tiabunna's photos with the keyword: stump

New Zealand has marvellous huge trees called Kauri. Remarkably, preserved ancient Kauri stumps have been found in swamp water. This is the top level of a spiral staircase carved entirely within a giant preserved (45-50,000 years) tree stump. To give an idea of the size, the carved stump extends to the light area at the lower left. I suggest viewing the PiPs for more images. Happy Fence Friday and have a great weekend, everyone.

Some 45 years ago, we often travelled down this road, then unsealed and with few vehicles, through beautiful native eucalypt forests. I took a photo of my son at about the location of the main image and, some years later, my daughter painted a copy of it (PiP). View main image large. I recently returned along the road for the first time in years. It had been sealed for the use of logging trucks and I was appalled at what has been done by the forestry industry. Not only have vast areas been clear-felled, but they are being replaced by forests of non-native pines (the dark areas in the background). These are totally unsuited to the natural biota of the area.

The view to the south east of the AAO telescope (see previous images) shows signs of the huge fires that ravaged the area in 2013. Over 56,000 hectares were burnt, up to and including the tree stump to the right of this image. The telescope dome was less than ten metres behind me when I took this .... it was very fortunate (and a lot of effort from fire services) that it was not destroyed. View large. Explored.