riverECHO

1,896 kilometers around Australia

We spent the weekend exploring Lamington National Park, a couple hours drive inland from the Gold Coast. It was a sort of dry rainforest, if that makes sense, with tree ferns and lush foliage but a very dry ground cover. There are two main roads into the park; both follow a different ridge line to the summit of a plateau where there is a campground, lodge, and trailhead for numerous hikes. We spent a night at each campground, Binna Burra and Green Mountains.

From Binna Burra, a number of hikes lead out into the park. We opted for a half day hike, which was a nice change to not doing much physically other than a few bike rides and walks around towns. Our hike was quite a wildlife adventure. Our tally of snakes has now reached 8, four of which were spotted on this hike. We learned, after opening a children’s book about snakes in the gift shop, that one of the snakes that we carefully skirted around was a black red-bellied snake . . . only the 17th most venomous snake in the world. We also learned that Australia is home to the 16 of the top 20 venomous snakes in the world, 7 of which are the most poisonous. But no worries mate . . .  they are more scared of you than you should be of them. That makes me feel so much better.

Once we arrived to our second camp at Green Mountains, we immediately took off for the area’s famous tree walk, a series of wooden planked swing bridges and ladders, which reaches to a top height of 30 meters. It was a pretty cool structure and not surprising that it was very busy. I woke up extra early this morning to take another stroll along it without the crowds and only the sounds of birds and trees swaying in the wind.

After blowing through Brisbane this afternoon we made camp in a mozzie (mosquito) filled state park just a short drive from the Australian Zoo, Steve Irwin’s zoo to be exact. I’ve never been a huge fan of zoos but we have been told over and over that this is a must-do. Tomorrow afternoon we will enter the attraction and will surely have many photos to share shortly thereafter.