Cape Tribulation

On my return home my colleague Phil said this. 'There is the discussion that if time travel was available would there be a place you would rather be than now? He then said, ' I wouldn't want to be anywhere else because we have access to information and the means to find out so much about our world.  We know what we are losing and why and that gives us a chance of fixing it. In the past things would have gone without it even being recognised.
 
The events that gave Cape Tribulation its name saw a beginning of this knowledge.
In 1770 Captain James Cook in the ship 'Endeavour ' was exploring the Queensland Coast when it struck a reef. For 7 weeks it was stranded in view of Mount Sorrow in the Endeavour River. A disaster perhaps, but it gave the scientific party under Joseph Banks a chance to go out to investigate and describe and collect over 200 plants.
One of my goals was to be able to recognise and name just 30 Rainforest trees. The Latin taxonomy has been a struggle though!

Another goal was to find out what different individuals and institutions were doing to help achieve reforestation and conservation in a different continent - in this I have been unexpectedly privileged and inspired by the passion of those I lived with and met. Rachel working for the Marine Authority all hours to make sure legislation is in place to protect the Reef; Russell, advising and informing those working with coral; both of them finding time to re-wild their woodland garden. Michele, Andrew and Cade at Daintree Rainforest Observatory making it possible for teams of scientists to work unhindered in the forest; Paul at Wavelength making it vitally clear to boatloads of people the plight of the reef/rainforest system; Peter, the Parks Ranger giving years of his life to experimentation in germination and planting a tropical tree nursery; all the TREAT Volunteers for their advocacy in re-foresting of  gardens and corridors in their home patch.
'Endeavour' nearly foundered in Queensland but made it back to England on the far side of the world in the end, carrying not just specimens but new ways of thinking about the world
The endeavour today to get people to engage with their natural world and find ways to tread more lightly on it spans the same distance. My hope is that with all the other nations we can reach enough hearts and minds and stop our beautiful closed planet from foundering further.