This brilliant red, waxy toadstool is the fruiting body of an inconspicuous fungus that thrives on leaf litter, rotting wood and soil in the rainforests of North Queensland when the weather starts to warm up… which is usually towards Christmas time in Australia. The image was sent to me by Neil Hewett from Cooper Creek Wilderness with best wishes for Christmas. www.ccwild.com


Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.