RAINFOREST TRIP '97
and 98 Forests Forever Camp... coming soon as i get back
SEE THE BLOCKADE..... People putting thier bodies where thier hearts are
For info on this years camps goto C.R.O.E.G
I'll be taking photos, and, as soon as I can I'll scan them and put them on my page.
I'll be meeting up with "Jill Redwood"or ,(see Earth Garden magazine),who is a tireless campaigner for the forest.
we'll be going spotlighting to see all the endangered animals,
going on bush walks with botanists and ecologists to see for ourselves the forest inhabitants and mass destruction.
I expect to return home sad and angry.
But maybe this anger will be enough to get me off my arse and do something about it!!
The logging companies just go in and rip the guts out of the forest
leaving a huge mess and destroy the habitat of countless animals,
many are endangered, mostly through logging practices.
And its not just the animals, there's the trees, the very lungs of our Earth
and all the other plants that are destroyed too.
Ah, but it will be great too,we'll be mixing with like-minded people,
people who care for and cherish Gaia our mother,
people who don't just sit back and say "Isn't it terrible",
but don't move out of thier comfortable chairs and do something about it.
Maybe they're just too scared.
too scared of seeing the reality of it.
Too scared of getting a lable like "greeny" or "hippy"or something .
After all its so much safer to just look at it on t.v.,
if it gets too real you can alwyays flick a switch
and change the channel
I say to those people "Pull your head out of the sand,
have a look at what's really happening,
be afraid ,but, face your fear before its too late."
So join with me everyone,
pray, chant, jump up and down,
whatever it takes,
but we must ALL do something ,everything, but not nothing,
or all hope for us and our children, our childrens children, and thier children
will be left in the hands of those who's God is money,
and all will be lost
It was Friday and we were ready for our trip to East Gippsland.
After a brief stop to get petrol and a few supplies,we hit the Bonang highway.
By the time we reached the bush camp there were only a handfull of people,
Later that afternoon we went on our first sojuorn into the bush to see the Touchtree,
After cooking simple meals on our campfires,and greeting the many new arrivals,
The car was packed and we were on our way.
It was raining, i mean really pouring down,but nothing was going to put us off.
5 1/2 hoursdrive to get to our overnight stop,Orbost.
We stayed in a caravan overnight,
(It was Genny's first time in a caravan, and,
boy was she exited).
The next morning we were woken by a chorus of birds greeting the rising sun.
Back in Melbourne the birds just cough and splutter, more than sing.
It was a long road that wound its way through forests of mountain ash,
muttonwoods, stringybarks, blackwoods, sassafras, and so many other trees.
We were greeted at nearly every corner
by huge tree ferns and spectacular, red, Gippsland waratahs.
we made ourselves known to our host Jill Redwood and struck our little tent.
the largest living tree in gippsland,
the tree David Belamy embraced for all the world to see.
5 meters across, and, 15m around
So down the steep hillside we went.
For about half an hour through scrub so thick, you could see but a few meters ahead
I was hard going,but the thought of seeing this majestic giant kept us going.
suddenly we came upon it ,
our hearts sank as we saw that the gracious giant had fallen,
There it lay fallen and broken,
it had saved this part of the forest,and now it lay prone
ready to return to the Earth that had sustained it for over 300 years
It was a sad moment but that great tree had done its job.
There were murmers amoungst us saying "At least it died of natural causes,and not from a bulldozer.",
as we clambered over its still magnificent trunk.
We turned back heavy-hearted and returned to camp.
we waited the arrival of our guide for the spotlighting.
A message came through that Kevin our guide was runing late.
But he arrived, and we soon were busy arranging a car pool.
We stopped on the side of a forestry track,
and armed with spotlight, torches
and binoculars
we went in search of nocturnal wildlife.
We could hear sugargliders ,possums ,and owls calling in the distance.
"Look theres one", "wow", It was a sugarglider high up in the treetop.
Its eyes shining brightly in the surrounding darkness.
We all stood,our necks craning,gazing up at this creature in awe.
A little later someone called "over here.on the tree trunk!"
it was a tiny feather-tail glider,not much bigger than a mouse.
I couldn't see it at first but, there it was, just a few meters away,
halfway up the trunk of a tree.
when i finally got my turn with the binoculars,
i could see this tiny creature that once adorned the 1c piece,
no bigger than a mouse and a tail that looked for all the world like a feather.
and had a picnic lunch at our first stop.Our guide took us in to see a sphagnum moss wetlands
and a few of us tried some bush pepper.We chewed the leaves for a while and sure enough it tasted just like black pepper
Then it was off to the logging coups.
