Flowers in Orange

I went down to Orange for a workshop last Friday.  While I didn't have too much time to sightsee (arriving Thursday night and leaving Saturday at dawn*), I did walk around a bit in the afternoon.

Orange itself was pretty busy, they have a wine festival every fall and this was the week.  There was a tasting fair at the park just around the corner from my motel, which I walked through but didn't otherwise spend any significant time there.  I didn't see a whole lot of the town, just an indirect route from the golf course to my accommodations, and then the downtown area nearby, but it seemed rather nice.  Perhaps we can return for an extended visit, someday.

The front building of the golf course, where the workshop was held.
(The back was not nearly as classy-looking.)

Really large flowering shrubs on the golf lawn.  You see
a lot of these around, but these were some of the biggest.

Petals littering the ground underneath some flowering trees.

There were a lot of oak trees at the golf course, which made me
realize I haven't seen an oak tree in about seven months.

Common shrub, both in Orange and Armidal

Kind of look like elderflowers ... but I don't know.

When you lean in closely it sounds like it's humming with all the bees inside.

You get a bit of palm trees too, of course.

The stream was almost completely lined with yellow flowers and
hummed with the sounds of frogs or toads.

Ducks in the stream that ran through Moulder Park

(I really, really loved these flowers and probably took some twenty odd photos.)

This pink blossoming tree is a new one for me.

(Pink flowering tree closeup)

More pink blossoms. I also saw a similar tree with white that looked pretty
familiar, but I have a terrible memory for these sorts of things.

Some kind of rose .. perhaps.  Whatever it was, the bushes themselves were huge and smelled divine.

Not sure what this marketing campaign was supposed
to represent... but it was too funny not to take a photo.

*The flight out of Orange was delayed due to fog in Sydney.  In typical American fashion, I took a taxi to the airport an hour before we were scheduled to leave when (even if we had been on time) fifteen minutes would have been sufficient, which made for a loooong morning.  In short, the flight from Armidale had left before the fog advisory (though it couldn't land in Sydney), there was no guarantee that I'd make my connecting flight (and there were no other flights to Armidale that day.)  (Funnily enough, Reid was in Sydney for the Sip & Savour festival, so I could just stay with him if I did actually miss my flight, if.)  We finally took off and when we landed in Sydney they had a private car to take me from the airport to the terminal and back out to the other plane bound for Armidale.  (The regional flights all park on the tarmac and passengers are bussed to and from.)  I was really astounded how helpful everyone was to ensure I made my connecting flight.  The whole thing felt very, very ... un-American.  It also seemed to me that the general demeanor of the passengers was much different than you would find on an American plane, at no point did anyone ever jump up to retrieve their luggage from the overhead compartment as soon as the seatbelt sign turned off to stand impatiently in the aisle, even on the delayed flights on Saturday.

Morning just outside the airport

The cattle were a little suspicious of me.
(If you see something say something bro)

The Orange Regional Airport has a new terminal about to open which
might have a real baggage claim, but the current one just has this sign.