In which I have spectacular adventures!

   September has been a very exciting month for me! Every weekend has brought an even more amazing trip. The first weekend I went to Maggie Island again with some friends. It was rainy on Saturday so we hung out at the hostel and read. And then on Sunday we went to the beach, Alma Bay, the same as last time. We napped on the beach, went swimming, explored the nearby rocks. It was very relaxing. Magnetic Island is just so beautiful, and it was really nice to get off of campus and be reminded that we’re in Australia.

 

   The next weekend, on the 11th, Kathy and I, as well as Trish, and 5 other girls from JCU went on a tour to Paluma. Paluma is north of Townsville, inland, and up a mountain. Unlike the more arid Townsville, Paluma has a lot of wet tropical rainforest, like Cairns. Our first stop was Crystal Creek, just inside of Paluma. It was such a pretty spot, with falls, and rather deep pools. We went swimming in it, and the water was refreshing, but not too cold. There was a pretty brick arch bridge, and a natural rockslide that emptied into one of the deeper pools.

Kathy and Trish get used to the cold Crystal Creek

Trish going down the rockslide

   We continued up the mountain, on a rather twisty road, and went to Paluma Rainforest Village. Once we arrived we took a hike on the mountain top. That was interesting because once we went across the crest of the mountain, you could actually see the change from rainforest to sclerophyll forest (sclerophyll is a type of water resistant vegetation with hard leaves, sclerophyll forests have a canopy of eucalyptus trees which are an example of sclerophylls). This sharp change is due to how mountain ranges affect rainfall. We didn’t get much of a view at the lookouts unfortunately, as a cloud had settled. We headed back, and ate lunch at an Inn in the Paluma Village. We also stopped to see a pottery place located in the village. There was a big clay kiln where the potter fires up 2-3 months work in one go. I asked him if it was scary when he fires it up since there is so much invested time at stake, and he said it was. I can only imagine waiting to open it and hoping that nothing went wrong.

    Our next stop was a hike to Birthday Creek to see the bowerbirds! We saw a toothbilled bowerbird and a golden bowerbird, both of which are endemic (only found) in mountain rainforests of Northern Queensland so it was quite special to see them. Male bowerbirds make structures to attract mates. Tooth-billed bowerbirds are lazy and their bower is just laying leaves on the ground with the underside facing up. Golden bowerbirds, however, make more complex bowers out of sticks. They look like huts, or like Eeyore’s house in Pooh’s corner. We were able to see both the birds and their bowers. When we made it to the falls we spotted a water dragon.

Golden Bowerbird

    On our way out of Paluma we stopped at a Rose Gum (if I remember correctly) by the side of the road. That stretch of road was surrounded by Rose Gums, which are rather tall eucalypts. It was an open forest, very sunny and happy. We stopped at that particular tree because it had been hollowed out by fire and when we stepped into it and looked up we could see a circle of sunlight.

Me inside a tree!

    We continued on our way more north and inland and to Hidden Valley. Hidden Valley use to be a tin mining town, but there isn’t much left there now, just a bit of what looked like a ghost town, some cattle, and Hidden Valley Cabins which is where we stayed that night. Hidden Valley Cabins was Australia’s first solar power resort, and it is owned by our tour guides parents and staffed only by them, and him and his wife. It was very charming with cute cabins, a grumpy cat, and an adorable Australian cattle dog named Goondi who insisted on playing fetch with us. After we were settled in we made our way to Running River. We sat on the banks in silence for over an hour and a half. When the light was almost completely gone, we were rewarded with a sighting of a female platypus! She surfaced a couple times so we got some glimpses, although we couldn’t see her very well. Platypuses are a lot smaller then I thought, she was only maybe a foot long. Although my understanding is that they are a lot bigger further south.

   After dinner was my favorite part of the weekend. The tour guide’s dad, Ian, took us on a nocturnal walk! The stars were so gorgeous; we could see the milky way. That of course made me think of the stars at camp! Anyway, Ian shone a spotlight up into the trees so we could see some of the nocturnal animals. We saw bats, both micro and fruit. Microbats use echolocation to catch bugs mainly, while fruit bats don’t have echolocation as they use smell and visual to locate fruit. We saw several greater gliders, and some brush-tail possums, including a mama and a joey! We also had a really great sighting of a Rufous bettong, also known as a rat-kangaroo, a very small macropod (macropods are kangaroos and wallabies).

A brushtail possum

    We woke up early the next morning to try to spot another platypus, but no look. After breakfast we started the three-hour drive to Wallaman falls. Most of the drive was on a dirt road, there were hardly any cars, and not much but a couple of farms. It was cool to see some of the emptiness and space of Australia. On our way out we spotted a pair of Wallaroos, which are (size wise) inbetween kangaroos and wallabies. We stopped at a great view of Mount Fox, a long ago extinct volcano. We also stopped when we spotted a Frill-neck lizard. They have a large frill around their head that they flare when they are frightened to appear intimidating, and they can run super fast on their hind legs. We saw this one sitting on the road and then when we got out he scampered up a tree. It was really amazing to see one!

Mount Fox

    Wallaman falls is the longest unbroken fall in Australia, with a 305 m drop. It was absolutely gorgeous! We hiked from the top of it all the way down to the bottom where we had lunch before heading back up. It was a little rainy, but while we were at the top the sun peeked out just long enough to give us a rainbow :) After that, we headed home through Ingham, a sugar cane town, and had a quick stop at the Frosty Mango for ice cream.

Wallaman Falls

    I was only on campus for a couple of days before leaving that Thursday for Brisbane. But that’s a post for another day, I need to go to bed! G’night!