Blackwater Trains

Near Blackwater Bluff, Queensland, Australia. 

A Coal train we saw along the way up north several years ago at a place called Blackwater after a town called Dingo.  Blackwater is both a town and a locality in the Central Highlands Region in Queensland.  The name of the township was inspired by the dark colour of local waterholes.  A German explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt found the Ore on one of his explorations in about 1845. 

The train we saw was very long and we thought it would never end.

Recently the Bluff mine ceased active operations, went into care and maintenance, and the lease was later handed over to the Queensland government under its Abandoned Mine Lands Program in 2026. However, the Blackwater mine still operates but sized down.  Some of the mines in that area have closed.  In researching I've come across different findings which makes it rather confusing.

The distance from Launceston (Home) to Blackwater in Queensland is 2,584 km (1,605 miles).

I think this is funny....my husband was soaking his feet in a dish of water whilst watching TV in the family room the other evening.  He slept for about 1 hour and when he woke up, he decided to change the TV Channel but couldn't find the Remote!  He thought it may have fallen onto the floor, so he got the towel and went to wipe his feet dry and discovered the TV Remote was in the dish of water, it had been there probably nearly 1 hour.  He took it out and shook it, dried the outside of it. Next day he put the hair dryer on it the one we used when we had the Shih Tzu, then he put it in the sun the next day and it dried out completely.  The only thing that doesn't work is the 'return' button, but he can use the remote on his phone for that if needed. It's a small remote for the smart TV. It's odd in this house because the smart TV's we have all of them have a small remote and they won't work on each TV.  They are all Samsung TV's. No, we don't watch a lot of TV but they are handy to have if the grandchildren come and stay as they can connect their Xboxes to them and play away.

Has anyone else done anything like what my husband did?

What's in Flower at Home

 Being springtime, some of the flowers are in bloom particularly in the front garden, so I'm showing what is flowering now.

The front bushes are Dwarf Nanadina.  The colour of spring above and the colour of winter below.  

Banksia Rose (Rosa banksiae) originates from China.  It's named after Dorothea, Lady Banks, the wife of the famous English botanist Sir Joseph Banks (who also had the native Australian plant genus Banksia named after him.)

There are two colours, yellow and white, the yellow being the better at flowering. 

Above  

Lavender Lavandula.  

                    We have three lavenders in the front garden.                              

Below

Convolvulus (Calystegia) (Bindweed) grows well in Tasmanian gardens.  There is a phrase "convolvulus plant botanical game' most likely refers to "Granny, Jump out of Bed," a classic European children's folk game played with the flowers of the Convolvuls or Calystergia (binweed) plant families.  In Australia I've never heard of the phrase but found it when researching, so added it.

These 3 plants out the front are called Heuchera (Saxifragaceae), Coral Bells is a common name for them. So far they are doing well in the front garden.  

Above it the Banksia Rose, not really a rose but called one.  Below is a rose called Just Joey and has frilly petals and blooms and blooms.  This is it's first flower. Then 3 more came into bloom.

The above rose is a tall standard rose called Crepuscule and is out the back.

The rose above is called Seduction.  It's a good bloomer.

Above - Aquilegia or Granny Bonnet.  There are many colours available, I had a few but over time only the yellow has remained but it didn't flower last year.

Nasturtiums out the back and some are climbing and are at the base of a small budded rose and climb through it sometimes.  

All parts of the common garden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) are completely edible, including the flowers, leaves, stems, and green seed pods.  They offer a bold, peppery flavour similar to watercress, radish, or mustard greens.  Many times when we went out to dinner these flowers and stems were put on our plate to eat which we did but doesn't seem to be fashionable these days.