Just a coconut palm at my local beach

[DUNDEE]

Etty Bay North Queensland.

[Bennz]

Exactly the kind of image that gets firmly planted in my mind about April/May every year when the night temps start dipping below 10C regularly! The "move to N QLD", "Move to N QLD" mantra starts in my subconscious. I need to counter it with a conscious mantra; "Irukandji! Salties! Eastern browns! Death Adders!". Images like this one just make me want to live there more.

 

Thanks for the image. Looks like paradise.

[Sandy Loam]

What a beautiful coastline, even without the beach and the cococonut tree!

PS - Hopefully the dangers of living in northern Queensland are exaggerated somewhat.

 

 

 

[Daryl]

Etty Bay...last time I was there was in 1970 and I still remember how beautiful it was! It doesn't look to have changed much...there were lots of very tall coconuts there back then though.

 

Ben, don't procrastinate...just do it and have no regrets!  

 

Daryl 

 

 

 

[doranakandawatta]

On 19 mars 2016 05:39:48, DUNDEE said:

Etty Bay North Queensland.

My local beach… Happy you

Here is mine, in Tangalle

 

[DUNDEE]

I'll see your coconut beach and raise you two more of my local deserted coconut fringed beaches ...   Mission Beach and Cowley Beach

[steve99]

 The Mission Beach area is a great spot.  Back in the mid 90's I took a day trip across to Dunk Island.  In those days, the trip over was via a half cabin boat that launched straight off the beach.   Hopefully nothing has changed.

[doranakandawatta]

1 hour ago, DUNDEE said:

I'll see your coconut beach and raise you two more of my local deserted coconut fringed beaches ...   Mission Beach and Cowley Beach

Here in Mirissa, south coast of Sri Lanka,facing Australia ,  turtles love the beach too.

 

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

15 hours ago, Bennz said:

Exactly the kind of image that gets firmly planted in my mind about April/May every year when the night temps start dipping below 10C regularly! The "move to N QLD", "Move to N QLD" mantra starts in my subconscious. I need to counter it with a conscious mantra; "Irukandji! Salties! Eastern browns! Death Adders!". Images like this one just make me want to live there more.

 

Thanks for the image. Looks like paradise.

They just put that stuff in the tourist brochures so you don't want want to move there.  

[DUNDEE]

A bit of sad news there Steven, the owner of the water taxi over to Dunk only just recently passed away.... he disappeared in a skin diving accident assumed taken by a shark. 

 Didn't read that one in a tourist brochure.....

 

[DUNDEE]

They didn't put this one in the tourist brochure either..... Cowley Beach, washed up dead Saltie.

[doranakandawatta]

5 minutes ago, DUNDEE said:

They didn't put this one in the tourist brochure either..... Cowley Beach, washed up dead Saltie.

Nice smile!

[DUNDEE]

They say "never smile at a crocodile"...... but I guess it's OK if they smile first.... Say Cheese....  

[DUNDEE]

Ben.... you've been beaten to the punch... yet another new arrival lands on our sandy shores.

[doranakandawatta]

3 minutes ago, DUNDEE said:

Ben.... you've been beaten to the punch... yet another new arrival lands on our sandy shores.

Have you ever seen Lodoicea landing this way too? Such a dream!

[Bennz]

12 hours ago, Daryl said:

 

Ben, don't procrastinate...just do it and have no regrets!  

 

Daryl 

 

 

 

Thanks Daryl. 

 

Trouble is my Aussie wife (from Nimbin area) hates the heat. I promised her an air conditioned country when I asked her to marry me.  20 years on I think she is even more heat intolerant than she was then, and complains about the heat here in summer everytime it goes above about 25C. I'm sure she would be happy to move back to Australia but would probably be thinking somewhere cool/cold and plan for somewhere horrid like Armidale! 

 

So I continue to dream with images like these and console myself with Rhopalostylis.

[DUNDEE]

The closest I've come to a Lodoicea  Philippe, is a double sprouting Coco-der-Nut  

[Bennz]

18 hours ago, Sandy Loam said:

 

PS - Hopefully the dangers of living in northern Queensland are exaggerated somewhat.

 

 

 

You notice Dundee has to carry a large cane knife with him wherever he goes, even waist-deep in water beside a waterfall?

[DUNDEE]

The knife is used to fight off the Calamus Moti, radicalis and australis mostly but comes in handy for the odd giant stinging tree... those things can be lethal..!!!!   got hit across the face by one once... was in bad pain for seven months after that especially on cool mornings... once is enough take my word for it. 

[Bennz]

11 hours ago, DUNDEE said:

once is enough take my word for it. 

I believe you! Had a similar experience in rainforest at  Tooloom (NSW) once. Our ongaonga bush only grows about 5m tall and has only killed a small number of people in NZ history, nothing compared to your stinging tree. Those stinging trees are very nice to look at though, would be a great ornamental apart from the obvious drawback.

[DUNDEE]

There are several stinging tree impostors to... just to keep us on our toes.

Yes I remember hearing about the ongaonga while travelling all through your beautiful country ... the west coast of the south island completely blew me away...mountains going straight up through the clouds and waterfalls cascading off the shrouded peaks and down through those same clouds was a site I will never forget... nor the sting of sleet on my face.. lool 

Most beautiful country on earth NZ is, shame about the bloody cold weather and lack of palms though, but if your into tree ferns it's the place to be.

If you have never traveled to NZ, get your %$#$ into gear and get over there.

 

[steve99]

 

Been holidaying on the South Island quite to few times and what a great place it is, especially if you like cold weather.  

 

1st & 2nd pics looks like a terrible day at Milford Sound?  3rd pic maybe taken from Treble Cone but the last pic has been stumped.

