Collecting pinecones for Christmas

This was such a fun activity to do as a family - something seasonal, outdoors, local - and we now have a lovely basket of pinecones sitting on out hitchen table exuding their lovely resinous pine-y aroma.

These pinecones came from the Kauri pine (agathis robusta) which are native to Eastern Queensland. We discovered that birds like to pull off the tabs of the pinecone, presumbably to get at the pollen, working from the bottom upwards. It became a game to find the most perfect, untouched pinecone with all tabs intact. We also noticed that the outer edges of the pinecone were covered in a whitish resin the consistency of candle-wax - very sticky and with a strong pine smell.

Afterwards, as we were sitting on a bed of pine needles enjoying watching a couple have their wedding photos taken, we were treated to the site of 4 cockatoos walking on the undergrowth very close to us.