Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walk

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Considering that we want to start doing some overnight hikes, we thought it best that we do a couple of shorter hikes first so it won't be such a shock to the system when we eventually do an overnighter 😉 We managed to rope our good friends Matt and Carly into coming along as well and it gave us a good opportunity to test out our new boots :D For our hike, we headed to the Sunshine Coast to check out the Great Walks that one of Kate's co-workers told her about.

The Queensland Government has been working on a "Great Walks" project for a while that provides walks of various lengths for those keen to experience a bit of the outdoors. The Great Walks are split up into various sections and you can pick which section you want to walk and what kind of walk you wish to do ie you can do a short walk up to a lookout or two or you can leave a car at each end and hike from one point to the next or if you only have a single vehicle at your disposal, you can hike from one point to the next and then walk back to your car or for those who are brave, you can slap on your pack and do a Walk In Walk Out camp staying overnight at a walker's camp or do a multi-day trip. The Government are planning on building 6 of these Great Walks throughout Queensland (links with more information are at the bottom of this journal).

We chose to walk the section from Lake Baroon through to Kondalilla Falls, which we estimate was about 11.5kms long all up (including a couple of detours we had to make due to track closures, fallen trees, etc). Heavy rain had been falling in the weeks prior to our hike but while the day of the hike was overcast, we got nothing more than a light mist of rain throughout the day. The ground was severely waterlogged and there were lots of little streams running everywhere so there were a couple of fairly shallow water crossings that we had to do and our boots got a bit muddy and wet but we managed to avoid the worst of it. We didn't manage to avoid the leeches though. If you're going to do any of the hikes on the Sunshine Coast, make sure you remember to bring insect repellent (unlike us forgetful people) though you will need to be vigilant anyway. Leeches apply an anaesthetic when they latch on so you won't actually feel when one's on you. We definitely recommend you wear proper hiking boots with some decent socks and/or gaiters, as the leeches attack from below and if you've got boots with high ankle support and long hiking socks on, they'll attach to your boot/sock first rather than your leg. They will seek out your flesh though so you'll need to flick them off before they get the chance to climb up. They're sneaky little critters and will hide in amongst your shoelaces and the folds of your socks so look carefully!
We also recommend wearing in your hiking boots before going on a long hike - Kate found this out the painful way and ended up with a massive blister on the back of each heel (which ended up taking 3 weeks to heal!!). Everyone else made it through the hike with no injuries though Carly won the prize for the most leeches (she was only wearing sneakers and ankle socks though so it was hardly a challenge for the leeches to get to her 😉)
The highlights of the hike were the lookouts, the rainforest section that formed part of the hike and of course, the falls. 😊
The reward for our efforts was a BBQ lunch at the picnic area at Kondalilla Falls. Upon arriving at the picnic area, Kate and Carly ditched their shoes then we set up for our BBQ. We had planned on our BBQ just being for the 4 of us but we were joined by 3 kookaburras, a magpie, a butcher bird and a noisy miner or two. The birds all chose their strategic positions and set in for the wait. One of the kookaburras took up position on a branch not far from the BBQ and kept a watchful eye as our lunch was cooking. Scott was chief chef and just as he took the sausages off the BBQ and put them on a plate, the kookaburra swooped down and grabbed a sausage and took off. Bastard!!! The joke was on him though - it was a chicken sausage :P The pesky birds still wouldn't leave us alone - the others all wanted a share as well so we shifted the sausages to where they couldn't get to them. They were determined though and decided to try changing position - one of the other kookaburras flew down and settled on the ground a metre away from Scott. Scott waved his hand at it to try and shoo it away but the kookaburra held its ground and just opened his beak defiantly. This was not a good sign. Scott cooked the food as quickly as he could and we ate hunched over our plates shooting furtive glances around us to see if any of the birds were approaching.
After realising they weren't going to get our food without a fight, the birds decided to try a different approach. Matt and Carly thought they were safe sitting under the shelter eating their food - WRONG! Matt had a piece of steak in his hand and he was just bringing it to his mouth when in swooped the kookaburra. It quickly landed on his plate, grabbed the steak right out of his hand and then retreated to the trees. What the?! We were NOT impressed!! (Matt especially!! Not only had he lost his steak but now the rest of his food was ruined from Mr Kookaburra sitting in it). We were stunned at such aggressive behaviour - we've never seen a bird swoop someone to take food directly out of their hands before.
With this in mind, we highly recommend that you don't have a BBQ lunch there as you'll have a hard time hanging on to your food. Nuisance birds such as this should really be removed from the area. It does show you what effect feeding the wildlife does have though. If people hadn't fed the kookaburras previously, they wouldn't equivalate people with food and wouldn't have come so close. They obviously discovered at some stage that if they were quick, they could just steal whatever food they wanted as people would generally be too scared/stunned to do anything about it. Goannas at various picnic grounds have displayed the same behaviour - they charge at picnickers to give them a fright so they'll run off and leave the food, which the goannas can then feast on. People don't realise that this is a result of those before them going "aww, ain't cute/cool/whatever" and throwing them some food. Think twice before you go feeding the wildlife - you may think they're cute and cuddly now but we guarantee you won't when they become ferocious in their hunt for an easy meal and attack you and your family/friends. :/

