Rainforest Hiking

This weekend we rented a car (more on that in a sec) and drove down to the Gold Coast Hinterland (inland from its famous namesake) to do some hiking with Becca and Beth.  I wish this post were longer, but words can't do this experience justice like the pictures can.  You can see those here on Nicole's flickr.

The driving was quite an experience. I'm the only one over 21, so I was the only one who could drive.  Driving on the left really wasn't all that bad, nor was turning, I think in part because I had spend the previous couple days thinking really hard about how to execute such things.  The weird part, though, was being on the right hand side of the car.  Having the bulk of the car be to the left and the mirrors in all different places made merging and parking quite the experience. We did have a couple not-quite-that-harrowing moments after turning left and going about 100 yards before we all realized we needed to be on the LEFT side of the road- luckily in pretty isolated areas with no cars around.  It was good practice for NZ next week.

The rainforest we walked through in Springbrook National Park was breathtaking. Its a UN World Heritage site, and since its up on these ridges has huge gorges and lookout points, and the different altitudes mean that there's like 3 different kinds of rainforest that we actually hiked through.  We saw something like 7 waterfalls, including walking right under some of them.  My mother would have died at all of the "babbling brooks" (a reference to our trip to Northern California in during the spring melt in which each runoff creek on the side of the road was exhilarating).  It was straight out of a geography textbook- we even saw a lace monitor lizard that was probably 4 feet long.  

Once again, I wish I could say more, but you've really got to look at all of the pictures- I can't stress how awesome they are.  I really wasn't expecting what we got out of the day- it was amazing despite the sore ankles and shin splints.  And the driving turned out pretty well, thankfully.