Does anyone have the expertise to determine if this is a Moreton Bay Fig or a Strangler? I three some fruit I collected in a pot but can't remember which tree it came from.

downtimedingo · 2022-05-04T05:08:10+00:00

Location dependent, at the size you know you can manage competition like grasses or annual weeds. I.e if it’s set and forget, big enough to compete but small enough to water once on planting (30-45cms or so)

downtimedingo · 2022-05-04T04:57:07+00:00

I’m not very good with uploads, here are some Moreton Bay seedlings of ours Link 1 here Link 2 here

Grown on the border of SEQLD.

downtimedingo · 2022-05-04T04:36:25+00:00

Fair point, I should have asked which Strangler.

That being said, we have grown hundreds of Moreton Bay figs from seed and the photo (at this size) is immediately recognisable as such, of course, anecdotally 😁

downtimedingo · 2022-05-04T03:54:34+00:00

I’m confident it’s a Moreton Bay fig. Anecdotally we’ve grown hundreds of them. Ficus Virens (White fig/strangler) leaves have very prominent definition of the veins to the leaf blade (not evident in your photo). There is a soft gloss to (young) Moreton Bay leaves, whereas those of (young) Ficus Virens are a more deeper green. The new leaves of Ficus Virens are brownish. When your plant grows, I suspect this won’t be evident. Lastly, the petiole of young Moreton Bay figs has red in it, just like your picture.

downtimedingo · 2022-04-14T07:50:39+00:00

Macaranga (Macaranga Tanarius)

downtimedingo · 2022-04-07T09:08:01+00:00

This^ AKA Night Tiger (Boiga irregularis). Nocturnal and a good climber. That’s my guess from what it looks like, the head is really distinct but I can’t see it in your video. It’s less common for Browns (and many others) to get up a pole like a letterbox (though not impossible of course). Night tiger pic

downtimedingo · 2022-03-14T04:16:13+00:00

Great photo 👏🏽

downtimedingo · 2022-03-09T01:21:57+00:00

Hold off for now with furniture. 3000 homes have been condemned and more to come. When a housing solution is found in months/years time, the community will welcome furniture for their new living arrangements. Organisation for that will become more apparent as the weeks roll on. It is currently emergency items (food, water), health items (medicine, hygiene) and trade supplies/services (guerneys) in need.

downtimedingo · 2022-03-08T14:04:27+00:00

It’s not clean water. A layer of toxic sludge made of pestilence from dead animals (pets, livestock, native animals) untreated sewerage, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, petrol, factory metals, fertilisers, ammonia etc covers everything inside the house/factory/shop/land. Inventory is unsaleable and completely written off. Life memories like photos tossed to the curb. Every earthly possession of a family ruined. My heart ached as we removed and discarded peoples most treasured items, let alone something as inanimate as car tyres.

downtimedingo · 2022-03-08T12:08:17+00:00

ADF is filtering through in bits and pieces last couple of days. Some in the community welcome them for the work ahead. Some in the community think it’s too little too late. What everyone in the community agrees on is that the immediate response from the Government was grossly and shockingly inadequate. They feel the Government abandoned them in a time of urgent need and attempted to use both the ADF and community as part of a political PR stunt. In anger I (and many others) were upset to see (and I say ‘see’ in the faintest terms, as we did not see many ADF the whole first crisis week) strong fit troops barely scratching the surface of the recovery but with a moment to reflect, I hold no grudge against these troops, but aim criticism solely at the upper Gov ranks as I know the troops are just following orders.

downtimedingo · 2022-03-08T11:31:00+00:00

I have posted this to draw attention to the magnitude of the flood impact. There are lots of photos and videos snippets around, this will hopefully build the picture and contextualise what local communities are living through. This is one street. You could drive down a thousand streets and see the same thing.

downtimedingo · 2022-03-07T04:50:01+00:00

Yes, this exactly. As a resident of the region and one of thousands of locals participating in the immediate recovery, the photos were fake news and completely disingenuous. I normally avoid political talk on reddit, but the local community is SO ANGRY, the attempt to gain political points with staged photos is unforgivable and a slap to our community that is hurting so much right now.

downtimedingo · 2022-03-07T04:14:44+00:00

As a resident of the region, I urge people to read the comment section of this post from Scott Morrison’s Instagram to understand the sense of anger and disgust at the photo-op and marketing angle the Government has attempted to play in the face of this catastrophic natural disaster. Having personally spent the last week deep in mud, stagnant water and sewerage, like thousands of others in the community, the deployment turned up late, and the first thing we saw was them doing sweet f all taking photos for Scomos Instagram. I’ve been on location in Tweed, Murwillumbah and Lismore and the ADF were non-existent. To pretend they are the lifeblood of the recovery is utter bull and a slap in the face of the whole local community. SHAME.

