Rhododendron

Blackheath is the self styled Rhododendron Capital of Australia with blooms and annual festivities reaching a peak in the first week of November.
There are however earlier flowering varieties like this one. 
When we moved to Blackheath 9 years ago there wasn't much of a garden but there were a pair of rhododendron bushes on either side of our front steps and this is a flower on one of those.