A Little Excursion

As I sit eating a lovely stuffed potato for my lunch and browse through the photos I took on our trip to Mary Cairncross yesterday. I think that I will inflict just a few on people.

The day started over-caste, but with promise of some sun. The promise was not forefilled.  But this only enhanced the trip. Afterall we were going to a rainforest.

 A view of the Glasshouse Mountains from the lookout at Mary Cairncross.

We took a guided walk through the rainforest. The first stop was to look at the entrances to the Native Australian worm holes. The worms are 1 metre or more long. What amazed me was the entrances were so tiny for such a big creature. (they were really well disguised)

A little along the track we (I) stopped to take pictures of the amazing ficus trees growing. I'm continually fascinated by the buttress's that they form.

This is a young one.

This Tree has a fungal infection that will eventually kill it. Inside it bats sleep during the day.

 This tree is over 600 years old!

And this is how the last two started out. They start as an epiphytes in an upper branch that gradually sent roots downwards into the ground. It gets stronger and bigger. The tree in the middle dies and if the ficus is strong enough it survives and thrives. Strangler Figs (Ficus Watkinsiana)

There it goes slowly engulfing the tree.

Another view of the rainforest. Some of the trees don't look very old, but they are between 50 and 150 years old. Just waiting for one of the bigger, older, decrepit trees to die and fall over. Then the competition is on to take over that spot left by the tree that died.

This gum tree won't suffer the strangle as gum's drop their bark every year. So epiphytes cannot get a stable envirnoment to florish. This tree is a good 80 metres high.

Just a little part of the cycle of life! There were so many different, amazing fungi.

Once we finished the walk through the rainforest we were greeted by a number of Bush Turkeys.

Sorry about the explainations. I was so fasinated by the whys I just had to share.
The End!