On Friday evening, the blue quandong tree (
Elaeocarpus grandis) shed a branch. Just before dusk, about 8m of lichen-frosted, orchid-festooned timber plummetted from the crown, felling a native nutmeg and tearing down masses of lawyer vine and mistletoe. This happens all the time in the rainforest. I usually leave timber where it falls, but this branch dropped on the drive way, blocking me in. And I was running out of biscuits.
I don't have a chainsaw, but I managed to clear the drive in two and a half hours with a pruning saw, secateurs, lianas in place of rope, a lever made from a small tree, a basic knowledge of geometry and an increasing desperation for chocolate biscuits.
The pademelons were no help at all.
