Around Queenstown

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The area around Queenstown looks like a moonscape.  When the rich mineral deposits were discovered here, this was a rainforest.  The trees were all cut to construct the mines and buildings or to fire the smelters.  Then the fumes from the smelters killed the remaining vegetation and the torrential rains washed away all of the soil.  The exposed rock is just starting to support small tufts of vegetation here and there, but this area will not recover in a hundred lifetimes.               The mountains around Queenstown are void of soil and vegetation.  The sunset lighting makes them look a lot prettier than they are. Frenchman's Cap on the way to Queenstown on Thursday evening.            The further we got from Queenstown the better it looked.  Here is Frenchman's Cap on a bluebird Sunday as we drove home.

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This site was last updated 12/10/07