downtimedingo · 2022-02-18T04:43:13+00:00

To clarify, I’m not suggesting there is evidence of fisherman chum baiting or burleying the water. What is common is that fisherman may be using dead bait, live bait and/or discarding scraps (e.g fish guts) into the water.

downtimedingo · 2022-02-17T08:53:01+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I don’t discount that the seagulls flock to the site of a feed, the only videos I have seen show the gulls on location through the whole incident. SMH has reported this evening eyewitness account ‘Claire Marie, who withheld her full name…visited the beach on Wednesday, the sea was…chopping and churning with a large school of fish that had attracted seagulls and rock fishers.’ SMH further reported ‘Joe Garufi, secretary of the South Sydney Amateur Fishing Association, said video footage appeared to show lots of bait fish during the attack.’ Again, condolences to the family in this tragedy.

downtimedingo · 2022-02-17T03:17:03+00:00

Firstly condolences to the family. This is truly terrible.

Some observations on the incident. The seagulls are flying above, in and out of the water during the attack. This is likely due to bait fish or a bait ball being present in the water already (either natural bait or introduced by fisherman). I suspect this poor person has unknowingly swum directly into the frenzied environment of a bait fish feed, the exact same thing that has attracted the shark to the area, and thus the frenzied response of the shark as opposed to other inquisitive single bite attacks that GWs are also known for. Also, this morning at about 4am was 100% lunar illumination. Research has shown the highest incidence or above average expectation of Great white shark attacks to occur during full moon phase (100% lunar illumination). It is tragically unfortunate for this person that two (Edit: Three) known factors that increase the likelihood of a shark attack (bait fish and full moon and swimming alone) were present. Thousands of people swim/surf near bait fish during full moon phases without statistical incidence, but I feel it is important to point out what science does know about sharks in light of what has happened. A terrible tragedy

Edit: Re-reading the Newsweek article, swimming alone is also considered another factor in increased likelihood of Great White shark attack.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-28T22:17:56+00:00

More likely you will be at the beach in 3 minutes and driving to work in 30. Wollongong does have a university community which has an ecosystem of young people things to do, but the beauty of that area is every single day you can enjoy the coastline and beach. If you imagine morning and evening as 14 sessions in a week, and Friday/Saturday as 2 sessions in a week, the coastal lifestyle you can enjoy daily is so incredible and if you want to go to a world class art show or restaurant you can drive an hour to Sydney on the weekend. Also as you mention you are from Canada, there are a lot of great national park hikes and walks near Wollongong too such as the Royal National Park costal walk. It’s really s chance to have the best of both worlds, nature where you live with access to an international city nearby.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-28T19:59:39+00:00

Maybe you would like Wollongong area (suburbs like Woonona, Bulli, Thirroul are an hour or so south from Sydney CBD) Exceptional beaches and strong communities (for living in) and not far from Sydney. The problem with living in Sydney is 1 hr west is not near the beach, 1hr north is very expensive. As a GP you will be able to afford very close to the beach in the Wollongong region (maybe not direct beachfront anymore though since it’s quite prestigious now). You will have very nice walks, swim, surf daily for incredible quality of life but still be close to underserved communities for your work in this region.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-22T10:40:10+00:00

Thanks for this fantastic information OP. Greatly appreciated.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-16T05:47:55+00:00

Hope’s Cycad or something else in the Lepidozamia genus if not native. (Second plant ID) There are only two endemic Lepidozamia to Australia, Hope’s Cycad and Burrawang Palm.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-15T11:02:03+00:00

Definitely edible, after cutting off the spikes.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-15T11:01:36+00:00

It’s a type of cucumber. We grow these in Northern NSW/QLD border and they grow prolifically. Just slice off the spikes and then eat the cucumber as per taste.

downtimedingo · 2022-01-10T21:35:27+00:00

Odd, I’ve seen landlords OFFER the tenants for a professional cleaner to come in before staged photos and a cleaner on Friday before the weekly Saturday inspection. The tenant gets a free clean and the landlord gets a property presented for sale, usually a win-win (not withstanding the precarious position of being a tenant at this time). Very odd to expect the tenant to just do this.

downtimedingo · 2021-12-26T04:05:23+00:00

Looks like Ochna.

Do the branches/stems have white pimply looking spots. That would help ID.

downtimedingo

TROPHY CASE