Hobart to Cairns in seven Livistonas

[Jonathan]

Crown:

Again:

Scene along the river with Livistona's and Alex's - there were also turtles and platapus in there.

Cute!

Jungle with Liv's....

[Jonathan]

Last shot from Eungella - Jungle with Alex's - check out the very cool pattern on the trunk at left.

After leaving Eungella we stayed in Townsville for a night and visited the Palmettum - which is well worth seeing - then headed south on our way to the Blackdown Tablelands and Livistona fulva.

We saw these L. decora just south of Townsville, there were millions of them, they seemed to be by far the most numerous of any of the Liv's on our trip.

[Jonathan]

Last lot for now...horizons of L. decora - the blur is from heat haze - I love these sorts of shots:

[Walter John]

Your photos keep getting better and better Jon. This one is an absolute classic.

Australia, thank goodness I'm in it.

[Jonathan]

Thanks Wal - and I agree about Australia....

I'm not a particularly patriotic person, but as a Dutch guy said to me when we were up at Eungella, "everywhere here is so beautiful".

And it is, and so varied, and vast. Theres a lot of big flat empty space out there as well, but I really liked that too!

Luckily the world is full of all sorts of different places!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[brodklop]

Great photos Jonathan. Keep them coming, even if it takes weeks. Keep dribbling them out. We never tire of seeing great palms. Throw in some Palmetum and Flecker stuff as well.

Did you see any bangalows at Eungella. People say they are there but we never see any photos. Being the supposed northern limit of distribution it would be interesting to see their form.

I know what it's like, I took my family to Eugella and only made it to Finch Hatton at the bottom.

Regards

Brod

[pogobob]

Thanks for the awsome photo journey Jon, nothing beats palms in habitat

[Jonathan]

Great photos Jonathan. Keep them coming, even if it takes weeks. Keep dribbling them out. We never tire of seeing great palms. Throw in some Palmetum and Flecker stuff as well.

Did you see any bangalows at Eungella. People say they are there but we never see any photos. Being the supposed northern limit of distribution it would be interesting to see their form.

I know what it's like, I took my family to Eugella and only made it to Finch Hatton at the bottom.

Regards

Brod

Brod - I did see Bangalows at Eungella, and I thought I took some photographs, but I cant seem to find them!

They were at Pease Lookout - altitude 1280m.

[peachy]

Any L. fulva seeds??? Please... pretty please....

Regards, Ari

I have a lovely one in the ground here, over a metre high too. But dont call me what you called that poor palm

Peachy

[peachy]

I have been trying to get a L. drudei for 18 years, I trust you grabbed more than a handful of seeds dear boy. If I knew for sure that I wouldnt die (but I know for sure that I would) I would drive up there myself and dig up a few unwanted orphans.

Peachy

Oh, I may have picked up the odd few dozen or so....dont worry Peaches - I'll look after you.

Would you prefer your seed sprouted or au naturale?

They're in the propagator......as we speak.....

And people wonder why you are my favourite Taswegian !!! I think I will wait for a fully cooked seed however.

Peachy

[Jonathan]

And now - the Blackdown Tablelands and Livistona fulva.

Firstly a little scenery with Grasstrees:

L. fulva and prcariously balanced boulder:

Sort of like a Brahea...this was the only species that I saw growing on ridges as well as gullies, all the others were confined to moist gullies - even L. nitida at Carnarvon Gorge.

Again - there must be seepage out of the rocks, because it was dry as a bone up there.

[Jonathan]

Obligatory up the trunk shot:

Escarpment habitat:

Hello down there......

[Jonathan]

Flowers:

More flowers:

Cool rock face...

All these had been recently burnt, in fact just about every single palm up there was blackened by fire.

[Tyrone]

Love the pics Jonathan.

Eungalla is an amazing place. I've been there twice looking for Bangalows but never found them. I didn't know that they were at a higher altitude. I'll have to go back for the 3rd time and find them a Pease Lookout. We've never spent more than a couple of days in the area because we've done the Brissie-Cooktown dash twice on a tight schedule. I'd love to spend a few relaxed days walking all the trails up there. I think the Alex's up there are different to standard lowland varieties too. Suposedly they're more cold tolerant. The town of Eungalla and the surrounding rainforest gets snow every few years. When we were there in 07 they'd got down to minus 6C and all the potatoe crops died. Was it cold at night where you stayed. In Aug 07 we stayed at Finch Hatton at much lower altitude and I swear that it must have been 2C in the mornings. Absolutely freezing, and very surprising considering the tropicality of the place. By noon it was a balmy 23C though.

I personally think L sp Eungalla is distinct from australis, but I'm not a botanist. It does seem to have a different look IMO. Since seeing them in the wild, I love the stretched look of shade grown Livistona.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jonathan]

Love the pics Jonathan.

