In honor of Arbor Day, I thought I'd share some photos of amazing trees I took on a recent trip "down under".
There are something like 700-900 different varieties of Eucalyptus trees (some are also called Gum Trees) and most of them are native to Australia & Tasmania.
The vast majority of the trees in Australia are Eucalyptus Trees. (And there are only about 30 species of those that Koalas will eat.)
Click here for more about Koalas. Oh, and don't call them "Koala Bears" They are not bears, and this will really annoy any Aussie you meet. Just a little tip. They are marsupials, and have pouches like their cousins the Wallabies and Kangaroos.
One gets in the habit of scanning the treetops while traveling around Australia. The koalas sleep 20-22 hours a day and you can see them curled up in the crooks of tree branches if you have a keen eye. This one was in a nature preserve so one could get up close and personal.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
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| The guys are SO good looking in Sydney! |
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| Blue Mountains |
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| Scenic outlook, Noosa Heads |
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Mangroves
Their root system allows them to filter the salty waters.
Also gives the crocs a nice hiding place. |
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| Buttressed roots, Daintree Rainforest |
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| Fan Palm |
Hope's Cycad - A relic from the age of the dinosaurs. Probably the first
plant on the planet to incorporate an animal into its reproduction
process.
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| Daintree Rainforest |
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| Staghorn fern attached to a host tree |
