Centralian Advocate, Friday, October 25, 2013 — 33

TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE

Mulla mullaswill stand upto desert heatWANTING to add some-thing special to yourgarden? The Ptilotusexaltatus, commonly calledthe Pink Mulla Mulla (pic-tured), is an absolute must.

Ptilotus exaltatus is asmall herbaceous perennialthat is heat and droughtt o l e r a n t t h a t g r o w sthroughout inland Austra-lia being found in the NT,NSW, Qld, WA, SA andnorthern Victoria.

There are approximately100 species in the genusPtilotus, with all but onespecies found only growingin Australia.

Ptilotus can be foundgrowing in a wide range ofhabitats from the tropicsthrough into the arid in-terior of Australia.

They can be found grow-ing on rocky slopes, loamysoils, clay, gravel or stoneyplains and on sand dunes.

While generally they pre-fer well draining soils, amaz-ingly they appear to alsoflourish even in quite heavyclay soils.

The Ptilotus exaltatus hasmany common names in-cluding Pink Mulla Mulla,Lambs Tails, Pussy CatTails and is commerciallymarketed as Little Joey. It isa small annual or perennialplant growing generally to40-60cms although in idealconditions can grow taller.

It has thick fine silver-green foliage and producesmasses of long conicalspikes of feathery flowerson tall stems with pinkish/purple flower spikes.

Excellent examples of thisplant can be found on theroundabouts at the en-trance to Desert Knowledgeand into the airport.

Found growing naturallyin Mulgaa woodlands, sandyridges, lateritic plains androcky outcrops the Ptilotuswill grow in light to partshade through to full sun.

It can be grown in thenative garden, cottagegarden and makes for anexcellent accent and con-tainer plant growing in pots,window boxes, hanging bas-kets and container planters.

It is best grown in thegeneral garden.

Anything from three to 20plants will make for a stun-ning display. I recently de-signed a mass planting of 40

all together and in time this

will make for a fantastic

display.

A modest to fast grower it

will flower within weeks on

being planted.

Allow the flower spikes todry before pruning them offto promote further flower-ing. It will flower all throughspring and summer and intoautumn.

They can flower rightthroughout the year if man-aged correctly with repeatlight pruning.

Sometimes these plantsbehave as an annual lastingonly one year. However I’veknown them to last for sev-eral years and generally inthat time further plants willself-germinate in thegarden bed where firstplanted.

They grow well in AliceSprings and they love Tenn-ant Creek gardens.

Collect the spent flowerspikes and scatter themthrough the garden for newplants to often quickly grow.

Alternatively allow theplant to complete floweringand allow the flower headsto drop.

To promote new plantsfrom seed it’s best to plantthem in garden beds withsand, gravel or rock mulch.

Re-germination is moredifficult in garden bedsmulched with wood chip,pine bark or bush mulch.

They also re-germinateeasily when the plant isgrown in a containergarden.

A stunning plant thePtilotus exaltatus is a mustplant for almost all gardentypes and now is an excel-lent time to plant them.

There are other species ofPtilotus that can occasion-ally be found in localnurseries so keep an eye outfor them and introducethem to your garden.

Once successfully intro-duced into your garden theywill reward you for yearswith new plants emergingannually particularly afterwinter and spring rains.

Dive into Perth fun

A pod of dolphins frolicking by a Rockingham Wild Encounters tour

Scott Podmore

TO swim with a wild dolphin in itsnatural setting is to truly understandthe special relationship these lovablecreatures have with humans.

Rockingham Wild Encounters foun-der Terry Howson well knows throughhis Swim With Wild Dolphins tourexperience.

He’s worked incredibly hard to makeit all happen, too, since setting off 23years ago in his father’s 6m boat from‘‘sunrise to sunset’’ every day to swimwith the dolphins until he finallybefriended them and earned theirtrust.

All up, it took him seven months in adisplay of unwavering patience anddetermination, and not a skerrick offood was used to lure them, either.

‘‘Ours is a really natural partnershipand we’re really happy with that,’’ MrHowson says.

‘‘I don’t look into the spiritual side ofit too much but I’m open-mindedenough to know we’re witnessing aconnection between humans and thedolphins, most definitely.’’

Based on the shores of theShoalwater Islands Marine Park, only45 minutes south of Perth, this multi-award winning marine wildlife cruisecompany is becoming world renownedfor its Swim With Wild Dolphinsexperience, but also offers tours toPenguin Island and Seal Island aswell.

After a quick run-through of the dosand don’ts, your group links up andjumps in, and before you know it thedolphins emerge in the distance andjoin in for a play and a splash.

Best of all, we’re not talking about amere few minutes — the dolphins notonly hang around for 75 to 90 minutes

but they swim within a metre, mimick-ing you and showing off.

