For over a year I have been intending to see this famous Old Bottlebutt tree… and not succeeding. This day I set out to remedy the lack.
It’s in Burrawan State Forest, about 3.2kms of dirt road off Bago Rd, about 10kms from Wauchope.
The short (600m ) loop walk through the forest is lovely, but I am here to see this phenomenon and up ahead I can see the timber platform and rail surrounding the special tree.

It’s a Red Bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera), the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and thought to be over 200 years old.
Just above the flared and semi-mossed butt, its girth is about 16 metres.

I assume the puckered and non-mossed part of the butt is worn smooth by rain.

Looking up along its impressive 52 metre height is not easy, but the tree’s foliage up there seems very healthy.

While the walk is through remnant rainforest and palm forests, there are other big trees to spot.

After the recent rain, the palm forests sit in pools.

There are footbridges over small creeks, many of which probably often don’t run.

It is also a forest of vines and moss and epiphytes. And leeches…

Some of the vines dangle in loops across the track; others have forced their host tree to grow around them.

The many-toed feet of the palm trees are mossy, while their trunks are decoratively striped.

And to make my day, there is a cascade of tiny delicate pink fungi occupying this tree hollow.
Old Bottlebutt is spectacular, and its short walk is full of rewards. I am glad I finally made the effort to pay my respects.