Leeches, blue crayfish, and koalas

Last week Ross came up from Wellington and we went camping at Lamington National Park.  It is located a couple hours south of Brisbane on the border between Queensland and New South Wales. Lamington is broken into two sections, Binna Burra and Green Mountain.  The campground is in Green Mountain, so that is the section that we explored.  The entire park is also part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area.  

We left after I finished work on Friday and had to drive through Brisbane Friday traffic so we didn't  arrive until after dark.  We set up the tent by headlamp (or head torch, as they are called in this part of the world) and then crashed.  I always find it rather exciting to set up camp in the dark because you're never entirely sure what you are going to wake up to... We woke up Saturday morning to find the campground overrun by Red-necked Pademelons.  They are the size of a large cat, graze on the grass, and hop like kangaroos.  Needless to say, they are adorable!

After spending a while watching the pademelons, we had breakfast and then headed out to do the Toolona Creek circuit.  It's a 17.4 km hike through the rainforest with many stream crossings, nine waterfalls, and views over into New South Wales.  We had gotten a lot of rain during the week so all of the rivers were extra full.  This resulted in lots of gorgeous waterfalls but some tricky stream crossings.  Ross managed to stay dry but I went in over the top of one of my boots and ended up having one wet foot and one dry foot for a good portion of the hike.  Luckily I didn't get any blisters.

At one of the stream crossings, I thought that I saw some trash in the water and decided to go fish it out.  As I got closer, I realized that it was a Lamington Spiny Crayfish.  After trying in vain to get pictures of it through the water, I stuck Ross's camera (it's waterproof) into the stream and ended up with a pretty decent picture.  I also got my first, of many, leeches.

It is wet enough in the rainforests in Queensland that the leeches can live outside of the water.  After a while, Ross and I got pretty good at spotting them waving back and forth on leaves, waiting for something to pass by that they could latch onto.  Of course, there were many that we didn't see until we were wiping/pulling them off of ourselves.  At one point I went to itch my face and realized that I had a leech on my cheek.  Ross  also got one on his face later but was slightly more excited about it than I was...  

We made it to the overlooks into New South Wales for lunch but by then the weather had really socked in and we were treated to a sea of white and hard rain.  After a quick lunch we hit the trail again.  The rain lightened up and stopped by the time that we made it back to the visitor's center but by that point we were both pretty wet and very excited about dry clothes.

Sunday was gorgeous and sunny so we got up early and went for a guided bird walk.  Unfortunately it was pretty windy so we didn't see much.  After an odd breakfast (our stove stopped working...) we did a couple shorter walks out to Morans Falls and the Python Rock Overlook.  Both had great views and made us a little sad that the views on our Saturday hike had been so socked in.

Looking down the valley from Morans Falls

Morans Falls

Strangler Fig

Python Rock overlook

Australian King Parrots

Crimson Rosella

Pretty-faced Wallaby

After a lovely morning at Lamington, we headed back toward Brisbane but made a detour to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  It is expensive but you can hold a koala and feed kangaroos and wallabies.  Needless to say, Ross and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I got Ross to leave the tent in Australia with me so I will be getting out exploring further afield instead of just day trips (I went camping down at Main Range National Park this weekend and had a fabulous time). Plus Ross will also be back up in a couple weeks for my birthday and we have a pretty action-packed weekend planned...

White Rock and the Glass House Mountains

Because I work longer days, once a month I have a rostered day off (RDO) and get a three day weekend.  Last Monday was my RDO for May so Ross came up from Wellington for his first trip to Australia.  It was great to see him again after about three weeks apart.  Us being us, we spent the weekend out hiking and exploring around Brisbane.

Rock Wallaby at the Australia Zoo

On Saturday morning we hiked out to White Rock in the White Rock Conservation Area southwest of Brisbane.  Despite being at the edge of a new sub-development and gorgeous weather, there were very few people on the trail so Ross and I enjoyed a peaceful walk out to and around White Rock.  The forest is Eucalypt and low scrub with tons of different birds, animals, and plants.  We didn't see any Koalas but we were looking.

After hiking out to White Rock we went to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and spent the afternoon wandering around through some of the various gardens.  These gardens are different from the City Botanic Gardens that are located along the Brisbane River right in downtown Brisbane and that I visited on my second weekend in the area.  The Brisbane Botanic Gardens were established in the 1970s after 8 major floods swept through the City Botanic Gardens between 1870 and 1974.  The gardens are 56 hectares and have more than 100,000 plants, representing approximately 5,000 species from around the world.  Needless to say, Ross and I did not see it all.

On Sunday we headed north from Redcliffe and went to the Glass House Mountains National Park.  The mountains are made of volcanic plugs that formed around 25 million years ago.  Over time the softer surrounding material was eroded away leaving behind the rock spires that are present today.  There are fourteen mountains in the area with the highest being Mt. Meerwah at 556 meters.  Lt. James Cook named the mountain range in May 1770 after the shape of the glass kilns found in the north of England.  Ross and I went up Mount Ngungun (253 m) and were treated to sweeping 360 degree views from the summit.  

From the Glass House Mountains, we continued north and spent the afternoon at the Australia Zoo, which is also known as the Home of the Crocodile Hunter.  It was a nice zoo and we got to pet kangaroos, wallabies, and a koala!  That being said, it was on the pricey side and not something that I think we would do again.

On Monday, we slept in, hung out in the sun on the patio, and had a leisurely stroll into Redcliffe for lunch before I took Ross back to the airport.  He is coming to visit again in mid-June and we're planning on going camping either on Moreton Island or in one of the national parks near the border between Queensland and New South Wales (Lamington or Main Range are my current top picks).