Melbourne Tram, Australia - Wooden Postcard

Gosh, has it been two and a half months already...I've been doing some scanning, and so I shall have enough material to post when I go to isolation, once AGAIN. Despite a much slower pace at exchanging postcards lately, I have managed to collect 60+ different countries throughout last year, though somewhat strangely Australia was not one of them...My only exchanges this year are actually not exchanges, but I have discovered a lottery group on FB, so you kind of 'bid' for a card you like, and if you are lucky enough to win it, you offer your own, and so it goes. It will probably keep me going for a bit, and then I'll move to something else lol my restless self.

Anyways! This was sent many years back, a proper thick wooden card :)) 

UNESCO - Royal Exhibition Building In Melbourne, Australia

The Royal Exhibition Building and its surrounding Carlton Gardens were designed by Joseph Reed for the great international exhibitions of 1880 and 1888 in Melbourne. The building combines elements from the Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance styles. This site is a surviving manifestation of the international exhibition movement which blossomed in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

I cannot believe that I lived in Melbourne for three months and didn't visit this place, how frustrating. Moreover I was there in 2004, the year it was designated a whs site. All this prompted me to think of all the places I've visited in Australia and make a list - and then onwards to all the other places visited. Its a great task! I figured it would be a good list to use in future swaps, to get postcards of all the places I travelled to so far.

UNESCO - Purnululu National Park, Australia

Purnululu National Park is located in the state of Western Australia, containing the deeply dissected Bungle Bungle Range, composed of Devonian-age quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into a series of beehive-shaped towers or cones, whose steeply sloping surfaces are disctinctly marked by regular horizontal bands of dark-grey cyanobacterial crust. The spectacularly incised landscape of these sculpted rocks rises 250 meters above the surrounding semi-arid savannah grasslands.

Amazing view, thanks to Helen :)

Pink Anemone, Great Barrier Reef

It is actually because I came across Sunday Stamps that I thought to myself - it would be nice to post something again..! This sunday it is letter C's turn in the A-Z challenge, and I have managed to find quite a few fitting stamps on (some older) postcards; here from 2011 a beautiful underwater theme from dear Heather, who attached three Cocos (Keeling) Islands stamps; from the set of no less than 20, issued also in 2011 and titled (very aptly I might add) Colours of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. These show 1) a Giant Clam and a Soft Coral 2) Spotfin Lionfish 3) Pink Anemonefish - the latter also known as Pink Skunk Clownfish, and is matching the postcard perfectly :)

A few words also on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands...it is an Australian external territory in the Indian ocean, comprising a small archipelago halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka, closer to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The islanders do have a degree of self-government through the local shire council, while many public services (health, education, policing, etc) are provided by the state of Western Australia. The overall population is just over 600, mainly ethnic Malays. As the territory consists of two atolls made up of 27 coral islands, no wonder they need 20 stamps to show off what they've got..!

Neptune

A fantastic maxi-card of my home planet Neptune :) Australia Post issued a whole set 'Our Solar System' in 2015. Why my home planet? Because it is accented in my birth chart, being in conjuction with my Sun it 'alters reality and clouds our perceptions of it', which explains a lot haha :)) Thanks a lot Heather!

Yarra Valley, Australia

Prepaid postcard showing the Yarra Valley, an Australian wine region located east of Melbourne, Victoria. It was my last day trip all those eons ago when I visited, we went up a hill to a restaurant with a stunning view. Ah memories...

As it is the 1st day of autumn I have initiated swaps for postcards with such views - autumn warm colours, harvests, wine-making...while at home my dad is waiting for a shipment of grapes to make his own batch of merlot :)

 

UNESCO - Kakadu National Park, Australia

This unique archaeological and ethnological reserve, located in the Northern Territory, has been inhabited continuously for more than 40,000 years. It is a unique example of a complex of ecosystems, including tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and plateaux, and provides a habitat for a wide range of rare or endemic species of plants and animals.

Got this for cuba swap, love the design of the stamp (and the yoth stamp!) - thank you Irene :)

 

Vintage Young Donkee

This poor fella also got a bit ruined by moisture but nothing too serious..! Not sure about the translation - 'How ungrateful! (He told me to wait?)' Maybe someone can help me with the translation as google doesn't make much sense! :/ In any case many thanks to Jemma for another great swap and for thinking of me when she saw this cute donkey - and look, little prince George already on the stamps ;))

Frill-Necked Lizard, Australia

This is one of the earliest and and my favourite lizard postcards and yet I post it only now...love the photography! Thank you Heather, you have significantly enlarged my lizard collection :))

On the right a Mangrove Golden Whistler, with gorgeous yellow breast (other posts below also have bird stamps, I am not sure everyone has noticed ;))

So, enough birds for today! They will surely be present on many other posts, and I can't say that I mind, they are the loveliest creatures. And more chirpy fellas here (mind you I am a bit early. again. khm khm :)):