[DUNDEE]

here is another pic of the last pic... It's lake Matheson

[Josh-O]

On 3/20/2016, 5:19:34, DUNDEE said:

They say "never smile at a crocodile"...... but I guess it's OK if they smile first.... Say Cheese....  

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2016‎ ‎7‎:‎48‎:‎21‎, DUNDEE said:

Ben.... you've been beaten to the punch... yet another new arrival lands on our sandy shores.

I wish I could find a sprouted nut here on Padre Island.  Others have found them on the beach here, but I have yet to find a sprouted one.  Maybe one of these days.

[DUNDEE]

Never ending occurrence here.......

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

11 minutes ago, DUNDEE said:

Never ending occurrence here.......

Wow, it must be nice.  I would love to live in Paradise!

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Justin,

What varieties do you have there that wash up on your beaches?

John

[DUNDEE]

I am no coconut expert ... but have seen growing on the beaches here standard green nuts and bright orange ones... there is also a giant green nut, that I have heard people refere to as a King nut ??   never seen the dwarf varieties though. but they may be there, flotsam gets washed up here from PNG and tyhe pacific islands at times. the beaches are covered in pumice usually.... perhaps from the Solomon's or Tanna

[Dave-Vero]

In my bit of the Florida Atlantic coast, the coconuts were damaged and dying five years ago, thanks to two nasty winters in a row.  The first had a long cold, wet spell (we are essentially always bone-dry when cold), the second had a classic dry, cold snap, -3 C in my neighborhood.  

After five years of warmth, the survivors have grown like crazy, many more have been planted, and the town is looking nutty.  The one and only coconut at a beach park is maybe 10 or so years old, has a nice trunk, lots of nuts, and is situated on a path so the tourists can enjoy it.  

Dundee, great photos.  I'm supposed to be in Christchurch, Rotorua, and Northland in May, but need to make up my mind quickly about postponing due to long recovery from shoulder surgery--smashed my right rotator cuff in November.  I hope to be allowed to drive by the time of the trip, but am reworking the plans from rural/driving to places I can get to by bus.   

[DUNDEE]

One thing about driving in New Zealand is that the roads are top notch... but the petrol ( gas ) is very expensive, bring some extra cash for that.

I live in a bit of a valley here, and although tropical, night time temps can drop to single figures on the Celsius scale... coconuts are the first to suffer, even more so than lipsticks.

And at the other end of the scale, the hot tropical summers don't just make us humans lazy......the coconut palms like to take a siesta too.  caught this one napping in my driveway under the shade of a Cuban Royal today    

[Sandy Loam]

Stunning photos!  --- especially the pictures of the west coast of South Island NZ.

[Phoenix Bob]

Planning my third trip in as many years to New Zealand's South Island (Fiordlands Nat. Park)...........my favorite place on earth even though it requires 20 hours in the air in order to get there!

[Bennz]

On 3/22/2016, 12:38:07, DUNDEE said:

 

Most beautiful country on earth NZ is, shame about the bloody cold weather and lack of palms though, but if your into tree ferns it's the place to be. 

 

 

 

Funny how our perceptions vary. While I agree the SI West Coast has some grandeur, to my mind the areas of FN QLD where the rainforest-covered hills reach the coral reefs leaving a strip of Cocos-lined beaches in between are far more beautiful!

Not enough palms here for sure, although they can be found if you look in the right places.  Parts of Auckland and Tauranga look similar to Sydney. Here are some natural palms an hour or so away from my place, sorry about quality the camera was playing up.

 

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

6 hours ago, Bennz said:

Funny how our perceptions vary. While I agree the SI West Coast has some grandeur, to my mind the areas of FN QLD where the rainforest-covered hills reach the coral reefs leaving a strip of Cocos-lined beaches in between are far more beautiful!

Not enough palms here for sure, although they can be found if you look in the right places.  Parts of Auckland and Tauranga look similar to Sydney. Here are some natural palms an hour or so away from my place, sorry about quality the camera was playing up.

 

 

Beautiful!

 

[palmfriend]

Dundee,

first of all thanks for all the beautiful pictures posted, from Australia and NZ as well!

The germinated coconut washed ashore is dream of a photo - I really love it!

The dead crocodile looks like an old WW2-tank, no harm anymore but somehow scary, nice photo angle!

I have one question, if you don`t mind:

There is a big seed (probably washed ashore as well) right under the coconut where you (?) standing on,

with the hat and the yellow shirt. I am finding them very often over here as well, always taking one or two

home to get them germinated (without succes so far) - do you know what species that is and where there are

from?

best regards from Okinawa

 

[tropicbreeze]

It's a Barringtonia asiatica seed. They grow all along the coastlines in the tropics and seeds constantly get washed up on beaches. The ones reaching you possibly come from somewhere around Taiwan. Maybe what you're finding are too old as generally they sprout quite easily and grow up into beautiful big trees. They look best in sandy soil with plenty of moisture and humidity, but still do pretty well with a drier and less humid dry season.

[palmfriend]

11 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

It's a Barringtonia asiatica seed. They grow all along the coastlines in the tropics and seeds constantly get washed up on beaches. The ones reaching you possibly come from somewhere around Taiwan. Maybe what you're finding are too old as generally they sprout quite easily and grow up into beautiful big trees. They look best in sandy soil with plenty of moisture and humidity, but still do pretty well with a drier and less humid dry season.

Tropicbreeze, thank you very much!

You are probably right. I never had the luck of getting one of them germinated, maybe they can`t take the seawater for a long time, like coconuts.

However, now I know this species and next time I will just pick up seeds which really looking like "brand new"...(If I will ever find such one.)

Thank`s again.

best regards