031 - Australia

(postal card) Waratah (Telopea) is a bundle of about 1000 hair shrubs or small trees in the Proteaceae, native to the southeastern parts of Australia (New South Wales and Victoria) and Tasmania. They have spirally arranged leaves 10-20 cm long and 2-3 cm broad with entire or serrated margins, and large, dense flowerheads 6-15 cm diameter with numerous small red flowers and a basal ring of red bracts. The name waratah comes from the Eora Aboriginal people, the original inhabitants of the Sydney area. Within the Proteaceae, their closest relatives appear to be the genera Alloxylon (Tree Waratahs), Oreocallis and Embothrium, a group of generally terminal red-flowering plants which skirt the southern edges of the Pacific Rim. Together they make up the subtribe Embothriinae within the family.

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Grevillea mucronulata, also known as Green Spider Flower, is a shrub which is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. This species is a spreading to erect shrub which usually grows to between 0.3 and 2 metres in height. Its leaves are elliptic, obovate or round. The green flowers appear predominantly from late autumn to mid spring (May to October in Australia). The species occurs in dry sclerophyll woodland or heathland in the upper Hunter Valley, the Sydney region and southward along the coast towards Eden where it is found in isolated pockets. As the green flowers are camouflaged within the foliage, this species has not proved as popular in horticulture as other species within the genus, beyond being grown by collectors.

005 - Australia

The Grose Valley is a rugged valley in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It has been formed by the Grose River, the headwaters of which are in the Mount Victoria area. The valley is located between the two major routes across the Great Dividing Range, the Great Western Highway and Bells Line of Road. The Grose River has cut a deep gorge through the area as it makes its way east towards the Hawkesbury River. Sheer sandstone cliffs standing hundreds of metres above the river make for spectacular scenery and can be viewed extensively from the Blackheath area, where there are a number of accessible lookouts, the best known being Govetts Leap. The valley can also be viewed from lookouts near Bells Line of Road and points outside Mt Victoria. Charles Darwin described the Grose Valley as "stupendous … magnificent" when he visited in 1836.