Sunday Selections #339

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.

Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week?  Some photos (with more to come later) from a day-trip we took last week.  Himself often complains (with some justification) that we never go anywhere.  So we headed some 200 kilometres (124 miles) away to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra.

In my usual restrained fashion I took literally hundreds of photos.  This week I am going to mostly focus on ducks and koi - and will put up a post about the gardens themselves next week some time.  (We haven't forgotten Tidbinbilla and will get back there soon.)

Even in winter, with very little in bloom the gardens are beautiful.  Sculptural.  Architectural.  Lovely.

The 'fruit' in this tree is Crested Pigeons.

The koi were enormous.  And challenged the ducks (and each other) quite forcefully for food.

Many of our native birds are not particularly musical.  The magpie (and the currawong) are exceptions to that rule.

See what I mean about the sculptural quality to the gardens?

A red-rumped parrot (aka bum bird) showing how it gets its name.

And the serenity of 'more typical' Japanese gardens. 

It really is a lovely place and we were lucky with the weather too.  Clear skies, no wind and cool enough for walking to be pleasant but by no means cold.