Eungalla is an amazing place. I've been there twice looking for Bangalows but never found them. I didn't know that they were at a higher altitude. I'll have to go back for the 3rd time and find them a Pease Lookout. We've never spent more than a couple of days in the area because we've done the Brissie-Cooktown dash twice on a tight schedule. I'd love to spend a few relaxed days walking all the trails up there. I think the Alex's up there are different to standard lowland varieties too. Suposedly they're more cold tolerant. The town of Eungalla and the surrounding rainforest gets snow every few years. When we were there in 07 they'd got down to minus 6C and all the potatoe crops died. Was it cold at night where you stayed. In Aug 07 we stayed at Finch Hatton at much lower altitude and I swear that it must have been 2C in the mornings. Absolutely freezing, and very surprising considering the tropicality of the place. By noon it was a balmy 23C though.

I personally think L sp Eungalla is distinct from australis, but I'm not a botanist. It does seem to have a different look IMO. Since seeing them in the wild, I love the stretched look of shade grown Livistona.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone - I only found the Bangalows by accident, and if I hadn't read your thread about Eungella and the Alex mystery, I probably wouldn't have been paying enough attention to spot the difference! They were quite distinct though, with purplish crownshafts and much darker leaves.

I collected seed from both - so we'll soon see about coldhardiness!

I agree with you about the Livistona's - they looked somehow different to me - one thing that I noticed was the lack of the orange tinge to the trunk on young adults, that L. australis has further south...although that could easily be a climatic issue.

Minus 6 is a bit extreme! Glad we missed that one...the nights were pretty cool when we were there though, chilly even.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

After the Blackdowns we scooted out to the coast again and camped at Elander point on Lake Cootharaba, which is on the Noosa River.

This is where we started seeing Livistona australis, Liv # 7.

On the way there we saw some of these big fatties (Qld Bottle Trees) inland:

And some of these cheeky buggers (King Parrots) at Cania Gorge:

Then finally, right over near the coast - L. australis.

Again...

[Jonathan]

Went canooing across the lake and up the Noosa River - saw L. australis growing with its roots in the water:

Darter! We counted nearly 120 species of birds on our trip.

Wet habitat:

Pirates!!

L. australis:

[M@ximus]

Thank you for the beautiful pics Jonathan!!

You are a professional Photographer!! Spectacular pics!!

And your family is very nice!!

Best M@x

[Joe palma]

Awesome pictures Jonathan! There are so many nice palms in such a vast beautiful place.

I am sooo jealous that I can't do a drive trip like that and see so many palms and cycads in there natural setting.

These shots really make we want to plan a trip down there soon.

Really dig the Blackdown Tablelands plateau shot.

I love Livistonas and wish more folks here did as well.

Thanks a bunch for posting.

Joe

[Jonathan]

Thanks M@x...my photos would be more professional if they were in focus more often!

Joe - the Blackdowns are very beautiful - you could easily fly into Brisbane and hire a car and spend a week checking out

Carnarvon Gorge and the Blackdowns which are reasonably close (within 250kms) of each other, then fly from Rockhampton

to Cairns and spend another week looking at the Atherton Tablelands and Daintree.

That would be a great 2 week trip....although 3 weeks would be more comfortable.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Walter John]

There's something special about all those locations I know, yet the Blackdown tableland and it's dressings of Livistona fulva, really captured my imagination and spirit like no other place when I visited there last year with the ratpack. I still get that mesmerising, ancient feeling thinking about it. You'll understand once you visit the place.

[Jonathan]

There's something special about all those locations I know, yet the Blackdown tableland and it's dressings of Livistona fulva, really captured my imagination and spirit like no other place when I visited there last year with the ratpack. I still get that mesmerising, ancient feeling thinking about it. You'll understand once you visit the place.

I totally agree with that Wal - I think it was the highlight of the trip for me. I cant quite put my finger on what was so special about the place, but it felt somehow isolated and primitive, and being covered in L. fulva certainly helps! The dead wild dogs strung up on the fence at the bottom of the road certainly added a certain eeriness to the setting....

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Ok, some more photos - nearly done.

We have left Queensland now and headed down to the central North Coast of New South Wales to camp at Bombah Point on the Myall Lakes.

For those of you who are interested, the most southerly Coconut Palms that I saw were at Brooms Head on the coast of NSW near Grafton,

its still pretty much subtropical there.

At Myall Lakes we found this amazingly beautiful patch of bush on the side of the road near Mungo Brush. The cycads are Macrozamia communis,

the big trees with the smooth salmon coloured bark are Angophora spp. and there are grass trees, flannel flowers, Banksia's and heaps of other

flowering heaths, etc. It was a perfect time to be there, as everything was flowering.....dont worry, the palms are just across the road.

Macrozamia communis:

Very nice mix of species:

Again:

Grasstrees....

[Jonathan]

Couldn't resist a few more shots of this little patch of bush...

I'd like some of this in my garden! Nice big Banksia on the right.

Cycad and flannel flower:

Palms!!! Livistona australis - across the road (almost literally) at Mungo Brush.

I've never seen palms so densly packed into an area, the light was beautiful, almost translucent.

[Tyrone]

Jonathan, that looks pretty much similar to the type of bushland around Perth and the southwest only we have different Macrozamia's and they are everywhere.