Jill explained how about 90% of the timber went for woodchipping at 20c a tonne because the market was in a world wide glut
The rest of the timber was just left lying around to be burnt.
The logging crews circle the coupe with fire so it causes such a huge amount of heat that the earth is sterilised and no regrowth can occur,
then they plant only the desired speciesand and say they are revegetating, but, all they are doing is creating a plantation where natural bush once stood.
I saw so many logs that were very usable for timber, let alone for woodchipping
Jill also told us how the "habitat" trees, that were meant to be left for wildlife, were also burnt.
"Over-story liberation" they called it.Wanton detruction I call it!!
We went to another logging coupe and gazed out on a scene that looked as if there had been a war or some other disaster
In the middle of it all stood a stump of what was a magnificent old tree about 3 meters across
cut down and left lyng there waitng for the holocaust to come.
I was very close to tears right then, seeing the sheer waste of life,
not just the trees themselves but all the understory plants and the animals that were killed or left homeless.
If it happened to humans there would be a wordwide outcry and much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.
But the big multinational companies couldn't give a stuff about people,or animals or the environment,
only profit ,power and the rape of the Earth..
I mean does a baby slash open its mothers breast to get milk?
These faceless people just grab what the can for themselves with no thought of the future generations.
so i say BOYCOTT AMCOR and all those like them.
There are plenty of alternatives to choose from.
I only use 100% recycled paper now,it may cost a few more $$ , but its cheaper in the environmental sense!!
Later that night David Cameron, a botanist, arrived, and the much talked of slide show began.
The setting couldn't be better
,we were sitting under a huge tarpolin in the middle of the bush
the screen was a sheet nailed between two saplings ,
the sound sytem was the night-birds and possums.
The power was supplied by the sun in the form of a solar powred generator.
It went late into the evening, as David had so much knowledge to share.
The next day we went to see a small patch of rainforest.
We climbed up a long ridge till we were above it and looked down upon its crown of trees.
Almost trembling with exitement we made our way down.
scrambling through vines and scrub we made our way to the rainforest floor.
The scene that greeted us was reminiscent of the dinosaur era
with the huge treeferns and mosses ,lichens, snakelike,vines, and some very unusual fungi.
One example we found was jet black.David said he'd never seen that one before only in a book .
we returned to camp tired but happy.
We ate and sang around the campfire untill it was time for another slide show.
Once again we sat enthralled seeing one slice of heaven after the other,
till it was way past our bed time.
The next day,it was time to turn our heads for home.
After a late breakfast, a meeting was called to discuss the weekend and get some feed back on how things went,
there were few complaints.It seems everyone was pretty pleased
about how things went.
Then it was time to pack up the car and say goodbye to everyone.
There was talk of going to Goolengook to see those brave souls at the "front line".
But as much as I wanted to go the thought of another 3 hours added to an already long drive just seemed too much.
I had dearly wanted catch up to Bear and his dingo pup (wild native dog)
and to say "good on ya, keep up the good work"
but , the road home was calling,
besides, I desperately wanted to get home and begin to tell the world of the horror and beauty i'd witnessed.
To let everyone see what i had seen, and maybe feel a little of what i have felt.
,
Well, theres another camp on at Easter time, and I'll be going to that one too,even if i have to crawl over broken glass to get there!!!!!
If you want more info go to the" W.H.E.N." link and then to the" C.R.O.E.G."(concerned residents of east Gippsland) page.
A friend I made there, (Helen) designs and maintains it.
So if you join me there, say "G'day".
It would be good to meet someone who actually read my page, and was perhaps inspired to do something positive.
Oh by the way if your going, let me know, i'll probably need a ride. :-)
Unfortunatly I wasn't able to make it :-(
due to having to work (it was my last days at my job ) ,and i had to get some $$ to feed my family.
So it was with a saddened heart, but, a growing determination i remained in Melbourne.
PLEASE support" Jill Redwood "and others like her. After all they are working for ALL of us and our children.
So, if you don't want your grandchildren to ask YOU "what a rainforest?" WAS, ......NOW is the time to act, even if its only a small thing you do
at least you'll be heading in the right direction.
Once you've taken 1 small step the next one is a little bit easier.
top : Jill (centre with raised arm) tells us about how the remaining "habitat" trees will soon be victims
of the holocaust to come
next : the view directly behind me in the previous pic bit of a contrast eh?
above : Walking on the fallen giant, this tree was 5 meters across,and many
hundreds of years old saved the forrest then died of natural causes
.Sometimes just being there can make you a hero. LINKS TO OTHER "GREEN" PAGES feel free to tell me of other links ,and i'll add them
hey ! ! ! take me back UP
gaiaguys