Forest Swamp

Cairns is set in amongst ‘lowland/coastal tropical rainforest’ but this designation,  is of course not that simple. Depending on if the soil water table is high or low, fresh or salty, well-drained or otherwise, the trees and understory change, creating sub-habitats , often within yards of each other. Pandanus Forest, Paperbark Forest and Palm forest are 3 major sub-sets that have survived in a jumbled mix just below the Mount Whitmore reserve, adjoining the Botanic Gardens.

This picture is of a block of Pandanus Forest, with its dominant tree the Swamp Palm Pandanus solmslaubachii  growing where the ground is saturated most of the time. It didn't look or smell particularly inviting although there were plenty of holes that might have been inhabited by skinks or water rats. However, there were lots of brightly coloured butterflies, glowing orange, patterned and the flashing neon blue of the swallow-tailed Ulysses butterfly, flying erratically or settling for milliseconds on the mud where the sunlight shafted through. Also, as evening fell, a whining horde of mosquitoes emerged with steel tipped tongues able to pierce through shirt or trousers at will.