An adventure at magical Mount Tomah

Mount Tomah is Australia's Mountain Garden, located 1000m above sea level in the northern Blue Mountains.  We were over that way at the weekend so thought we should pay it a visit - it was a glorious sunny spring day (though the day before had been snow flurries!).  Well, it was simply magical.  A small wedding was taking place there that day (you can just make out the bridal party in one of the landscape pictures below) and the whole place was just alive with millions of spring flowers: Waratahs, Rhododendrons and even bluebells! There were some exotic plants there too, such as the beautiful 'magic flower' or 'sacred-flower-of-the-incas'.  All around was the distinctive sound of the Whip-bird and Kookaburra in the trees as the odd lizard scuttled amongst the rocks.  The air was fresh but the sun was warm.  From a viewpoint in the Gondwana woodland we could see Sydney in the distance, a world away. 

A twilight adventure

I have been waiting a year for this evening.  Once a year the botanic garden opens the gates at night to a handful of lucky visitors as part of National Science Week.  Last year I was unlucky and didn't sign up in time, so this year I put my name down and my partner Edd's good and early!  Although today was a bit wet and windy, by this evening the sky had cleared and the stars were out.  It was cold, probably close to zero, but we had wrapped up warm and were armed with torches.  We split into groups of 8, we were with a guide called Will.  As we set off along the rainforest walk it really felt like an adventure. 

The plants made fantastic shapes in the spotlight.  Here an ancient species, Bunya Pine Araucaria bidwillii is lit dramatically from below.   Will, our guide, pointed this out as a special tree, of the genus Araucaria.  The 'nuts' are edible and valued by aboriginal people.  Another ancient species, the famous Wollemi pine Wollemia nobilis, is glowing in the spotlight below.

Next came the highlight of the evening.  we were wandering past the Acacias towards the Eucalypt lawn when one of the group were startled by a large bird sitting right by the path.  The bird flew up into a tree and there he sat for us to watch him for a while. It was a nocturnal bird I hadn't seen in the wild before and I was very excited to see one as it is such a very unique being - the Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides.  Will switched to a red spotlight so as not to bother the bird too much and I was able to get some lovely shots. 

 The Tawny Frogmouth is a nocturnal bird, but it is not an owl.  You can see why it is called a frogmouth, it has a strange frog-like beak you can make out quite well in the first picture. 

After that we came across a little mob of Kangaroos on the Eucalypt Lawn.  A couple of them were mothers with little joeys in their pouches.  I had no idea there were so many Kangaroos in the gardens, Ive only ever seen one or two at a time so I thought that was all of them!

We carried on through the gardens, looking at plenty of acacia which are coming into flower - it won't be long before the gardens are ablaze with their yellow blooms.  The moon looked down on us as we passed under Eucaplytus trees, we learnt how to tell where South is from the Southern Cross, tasted some native plums, smelt some Lemon Myrtle leaves and all the while we were trying to spot the elusive little Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps which are extremely cute little things we were really hoping to see. 

By this time it was getting late and so we headed towards our hot chocolate and biscuits.  Just before we arrived we spied a Brush-tailed Possum Trichosurus vulpecula up above!  With the red spotlight it was possible to get a nice picture without the red eyes I usually get with my flash. 

So, did we see an elusive Sugar Glider?  Yes, we did!! We heard a noise just before we went for our hot chocolates and a sharp-eyed member of our group spotted him.  We couldn't get close enough for a picture as he was high in a tree, he looked like a tiny possum from a distance.  Here is a link to an image someone else has taken of one of these cute little things, though maybe it is an image from the USA, as I believe you can keep them as pets over there (certainly not in Australia).  I was so happy to see all the creatures I had hoped to see tonight, it was really worth a year to wait, I just wish they ran these events more often.  There are two more tours on this week, so if you are free on Thursday or Friday evening sign up!

Trees and a dinosaur

Its been a little while since my last post so I'm playing a bit of catch-up.  I had a friend visit from the UK so was occupied showing him the mighty sights of Canberra!  Of course, the Botanic Gardens were first on the list and I took plenty of pictures, only I've not had time to write a blog until now (as then we went off for a few days to Byron Bay - great place!)

So, with a visitor to impress I decided to head for probably the most exciting tree in the garden - the Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis, the 'dinosaur' tree.  I've just finished reading the book about "the incredible discovery of a living fossil from the age of the dinosaurs" - the Wollemi Pine by James Woodford, which is a great read (I also loved his book 'The Secret Life of Wombats'), so now I know a bit about how amazing this tree is.  Not only is it incredible that the Wollemi pine has survived in such improbable isolation across millennia, only to be discovered in the mid-90s (and only recently available commercially), but its identical genes have baffled scientists, it has unique bark and leaves, even a fungus found on the leaves of some of the wild trees has been found to produce an anti-cancer agent - amazing. To this day, the location of the hidden valley in the Wollemi wilderness near Sydney where the relic trees were found is a secret.

As I proudly showed the tree to my buddy from the UK he smiled and said he had seen one before - in Kew gardens in London!  However, there it is kept in a cage for protection but here in Canberra this amazing tree is just standing quietly beside a side path through the connifer section. 

There are a lot of other fascinating trees in the gardens too, of course.  There is even an aboriginal trail that tells you the aboriginal uses for plants and trees, from which I learnt about the how the aborigines used the hard wood of the Cassaurina or she-oak to make boomerangs, one she-oak boomerang has been found that is 10,000 years old in Wyrie Swamp, South Australia!  Young shoots can be chewed to quench thirst. 

The Bottle tree Brachychiton rupestris is a fascinating tree which hails from Queensland, not only for its very funky shape but also because the wood contains a nutritious jelly which can be obtained to drink by making a hole in the trunk (which can be up to 2m in diameter!). 

There are also hundreds of Eucalyptus trees in the garden, in particular the Brittle gum Eucalyptus mannifera which appears all around the gardens. 

The one above is interesting as a large branch has been chopped off so the inside of the tree can be seen.  Brittle gums are so-called as they may drop branches without warning (so perhaps this one was removed before it dropped), makes me a little more nervous wandering round the gardens now I know that!  This particular tree is also interesting as it is known as the 'Pryor tree', in tribute to Lindsay Pryor who was instrumental in getting funding for the establishment of the gardens.  Below is a photo of the sign that tells more about this tree, including a photo which was taken when the tree had all its branches!