COVER N. 449 - AUSTRALIA

Postmark: Fulham Gardens LPO SA 5024 23.04.2024 / Australia Post Adelaide Gateway Facility 5J Butler Blvd Adelaide Airport SA 5950 24.04.2024

Posted on the 23rd April; received on the 8th may 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

A cover with two postmarks, and strangely they both look to have been applied manually. Not that common. Anyway, Thanks a lot Koert.

Australia has been on my list pf places to visit for such a long time... I even thought of emigrating there, when I finished high school... I went as far as asking once for the price of an airplane ticket..... the response (this was 1977 or 78) immediately shattered all my dreams of one day learning to speak Koala....

I guess I was attracted by the extremely diverse nature and by what I thought was the quite pragmatic character of Australians... I really don't know how I had built that opinion, since I think I had no other contact with Australian culture than a rather episodic correspondence with a pen-pal and watching some episodes of  "Skippy, the bush kangaroo"... still, the fact is that Australia occupied a big place in my dreams and even if that place has now shrunk in inverse relation to my lifespan, the Island continent is still a place of wonder that I would really like to get to know in the flesh....

The two self-adhesive 45 cent stamps are part of a set of four, all with the same face value, issued on 08APR1999, themed on flowers. These stamps were issued in traditional gummed paper and self-adhesive formats.

The flowers depicted in the nice illustrations are the Australian bluebell (Wahlenbergia stricta), a locally widespread member of the Campanulaceae family (left) and the Snake vine (Hibbertia scandens), a member of the Dilleniaceae family, endemic to eastern Australia.

The 3 dollar stamp illustrated with a Christmas ornament ball  is part of the 2023 Australia Post Christmas issue, dating of 01NOV2023, which also comprised another two 65 cent stamps, also illustrated with season's motifs (Xmas tree and a letter to Santa).

The letter was originated at Adelaide, as proved by the postmarks, the capital of South Australia with a population in excess of 1,2 million.

Of note is the fact, brought to my attention by my Phantom friend, that the postmark from the Adelaide Airport was applied 3 days after the original mailling in Adelaide city. You have a sharp eye, Mr. Ghost who walks!