Hiking is one of my things, I love it, as it gets me closer to nature, is great exercise and allows me to think more clearly. I also love history and have a desire to delve into it, learn about what happened long ago and about the people who came before me. The cool thing about both of those things is that they sometimes come together and that's what happened last Saturday when I went hiking at Anstey Hill Recreation Park.
The park contains many walking and mountain-bike trails and is home to animals like koalas, kangaroos, kookaburras, reptiles and birds plus there's a lot of native flora, some that has become quite rare throughout the Adelaide hills. The paths and tracks are generally well-maintained by National Parks and Wildlife Service personnel and whilst the park is quite large, some 360 hectares, getting lost is unlikely unless one strays from the designated tracks. It can be tough-going though, steep and strenuous, with track-names that leave nothing to the imagination, the foreboding, Torture Hill Track, for instance.
Summer just ended so the park is dry. Each season it has appeal although summer is probably the least inviting to me. In the other seasons it's green, is full of wild flowers and the creeks run freely; it's pretty special.
My hike on Saturday was tough because I pushed hard for slightly over four hours up and down steep inclines and the temperature was warm, some 30°C, and very sunny as you can see from the images. It was enjoyable though, even despite me being a little footsore later on.
I saw a couple of kangaroos, one koala far up in a tree snoozing and countless birds and reptiles. I also saw the tail-end of a snake but I don't know what type as it was hurrying away from me, thankfully. Me no likey deadly snakey.
One of the cool features of the park is that it once held a plant nursery established around 1856 by a man called Carl Neumann who had arrived in Australia just prior to 1849, from Germany. He built up an extensive business with the nursery once covering over 180 hectares; that's over half the current park we know today (That's a huge nursery.)
It had glasshouses, ferneries, hothouses heated by furnace-heated hot water pipes, market gardens, walled gardens, rose gardens and orchards, bulb-beds, stables, harness room and buggy shed, barns, potting-houses, a pigsty, dairy and of course, housing for the family and employees along with other supporting buildings like shower and toilet blocks and so on. It was an extensive operation and all developed by a man who had only a basic knowledge of horticulture.
In the early years of Adelaide as a colony fresh fruit and vegetables were rare; most was imported from England bottled. I think Neumann saw a market for fresh produce and I imagine his orchards containing 300 different kinds of fruit trees changed things for the better quite quickly. He had some 500,000 apple, cherry and plum trees planted, 100,000 orange and lemon trees and around 100,000 vines; that's a lot of produce for what would have been a very small population at the time - In 1878 the entire (massive) State of South Australia only had a population of 250,000 people.
Further to the fresh produce, the nursery had 300 types of orchids and 600 varieties of roses, bulbs, ferns and palms, ornamental trees and shrubs and other flowers also. The family ran a landscaping service and a shop in Adelaide too...not bad for a German immigrant who had only been in the country for twenty or so years. In that short time he had built up the largest nursery in the southern hemisphere!
Unfortunately, like all things, it met its demise eventually; human things tend to have a habit of doing that.
There was a terrible flood in 1912 that almost wiped it out completely and it never recovered from there. In subsequent years it was used as a dairy until in 1935 it was stripped of it's usable items and left abandoned until it was totally destroyed in the devastating Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. Now all that is left is a few standing walls, piles of rocks and the scattered plants that pop up in season.
Interestingly, a few members of the family established a new nursery only a couple kilometres away which still operates to this day; I go there a lot to buy my plants, seeds and for expert gardening advice. That's kind of cool right? It's great to see the family, the descendants of the original chap, still operating the nursery, albeit in a much smaller way.
Another legacy of Carl Neumann's is the flowers that spring up in-season around the park. It's quite lovely to hike Anstey Hill in mid-winter to early spring when the jonquils carpet the ground and from late winter daffodils add their blooms. They're not the only flowers, ferns, palms and trees left behind by the nursery either. It's quite wondrous.
It's lush in winter and spring and whilst in the summer months the creeks mostly dry up one was still running when I was there on the weekend, fed by an underground spring. It made for a really nice hike, although winter and spring time is my favourite time to be there.
I wandered around the ruins on Saturday, grabbed some photos for this post and sat about soaking up the mood of the place. It was peaceful, although not silent as birds and bees called and buzzed, kangaroos hopped just out of sight in the scrub and I could hear the skittering of reptiles in the dry leaves and grasses. Add the light breeze moving through the trees and it made for quite wondrous music to accompany my contemplation.
