Sunday 13 June 2021

Amazing Trees

 Here's some photos from the Otways over the weekend.

This was my first time visiting the Redwoods, a little forest of Californian Redwood trees which was planted in the 1930s.  These trees are currently over 60m high and have the potential to live 1000 years and reach over 100m.  The world's tallest living tree is one of this type at 115m in California !

From Wikipedia:

"The initial growth of the Redwoods at the Aire Valley was slow and disappointing, with the notable exception of the trees planted on the River Unit in 1936. After two years of growth, the trees were about 0.75 metres in height. In 1950, after nearly 14 years of growth, the local forester reported that the trees were only just beginning to appear above the canopy of scrub. While two years later in 1952 the maximum tree height was 10.5 metres with a diameter of about 25 to 30 cm."

A few amazing things to think about:

1. The ones who planted these trees may have been discouraged seeing the slow growth, but from little things big things grow... We may not see the results of what we do but it can have an impact that lasts generations, don't be worried if you don't see the results of your efforts, someone else may enjoy it years after you're gone.

2. How a tree can lift water so high, here's a video explaining the physics behind how a tree can lift water 100m in the air when our logic would say it's impossible... To pump water up this high to a water tower we use big pumps and electricity, these tree use something much smaller, something so tiny you don't even see it till you look under the microscope.

https://youtu.be/BickMFHAZR0





Next we went to triplet falls.    There was a steep slope down to the river, these tree roots were accomplishing two things.  1. They held the soil in place, protecting it from washing away, 2. They served as a ladder to easily climb the way down to the river (and back up again)


A jump across some rocks and some wet feet later yielded this view:


Some cool mushrooms, note the little baby mushrooms growing alongside them too!

At night we saw the glow worms... The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim his handiwork... And these glow worms really looked like stars glowing on earth, they proclaim the same!   Something so humble and unassuming can make such a beautiful light.  Next time I'll have to try and catch some long exposure photos of them glowing.    Beauty comes from the collective, each one little worm humbly shining their light makes something so beautiful.  Here's a photo of one of the glow worms on my finger, they have transparent skin which lets the light from within be visible.






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