Meanwhile, on dry land Swan Valleymay be small on the Australian winestage, but it’s big on quality anddiversity in a food and wine trailwinding around a 32km loop andtaking in more than 150 wineries,vibrant craft breweries, restaurants,distilleries, galleries and shops.

‘‘We get 2.1 million day visitors a yearto the Swan Valley,’’ says SaschaStone, the City of Swan’s tourismdevelopment officer.

Recent additions pulling the crowdsare WA’s oldest confectionery com-pany Whistler’s Chocolate Co, a newcellar door at three generations-oldTalijancich Wines, and a blend ofrustic and modern charm at TheCheese Barrel cafe.

‘‘The thing that really sets us apartis we have 180 years of history here,’’Stone says.

‘‘So you’ll often find the people who

serve you at the cellar doors are the

people who have grown and picked thegrapes, lovingly made the food orcrafted the products.’’

All this is a short drive south ofPerth where small group guided walk-ing tours are often the best way toexplore the city as you take your timesoaking up the sights, learning itshistory.

Given an exclusive combination ofall their tours in a one-hour briskburst, it doesn’t take long to realisePerth is moving quickly as new devel-opments such as the $2.6 billion Eliza-beth Quay project promise to bringthe Swan River closer to the city andthe new Perth City Link mission aimsto reunite the CBD with theNorthbridge entertainment district.

n Scott Podmore was a guest of Tourism

Western Australia.

Get greensin liquid formHayley Michener

FOR quite a while I’ve heardabout ‘‘green smoothies’’.Part of me was intriguedwith the thought of con-suming something sovibrantly hued.

The other part of me re-sisted trying them because Ididn’t want to go from beinga healthy eater into a healthnut. I also thought of spin-ach as something you eat,not drink.

Green smoothies, in caseyou haven’t heard of them,are just that - smoothiesmade from leafy greens likekale, spinach, and lettuce orother greens like cucumber,celery, and mint.

Green smoothie enthusi-asts maintain that greensare more digestible whenpureed into a smoothie,making them healthierthan just eating the greensplain.

At this time of year, leafygreens are in abundance,with both kale and spinachbeing the most popularveggie for both growers andbuyers at the Food For Alicestall at the Todd Mall Mar-kets. When you have thistype of abundance (or glut)it can sometimes be hard tofind ways to use all of it andnot let it go to waste. This iswhere the Green Smoothiecomes in.

Alternatively, if yourbackyard veggies haven’tquite made it to the abun-dant stage where you canmake a whole meal out ofthem, smoothies are also agood way to use just a fewleaves.

To road test these ‘‘GreenMonsters’’ it’s out of thebackyard and into the kit-chen. My first try had a bitof an odd mix of greens,frozen berries, shreddedcoconut, cocoa powder andsoy milk. Turned out moreof a brown smoothie than agreen one, but deliciousnonetheless.

M y s e c o n d g r e e nsmoothie was simpler withgreens, a dash of orangejuice, a few cashews, andsome ice. Delicious and yes,very green.

You can sweeten (or hidethe taste if you need) with allmanner of things frozenfruit, honey, yoghurt, anytype of milk, nuts, chiaseeds, shredded coconut -options are endless.

Except for the boorishtask of cleaning the blender,I have to say that the greensmoothie is a winner allround. It is such a great wayof making use of backyardglut while we have it.

n Hayley Michener is the coor-dinator of Food For Alice, whichsupports local growers.

POVEY STIRK

Casually Dismissed

with

John StirkSandy had been working in Alice Springs with Dangerous Constructions Pty Ltd. When she was �rst employed, she was told that her hours would vary but generally she would be needed in the of�ce for up to four hours per day. Dangerous Constructions had 20 employees on its books.

The owners of Dangerous Constructions thought Sandy had an attitude problem that was not limited to her purple dyed hair. She was told that she disrupted the other of�ce staff. The owners gave her three written warnings and claimed her behaviour and attitude was not at the standard they required. She was told to improve her performance. Despite the owners’ hope that economic activity would improve after the recent elections, new work was not becoming available. The owners decided to reduce overheads by reducing their staf�ng levels. Three permanent staff were retrenched as well as Sandy.

The dismissal occurred 14 months after she commenced employment. Sandy had averaged 17 hours work per week for the 14 months. Sandy went to the Fair Work Commission and complained she was unfairly dismissed. The owners told the Commission they believed that casual employees could not be unfairly dismissed.

The Commission held that as Sandy had been employed for 12 months, and had a reasonable expectation of ongoing employment but for the dismissal, the termination was unfair. In particular, the Commission found that Sandy had been employed on a regular and systematic basis and had a reasonable expectation that her hours would have continued. The alleged performance problems were found to not be signi�cant enough to warrant dismissal.

If a casual employee works for at least six months for a business employing more than 14 employees, or 12 months for a business employing less than 14 employees, they are entitled to be protected by the unfair dismissal laws.