Another Day in the Tablelands

Hello to everyone back home :)

Today I went for a visit up to Dr. Daryl's ranch and man-o-man do they own a piece of heaven up there. It doesn't matter where you are, in or around their ranch house - everywhere you look... simply everywhere... it's a wondrous vista of what the Tablelands are all about. The history is a bit shameful in that a hundred years ago there were no ranches, no paddocks, no pastures... it was nothing but rain forest. And then, as happens all too often, man came along with a "great" idea a few decades ago to cut and clear some of the forest for lumber and make room for ranching to supply the ever growing population with meat for market. Now compared to the US, Australia is an extremely young country but they caught on quick and the rain forest is now designated as World Herritage Wilderness and National Park and any further destruction of it is forbidden.

Okay... enough of the history lesson. Daryl and his wife Janine bought this wondrous track of land 13 years ago and manages it in a very eco-friendly way by walking the pastures and hand pulling weeds instead of crop-dusting with chemicals. Basically, their cattle live on the land and they're only there to maintain it with as little intrusion on the endemic ecosystem as possible.

Anyway... on to the pics :)

(from top to bottom)

The first one is especially for my darling niece Meghan. I took this pic with my zoom lense of this very shy critter, so you'll have to look closely to see her... she's a real live Platypus :) and what you see in the picture is her head and funny looking bill as she's looking to the left while swimming on the surface of the pond.

The next two pictures are of the two tallest mountain peaks in Queensland. Both are part of the vistas from Daryl's ranch and you can see the man-made pastures with the rain forest and mountains beyond. The first mountain pic is Bellenda Kerr, the second highest peak. Which makes the second pic of the mountains the highest point in Queensland... Bartle Frere.

The fourth picture is of my new kayak at the boat launch of Lake Eacham, a volcanic crater now filled with crystal clear water and surrounded by rain forest. It was my first time paddling since arriving here in Oz and if I had a dry bag for my camera I'd be sharing some of the views from the lake... I guess you'll have to tune in for more details or maybe come for a visit and paddle for yourself :) (BTW... there's no crocs in the crater lakes ;)

The last pic is of the Curtain Fig Tree in the Mabi region of the rain forest and the picture fails miserably in doing it justice - mostly because I couldn't fit the entirety of growth in one picture. The actual tree is at the top, about 100 feet up, and what you see extending down in many strands like a arboric version of Repunsel is the root system of this centuries old tree. I can only guess, but I imagine the circumference of the root system is about 120 feet or so.

Anyway... I'm off tomorrow on a hike with some American friends, so I'll probably have more pics to post very soon.

I miss you all, and welcome to daylight savings time... I'm now only 14 hours ahead of you instead of 15 :)

Cheers, Matt