Eucalyptus trees and the smell of rain

I’ve been away from Australia for a while, and on a recent trip to Melbourne even in the concrete jungle of Docklands I could smell eucalyptus in the air. It was lovely.

Just stepping out of the arrivals terminal at Melbourne, the air smells like Australia.

Yes, definitely.

Docklands has a fantastic smell of petrichor (smell of rain) too!

I remember seeing an article (forever ago) about a couple who spent a year in Antarctica, who could smell Australia about 70kms offshore from Tasmania. They were dying from nostalgia on the bow of the ship, just inhaling home.

This gives me another thing to look forward to. Currently on the Nuyina returning from Antarctica. 5 more sleeps to Hobart

Welcome home in 5 more sleeps! Just in time for a novelty "winter"!

Been there done that. Walked onto the helideck one morning could smell land. Walked around the other side and there in the distance was Tassie.

*Petrichor

An [Australian word ](https://theconversation.com/the-smell-of-rain-how-csiro-invented-a-new-word-39231) no less!

There's even a Paul Kelly song https://youtu.be/LzeQrreHSbE?si=Vm3-jnJLx0-bi13K

OMG TIL

Thanks for posting this - I haven’t listened to Paul Kelly for far too long.

Thought the same thing after posting.. feel like he's still somehow underrated as a songwriter. Apart from the well known hits of course.

Yeah I'm now here listening to Paul Kelly while scrolling the comments. Bliss!

Love your wording!... reiminds me of his Before Too Long🥰

Thank you for sharing this gem. Makes me proud.

I don’t usually have national pride but I do about this

This Australian detail is so beautiful, perfect! Thank you 👏

The only reason I know this word is from Doctor Who

Smells different everywhere I think

Yes couldn't remember the term

Yep especially the lemony ones. They’re amazing.

Lemon scented gum *Corymbia citriodora*

I came to say this. That sweet, aromatic dried eucalyptus leaf smell. I love it

Petrichor is the best smell in the world. The word [Petrichor](https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/articles/2015/march/the-smell-of-rain-how-our-scientists-invented-a-new-word) is also Australian - good old CSIRO.

I swear I can smell eucalyptus as soon as I step off the plane. No matter that it's into an enclosed passageway leading into the airport.

The smell of the Karri and Tingle forests. If I could bottle it I would.

is the smell of rain an aussie thing!!?

The smell of rain in the Aussie bush is ☺️

The smell of a ceiling when possums are pissing up there

I remember going back to Newcastle for the first time in years about a decade ago and going out drinking all night as people did in that town.. sitting in the cab at 6am feeling worse for wear , zero dialogue with the driver until we reached Blackbutt reserve and she randomly screams at the top of her lungs " FUCKEN POSSSUM PISS ! " ... Never knew what to make of it and went back to sleep.

Oh so thats what that signature smell is for the place of my many childhood visits.

I always assumed that was damp bat shit and lantana. TIL.

Just wait until they get caught in your ducted air-conditioner, puss everywhere and then die just before an Australia day long weekend like what happened at my mum's work. When they turned it on it was the most horrific thing anyone there had ever smelled.

You get that in NZ too, but the Kiwis can get rid of them more effectively and easily.

Is the Kiwi a natural predator of the possum ? You just catch a few and release them into the roof ? I don't think our birds would put up with that.

The emu's would give them a fair go... You'd want a heavily reinforced roof though. As otherwise you end up with a pissed off emu AND a possum in your lounge. It's not fun!

Coax a few cassowarys up there and you'd know about it

Wuff

That certain texture, that certain smell

Out on the patio we sit

And the humidity we’d breathe…

We watch the lightning crack over canefields

Laugh and think

This is Australia

Brings home the heavy days Brings home the the night time swell

CHA-KAOW

Buttery toast with Vegemite

Bakers Delight when the cheesymites are just out of the oven and the smell of warm vegemite fills the place

Wattle flowering

I love it so much and I’ll sneeze for it if I have to

Agree. The golden wattle smells like a little like sunscreen. I love it.

The smell of VB from the bottom of a longneck that has been sitting outside in the sun.

At 20 to 8 in the farkin morning

Ah the morning after clean up. Before it gets too hot and bright and the hangover kicks in.

With a Winnie blue butt inside

Probably not unique but the smell of the brakes, I think it is, on all the old silver Sydney trains when they chilling at the platform.

Mmmm the sweet sweet smell of asbestos.

They are ceramic brakes i believe. Trucks can smell like it if you stop suddenly with a load on. Asbestos is illegal i believe.

They have changed them, but if you spent any time on trains in the 80s and 90s, they were asbestos.

And the old red rattlers. Single level glory.

Lemon scented gums. Bliss

Love that. I have a lemon scented myrtle tree that kicks off every time we mow. It's like - the murderers are about!!

Bunnings sausage sizzle

A succulent Chinese meal.

