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Published: June 20th 2008
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Today I was going to give up studying Genetics and enjoy myself... I was going to go to the rainforest!
I hitched a ride into the city with Casey. We managed to find the hotel where Bushwackers leaves from without trouble. I called home to wish Dad Happy Father's Day, and then ate my brekkie (fruit and cereal--yum!). I met up with two other ladies who were going on the same tour and waited for the Bushwacker's bus to come pick us up. (Funny enough, the guy who gave us our tour of the rainforest was the same fellow, Matt, from my previous Bushwacker's trip to Fraser!)
I had a long drive to the Gold Coast, where we picked up some other group members. We drove by Surfer's Paradise, where I went during O-Week earlier this year. Due to the amount of rain we had some weeks ago, there was practically no beach left. It was a little strange to see such a dynamic change.
The Springbrook National Park is literally right next door to Lamington National Park. The area is very mountainous and cool (temperature-wise), and receives a good deal of rain (which is why the subtropical
rainforest does so well here). Mt. Warning is the volcano that formed this area; it's said that the places that are now mountains used to be the valleys, and what is now the valleys was once the tops of mountains. The flow of lava dramatically changed the landscape, and still today shows evidence of nature's hand. These mountains, and the extinct Mt. Warning, are supposed to be some of the most ancient mountains in the world.
After a short drive to the rainforest from the Gold Coast, I was off to starting my adventure! First we went to the Natural Arch, which is both a cave and a waterfall at the same time. It was formed when rocks swirled around in an indent, working their way down to an underwater river below. This caused the waterfall, and created the arch that is present today. It's really quite beautiful, and the short walk to get to the arch is lovely as well.
Next we drove up to the top of the rainforest, to go to the "Best of All Lookout." Because the day was so clear, we could see the Gold Coast (including Surfer's), Byron Bay, Tweed Heads, Mt.
Warning (the old volcano that formed this area), the border between NSW and QLD and more! Beautiful, sweeping views.
Due to a bus-full of school kids, we changed plans a little. We had lunch and walked around some more viewpoints before heading off on our hike. We hiked for a shorter distance than I would have liked, because the scenery was very beautiful. We hiked the 'Twin Falls Circuit,' which allows you to hike right behind a twin waterfall. It's extremely beautiful, and very photographic. After a bit more hiking and more waterfall views, we had to head back to the bus, as we had to get to the Glow-worm Grotto before it closed.
I really enjoyed the Glow-worm grotto, not so much for the glow-worms (which were really cool, but in an artificial environment, constructed by this fellow, literally on the side of his house), but for the Rosella Parrots. They're really beautiful! They aren't tame, but because of feeding, wild birds gather in this fellow's backyard. If you hold out seed, they'll come sit on you! They're really beautiful and very funny. I even managed to convince some to sit on my shoulders (I felt like
a pirate or something ^__^). It was really fun, and I loved the birds heaps.
A long bus ride home, and I caught a taxi back to IH (should've got public transit, but I was lazy and tired). I then check my email before heading over to Nell's room for our nightly pow-wow, and I found I'd received an email from my marine science class coordinator. I opened it up and found I'd won the photography contest for MARS! Whoo, free tee-shirt! I'm now the proud owner of a tee that says 'Armed and Dangerous' with pictures of Aus's dangerous marine creatures on it--blue ringed octopus, cone snail, stone fish and lion fish. I'm such a cool kid.
Even better, however (or rather, more hilarious) was the caption for the photo the MARS people had written: "Congratulations to Emily Petchler for her image of the crab on the beach. Emily managed to capture a feeling of isolation of the island with the solitary crab on a vast lonely beach, alert to the looming turmoil from the dark imposing storm clouds on the horizon." I'm pretty sure I didn't set up the photo like that, more likely the caption
should have been about the crab's concerns: do I run away? pinch it? freeze and hope it doesn't see me? Ahhh! What's that light?! *crab blinded by flash*
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