Australia & NZ (Cruise) -- Nov 2013

The vertical lighter-colored mark on the hillside at left is a landslide scar. These hills are very steep and rocky, so the soil on them is not deep. Trees often cannot sink their roots very deeply. Often when a tree gets very large, its roots are not stong enough to hold it (retain it) during windstorms, heavy rains, heavy snow loadings, etc. The tree will fall over, which can start a landslide, as the first heavy tree strikes a second one downslope (wihich also has only shallow roots holding it to the hillside), etc. (IMG_5251.A495.JPG)