On a brighter note 😊, for those who'd like more information about the Great Walks, you can find out more info on the Queensland EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) website:

Great Walks website
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/

Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/sunshine_coast_hinterland/

NOTE: A lot of the great walks are still under construction so I don't know how many of these are actually up and running yet. As far as I know, it's only the Sunshine Coast Hinterland Great Walk that is currently open but I've included the links to the other ones anyway.

Fraser Island Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/fraser_island/

Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/gold_coast_hinterland/

Mackay Highlands Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/mackay_highlands/

Wet Tropics Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/wet_tropics/

Whitsunday Great Walks
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/whitsunday/

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Additional photos below

Photos: 26, Displayed: 26

Photos

Lake Baroon 01
The view to Lake Baroon from the first lookout

Lake Baroon 02
A closeup photo of Lake Baroon from the first lookout

Rockin'
This rock was just the other side of the viewing platform at the first lookout

Don't look down!
You'd have to be an idiot to crawl over the barricades here 'cause it's a LONG way down if you fall. View from the first lookout.

Rapids
These rapids aren't big enough to raft unfortunately *sigh* but they were cool to look at. View from the first lookout.

Lake Baroon 03
Yet another photo of Lake Baroon from the first lookout

Tree 02
One of the fig trees beside the path

Rushing water
This photo is of a mini-waterfall that was beside the path. Thankfully, there was a bridge over the water so we didn't have to walk through it (unlike other stretches of the path ahead).

More water...
We had to keep a constant lookout for leeches on our legs as we were walking through the wet areas, as they had a habit of hanging out in the mushy areas and sneaking onto your leg when you weren't watching. They excrete an anaesthetic into the wound so you don't feel it when they attach themselves onto you.

Waterfalls...
Due to the large amounts of rain that had been falling over the Sunshine Coast in the weeks prior to our hike, the ground was very wet and there was water rushing everywhere.

The site of our 2nd rest stop 01
We didn't pause here long as we were starting to run out of steam and Kate's blisters were absolutely killing her.

The site of our 2nd rest stop 02
We didn't pause here long as we were starting to run out of steam and Kate's blisters were absolutely killing her.

The site of our 2nd rest stop 03
We didn't pause here long as we were starting to run out of steam and Kate's blisters were absolutely killing her.

Red Rocks 01
These rocks were at a waterfall shortly before the main falls at Kondalilla

Red Rocks 02
These rocks were at a waterfall shortly before the main falls at Kondalilla

Red Rocks 03
These rocks were at a waterfall shortly before the main falls at Kondalilla

Kondalilla Falls 01
11km or so and four hours later, we made it to Kondalilla Falls

Goanna 01
This goanna was sunning himself on the rocks up at Kondalilla Falls. I didn't know if he was dead or not as first as he wasn't moving.

Goanna 02
A closeup of the goanna.

Tree 03
One of the trees at Kondalilla Falls.

View towards Lake Baroon from Kondalilla Falls
You can't actually see the lake in this photo but it's that-a-way!

More Falls 01
More waterfalls - these were just before we reached the picnic area at Kondalilla Falls

More Falls 02
More waterfalls - these were just before we reached the picnic area at Kondalilla Falls

More Falls 03
More waterfalls - these were just before we reached the picnic area at Kondalilla Falls

Comments

[beck]

how beautiful
Hi guys. It was so wonderful to see some pictures of the beautiful rainforest. Tree's, running clear streams and greenery are something that we are all missing terribly over here. Jason and I used to love our bush walks so it brought back a lot of fond memories for me. Take care and I look forward to hearing of your next adventure. Love Beck