Well Its been 6 months since we last ventured upto Cairns, but I was very excited to put a face to name, Palmtalk has been a great platform to talk to many of you, and finally meet a few of the Aussie Palmtalkers. Big Thankyou to Ben (Kennybenjamin) and Ben (Bencassa) for getting this trip off the ground, and not to mention Larry and Nadia who work at the gardens to show us around on a Sunday, great effort. BIG THANK YOU.

Ok before we get to pics of the big day thought I would give you a quick run down on what we saw between Cairns and Townsville. Hope you enjoy

Couldn't wait to get off the plane and head to Flecker Botanical Gardens

Ben and Roger (gob1)

Edited January 28, 201511 yr by comic097

Had to have a pic with this Tahina, gotta be one of the biggest in cultivation

Ben Roger and Michael (miccles)

couldnt help myself

scenery pic of Cairns

this is on the way down to Mission Beach, the following day (heading south to Townsville)

Awwwww those pics look fantastic. One day when I'm not a student I'll be able to tag along too.

When in Mission Beach gotta go see the Licuala forrest

view from our place at Mission Beach, looking towards Dunk Island

following day off to Townsville, 5:45am at Cardwell, what a view

8:30 and we arrive at Andersons Garden in Townsville, great sight

Here is the gang

Andrew (Tropicgardener)

Ben (Bencassa)

Ben (Kennybenjamin)

Marty (Vidalii)

Michael (Miccles)

Paul (Comic097)

Richie as Richie

Roger (gob1)

And last but not least, our hosts, Larry & Nadia

ok through to the Conservatory

Ok time to hit the gardens

Michael with Orania sp

Awsome job so far Pauly with the best still to come!

Big thanx to you for the amazing job you did documenting a fantastic day.

Was great to meet so many of the Aussie Palmtalk family in such a great location. Huge thanx to Nadia and Larry also who went above and beyond to show us around on their own time. Legends!

Carry on champion ☺

Coryphan utan

A. tuckerii grove

Cape York Macarthurii and seedlings

Licuala ramsayi var tuckeri

Ptychosperma elegans

Caryota albertii

Hydriastele costata

Livistona drudei

This is great documentation of a great day with great people, great hosts and great palms in a great garden as part of a great trip!!

Thanks paul, don't stop now

Here is Richie with Raphia farinifera

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii

Arenga australasica

Pinanga sp

Attalea cohune

Dypsis Leptocheilos

Pritchardia pacifica

Righteo that's pretty much it for Andersons Garden in Townsville, next stop is the Palmetum, will post very soon, hope you enjoyed

Awesome work Paul........... I think our overseas friends are a little 'gobsmacked'.......... Keep them coming

Great pics so far, wonderful event, wish I was there, maybe next time.

Great stuff mate. Was a top coupla days - here's hoping it becomes an annual get together!! Looking forward to the remainder of your pictures.

Nice work guys getting so many Palmtalkers together. Looks like a great time.

Fantastic photos! Thank you for sharing.

Great photos Paul. Pity you cant photograph all the laughs we had too...

Looking fwd to more pics Paul, great stuff so far, stunning shots of Dunk and Hinchinbrook Is in background, a fun few days for you all

Pete

Oh, Tahina!! Awesome palm pix and fun with palm-minded friends. I will have to spend more time on the photos, to really take it in. Very cool thread!

I enjoyed this photo tour immensely! That Tahina is a monster.

Attalea cohune

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Dypsis Leptocheilos

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Pritchardia pacifica

DSCN6933.JPGDSCN6935.JPG

You sure that's P. pacifica? Looks kinda like P. hillebrandii to me...

I enjoyed this photo tour immensely! That Tahina is a monster.

Paul is just getting started Jim, there are a lot more photos and journey to go yet!

Thanks everyone for the kind words, pics have all been prepped and will be posted tomorrow arvo, very happy with them.

Great tour so far. Looking forward to the next adventure. #marojejya

Fantastic pictures Paul - Amazing collection of palms in Cairns !

Tahinia blew me away !

Welcome to the Palmetum

One very sweet Cab x Lepto

Euterpe Oleracea

Unfortunately this is the sad part of the Palmetum, flying foxes have since moved in to the rainforest part of the grounds and it seems that they are there for the foreseeable future, obviously we were not allowed to go beyond the fence line, which was a real downer,considering what was beyond the fenceline.

What we saw from the fence

V Splendida

Hydriastele beguinii

Attalea maripa

We really need to draw special attention to this unfortunate bat colony!!

After some negotiation we were originally going to be granted special access to this area but once the beaurocrats in the council got wind of it they quickly shut that idea down. The main reason for their decision was that the bats are doing serious damage to their host trees and tree limbs etc are starting to break off the trees and fall and squash anything that is under them..... People and palms!!

The collection in the rainforest area is no doubt amazing and it's future is now in serious doubt!! It is easy enough and the law allows for these bats to be moved on to another area but apparently no body with any authority wants to put their signature on the appropriate paper work?? Our guide Nadia who is the team leader at the palmetum told us she assumes the bats will stay until the trees are totally destroyed which will mean all the understory palms in the rainforest area will be either squashed or fried to death??

To those of us that we there and caught a glimpse of what was on the other side of the fence we were very unhappy to hear Nadia's thoughts!! In our minds this area is a resource that was paid for by the people of Townsville for the enjoyment by the people of Townsville ( and the touring palmtalk folk ). A great collection is in the process of being destroyed here simply because nobody who has the authority to do anything about it cares enough to do so????? VERY UNFORTUNATE!!!!!

Ravenea hillebrandii

This was a great sight Carpoxylon lined either side of the path way, a few with seeds, sorry about the light from camera

Edited January 30, 201511 yr by comic097