Tasmanian Tiger, Australia

This is an informative postcard about the Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) thought to be extinct...one of those sad stories...it used to be widespread on the island but then, yes humans came along and became their worst enemy. The last live recorded thylacine died in the Hobart zoo in 1936. There is still hope that the species managed to survive in the Tasmanian wilderness where humans only so rarely venture...fingers crossed :)

Thank you Kathryn for this postcard, I wanted to have one of these creatures on a postcard ever since I visited Tasmania and heard the story :)

Salamanca Market, Tasmania

Lets continue with the veggies! Salamanca Market is a street market in Tasmania's capital Hobart, a major tourist attraction open on Saturdays. It has grown from 12 stalls in 1972 to 300 in 2010. I've missed it when I was there...thank you Irene :)

UNESCO - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia

 

 

This park, formerly called Uluru (Ayers Rock – Mount Olga) National Park, features spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia. Uluru, an immense monolith, and Kata Tjuta, the rock domes located west of Uluru, form part of the traditional belief system of one of the oldest human societies in the world. The traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta are the Anangu Aboriginal people.

Courtesy of Alison and Sharon, thank you so much :))

UNESCO - Fraser Island, Australia

Fraser Island lies just off the east coast of Australia (appr. 200 kilometres north of Brisbane). At 122 km long, it is the largest sand island in the world. Majestic remnants of tall rainforest growing on sand and half the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes are found inland from the beach. The combination of shifting sand-dunes, tropical rainforests and lakes makes it an exceptional site.

Many thanks to Jemma, who also used some awesome stamps showing the geological wonders of the Antarctic :))

UNESCO - Gondwana Rainforests Of Australia

 

The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia is a serial property comprising the major remaining areas of rainforest in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. It represents outstanding examples of major stages of the Earth’s evolutionary history, ongoing geological and biological processes, and exceptional biological diversity.

The Gondwana Rainforests are so-named because the fossil record indicates that when Gondwana existed it was covered by rainforests containing the same kinds of species that are living today. To explain, Gondwana the name given to the more southerly of two supercontinents (the other being Laurasia) which were part of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago. Mindblowing eh?

The Unesco site includes a decent number of national parks and state forests, not sure at all which this view belongs to...but its awesomely green! Thank you lots Xue, and oh what a variety of stamps :))

UNESCO - Great Barrier Reef, Australia

 

 

The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1500 species of fish and 4000 types of mollusc.

I am always especially happy to have different views/aspects of an Unesco site - this is one of the rare examples where I managed to do so! And both great postcards from Heather, who used (as usual) some awesome stamps (how gorgeous are the Antartic ones..?!), thanks so much!!

Maxi-Cards - Sumatran Tiger, Australia

This beautie is a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) from Melbourne Zoo. Its subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra, classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected to be 441 to 679 individuals.

The other day I watched 'Life Of Pi', ah what a heart-breaking story...Although Richard Parker was a Bengal Tiger I am still posting this remembering him...Such gorgeous creatures. Thanks again Heather! :)

Hamersley Gorge In Karijini National Park, Australia

Karijini National Park is centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in northwestern Western Australia. The five gorges that flow north out of the park, the Bee Gorge, Wittenoom Gorge, Kalamina Gorge, Yampire Gorge, and Dales Gorge provide spectacular displays of the rock layers.

This one is quite spectular too! Thanks Heather, and for the lovely set of xmas stamps :))

UNESCO - Macquarie Island, Australia

Macquarie Island is an oceanic island in the Southern Ocean, lying 1500 km south-east of Tasmania and approximately halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent. The island is the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge, raised to its present position where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. It is a site of major geoconservation significance, being the only place on earth where rocks from the earth’s mantle (6 km below the ocean floor) are being actively exposed above sea-level.

The island has its own PO and stamps but this maxi-card was sent from 'mainland' Australia, I gather it still counts for my collection of written & stamped cards from country of origin ;) It actually is a part of Australian Antarctic Territory which is written on the stamp. Thanks again Heather! This one was also hidden in a wrong post... 

                

Thorny Devils Are Aussies

Awesome card, the thorny devil! I had to look it up and learned that this lizard only grows to be 20 cm long - sure looks bigger on this photo :) it is mainly found in the desert areas of central Austaralia and feeds on ants. Would make such a cool pet i think :D

UNESCO - Sydney Opera House, Australia

An amazing sunset/night view of the famous Sydney Opera House, a multi-venue performing arts centre conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. It was inaugurated in 1973 after a long gestation that had begun with his competition-winning design in 1957. The Sydney Opera House is a modern expressionist design, with the unique 'shell' roof structures made of concrete. Its among the busiest performing arts centres in the world, hosting over 1500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people.

I am very happy to have seen it, though i'd love to refresh my memory someday :)

Thanks Heather! :)))