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https://freedium.cfd/https://snailseyeview.medium.com/gems-of-the-rainforest-d47c61ce836b>
"Look at this handful of amethysts and lapiz lazuli! These jewels are fruit of
the Atherton Oak (
Athertonia diversifolia, Proteaceae), a tree that grows
only in a few rainforest areas of Far North Queensland — the Atherton
Tablelands, Mt Lewis, and Mt Sorrow. A friend picked these from trees on her
property. Most of the seeds will go to a botanic garden for their living
collection. The rest I will grow at home.
In the build up to the Wet Season, the unsettled atmosphere brings afternoon
storms. These storms appear from nowhere. Lightning slices the sky and thunder
cracks and roars, crashing against the granite walls of choorechillum (Mt
Bartle Frere) and wooroonooran (Mt Bellenden Ker). The rain is heavy and sharp,
rattling on corrugated iron roofs and pounding against red earth. When the
storms die, they leave behind stifling humidity.
The build up is a time when plants thrive and people go troppo.
We're all waiting for the monsoon to sweep down from the north.
It is raining here. It has been raining since Thursday, when Tropical Cyclone
Jasper ambled in from the Coral Sea. Variously described as 'barrelling' (it
wasn't) and then 'inching' (it wasn't), TC Jasper wavered in intensity, finally
making landfall near the Daintree as a Category 2 system.
At Whyanbeel Valley, Daintree, more than 1.2 metres of rain fell over four
days. Where I am, on the Atherton Tablelands, it was about half that. But the
precipitation hasn't finished yet. The former cyclone is now a tropical low and
has stalled over Cape York Peninsula.
This is not monsoon rain. This is record-breaking."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
