Take a walk on the wild side

---

DAY 307

After all the fantastic information we had received from Ann at QPWS (Queensland Parks & Wildlife Services), and doing the Copperlode Dam walk the other day, see blog day 304 07 09 2009 (Copperlode Dam to Crystal Cascades) we wanted to get some more walks in, so had loosely decided on a walk that started at Wrights Lookout, just beyond the Barron Falls Lookout, and went on to the McDonalds track.

The information said it was a 4.7 Kilometer walk each way, to the Douglas track, and is a historic track (we are not certain why so historic). Approximately 2ks from the Surprise Creek crossing, the rainforest opens up into open grassland, providing us with fabulous views over the gorge and Lower Barron falls.

We parked the truck, Caroline took a couple of photos, and soon with Boots on we donned our rucksacks, and set off at exactly 11.15 am.

I quite freely admit that I could do with loosing an ounce or two, but we love getting out and having a walk, and enjoying this fabulous country, I really found the Copperlode Dam walk tough, but I did it and that is what counts. Caroline seemed to deal with it so much easier than I did, but I think she has always had quite a good level of fitness, she does not seem to get puffed out easily.

Today we set off, nearly 10k’s in front of us and within the first 1k of the walk it was quite apparent that Caroline seemed to be struggling. I asked her if she was ok, as it just seemed so unusual that Caroline seemed to be walking slowly but she said that she just felt a bit fatigued and not on top of the game, this did quietly worry me as Caroline always has a spring in her step.

The first decent hill certainly got our hearts pumping then there was a long hill heading down towards the little Bridge at the Surprise creek, and after a short catch of breath we had an enormous long steep climb up, so we both just paced ourselves dug our boots in and climbed our way up.

As the information told us the undulating track the rain forest open out in to grassland, which eventually it did. The day was hot, 30 Degrees as we had been informed on the weather report the night before, so hats were the order of the day.

We really hoped we might see a Cassowary in the Rain Forest as this is a perfect domain for them, but alas no such luck, we did hear a couple of rustles in the tree’s that could have been them, but equally it could have been a big Goanna or something else, we have come to learn that even the tiniest of creature can make quite a sound as it scuttles through dry leaves on the ground.

We discussed for a while the benefits of Cassowary p** to the rain forest, they distribute the seeds of the rainforest trees by feed on a variety of the fruits, in other words being such a big bird it is the only animal physically able to eat the large fruits of many rainforest plants and therefore the ability to spread the seed, their digestive system is gentle and therefore the fruit is expelled whole and unharmed.

However we see a lot of partially eaten fruit on the floor that is easily spotted however being partially eaten fruit could be a tell tale sign of Cockatoos (hooligans of the natural world.)

Cyclone Larry arrived on 20th March 2006, stripping many trees of leaves branches and fruit, resulting in poor food resources for the Cassowary, trees also felled blocked pathways within Cassowary home ranges, therefore they moved around in search of food, travelling into urban areas which in turn put them at risk by becoming dependent on people and risking death dog attacks and vehicle strikes. Cassowaries can be aggressive and are known to kick out with their large clawed feet, which can be dangerous to humans and animals.

Cassowaries are on the endangered list so in order to combat the problems associated with Cyclone Larry, the QPWS set up feeding stations while the forest recovered. Sixty feeding stations were used by at least 115 Cassowaries and around 1000kg of fruite was purchased weekly by the QPWS supplemented by 100kg of fruit per week donated by community members and local business. QPWS staff and members of the community helped daily by cutting fruit and servicing the feeding stations.

18 months on this feeding programme has now been phased out, done over a 6 month period after thorough assessment.

I could write a lot more about Cassowary but I won’t go on for the moment. We hope that spending time in the Rain Forest will help us to at least see one in the wild.

We arrive at the end of McDonalds track at 12.50, making it an hour and thirty five to walk 5k’s probably 60% uphill so we will have the 40% uphill climb on the way back which is not too bad, though there will be 2 absolute stinkers of a climb on the way back.

We open the rucksack and get out the sandwiches we have made and dive in, we have nowhere to sit, but it may be a case that if we sat and got comfortable we may never get going again.

At 13.15 once we had had our dinner I ask Caroline if she is ready to get going again, she tells me she is ready and I just check how much water we have in the CamelBak, so I know how conservative we have to be with water, or not as the case may be. We set off and its quite clear that Caroline is still not on top of the game so we modify our walking, to suit Caroline.

We get back to the to Surprise creek at 13.50 washed our faces in the creek and had a breather, we sat on the rocks next to the creek (no crocodiles here) of course hoping that if we sat quietly perhaps a Cassowary would wander down to the creek for a drink.

Now it was time to climb the “stinker”, so over the bridge we go, this climb seemed to go on for ever, but “slowly, slowly catch a monkey” we climbed and rested, climb and rested until we got back to the top, where we were delighted, we took on plenty of water throughout our walk all the way back.

At exactly 2.45 we arrived back at the truck so all in all our walk was 3½ hours to do just under 10k’s, I was extremely pleased with my performance, visibly less puffed out than I was doing the walk from Crystal Cascades to Copperlode Dam.

After removing our boots and socks, we drank what was left from our fluid supply and put our thongs on to allow our feet to cool down, then set off back towards Cairns, briefly stopping in Kuranda to fill up with fuel and get one of those sport drinks that put back all your electrolytes that your body has used under perspiration.

It is quite a drive back from Kuranda it was nearly hour before we got back to Bayview Heights, and as soon as we got back we put the kettle on and sat outside on the veranda.
Caroline climbed in to the Hammock and did some brain training, and I sat and drank my tea then fell asleep.

When I woke, Caroline told me that she too had had a catnap, which is very unusual for her. About 5.30 Caroline asked if I wanted to go and have a walk so I nearly throttled her, fortunately she was only joking, so we set about watching the evening news and rustling up some dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent in a lazy Joe mood just watching TV and I typed the blog. I noticed that 2 Gecko’s were in the house and they do dart about, I watched a moth land and one of the Gecko’s went for him but it flew off, I thought to my self that the Gecko had no chance, until the Moth landed on the wall in front of my view and in no time at all the Gecko had him.

The little Gecko went behind the picture with its prey and devoured it, as hard as Caroline tried to get a photo she was unable to, he was just too quick and seemed like he wanted to hide while he ate his prey.

So there you have it, the events of our day.

Until tomorrow bloggers.

---

Photos

Barron Gorge
Taken from Wrights Lookout just at the beginning of our walk.

Looking back to the gate
Which was the start of thetrack

Steep Track
Steep track heading down to the little bridge at suprise Creek

Fruit Floor
We wondered if this was the remains from a Cassowaries dinner or from a Cockatoo

Pie Face
Caroline diving in to her dinner

Surprise Creek
Life is full of surprises

Rain Forest Buttefly
Just lined up the shot and it decided to fly.

Barron Gorge
Taken just to see the difference in the time of day, this was taken at the end of our walk.