Australian pine, huh? Never heard of it. (Showing my tree ignorance here!)
By the way, how was the Thanksgiving visit with your daughter?
I saw these for the first time when we went down to Key West in Jan. of 2001. They are neat looking, and when I asked the tour guide at Ft. Zachary Taylor about them, he said "Take some home with you, please!!" As Sam said, they are considered 'pest plants', though I bet they're not as bad as KUDZU!!