In regards to the Bangalows in Eungella with purple crownshafts and dark green leaves all I can say is "Wow". Did they have a thick robust look? Were they large seeded. I'm going to get myself back to those mountains one day.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jonathan]

Canopy:

Pure L. australis stand:

Emergent:

All shapes and sizes:

Later....southern NSW and Victoria.

[Jonathan]

Jonathan, that looks pretty much similar to the type of bushland around Perth and the southwest only we have different Macrozamia's and they are everywhere.

In regards to the Bangalows in Eungella with purple crownshafts and dark green leaves all I can say is "Wow". Did they have a thick robust look? Were they large seeded. I'm going to get myself back to those mountains one day.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone,

no the seeds were smaller than the Alex seeds (about half the size) - the crownshafts were purpl-ish - not true purple like A. purpurea.

But they looked vey nice.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

Normally Bangalow seeds are bigger than alexandrae and round. Being small seeded makes me think this is another variation of the Bangalow. Were they round?

Best regards

Tyrone

[Alicehunter2000]

Very nice thread......exhausting.....but very nice. Looks like a great trip, the girls didn't talk much did they ......I feel your pain Did you see L. decipens or does that not grow there? Anyway thanks for the pics.

[Jonathan]

Very nice thread......exhausting.....but very nice. Looks like a great trip, the girls didn't talk much did they ......I feel your pain Did you see L. decipens or does that not grow there? Anyway thanks for the pics.

Thanks David - L. decora (decipiens) is in posts 42 & 43 I think, just south of Townsville.

I just realised those shots are out of order - they should be before Eungella.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Normally Bangalow seeds are bigger than alexandrae and round. Being small seeded makes me think this is another variation of the Bangalow. Were they round?

Best regards

Tyrone

Ahh, well now...this is interesting isn't it! Its been a while since I've had any normal Bangalow seeds, and I've never had Alex's before.

I exhumed a few of each species for a comparison.

The top row are A. purpurea for control.

The middle is A. alexandrae 'Eungella'

The bottom is A. cunninghamii 'Pease lookout'

Close up of the two in dispute. Its a bit hard to tell from the photo, but the bottom row are definately round, with pronounced raised ridges.

The top row are ovoid and smooth - the size difference is not as great as I remembered, but the lower are all smaller than the upper.

Does this help, or make things worse?

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Gileno Machado]

Great habitat photos Jonathan...what is the species for those Qld bottle trees? Those are not baobabs, are they? Once I germinated Adansonia gregori, which is a baobab native to OZ, but I thought they were endemic to the west/northwest coast(?).

[brodklop]

What a great time you had.

Those bangalow seed have me intrigued. They are supposed to be bigger than alex seeds, as Tyrone has said. Try and dig around for the photos you may have taken.

We would love to see them.

Regards

Brod

[brodklop]

I forgot to mention there are coconuts growing in Coffs Harbour south of Grafton

[Jonathan]

Great habitat photos Jonathan...what is the species for those Qld bottle trees? Those are not baobabs, are they? Once I germinated Adansonia gregori, which is a baobab native to OZ, but I thought they were endemic to the west/northwest coast(?).

Gileno - those are Queensland Bottle Trees, Brachychiton rupestre.

Native to inland southern Qld.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

What a great time you had.

Those bangalow seed have me intrigued. They are supposed to be bigger than alex seeds, as Tyrone has said. Try and dig around for the photos you may have taken.

We would love to see them.

Regards

Brod

Brod,

I've looked through all my photos and cant find the buggers - now I have a sneaky feeling that I didn't take any shots of them....

Hopefully I can get some of the seed to germinate, they were pretty old.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[gyuseppe]

jonathan you doing all of us dreaming! that beautiful scenery, unspoilt.

[Jonathan]

And now for the last instalment.....Livistona australis in southern NSW and Victoria.

This is at Durras North in southern NSW:

These are at Tilba NSW - the last ones I saw in that state.

These last three shots are all from Cabbage Tree Creek in far eastern Victoria, the southern most fan palms in the world I believe.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

Yes enjoyed it immensely Jonathan.

Those Bangalow seeds seemed to have broken all the "rules". They're definitely smaller than the alex's in the area. Bangalow's generally are round and have the thick fibres on the outside and your seeds certainly do. Alexanders can be round or ovoid and can be small, but the fibres are narrower and finer than the Bangalow, and normally smaller than the Bangalow.

Another question, when you saw the Bangalow's how far away approximately were the alex's? Were they growing together, were they 100's of metres apart or a few km's. You said they were growing at different altitudes so this kind of tells me that they wouldn't exist together naturally. I think those Eungella Bangalows are special little things.

At 1280m asl, their habitat would consistently be 6 or 7C cooler than the lowlands according to my calculations.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Walter John]

Hi Jon, have you considered putting your photos in a slide show to music ? I have done this many times successfully then produced onto DVD. I have used Photo Story for windows and just plain Windows Movie Maker to do this. It's fun, you find music that suits etc or even add commentary, then send it to all your friends, like me for instance