Rainforest beauties

Today is the day in which I will register for the Video Convention – but most of the day was mine to enjoy. After enjoying a relaxing cup of tea from our picnic hamper and admiring a few of the magnificent homes on the Noosa River we drove up to the carpark of the Noosa National Park. The National Park wraps around a headland and in the past we have walked the coast track but this time we took one of the other alternative walks, it was called the Palm Loop because there is a patch of the rainforest that has several palms in among the other large trees and vines.
My picture of the palm area shows how dense the trees are in the forest. I have had to brighten all my photos – but using the Samsung made taking photos so much easier. The Olympus had been fitted with the 40 – 150mm lens because I was hoping to sight a koala. (I didn't!). Having a longer lens requires a faster shutter speed for hand holding the camera – the down side of that is that the camera will not allow a low enough f/ stop to give the brightness to see the subject. After two almost black images I pulled out the little Samsung and had much more success – even without the flash.
Along the walk we saw many things of interest – lots of different fungi. I seem to be attracted to taking fungi! There were a few ground fungi with stalks and a few “ears” that attached to dead tree trunks. The trees were interesting too. There was a wonderful bulgy tree! I wanted Colin to climb up and pose cross legged on the bump but he was too shy to try, he did strike a pose for me – there was a crowd of young people with children following us and they would have seen our antics! When we left the tree I looked back and guess what? You got it! They were clambering all over the bump – and sitting cross legged on it!
I love the way the strangler figs create such wonderful patterns over their host tree. The fig seeds are spread by birds, the seeds stuck to the beak are scraped off high in the branches. An occasionally seed will germinate up there, it may have become lodged under a flake of bark and so escaped being washed out of the tree during rains, the roots grow and grow in their quest for the soil, and they envelop and eventually strangle the tree that gave them life. This tree host has almost come to the end of its useful life, the fig has buried its roots in the soil and is starting to hide what trunk is left. As the fig takes the nourishment from the soil the host tree can no longer win and will die and rot away within the casing of fig roots.
AJ