Whian Whian SCA and Minyon Falls

I recently visited the Channon Markets in northern NSW, pretty famous craft markets not very far from Nimbin. On the way back I took a short cut into Whian Whian State Conservation Area, a parcel of mixed forest timbers gazetted in 2003 as part of the efforts to protect Nightcap National Park and the flora and fauna within it.

Cleveland and the Bay Islands: Pt.2 on the Islands

Getting from the mainland to the Bay Islands is a very short trip on quick and comfortable ferries zipping between Redland and the various little piers on each Island.

Cleveland and the Bay Islands

For the second time in two years I have found myself meandering around Cleveland and the Bay Islands, this time Russell and Macleay.

If history had played out differently perhaps Cleveland would have become the busy port that Brisbane is...however that is not how things happened and the twin towns of Redland and Cleveland whilst having had something of a hey day in the late 1800's and early 1900's have remained something of forgotten part of the coast compared to the more famous coastal strips to the north and south.

Townsville Dry Dry Tropics

One of the biggest contrasts that I get to experience in travelling between the southeast corner of Queensland to the northern portion of the state is the dramatic difference in vegetation communities.

Townsville (where my family live) is the northern most piece of Brigalow Belt and is often a very very dry part of northeastern Queensland....when I arrived in Australia in 1989 I was told that the city was at the end of a 7yr drought, and coming from Sub Saharan Africa, it certainly looked like a very familar landscape to me.

Now this is not to say that the region has not had rain, and flood rains at times in the intervening years, but the current dry season is particularly pronounced.

Looking north from Castle Hill

Grafton Tree Town

There is is little doubt in my mind that the early settlers and founders of many of the towns and cities across Australia had a clear vision of how they wanted their new home to look, what they wanted it to grow into.

Of all the towns I have visited Grafton is definitely amongst the most beautiful.

Many people know Grafton a the place of the annual Jacaranda festival, and it does have some of the most magnificent Jacaranda Avenues around, however there is a great deal more to Grafton than just an explosion of purple shades in late October and early November.

One Year in 40 Seconds

Back briefly to the topic of change, leaf colour and more....I came across this quite beautiful little video made by Eirik Solheim http://vimeo.com/2639782


One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Being Good Neighbours to Our Trees

A huge element of the way I view trees is that I place my own feelings into them, yes it is anthropomorphic in a big way, it really helps me to weigh up just how I feel about what can be very complicated forces playing out on not just trees but the whole range of living organisms in our local environment. Whether it is the local park, your own garden or a chunk of wilderness...it can often be very enlightening to place human concepts into how we think about trees and other plants.....I guess that is a long winded way of introducing this wonderful little film..

Colours around Armidale

A small copse of Oaks at Tenterfield on the road to Armidale

Raucous colours amongst the young saplings, Armidale Mall

Trees doing an impression of traffic lights Armidale

Leaf colour - science or art

Re-reading the last post it occured to me that whilst there is in my mind at least great fascination in exploring scientific exlainations for widely observed events in the natural world, such explanations can sometimes detract from what for me principally drives the fascination.....the stunning beauty of the thing!

Autumn leaves conjure up for me playing hide and seek with a much loved, long departed boxer dog from my childhood.

The smell, the sounds and the texture of the piles of rapidly desiccating multi hued parchment fragments.

Since moving to Australia in 1989 and living for nearly 20yrs in North Queensland the seasonal markers that changes in leaf colour used to signify have become more confused in my mind. In the tropics (dry and wet) leaf colour change can and does occur dramatically after bud break...yes I know this is true in the Northern Hemisphere and cooler parts of Oz, but I mean the development of red hues, transitioning to green. (Autumn in reverse!)

Some of our trees develop single leaves with dramatic red colours, Quandongs come to mind.

Colourful Armidale

The path we shall follow here on the blog will not be one that has any real chronological order, rather it will be driven by the more interesting and captivating elements of some of the places I have visited, and the thoughts and contemplations they generate.


Earlier this year I drove down to Newcastle from the Gold Coast and during the trip stopped at the very beautiful town of Armidale in NSW.

Wandering Arborist

Welcome to The Wandering Arborist, I want to lead readers along some of the journeys that I have travelled here in Australia, not just in Queensland where I live and work but also into some of the most beautiful parts of our other states and territories.

I doubt that there is anyone who has not had some personal experience of trees, be it ever so fleeting....most of us have childhood memories that will have trees in there...climbing into their canopies, building tree houses, hiding behind their stems, collecting their fruits or seeds, enjoying their changing colours and form through the year. Even if it as superficial as walking through a park or along a street trees are a part of our lives, a far bigger part of our lives than most of us realise......and we are a very big part of theirs.