SUNDAY BEST #432 - STATE FOREST

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The Marysville State Forest with its magnificent gumtrees, the tallest flowering plants in the world (= Mountain ash - Eucalyptus regnans). Yes, what you see on the road in the distance is a car, so you get an idea of scale.

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Last week, Rupam Sarma from India had a wonderful photo celebrating Mother's Day. Please visit his blog for more great shots.

SUNDAY BEST #372 - IN OLINDA

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity.

Please do not use this meme to advertise our goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

The Olinda Falls Walking Track in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. An amazing place with huge eucalypt trees (the world's tallest flowering plants!) and majestic tree ferns.

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Last Week, Roentare in Melbourne posted this great shot of a sea cave. Please visit his blog for more beautiful photos.

SUNDAY BEST #288 - FOREST

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

FOREST MYSTERY

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #41 - GROWING UP

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

Australian Eucalyptus trees ("gum trees") dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, and a very small number are found in adjacent areas of New Guinea and Indonesia. Many of the forest tree species grow to heights of more than 60 metres straight up towards the sky.

Eucalyptus oil is highly flammable (ignited trees have been known to explode); bushfires can travel easily through the oil-rich air of the tree crowns. Eucalypts obtain long-term fire survivability from their ability to regenerate from epicormic buds situated deep within their thick bark, or from lignotubers, or by producing serotinous fruits. The seeds of many eucalypts will only germinate after being subjected to intense heat.

This post is part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FOR THE TREES

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

SUNSHINE COAST HINTERLAND

Sunshine Coast Hinterland lies inland from the South coast of Queensland, Australia and is made up of the spectacular Blackall Ranges and several National Parks. There are plenty of pretty towns set within the mountainous ranges offering a quaint and relaxing feel. At Landsborough, along the Glass House Mountains Road you can turn off towards Maleny which offers a number of wonderful art galleries and as well as some beautiful accommodation places. There is a pleasant drive to Mapleton, passing the wonderful Kondalilla National Park hosting the amazing Kondalilla Falls and Mapleton Falls National Park, as well as the small craft town of Montville.

The rainforest and waterfalls within the National Parks are truly remarkable, and well worth walking around. Also popular in the area is the Maleny Folk Festival, held during the 5 days before New Years Eve. Back on the Glass House Mountains Road is the areas centre Nambour, with the Big Pineapple nearby.

North again is Eumundi which was where Eumundi Lager used to be brewed. Eumundi offers several art and craft galleries ranging from Aboriginal Art to Contemporary Art to Glass Blowing. Eumundi also hosts a popular craft market on Saturdays and Wednesdays, which attracts people from all over. Further inland is the South Burnett Region, and the wonderful Bunya Mountains National Park. There is a sealed road through the region from Dalby or Kingaroy, and offer spectacular rainforest, waterfalls and wildlife, including plenty of wallabies.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

TE ANAU CAVES, NEW ZEALAND

The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of limestone caves on the western shore of Lake Te Anau, in the southwest of New Zealand. It was discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after three years of searching, following clues in old Māori legends. It later became a major tourist attraction for the area, as the part of the caverns close to the lake shore is home to glowworms.

The unofficial name used by the national caving association is Aurora. The caves are geologically young (estimated 12,000 years) and hence there is only one tiny stalagmite.  The Māori name Te Ana-au can be translated as "The Swirling Cave" (te: the; ana: cave; au: swirling) in reference to the water running through it. Since the caves lie in the Murchison Mountains (where the endangered takahe were rediscovered), and are themselves very fragile, access is restricted. Commercial guided tours by punt through the water-filled caverns run daily, operated by Real Journeys.

The glowworms are Arachnocampa Luminosa (Māori: Titiwai), which are a type of fungus gnat, endemic in New Zealand. Both the larva and the imago are bioluminescent. The species occurs in damp caves, grottos, in crevices on slopes, under tree roots, overhanging rocks and windless, humid places in the forest. These glowworms are found on both the North Island and South Island of New Zealand. The species is widespread, but found in small clusters because of habitat loss due to agriculture and deforestation.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,
and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

This beautiful video of the glowworms is by Jordan Poste of NZ Geographic:

DRY SCLEROPHYLL FOREST IN MELBOURNE

Dry sclerophyll forests are characterised by their scenic landscapes and diverse flora and represent south-east Australia’s last remaining areas of wilderness. Sclerophyll forests are a typically Australian vegetation type having plants (typically eucalypts, wattles and banksias) with hard, short and often spiky leaves, which is a condition closely associated with low soil fertility (rather than rainfall/soil moisture).

Low fertility also makes soils undesirable for agriculture and native vegetation has, therefore, remained relatively intact. Plants grow slowly in nutrient-deficient conditions and some species have developed symbiotic relationships with nutrient-fixing bacteria and fungi to enhance nutrient availability. Others have root systems that increase the efficiency of nutrient uptake.


Bushfires play a vital role in regeneration of dry sclerophyll forests. Many species are able to resprout from buds protected beneath soils or within the trunk or branches. Other species have seeds that are protected by a hard seed-coat or woody fruit, which are stimulated to open or germinate by fire. The frequency, intensity, season of occurrence of fire (‘fire regime’) has an enormous effect on the composition and structure of these forests.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

GREEN SILENCE

A path through the trees and the quiet shade of the forest...

This post is part of the Friday Greens meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.

FOREST GLADE

This lovely forest glade is found in the Dandenongs, a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.

This post is part of the Friday Greens meme.

FOREST PATH

This photo was taken in Melbourne's Dandenongs. The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme.