Mid-winter on the Northern Tablelands is beginning to look an average British summer. I cycled to my office today in shorts and T-shirt with an expected top temperature of 18C. This is in mid-July, equivalent to mid January in Britain.
It's brilliantly sunny and spring is in the air. Some of the local birds, and especially what we call magpies (Strepera graculina or Pied Currawong), seem to be going through mating rituals. Mind you, wattle day isn't far off on the 1st August and that almost marks the passage into spring. It's a time when the wattle trees and bushes traditionally burst forth into yellow flower, but Dot and I have been discussing how many wattles we have already seen in flower, some even in late June, which is equivalent to December in the northern hemisphere! Can my northern readers imagine trees in flower in January atop Ben Nevis?
AS
It's brilliantly sunny and spring is in the air. Some of the local birds, and especially what we call magpies (Strepera graculina or Pied Currawong), seem to be going through mating rituals. Mind you, wattle day isn't far off on the 1st August and that almost marks the passage into spring. It's a time when the wattle trees and bushes traditionally burst forth into yellow flower, but Dot and I have been discussing how many wattles we have already seen in flower, some even in late June, which is equivalent to December in the northern hemisphere! Can my northern readers imagine trees in flower in January atop Ben Nevis?
AS
1 comment:
It is hard for us in England to believe how warm it is for you in mid winter. Here in Poole it has been 29-30*C for several days. I have only been able to enjoy some of it because I must have touched something unhealthy on the drive down from the North to Poole as I quickly developed sickness and diarrhoea which lasted several days. Visiting service station toilets or touching credit card key pads carries the risk of catching such things. Anyway, back to the weather, it is superb and doing wonders for the sea front traders who have sold huge amounts of ice creams etc. Richard.
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