Tree loving protestors gathered in Civic Park in response to the plan to remove the Laman Street grove of trees.   The trees have been the subject of a hugh amount of debate for a long time. 

It must be time for an urban Fig Tree ballad to germinate. Rock a bye baby on the tree top....

The overall plan for a creative space to take the place of the trees, if and when they go, is of enormous interest.  Will it be done with flair and imagination?  

 

In King Edward Park. Fun sliding down a hill is still an ok thing to do on a warm Sunday in May. 

King Edward Park Newcastle.

City hall at a tilt

next, nearby, after a Christmas Eve church service at Civic Theatre

next, in the park again

Lastly, in the park was the remains of a spit roast offered to any takers among the homeless and those in need.

Who has a vuvuzela, is small and round and lives in an Iron-age burial mound?
Makka Pakka, of course, from In The Night Garden (toddlers' TV).

In the 'woods' very close to Civic centre Newcastle

The tallest tree is a Bunya Pine. Out of town, large old colonial houses very often grew one of these in the garden. Was it making a statement? The trees can be seen from a distance across the paddocks. Another photo of the tree is on the right 'sidebar'.

It's Inflatable Man, another type of puppet acting as a scarecrow to move flying foxes away from vulnerable and significant trees in the Royal Botanical Gardens. Flying foxes were seen and heard high above us.
Zoom in. Fruit bats or flying foxes hang upside down, genus Pteropus belonging to the Megachiroptera sub order. A fox that flies! More fascinating links are on Wikipedia





Indonesian batik

Scene in the Newcastle suburb of New Lambton.