The Canyon

My second visit in as many days into this vein of Nature's showcase.

The statistics are very modest, at face value. Just over 300 metres/985 feet in length. At its widest only 5 metres/16 feet, whilst its near vertical walls rise to a height of around 10 metres/33 feet. Yet, within this small universe in a world is a treasure of flora and fauna, isolated to an extent. At best, the midday light is dappled and the lush green drenched canopy casts a faint quilt of jade hue. When it rains, it feels as if you are inside a slow plundering cloud and when it thunders the stereo ripples through your body and the static coiffures your hair. Too, you sense the aromas of flowers, from clematis, wattle, and delicate eucalypt blooms when in season and this is tinged with the dank of decay through the slow rot of nutrients back into the ochre brown soils. Tree Ferns dominate at mid stratum with their huge fronds occasionally swaying in the rare zephyrs that mange to descend into the narrows. If you look slowly, you will spot fine spider webs and all manner of insects, many brightly coloured as a warning. It is quite a diverse, unobtrusive metropolis going about its business of life and death and renewal.

The photo depicts trunks of a couple of fallen eucalypts; near one end of The Canyon at a place I call 'The Mosses Causeway'. Within an arm's length there is a host of additional floral species, many not generally found in other parts of the rainforest. In season, (late spring into summer) magnificent native orchids rise from the mulch, striving with enthusiasm to their munificent Sun. Further into The Canyon, you will find native creepers, whorling over the basalt rocks on their zigzag journey to the higher awning. As you may envisage; an eclectic variety of fungus buffets on the leaf litter, twigs and other accrual. At night, it is the sounds of hidden dramas that permeate by creatures imagined. There is no mercury illumination here, just the occasional glint of glow worms endeavouring to attract deluded bugs. On a full moon night, the shadows seem to move as if dawdling curtains waiting to regain their strength with the dawn. It is a place of wonder, of education, and for some, emancipation.

The Canyon is located about 7 kilometres/4 miles from the township of Lorne and is reached via a picturesque and in places, challenging series of walking tracks. These tracks pass through aspects of the rainforest that include a number of fine waterfalls, creeks, rivers, gullies and ridges.