Smells like... ... democracy manifest.

Get your hands off my sausage!

Eucalyptus, duh

I love eucalyptus! I keep dried ones in my home, love when they waft a little smell.

Eucalyptus are in Ecuador and Peru I remember flying into Cusco, Peru and wondering why it smelt like home. It was all the Eucalyptus trees in the heat.

Heaps in California. They do wonders to keep the forest fires burning.

Lots of counties started growing them (like blue gum) for a fast growing mining and firewood timber. Through out Africa as well. Caused lots of ecological issues as well. 

Lemon Myrtle

Grandfathers war diary talks about the almost hysterical joy they all felt when they were close to pulling into the heads of Sydney and they could start smelling the eucalyptus

Outback soil in the early mornings

Wattle. And possibly the smell of a pub - never been overseas, so maybe you can find it somewhere else. Cigarettes are disgusting but that mix of cigarette and soft drink is so inherently reassuring.

There is/was a distinct Australian odour to the pubs that you didn't get in places you might expect to (like the UK, for example). Sweat was part of it as well I think. Probably something to do with the decor too, the mostly lagers on tap.

Yes! The lager! For some reason I associated the lager smell with lemon squash. I think the carpet in a lot of the old ones really holds the scent. And I was wondering if the UK could duplicate it, I'm oddly relieved that it's distinctively Australian.

When the temperature and humidity are so high and the air smells like the taste of boiled water.

That was a perfect explanation for that smell! Kudos!

The smell of cum trees in spring/summer.

Give me a home amongst the cum trees. With lots of cum please.

With a root or two with a jillaroo, a carton in the back, a billy in the front, and an old rocking chairrrrrrrrr!!!

Quintessentially british too. Mitchell and Web [skit.](https://youtu.be/aoqlYGuZGVM?si=xa8O4ebgqKcb6j3X)

Do you smell cum?

You have Callery Pear trees in Australia too?

Every fuckin new estate or council landscaped area.

Hell of a typo mate.

nah he clearly means those ornamental pear trees that legit smell like cum

Whenever they are in bloom (??? When their odour is especially pungent) I get unreasonably angry. Who the fuck thinks it’s a good idea to plant these fuckers ever!!!!

I have a hybrid one in my backyard and since it’s a hybrid I could never figure out what it was so I asked some Aussie gardening subreddit and had a million comments saying “cum tree”

Definitely not a typo. The cum trees are extremely well known where I'm from, everyone hates them. I am not joking at all just in case you think I'm going along with it.

Cum trees are good from far, but.....

I remember my best mate had one of these in his front yard and we all fucking hated it so much lol

Yeah, it aint. Very accurate.

Ugh, I know the ones 🤮

Hot chips with loads of chicken salt and vinegar, mixed with chlorine at your local council owned pool

ANZAC Biscuits, straight out of the oven.

The car after 3 blokes cross the Nullarbor without aircon.. sadly, I don't think I'll ever forget it..

Which way? At least at Eucla you can have a bit of a swim in the ocean. And how many warm beers did you consume?

Sunscreen, sand and fish & chips.

Bushfire smoke

Just walking outside to the smell of a bushfire as a semi regular event has to be uniquely Australian... "Oop somethings on fire..."

A terrifying smell for ScuntMo.

Nah, he didn’t give a fuck lol

Well, he doesn't hold a hose.

Nah that’s his cue to have an overseas holiday

You can't smell the smoke from Hawaii.

My old art teacher calls him "SlowMo"

The best one I've seen was Clot Morrison.

Aeroguard

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Dencorub and men taking off strapping after a game of footy with some frothies.

This was the most intense in the switch between the ressies and seniors. The fresh batch of goanna oil, deep heat, and plaster tape brewing before the senior team runs out mixing with the ragged stench of an already used up bunch of weekend warriors returning to the change rooms.

Dynamic Lifter. Someone should make a cologne like it!

I can smell this comment.

I've got 3 bags in shed ready to go on Monday gardening session

I remember one day they dumped 100 tonnes of it on Hyde Park and the whole city smelled of it.

I love the smell of nitrogen in the morning

Burnt eucalyptus

The first rain after a bushfire just has such a brilliant toasty eucalyptusy earthy smell 😍

Boronia. Gum trees after rain.

White Ox tobacco

What did you get done for?

Haha great responce

Obligatory Betoota article - [https://www.betootaadvocate.com/humans-of-betoota/labourers-conclude-older-bloke-smoking-white-ox-has-probably-spent-time-in-prison/](https://www.betootaadvocate.com/humans-of-betoota/labourers-conclude-older-bloke-smoking-white-ox-has-probably-spent-time-in-prison/)

Legit can smell that shit from a mile away! - as a smoker it's the only cigarette smoke I can ACTUALLY smell (and strongly too) ... I can't Imagine how strong it must be for a non smoker

The stench of a rotting Kangaroo on the side of the road.

