A Glimpse of the Hinterland

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Thursday we took an organized tour to Springbrook Mountain. It's in an area of Australia known as the "Hinterland", or the "Green Behind the Gold". Basically, it is the beginning of the bush.

Our first stop of the day was at Tropical Fruit World, where they grow over 500 tropical fruits, and we sampled just a few of the exotic fruits that were in season. Vlad actually tried to be a little adventurous and tasted most of the samples that were put out.

Next was the Natural Arch, which was too cool for words. You go on a little bushwalk, and come to this waterfall, that is actually falling through a cave. You get to walk into the cave, and you can see the water falling through the roof. There are also glo-worms in the cave, but they mostly come out a night. Further along the walk, you come to the top of the waterfall, where you can see the water falling down. You can't quite see the roof of the cave, but you know it is there.

We stopped at about 4 waterfalls in total along the way, but most of the waterfalls weren't that impressive. Australia is going through a drought at the moment, and it's been quite bad for the last 7 years. At the Gold Coast, for example, their damn reserviors are at about 10% at the moment. You often hear the locals complaining about the water restrictions that have been in place for so long.

We stopped for lunch at the Home of the Yowie (Big Foot). There was a plaster cast of a real footprint, and Vlad swears he saw something moving in the bushes. It was probably just the birds or snakes. We got to feed the rainbow lorikeets after lunch (they are birds).

Springbrook Mountain itself was hardly a mountain, by Canada's standards. It peaked at the massive height of 1000m, and there were trees growing at the top. Still, it was good to see a little of the Aussie bush, even if we do prefer it on the beach.

Oz Oddities:
- they drive on the other side of the road, which means that Vlad and I are constantly looking the wrong way when we try to cross the street, especially when crossing one-ways, so we have developed a habit of always looking both ways (twice), quite like how we have to look at both sides of the coins when we are paying for things.
- Still with the beets on sandwiches and burgers all over the place. Anyone who knows me, knows that I cannot handle beets, even when I was a kid and my parents used to try and make me eat them, I would gag on them. So, when we stopped for lunch, my beet-feelers were a tingling. So, when we ordered, I asked the lady if my selection had beets. "Beets?", she said, "What are those?", so I tried to explain them to her, and she looked at me like I was from another planet (not just another country). Luckily, the tour guide stepped in and saved me, "You mean beetroot, right? That's what Canadians call them". It was a very close call, but I managed to survive another day without a beet coming near me.

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Photos

Strangler Fig Trees
I think they're hilarious! They actually send roots down from the top, and kill the host tree in the process.