The rose is undoubtedly the most popular garden flower in the world. When settlers came from the Northern Hemisphere to Australia and New Zealand they brought their treasured roses with them. Roses Down Under follows the way roses may have been introduced into both countries where they not indigenous. In each country enthusiastic gardeners and Rosarians such as Alister Clark and Ron Bell in Australia and Ken Nobbs and Sam McGredy in New Zealand were inspired to develop their own varieties. There is a chapter dealing with the complexities of hybridisation, going through the process step by step, so the reader can follow in their footsteps. Various rose breeders from both countries, both professional and amateur, are listed, together with numerous photographs of their significant varieties. These illustrate the differences, as well as the similarities, of roses produced in Australia and New Zealand since the days of the first settlers. The Victoria State Rose Garden at Werribee, outside Melbourne, has been chosen to represent the large number of rose gardens in Australia, with many photographs illustrating the diverse collection of roses growing there. In New Zealand, the Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden in Timaru was chosen because of the comprehensive nature of roses planted in that very interesting garden. The final chapter asks where roses will be in the future. Will varieties produced in each country be similar, or very different? One thing is sure. They will always be, for gardeners, the Queen of Flowers.

This fully revised edition of Kevin Handreck’s classic best-seller contains a wealth of information for practical gardeners. It will enable you to improve the worst of soils, choose the best fertiliser for particular plants and minimise water use. It also contains a comprehensive guide to managing potted plants. Here also are the basics of soil, composting, fertilisers and potting mixes, as well as simple tests and colour guides to nutrient deficiencies. Gardening Down-Under covers much practical information left out by other gardening books.

On vacation in Australia, Sabrina joins up with Gwen, the British witch she met on her last vacation in Rome. Together they explore the Great Barrier Reef, go on a deep-sea dive with a famous marine biologist and meet the mysterious and very cute Barnaby ... who turns out to be a merman!

Scuba diving in the waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef is magical, especially to a twelve-year-old girl. Living on a dive boat, she experiences all the beauties of the reef. Every day is filled with thrilling adventures - and sometimes more danger than she ever expected.

Have you ever wished you could go somewhere that you have read about or heard about to see for yourself what it is like? That is how this book began. After spending one school year (ten months) on the island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands where the reef was part of the back yard and the lagoon was just around the corner, the longing to see the Great Barrier Reef kept creeping in to haunt the author. Over 50 years later, the opportunity came along. There was only one day allotted for the visit to Green Island and that day was one of storm and rough seas. That would not ruin the trip because Jane knew she also had the Sydney Aquarium on her list of places to go. That was great even though the duck-billed platypus was asleep and refused to welcome visitors that day. Since it was their springtime, the spring rains hampered some visits, but that is something you cannot control. The beauty of reading is that you can travel in your imagination, yet be in the comfort of your favorite place to read. With plenty of pictures to help your imagination, sit back and enjoy a trip of a lifetime!

Most people look forward to their annual vacations. Some want to relax and do nothing while others seek the thrill of diving with man-eating sharks or bungee jumping from a suspension bridge high above a rock canyon to stir up their paltry existence. In Danger Down Under, a group of ordinary people from different walks of life find themselves in an extraordinary position. After recently leaving the military, Gary and his wife Amanda are hoping a vacation to Australia will mend their strained marriage. A day of charter fishing ends with them stranded by a storm on a small island with six fellow vacationers, none of who had any such activities in their getaway plans. Its the kind of thing that would make a body hire a new travel agent. While the group of castaways deal with their survival situation, Dr. Larry Williams, a scientist studying marine life off the northern coast of Australia discovers an unusual chemical imbalance of unknown origin in many of his specimens. As he searches for the cause, local residents began to disappear throwing a panic into the police department and the authorities mobilize to join in on the quest for answers. Research leads Dr. Williams to a library in Sydney that hints of a convoy from Germany sunk in 1943 by the American Navy on its way to Japan with a cargo of nerve agent. He also finds corroborating evidence from the local hotel manager whose uncle served as a coast watcher and begins to expose the cover up of a leak that is causing genetic aberrations in the water; one of which is an over sized Komodo Dragon. Mysteriously the uncle is poisoned. Concern over the fate of the shipwrecked tourists grows as the police deal with missing people from the town and Lieutenant Harry Morgan, commander of the search and rescue station, sends several vessels out to comb the area. Little does Dr. Williams know that there are forces at work trying to hamper his research and prevent him from learning any more than he already has. He eventually convinces his friend Captain Dave Weeks, an Army officer stationed in Hawaii, to listen to his conscience and help him expose the cover up. Risking his career and prison, Captain Weeks steals secret files about the convoy and leaves for Australia to assist the scientist. As science and government head on a collision course, the creature prowling the strait in search of food terrorizes Gary and his fellow castaways. It has developed a healthy appetite for human flesh by the way. Concerned that their safety is in jeopardy they decide to launch Gary out in their life raft to hopefully run down a passing boat or plane only to have him pounded by a storm. He is finally picked up by one of Lieutenant Morgans cutters but, thanks to the storm, no longer knows which direction he came from. The story comes to a head when Gary attempts to lead a rescue mission back for his wife and her fellow castaways before government agents can find them. Standing in their way is the government bureaucracy that wants to keep the secret intact and the creature that mans indifference has created. No boring 35mm vacation slides from this trip.

This is a work of cllimate fiction set in Crocodile Dundee country in the Northern Territory of Australia. When the body of Alex Petersen, an employee of Parks Australia, is found at Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park, the Northern Territory Police are determined to uncover the truth behind his murder. Tensions are high between the Traditional Owners, government and a global miner, as the dispute over the environmental clean up of Ranger Uranium Mine continues. Meanwhile, is there a cover up of government funds behind a gas fracking mine on aboriginal land and a port too close to cultural sites in Darwin. An indignous paleo astronomy course field trip in Kakadu, brings together a young Norwegian marine biologist, an astronomer from Edinburgh, and an archaeologist from Sydney. As the disparate group of characters navigate between the worlds of politics and culture, they uncover secrets that could explain the murder.