When I was last in Melbourne I mostly couldn’t see the climate for all the rain.
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It is the place about which the Crowded House song ‘Four Seasons In One Day’ was written about!
About forty years ago somebody planted a bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) in an abandoned road reserve near here, where I often walk my dog. The tree started to adolesce about ten years ago, and every couple of years it drops a few dozen under-sized pinecones. I picked one up today and brought it home. But the thing is that even an undersized bunya cone is large compared to other pine cones. This one weighs 3.27 kg.
In another forty years the tree will be mature, D.V., and it will drop cones three or four times the mass of this one from heights of twenty-five to thirty metres.
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Which then hatch into drop bears . . .
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Burn it. Burn it with fire!!!
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The steering fins and seeker package take a little longer to evolve.
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These trees have been around since the Jurassic. When they take their time, they take their time.
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My reaction to every post about this has needed a WHAAAAAAT emoji. That’s awesome.
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One does not simply walk into Mordor…
So true, Boromir, so true. One hikes, one sweats, one has sore legs 24h later, and more…
Tongariro Alpine Crossing, ticked. Amazing place. And no Aucklanders this weekend with their restrictions. Win-win.
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Wait. So this of a picture of you?
So you are not actually a Wookiee?
My fragile little psyche is now shattered…
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Ive done that - amazing views. The Devil’s Staircase is a killer!
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See? I thought they were not too bad. I struggled more the second climb to the red crater, we had 40-50 km/h wind during the ascent.
As soon as I download other pictures from my phone (those were from my partner) I will post them. The lakes are breathtaking.
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Its quite a while ago so I might be misremembering but Devil’s Staircase sticks in the mind as the hardest part for me.
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The name might have something to do with it? They were no stroll in the park, but I think the wind was so strong on the next climb that made it the deciding factor for me.
That is entirely possible - if you expect it to be hard, then chances are it will be!
Did you go up to the peak?
Only as close as you can see on the pics. It is not allowed to leave the track.
That’s odd. We were told we could!
I mean, we peaked Tongariro red crater at 1888, but you cannot go to the actual peak (19something meters) anymore.
I don’t remember exactly. I remember going up a peak and it had snow on it. I was with a Brazilian guy who had never experienced snow before so we had an impromptu snow ball fight.
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