Chiltern Journal

Seasonal

Journal entries tagged "Seasonal".

All Behind the scenes Food History Press Seasonal Travel

A regent honeyeater perched on a thin branch, black head and back with pale scalloped markings down the breast, bright yellow edging on the wing and tail, and a small identification band on one leg.

31 Aug 20265 min read

Counting regent honeyeaters in the Chiltern ironbark

The forest at the edge of town looks like nothing much. It holds one of the rarest birds in the country, and twice a year people go out and count them.

Seasonal Travel

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Bare grapevines trained along wire trellises in a dormant vineyard, rows running back to a distant tree line under a clear blue sky, with yellow wildflowers growing between the vines.

17 Aug 20266 min read

Budburst season in Rutherglen's old vineyards

Out toward Rutherglen the old vines are waking up. What budburst looks like, why it happens in a set order, and the frost that still has to be watched for.

Seasonal Travel

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A grey juvenile Australian magpie standing on grass with its beak open, calling, while an adult magpie faces it holding a scrap of food in its bill.

10 Aug 20265 min read

Magpie season around Chiltern, and the six weeks it lasts

From about now the magpies are on nests around the district. What the birds are doing, which ones swoop, and how to get past them without much fuss.

Seasonal

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A dry hillside of Australian bush with dozens of wattle bushes in full yellow flower scattered through the grey-green scrub under a clear blue sky.

3 Aug 20265 min read

When the golden wattle comes out around Chiltern

Late in winter a yellow comes into the scrub along the roads out of town. The golden wattle, the forest it grows in, and the day in September named after it.

Seasonal History

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A country football oval during a junior Australian rules match, players in dark and light guernseys scattered across the green grass with trees and low hills behind.

20 July 20265 min read

A winter Saturday with the Chiltern Swans

Through the cold months the town empties out on a Saturday and gathers at one ground. Country football and netball, the Chiltern Swans, and the red and the white.

Seasonal History

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A pair of hands cupping several round, dark, knobbly black truffles above a table at an outdoor winter truffle market, more truffles behind.

13 July 20265 min read

The winter truffle, and the dogs that find it

Under the oak trees of the north-east, in the coldest weeks of the year, a rare crop is being lifted from the ground. The winter truffle, and the dogs that find it.

Food Seasonal

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A home dining table set for Christmas dinner in warm evening light: a white damask cloth, two tall lit candles, a pine-and-rose centrepiece, laid place settings, a glass stand of gingerbread, and a decorated, lit Christmas tree glowing behind.

6 July 20266 min read

Christmas in July: a mid-winter feast, and where it came from

In the cold middle of the year, a good part of the country sits down to a second Christmas. Where the mid-winter feast came from, and why it makes sense in July.

Seasonal History

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A male red-capped robin perched on a branch in the Chiltern bush, a small grey bird with a bright scarlet cap and breast, sharp against a soft winter-brown background.

29 June 20266 min read

Winter school holidays in Chiltern: small adventures for cold days

Sixteen days of winter holiday, a small town in the high country, and children who want something to do. A guide to the cold weeks in Chiltern with kids: birds to find, a museum to thaw out in, and a morning at the bakery.

Seasonal Travel

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Snow and mist closing over the Rocky Valley Storage Dam in the Victorian high country, a pale, near-monochrome winter landscape with the far shore lost in cloud.

6 June 20266 min read

The King's two birthdays: a short history of the long weekend

Why Australia toasts a November-born King in June, why the date is a Monday and not a birthday at all, and how a habit older than the country became the long weekend at our door.

History Seasonal

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