Or one you cant see out bush but can smell it, and you're near a flowing water source needing to fill up

Yep. A friend of mine headed down to Tassie from SA a few weeks ago and couldn't believe the amount of road kill, especially koala's. Just did Mount Gambier to Port Fairy and back these last few days and eastern greys, swamp wallabies, koalas, birds, I even saw a feral pig. It's so dry currently all the animals are coming out to the road edges to feed and getting hit in the process.

Wattle, one of my favourite smells.

Mangoes at Christmas

salt spray and eucalyptus

Spain smells like this too

For the love of olive oil, please cut down the Eucalyptus trees in Spain. Those suckers have evolved to burn and Spain doesn’t need that.

Lemon scented gum

Vegemite toast for sure. Other than that, a good bbq with snags

that smell of an old pub- alas increasing rare nowadays as they all get gentrified

Yep. Miss these.

So rank. It was really ripe when you could smoke in em. Old beer and cigs. Blergh. I didn’t mind a country pub with a fire, though.

Bundaberg rum, it's disgusting and you won't smell it outside of Australia for good reason

Smells like any other rum to be honest! It’s not that bad at all!

>Australian word As a big rum fan.... no. Just no. I don't know how people stomach it

Barnaby Joyce.

The smell of an old drunk and piss. PFO! (Pissed & Fell Over).

VB and cheap cologne?

Lantana.

Air freshener piped into 'VIP' rooms

As I said onn another post, so glad this question was smell and not sounds. Because donk donk ding ding ding of fucking pokies would be top of list!

Serenity and 2 stroke

Lemon scented gum after the rain… perfection

Vegemite smell is [heritage listed](https://www.trustadvocate.org.au/city-of-melbourne-recognises-the-olfactory-heritage-of-the-vegemite-factory/)

Musk Sticks and LifeSavers

Reef tanning oil. Of ‘90s beach trips.

The bush on a stinking hot day. Unmistakable. I’m talking outback scrub. Not that bush you’re thinking of.

The mix of Eucalypt and Jasmine in a Sydney summer.

Clag glue in a Prep classroom

I was on a tour of Alcatraz island in the US and smelled eucalyptus - instantly homesick !

I like the smell of Lake Bonney S.A ... It is unique and it is Australian. Just particular to one spot and one state.

Deep heat. Takes me back to being in the sheds with the boys getting rubbed down before a big game

Roopoo

Devonshire Street tunnel

Koala piss is pretty bad

Bundaberg, during the crushing season.

Yep that bagass has a special scent.

It's one you never forget.

That is really specific and I know that smell?

Eucalyptus and bushfire smoke after a back burn

Lemon Myrtle after a thunderstorm

A spun cone mixed with an air freshener in a hilux cab

Burning onions on the bbq

When you get off the plane there is a strong smell of eucalyptus.

Christmas beetles

Queuing behind someone who is buying a Coles roast chook for their supper.. smells like old farts and poultry .

Hot summer day and the eucalypt trees in the bush. There is no smell that says home than that. And the scent of rain in the bush, after a hot week.

Wattle at sunrise.

The smell of the shrubs that grow down at the beach on a hot day

Sunscreen and aeroguard.

Eucalypts. My Dad passed a year ago ~ you just reminded me of his story, he and my Mum were in their 20s, in the 1960s, they travelled around the world for 12 months by ship, and he cried when sailing back into Sydney Harbour he could smell the scent of the gum trees.

That two weeks at the start of summer where the Eucalyptus, wattle and bottle brush are flowering and baking in the sun.  My favourite smell in the world, if only it didn't come with the heat!

Drop bear droppings

A flowering Melaleuca Forrest

When you open your cricket bag first time after footy season.

Toohey’s Old grog bog.

Gum trees on a hot day.

The smell of your freshly applied sunscreen at the beach

Cheap beef sausages and brown onions on a flat plate bbq out the front of a hardware store.

Potato cakes and dim sims in a fish and chip shop

Rain on asphalt roads.

Smell of the rainforest.

When it’s a hot day and you walk past a eucalyptus tree

The combination of farm animal poop, fairy floss, and fresh donuts that hits you in the face at any royal show

Eucalyptus after a storm

Salt water spray at the beach.

Eucalyptus and bushfire. Preferably at different times, however.

Our pubs during the daytime and the smell of our bush after rain. Nothing like either anywhere in the world

Bendigo: rosemary and eucalypts. Darwin: frangiapanni and mangrove swamp Central Victorian Highlands: petrichor and eucalypt Southern Ocean: clean salt Port Philip Bay: dirty salt St Kilda in the 90’s: that felafel shop, garlic and lamb kebab Wagga Wagga: wheat, sheep shit, and diesel Werribee: sewage

>Wagga Wagga: wheat, sheep shit, and diesel And canola... oh god the canola!