Mad about mangroves

We cycle to East Point along the coastline every Saturday morning. The views out to sea are spectacular, and we've seen the coastline in cloud, sunshine and rain. Our 25 km route is a loop. The culmination of our cycle, the turning around point, is the mangrove boardwalk.

We turn off the East Point cycle path and head into the bush. The first time Ken headed towards the mangroves, he had no idea what he would encounter. And it's almost always deserted ... during the Wet season, there wasn't another soul to be seen.

At the end of this bushland track, there's a little viewing platform in the midst of mangroves. It gives us (me, really) an opportunity to take a breath and rehydrate.

Mangroves are part of a marginal ecosystem — trees that live between between land and sea. They're the only trees anywhere that can tolerate saltwater and are effective long-term carbon sponges, so are a conservation priority worldwide. They also function as fish nurseries, like little play-pens, and they act as shock absorbers when storms and tide surges approach land.

We've seen the mangroves in all tides. There's high tide, where the viewing platform is surrounded by water and the water laps just below our feet.

There's an in-between tide, when some of the roots are exposed, but you can't see the sand. Ken took this video from close to the viewing platform. Settle in for 22 seconds to enjoy it.

And then there's low tide, when the sand is exposed. The stilt roots, or prop roots, are the roots that support the tree and ensure a bit of growing space. When it's very low tide, you can also see the aerial roots, those little 'pencils' that pop out of the mud and grow upwards from the main roots. They absorb the additional oxygen that the tree needs.

(Yes, that's Luke on his Darwin visit, using my bike which is way too small for him.)

This is also the time when we spot the small, skittery crabs. These critters are about 3-5 cm, i.e. less than an inch long for imperialists. At low tide we can hear the pop, pop, pop as they dig the sand out of their burrows. I am very proud of the first two crab shots, the brightly coloured crab in his courting and warrior colours, taken with my new camera. (My old camera came off second best after being drenched in a tropical downpour last week.)

I've saved the best for (almost) last. Ken took this marvellous video (cycling one-handed) on the track to the mangroves. Can you spot the corner where he almost fell off his bike? This one's 41 seconds. Turn up the sound and join us on our cycle!

On Friday night, we went to a local artist's exhibition opening. This piece is called 'Mangroves, moon and midges'. Spot the mangroves!