weeks ago. Here is the link if you missed it - Down in the woods today

We knew we would be late for the autumn flush of colour, as we were last year, but still it was a lovely day, though a cloudy, with a slight rain drizzle, no wind and a temperature perfect for walking. 

There are pockets of startling bright gorgeousness. This is Tupelo Nyssa Sylvatica from the USA. 

there are paths to explore

places to sit

new fruits to discover. Thankfully many of the trees in the park are labeled. I 'usually' take photos of signs, as it makes it much easier to identify things later.  Here you can see clockwise from top left hand corner.... China Locust pod, Red Mexican Hawthorne, Mexican Hawthorne, Black Alder from Europe and West Asia, Chinese Pistachio, and Carob from the Mediterranean.

gorgeous leaves. Such a luscious treat for us evergreen Aussies. 

and there are places to shelter from the rain and watch it roll in over the hills in a misty cloud

 I hope you have enjoyed this little look at the Balingup Golden Valley Tree Park. I hope those of you in Australia or Western Australia try to visit some time. You might also like:

Autumn - Season of change - Balingup

Autumn in the Golden Valley Tree Park, Balingup

 
Thank you so much for stopping by. Do you have a tree park that you love to visit? Perhaps you'd like to tell us about it in your comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
 

Mosaic Monday
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 
The Lovin' Life Team over at Lifestyle Fifty
Sky Watch Friday