Nothofagus moorei: these tall, majestic trees are considered 'ancient' relics of Australias Gondwanan past, once abundant but now limited to pockets of suitable climate in mountains along the east coast. — *Nothofagus moorei*: these tall, majestic trees are considered 'ancient' relics of Australias Gondwanan past, once abundant but now limited to pockets of suitable climate in mountains along the east coast.

Trees in New England

June 23, 2015

One of the most amazing things about New England National Park was the trees. Of course, the highlight of the show was the Antarctic beech, Nothofagus moorei. Somewhere in the order of 100 million years ago, Australia, South America and Antarctica were joined in a supercontinent known as Gondwana. The climate was wet and temperate - perfect conditions for Nothofagus. At the time, Nothofagus were common, much more common than they are today. As Australia separated out from Antarctica and started to drift northward, it started to dry up and temperatures increased. Deserts started forming across central Australia becuase there was so little moisture. The Nothofagus, which needed moist and cool conditions, was gradually replaced by more arid plants like Eucalyptus and Acacia. Now, they are restricted to a few spots in the mountains along the east coast, relics of a time which was cooler and wetter.

Wright's Lookout, New England

June 21, 2015

Not all that far from Point Lookout in New England National Park, there is another lookout called Wright's Lookout. Unlike Point Lookout, there is a walk involved in getting to the lookout - about 2km, not far. However, on the several days that we decided to be there at sunrise it meant hiking out from the campsite in the dark, through the misty beech rainforest.

Point Lookout offers views over World-Heritage rainforest, across mountain ranges and through steep gullies.

New England, New South Wales

June 20, 2015

The New England Tableland is my new favourite place. Along with the Barrington Tops area, the New England region provides city-weary travelers with a natural haven of waterfalls, rainforest, ancient beech forest, and snow gum woodland - all with a healthy dose of the remote. As with Barrington Tops National Park, the public only get to access a small corner of New England National Park. The rest of the park? Not strictly off-limits, but very hard to get to. Think several day- to week-long hikes.

Getting started here

April 23, 2015

Getting this part of my website set-up!

I've been really fascinated with trees lately, and with the autumn rolling around in Canberra, no better time to explore such a theme. In fact, I've been loving the immediacy and convenience of iPhones in photographing these trees. I'm also reasonably impressed with the quality. OK sure, the quality at the pixel level isn't great, but it is far easier than lugging around a big DLSR and the results are still worth it. These images were taken on my way to the shops (above) and during a break at work (below), times when I usually don't have my 'proper' camera with me.

These images were first posted on my Instagram account (tobiashayashi_photography) with the #mobilemasterpieces, a hashtag I use for my good images that just happen to be taken on a phone camera.