To read of and glimpse the first part of the day read this post. For the second part, all you have to do is continue on. 

There are no photos of it because it could cause my Dad too much pain. Like the pain that one of the other hikers..walkers... got when they sat on a leaf of a stinging tree... you may be able to see some of the poison filled spines in the photo. 

I drove my dad and Alice and Jane up the nice, narrow, dirty, pot holed, tracks to get to the start of the guided walk we were going on. The road... if you can call it a road, was surprisingly good in a few places, but there was one particular pair of pot holes... I saw the car in front bounce as it went through and I asked my dad what I should do and of course he said "Just drive straight through it and don't stop." I did. The car went down, the mud and water went up all over the car and the middle of the car scraped on the mud in the middle of the two pot holes...

We also had to pass a few other cars... Passing a car on a one lane dirt track is not the most un-nerve-racking thing to do. Sometimes there is enough room but other times... there is not enough to be in the least bit comfortable. We got there and surprisingly the driver of the car behind me was impressed with my driving and not at all bothered with my sensible speed of driving.

Then we went a-walking through trees and stinging plants. I managed not to get got until the very end, then I got an entire stinging nettle leaf on my arm... we occasionally got a sight of mountains through the trees.

According to this sign there were....could have been surveillance cameras in use....in this area...why I have no idea... 

We walked quite briskly....especially for taking photos, so mostly I waited until the way back. The track got quite muddy and slippery at times, I found I had to look where I put my feet to avoid falling in the mud. One time we heard what sounded first like a baby crying then we thought it sounded more like a cat. It was apparently a Catbird. 

Fungi, especially the little red ones, were everywhere beside the trail... and poor little squished ones on it. Some trees were really huge and one had fallen across the path so we had to walk under it. Fungi grew on nearly all the logs.

On the way back I ended up in the middle of two groups of people so I had time to get photos without being in peoples way, and I also got glimpses of some birds and heard many more.

It got rather dark by the time we got back. I used a flash for all the macro shots I took of fungi and strange spiky plants. I had to. The sun was on the other side of the hill we were walking around and there was so much rain forest everywhere that even if the sun had been out, I don't think the light would be so good.

In the mud splattered car on the way home I had a bit of fun playing with exposure and the reflector lights beside the road. I also took the original photo of the stars...which is not this one either... this is it without words on it when we stopped for a while to call home.

All those who love/really enjoy looking at fungi will enjoy all the following photos, which is mostly what this post will be. Photos of fungi!

Job 36:27-28

For he draws up the drops of water;

    they distill his mist in rain,

which the skies pour down

    and drop on mankind abundantly.

The colour of some of the fungi were amazingly bright. The fungi grew everywhere, on trees, logs, amongst grass, leaves, moss, dirt.

At first

After a few days

The tiniest things in creation can be so beautiful, if only you take the time to look and see them.

Nehemiah 9:6

"You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you."

Psalm 104:24 

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

    In wisdom have you made them all;

    the earth is full of your creatures.

Ok a cow pat is not the most beautiful thing, and neither are flies, but if you look closer you may be surprised. Beauty can be found in the smelliest things. 

As I walked through the paddock today all the oldish cow pats could be located from far off by the white fungi that had popped up out of them. I thought how amazing that a smelly old cow pat could make just the right place for these pretty white fungi to grow in. 

The more fresh cow pats had a different beauty on them.  Flies are annoying and usually fairly plain, but while walking today I cam across some that were not so. 

Small green things glittered from the muck, like tiny emeralds. If I came up to them too fast they would all disappear in a big buzz, but if I approached slowly they would stay. 

Their shiny bodies reflecting back different colours from the light spectrum, yellow, green, blue and turquoise. 

Their transparent wings looked so perfect, and their eyes were a strange orange colour. 

I couldn't help but see that the flies were a beautiful part of God's creation he wants us to enjoy. Normally they are annoying, but they can be beautiful too. 

The dry cow pats in the paddock didn't contain any wonders but I do know from experience that they are also really good missiles. So there is something good in every cow pat!