I tried to imagine what the place must have been like in its heyday but struggled; looking through the window of time isn't always clear vision, however I enjoyed my moments before gathering myself and heading back down the gully.
It was a good hike and, whilst I was tired from ascending and descending all those steep hills, I enjoyed the time thoroughly. Combining the historical factor with my hike made for a great day and its one I'll experience again in other seasons as the area changes. I look forward to that.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default; tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind - galenkp
[All original and proudly AI free.]
Any images in this post are my own.
Man, those photos!
Looks like a nice site to spend some time outside the box of life. I wonder why ruins have that kind of aura. Maybe there's something intrinsically attractive about places reclaimed by natursa that once held human structures. Who knows?
Those are some interesting numbers for a business at the time. Pretty interesting thing to keep around and make some money.
It sounds as no surprise some fires got a part of the place. Is that a normal thing in Australia?
I'm not sure what it is about ruins that make them feel as they do. Maybe the finality of it reminds us that all things really do come to an end, so make us feel more alive in the moment?
Bushfires happen annually in Australia although this summer we didn't have any really devastating ones thankfully.
I was 13 in 1983 and remember the Ash Wednesday fires well..my sister was born right in the middle of that period but the news was all about the loss of life and property due to the fires. I think the nursery was already quite deconstructed by then as it was over 100 years old, but the fire came through and did it's worst anyway.
I like going to this place, I'll do some photos in July when the flowers are all out and another post.
Well, that's another way to see it. It's the glass half-empty waiting to be filled with something. I hope it's rum!
It must look beautiful covered with flowers.
Oh, I see. Well, I guess life sprouting during Bushfires is something good among all the tragedy.
I followed your trail and even felt the warmth of the weather despite how distant it is from the hot and beautiful caribbean of your beloved land.
Love that beautiful fern looks like a palm unfolded in its habitat, as well as they occur in the tropics, green, and full of life in the Andean mountain range.
Thank you for sharing the beauty of Adelaida Galen.
On the other hand, I am going to take this very appropriate phrase "free of AI" because even writing in a very literary, colloquial way is sometimes questionable... for God's sake.
I share with you a photo that I had trouble taking earlier in the day in my backyard; because the butterfly kept on flying, hahaha
It's a nice spot, only ten minutes from my house so easy to get to, but has the feeling there's no one else for miles around. I enjoy it there, although the hike wore me out, a combination of the best, the terrain and some other factors at the moment. It was enjoyable though.
It's good to have some greenery around the place at home, softens the harsh lines of buildings and oxygenates the air. Tha ks for commenting.
It is a pleasure to share a little bit of my space, Galen. My home is your home, you are welcome with yours to the Caribbean.
I love it. I also love imagining what some places used to look like. I can already visualize those thriving and colorful nurseries 😍 The love that made Neumann stay in those lands.
I don't know exactly why, but ruins seem to speak to me, you know? Like...I can feel what happened there like just being in the same location, years later, forms some sort of bridge through time. It's probably weird, but I've never said I'm not.
I don't think it's weird, I think it's exciting. How many people can feel the same way? You have the ability to appreciate the wonders and treasures that no one else can see.
One person's weird is another person's normal huh?
That sky looks like its never even seen a cloud.
I love hiking more than i'm capable of expressing since i live in the middle of a thousands of miles-wide block of concrete. I'm constantly counting down the days until I get to visit my English countryside again. This post has just made me salivate further for the great outdoors.
Australia and US just has stuff I've never seen: Sheer size. Always dreamt of just standing in a spot in Australia half a million miles away from literally anything XD
I understand your need, some of us just have to connect with the planet in that way, see broad horizons, hear the planet speak through nature. I understand, and I hope you get to do it soon.
Just on the, million miles away from anything* comment, I've done that, a lot actually, and there's a deep sense of self to be found in doing so. I often liken it to feeling like the only person on the planet. Australia is so vast that it's an easy thing to do generally although I've done it elsewhere also. It's an amazing feeling.
I hope you get out of the city soon; it sounds well-needed.
What amazing photos. I love the history, but it's so sad that the nursery became rubble. Those fire lilies are so pretty. I used to have some of them years ago. It's nice that the family started a new nursery, hopefully in a much better location. Glad you enjoyed your hike.
