We camped a night on a wind swept headland on the southern end of 80 mile beach, below Broome. In the morning the wind had stopped and as the sun came up, a heavy fog rolled in. When you faced directly away from the sun you could see a pure white rainbow in the fog. Really weird but a lot of fun to photograph.
CANE TOADS OF THE PLANT WORLD
Boabs are unique to North Western Australia. Starting as a slender stick, boabs grow into the most incredible, distorted shapes. They don’t develop growth rings like a normal tree, but scientists have dated some at over 1500 years old. Every time I come across a big one, I cant help taking a photograph. Just when you think you have the ultimate Boab photo, another more distorted example will appear.
Here are a few of my favourites.
I woke early one morning at El Questro and went for a walk up towards the escarpment of the Cockburn Ranges. I followed a narrow winding gully and came across this weird rock shelf.
It was formed in sedimentary layers, the underlying layer having the appearance of tidal ripples. Covering this was, what appears to be, a series of layers of flat mud turned to solid rock.
The really strange thing was the numerous fist sized oval depressions in this top layer.
The depressions are formed in rows and are evenly spaced.
They appear to have been formed when the mud layers were soft, but have hardened to dense, solid rock
This shot seems to indicate that the depressions were pressed into several layers of soft mud.
What caused the depressions?
The following day Jan, from our workshop group, came up with me to have a look. Jan has a background in science and a keen interest in geology – her son and his partner are both geologists. We scratched our heads and came up with various theories, but will wait til Jan gets some photos and samples back to her son for a more knowledgable analysis.
Small green frog – thinks he’s a handsome prince
Weird hairy chicken
Turkey with over decorated head
Small green frog – happy just to be a small green frog.
Fishbones from Darwin Museum
Scrub Turkey with moderately decorated head.
Children’s Python – not because they eat them, because they play with them
Brahman Bull profile
Quiet Wallaby – confused by sound of flowing water
Apostle Birds – because they hang around in groups of twelve
Fluro Blue Butterfly
Blue Faced Fig Bird with bad haircut
Poor old camp dog – may have been bitten by a snake at some stage. The cure was to cut off the tips of the ears and tail to bleed out the poison! Or maybe he’s just the victim of too many camp fights.
Big Pig
Someone probably had a good reason for building a guitar out of an electric frying pan. Cant think what it would be!
There are some great old steam trains, pensioned off and parked in railway stations throughout Queensland. This one in Mareeba was loaded with coal and appeared to be still in working order.
Every Sunday they fire up this old engine. Everything had a thick coat of grease and from meters away there was a strong smell of heavy gear oil.
Every part of these old engines looks to be built to last forever.
The old steam trains look pretty impressive, but this famous old train , the Gulflander, looks plain weird – like a cross between a train and an old Morris van. It does a regular run between Croydon and Normanton in the Gulf. Its baby brother looks even weirder
Nothing cute about this baby.
Jourama Falls
Up in the mountains, between Ingham and Townsville, are some great waterfalls. Some of them spill into pretty spectacular rainforest, protected by National Park. Jourama Falls is a series of half a dozen waterfalls, dropping from the mountain top to the boulder strewn Jourama Creek below.
Jourama Creek
Strangler Fig - Jourama Creek
The water level in Jourama Creek can change quickly. The rocks are worn smooth and some coated with a slippery algae that makes staying upright difficult. There are some great swimming holes (if you dont mind numbingly cold water) and camping in the National Parks is excellent.
Dangerous wildlife photography
Birdlife in these rainforests is great, although photographing them from directly underneath is not a real good idea.
Murray Falls
Further north are Murray Falls, set in a similar pocket of rainforest with a couple of short access walks. The falls are surrounded by deceptively slippery rocks which have claimed a number of lives. This has prompted National Parks to restrict access to the immediate area. However, their boardwalks and viewing platforms provide excellent access without having to crawl over the rocks.
Murray Falls Boardwalk
Strangler Fig - Murray Falls
Wandering around in these rainforests with a 10mm lens is a lot of fun. All sorts of weird shapes and lines, and great colours to play around with.
Strangler fig roots
Weird granite slab
We discovered this massive granite slab perched on a collection of small rocks – obviously the work of aliens. Or maybe the trees did it?
Strangler fig holding rock
Further up Murray creek we found this big rock being gripped by a strangler fig, probably intending to balance it somewhere precarious to entertain humans
Defensive Green Ant
These little guys join leaves into a fist sized ball to build their nest. If the nest is threatened they all stand up in this aggressive pose to scare off the predator. Funny thing is, they don’t seem to bite. Aboriginal kids bite off and eat the green bulbous tail.
Winds, following a recent cyclone, have brought down a number of trees along the edge of the rainforest. The broken roots and tangled vines make interesting drawing subjects.
Rainforest Mushrooms
More weird rainforest stuff. These mushrooms pop up in clusters through the undergrowth. They seem to emerge from a shell like case that opens like petals. As appetising as they look, we resisted the temptation to barbecue them with our steak.
Splashing Paint 