There's plenty of driftwood coming down the Bei Nan River - been down the last two days and there are bits of hinoki there but the competition for them is pretty keen. In fact the police were there and they'd busted a guy with his crane who'd hooked onto a couple of big hinoki trunks - they explained to me that the rule is (which is as i had already understood it) that if you can carry it away by hand, then it's ok, but you can't bring in cranes to haul it away. What i'm not clear on is whether you can find large bits, then cut them up with your chainsaw into 'carry away' sizes.

Whatever, there's a large amount of stuff that is suitable for legs, and that's of value to me, so have been stocking up.

Will be interested to know when it starts turning up on the beaches. The bulk of it is coming down the Bei Nan as it's source reaches into the central ranges. In theory, the current should carry it north once it gets into the sea and as such should start washing up on northern beaches over the coming days.

As I was crossing the Donghe bridge today I noticed that the extremely muddy water flowing from the river into the ocean was indeed flowing north in the ocean. I'll be looking for that hinoki.

What we should do is make a trip south of Zhiben to one of the rivers. We don't have to go all the way to Dawu. I know of a good one that's a bit closer, south of Taimali, north of Dawu. Anything coming down from there is indeed from the central mountain range, from Dawu Mt. This river valley I'm thinking of is protected; there's no road access after a few KM. So, there should be plenty of driftwood after a big storm like this.

Ok, i'm up for that! But when you say 'no car access', how are we meant to get it out of there?

Park at the nearest access and walk up the river. Actually, I'd start nearer the ocean and walk up. The 'end of the road' is actually too far above the river.

It's also a hot freshwater shrimp spot. There's a guy in this village who catches them.