living in the sub-tropics

Since moving to Brisbane a year ago, which is in the sub-tropics, I have enjoyed observing the abundant vegetation. Weve had a particularly wet time in the past 6 or so months...not continuously, but certainly it has broken a very tough period of drought in this region...unfortunately not all over the country though. These huge tree roots are not an uncommon sight around where I live. Perhaps not always as exposed as with this tree above.

Outside my home on either side are massive Fig Trees that provide wonderful summer shade and cool air. The berries on the trees attract bats...so there are periods of high bat activity...when the berries are ripe.

On the left of the house are the local school tennis courts which is very handy for a quick 'hit and giggle'....Wimbledon was never in my sights to say the least!

A lot of houses in the area are timber, many painted white, with others an interesting array of generally not bright colours. There are a lot of timber features in the homes here, timber lattice and decorative details inside and out...and the houses if they are of this older traditional style are known as Queenslanders and likely to be built up off the ground with room underneath for perhaps a garage and open laundry, storage and so on. Many renovations on these older homes have completely rebuilt the entire underneath area adding many rooms. The idea of in the past of having the underneath left quite open and only sheltered by lattice or palings  was that the air flow underneath made for a much cooler house in the long summer months.The green of plants, gardens and trees here is what really stands out for me  after the previous 8 years spent living in less green surrounds.

The Tennis courts do provide an interesting background noise...its not unusual to wake up to that unmistakable sound of the thwack of a racquet hitting a tennis ball. Having a home studio here is a pleasant place to conduct classes...many lessons we use the garden as a resource...one way or the other.