Australia can be brutal; Floods and fires cause destruction and chaos, but we endure and thrive at times. There's a term, Aussie Grit, which refers to tenacity, hard work, determination and the refusal to give in to adversity. I think it's changing now with the influx of people from all over the place, but to live here means to accept the beauty and brutality of the land.
It was a nice hike...I'm thinking of doing a post on the new Newman's Nursery at some stage, that'll be cool right? They have a pretty swish café there and do high tea and all...I'll have to break out my tuxedo. Lol.
I love hiking too.
From the beautiful photos I shared, it really looks like a beautiful place to immerse yourself in nature and recharge your batteries.
I believe it is important to reconnect to our Mother Earth; they are moments that help to continue this fantastic journey that is life with more energy!
So many people have lost touch with the planet, have forgotten about it or just take it for granted; I am not one of those people. I feel a deep sense of closeness to it and being in places like this heightens it.
I understand you, it's something we have in common and I'm really pleased 😉
That sounds like it would have been an epic nursery. And a lovely walk. You have some really nice hikes 🙃
I’m too much of a coward to go hiking much in summer. Too many sneks 😆 (I love snakes but not being bitten)
It would have been cool to see the nursery in its heyday for sure. Still, it's a nice bike these days and there's some value at the ruins...a nice place to be on a good weather day.
And yep, me no likey snakey either. 😊
See we'll be smart and stay on the nice clear track where we can see the ground while still appreciating what's around us.
The Puppy on the other hand loves to run and run and run and run and run through the bushes jumping over trees and I don't know if she has a clue about snakes XD There's apparently some snake test thing you can do with dogs to make sure they have the correct snake response but we haven't looked into it yet and probably should at some stage.
Staying on the path is a good plan...although the snakes don't obey the same logic as we do. Still, they're more visible as you say.
Also, snake awareness for doggos? That's news to me. See? One can learn something new every day.
Just from the initial photo, I thought this might be SA, perhaps the Flinders, but I'm guessing this is closer to Adelaide.
Good to see there's no AI content and human made. 😀
This is about 17km from Adelaide, north east just next to the suburb of Tea Tree gully.
And yep, there'll never be any AI on my posts.
Thanks for your comment.
These weekend adventures are a window of disconnection and oxygenate our lives, I really enjoyed the photos, landscapes and the journey through your story.
I love the outdoors which makes it easy to spend time there, I make time to do so and find so much value in it.
Thanks for looking at my post and taking the time to reply to me, it's greatly appreciated.
While reading this post I used all my sense organs, I can hear the birds singing, the rustling of dry grasses, and the sounds of the insects.
I wasn't there but your writings took me there, they were quite a beautiful piece of information about the place.
Hope your feet doesn't hurt that much again?
Thanks, I try to convey the feel of the places I visit through my words which sometimes is easier than others. My feet are all good, I'm tough.
I spotted a beautiful butterfly!
Hiking was really one of the best exercises without knowing that at times we already burnt some calories from walking , once we are enjoying the view!
And a way of destressing after working the whole week.
Yeah, I added the butterfly image in because it followed me for a few hundred meters as I hiked I think it wanted to be friends.
I haven't seen real butterflies for years! Even the place I went trekking last weekend.
That reminds me to share some of my outdoor activities in your community 😄.
Have a great day!
Butterflies always seem happy, I like them.
It is amazing how dry it is but yet greenery is coming out everywhere. Nature is outstanding in all aspects. And bushfire is only a part of it.
We have rainfall in Summer, not much but a little. Australia's flora has adapted to the hot dry conditions of summer though and so parts remain green. Winter and autumn grasses die off though, and that's what gives the impression of it being so dry and crispy.
Yes, also some trees are helping a lot. Eucalyptus can get very deep with roots and find water which brings it up to other fauna.
Yep, that's correct. Are you a eucalypt expert? 😁
Naaah just plant enhusiast. I want to start a pollinator sanctuary here in Slovenia. I already bought land, now in the progress of planning and learning. Probably non-profit will be established for this. According to eucalypt, mine didn't survive the winter here :(
That's all pretty cool, I hope it works out for you.
In respect of eucalyptus trees, I think the conditions need to be right. Here it's perfect for them if course, I have them all around my house...they're everywhere here. It's Australia after all.
very good photos , and the ruins look very interesting ,
no doubt it would be a good tour to explore 😉
It was an excellent day of hiking with some history thrown in for good measure.