Meet the Limestones

[SteveNT]

Monday I was out near the Daly River when I met these strange characters.

I ended up wandering around for a couple of hours. What a great place!

Pic1 is the base of the column in pic 2. Amazing that it still hasn't fallen. Some shots are from this morning. I had to go back for another look.

Lots of cool shady caves (didn't find any big ones but there will be one somewhere in the vicinity.) Obviously a popular spot with critters of all kinds. Some of the stacks defied gravity.

1. A dingo was obviously camping in this one, there's a horse jaw and a wallaby pelvis. 2. This is incredibly hard stone yet it dissolves in raindrops. 3. Sling jaw ants. These guys HURT. 4. Native cymbidium orchids (C. canaliculatum)

I asked some senior elders about these rocks and they are part of a March fly story line. (the old lady laughed and said "you whitefellas call it dreaming but we call it a story" ha ha

This morning I spotted another group of columns about a km away so I will be visiting those next time. Nature is the best sculptor!

 

[moosenoose]

Love it!

 

[fourexes]

I'm very jealous... That's sensational. Such a beautiful place always seems to surprise & amaze.

 

[wasgij]

Would love to get out and see things like that, amazing!

 

[SteveNT]

My real reason for being there was 4WD training for the Rangers. Dont know why we bothered. They got through/ out of everything we threw at them. The trainer brought along a mitsubishi triton. What a joke, it died on the hill climbs and had to be towed through the sandy areas. We just left it behind when we went to the mud.

We had foggy mornings but by 8.30 it was all sunshine. The guys breezed through without ever getting hung up in the sand in the Toyotas. Everyone had a go at getting the Triton through but none succeeded.

Steep drop off. Toyotas cruised through. Triton bottomed out at the peak then buried it's nose at the bottom. If you are after a car for bush work....DONT get one of these lol.

Ah well, off to Boroloola and the new Indigenous Protected Area declared in the Gulf Country this week.

 

[imported_Varanus]

Nice country! You could almost imagine Devonian reef fish swimming around those bits of limestone. Do the local indig mob have a dreaming for these?

Boroloola-don't forget the pics!

 

[SteveNT]

It's part of a march fly story. While I was there I had a few sneezes and got a flu. That fly must have bit me. There are traces and scats of every size of mammals and reptiles. I will be targetting this place for a fauna survey in the future. And the columns I saw in the distance mean I haven't seen all of it.

There will be Borolooola pics

Oh, the stone is Cambrian, no fish yet then. The fossils I saw were hyoliths (little squid in ice cream cones about 1/2 inch long.

 

[imported_Varanus]

I'm still imagining the fish

 

[Chris]

Great scenery Steve.

Triton bottomed out at the peak then buried it's nose at the bottom. If you are after a car for bush work....DONT get one of these lol.

Just bought a new one, although I imagine the only 'off road' it'll get is the front lawn

 

[SteveNT]

Great scenery Steve.



Just bought a new one, although I imagine the only 'off road' it'll get is the front lawn

You should be right then. (watch out for water crossings too- the "aerodynamic bonnet" throws all the water onto the windscreen) All depends on your front lawn I guess ha ha!

 

[Umbral]

Great as always Steve!

 

[Chris]

watch out for water crossings too- the "aerodynamic bonnet" throws all the water onto the windscreen

Cheers, best I keep off the lawn when the sprinklers are on

 

[pythonmum]

Stunning, Steve. I am so jealous (but not of the flu). I spent my first month in Australia at Riversleigh and developed an appreciation for a good 4WD - we didn't have a Triton. I am always amused by those in Sydney's north who MUST have 4WDs and whose idea of off road is mounting the curb to park illegally.

 

[SteveNT]

Stunning, Steve. I am so jealous (but not of the flu). I spent my first month in Australia at Riversleigh and developed an appreciation for a good 4WD - we didn't have a Triton. I am always amused by those in Sydney's north who MUST have 4WDs and whose idea of off road is mounting the curb to park illegally.

Ha ha Pythonmum. Noone here buys a 4WD locally. They have all been flogged. We go down to Mexico where all the 4WDs have all the bells and whistles but have never been off road! And they're cheap because most cant afford to run them.

Ess is superb! He is much bigger (and tougher ha ha- the other day he gently head butted Darlyn while she was changing his water. Terrifying!)

I suppose you have the next generation coming along by now.

 

[pythonmum]

He looks great! He is taking after his father with those vivid colours. The next generation made an eggciting appearance at 5:30am today.

 

[SteveNT]

You must be esstatic!

 

[Dragonwolf]

That beautiful place resonates.....