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Recently, I was talking about moulting trees. Now, the rains have arrived; whether it will be for a short visit or stay for awhile, we will have to wait and see. The weather boys and girls tell us that the monsoon is just off the coast. It has been raining, from heavy to drizzle, since Sunday, the frogs have been singing harmoniously and everything feels damp. But it is definitely cooler! Funny people that we are, we now run the airconditioning to prevent everything turning mouldy. Blue suede shoes are not back in fashion just yet!
From the Bureau of Meteorology this morning:
Issued at 5:00 am CST on Tuesday 16 December 2008
Current Weather Summary and Future Developments:
A monsoon trough lies just off the north coast with a tropical low located in the Timor Sea. The low and trough are expected to develop, with squally monsoonal showers and storms about the north and west coasts over the next few days. Widespread showers and storms elsewhere in the north. To the south, fine with a dry southeast flow, tending warmer northerly with storms extending down the western border from mid-week ahead of a trough approaching from the west. Meanwhile, back to those trees. It would appear that they love the rain cooling their new skin. This is the eucalyptus alba (salmon gum) which has finished moulting.
To the right, see the flowers of the melaleuca (paperback or ti tree) which is also showing the appreciation of the rain. If the rain continues for a period of time, its combination with high tides, will see the tidal creek (behind the trees) right up to the path. In the next photo, you can also see a cycad looking appreciative of the rain.
As I have said a few times lately, it is rather tropical here at the moment (that’s how the locals sarcastically describe damn hot, at this time of the year, when speaking to a tourist!)
We all know that cats moult, usually all over the best chair in the place, and dogs moult as the weather warms up, but trees?
I looked up a definition:
Moulting noun
periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles.
(Dictionary.com)
Hmmm … I am not sure which category a tree would fit into, but I am still sure that they are moulting.
I have searched further, and lo and behold, cuticle is the connection to the plant kingdom …
Cuticle noun
Botany. a very thin hyaline film covering the surface of plants, derived from the outer surfaces of the epidermal cells.
I knew it! I have been watching them, and they are definitely moulting; you can even see the pile of skin on the ground below them! 
I guess they too will feel cooler when the rains come. 
Gunumeleng, the next season in the year, according to the aboriginal people from the Kakadu area, can last from mid-October to late December, and may, in fact, last from a few weeks to several months. It is the pre-monsoon season of hot weather that becomes more and more humid. Thunderstorms build in the afternoons and scattered showers bring a tinge of green to the dry land. As the streams begin to run, acidic water that washes from the floodplains can cause fish to die in billabongs with low oxygen levels. Waterbirds spread out as surface water and new growth become more widespread. Barramundi move from the waterholes downstream to the estuaries to breed.
We are still waiting for the rains. We definitely have the heat and humidity and a lot less breeze in the early evening than we had in October.
http://veronicas-secrets.blogspot.com/2008/09/colours-in-dry-tropics.html
The trees, however, seem to get the message when it is their time to shine, almost as if they can feel the rains coming.
The umbrella tree (Schefflera actinophylla) is native to northern Queensland, north of the tropic of Capricorn. In the close up of the flower there is a brightly coloured rainbow lorikeet, feasting on the nectar.
The red poinciana (Delonix regia) is an old favourite in Darwin, and some would try to call it a weed, but at this time of the year it can put on a spectacular display. As the flowers fall there is a red carpet beneath it.
The orange poinciana is relatively rare, with a few specimins in Darwin which are equally colourful.
In the picture with the “grounded buoy” you will see the following: to the left of the buoy, a yellow/orange bougainvillea, then moving to the right, a large red poinciana, a pinkish/orange bougainvillea, a purple bougainvillea intertwined with an orange poinciana. If you look at the ground below you will notice that none of the plants are getting very much TLC, and they are still putting on quite a good performance, with very little rain. 
