Ah, June.  I can’t believe we are already half way through the year.  Winter is not a time that I particularly enjoy.  It’s cold.  It’s grey, and quite often miserable.  Just to prove that it does get cold in Australia, I headed out on a particularly frigid day to one of our city’s parks.  Rain had been threatening all day, but no sooner had I got out of my car and pulled out my camera, then the sun asserted itself in all its Winter glory.

The area shown below is normally a favourite spot for the reed warblers, but not a single one was to be seen or heard.

wildcity

On weekdays, the park and the lakeside are normally teeming with walkers and mums with their small children.  But it was so cold, the playground and esplanade were absolutely deserted, even the ducks decided to head for more sheltered parts of the lake.  There were a few hopeful seagulls and one solitary skater was trying desperately to warm up.

I love the beautiful colours around this water play area.  I spotted a few ducks enjoying the weak afternoon sunshine and the calmer waters of this small pond.  The rain poured down only 30 minutes after this photo was taken.

leaflitter

Despite several bitterly cold days, the nights have been relatively mild throughout most of June with the temperatures staying above freezing.  In May, I moved a couple of dahlias I have in pots under cover and they continued to put on a beautiful show bringing some cheer to the dreary days.  I must be doing something right with the camellias too.  But eventually the frosts arrived.  Over the last week the temperature has plummeted to -5c for several mornings in a row.  This was too much for the dahlias.

Further afield at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the late flowering natives have also been slowing down.  The colours of the bush have become softer, mirroring the colour of the days.

slow

paperbark

Every month, Su Leslie from Zimmerbitch hosts The Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge.  This challenge is open to all.  If you would like to participate in this month’s challenge or see what other bloggers have contributed, click here.

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25 thoughts on “The Changing Seasons – June in Canberra”

  2. Nice pictures. I’ve only been to Canberra once but a friend lived there for several years and we used to compare notes on who had the colder winters, her in Canberra or me in Tassie.

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      1. Well my friend and her husband moved to Melbourne and I am still in Tassie 🙂 . Actually I think that being inland Canberra probably is colder than coastal parts of Tassie but maybe not as cold as the Central Highlands , Liawenee is one of the coldest towns in Australia.

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  3. It’s suddenly become very cold overnight here too. But like Canberra, the days have been just beautiful. If I’m out in the garden even quite early, I soon have to take off an outer layer. The photos of the play area and the Botanical garden certainly have some interesting colours: I like those white trunks.

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  4. Beautiful pictures, Tracy! Never knew it could get that cold in Australia!!
    Love the white trunks of trees in your pics, they remind me of watercolours I’ve seen a little while ago by one of Australia’s first artists, can’t get hold of his name at the moment but will look him up.

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      3. You and me both. And we’re certainly in good company with Plato and Socrates in this regard. 😄
        Riley’s one of my very favourite writers, combining history and romance. 😊

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  5. Ahh, I continue to learn more about Australia. And while I intellectually know its winter there (since its hot summer here in Colorado), I keep being surprised when you write about it being cold. An odd thing. Beautiful photos, Tracy.

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    1. I had to fish your comment out of the spam, Steph. Seriously, you would think WordPress would know by now.

      Australia does have a reputation for sunshine and beaches, and the red of the outback. So I like to educate if I can. It really is such a diverse country.

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  7. Lovely photos Tracy. You can probably guess that the frosted flowers and leaves are my favourites (though I am sad for the flowers themselves). I’ve never been to Canberra, though I have a cousin who’s lived there forever and we keep threatening each other with visits! One day 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Su. I do hope you come for a visit one day. Unfortunately, the direct flights from Canberra to Wellington have been cut. There is some lovely art here, which I think you would enjoy.

      I had guessed you liked photographing the frosted flowers. But I hadn’t mentioned that to my husband before he took the photos. Just a few days beforehand, I had taken the same image of the very healthy roses. So very healthy that when I put the photos on the computer, I saw that they were completely covered in aphids which is unusual for this time of year. Hopefully the big frosts we’ve had lately will fix that problem.

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  8. Pingback: The Changing Seasons: June 2018 | Zimmerbitch

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