Lamington National Park

One of the stops we were most looking forward to on this trip was our one week stay in Queensland's Lamington National Park, located about an hour inland from Surfers Paradise and the Gold Coast. We first came here back in 2005 for a few days and liked it so much that we wanted to spend more time in the area. This time we stayed in an elegant 3 bedroom vacation home overlooking the valley you see below. The hiking trails in this area really are terrific and, when the weather decided to cooperate with several beautiful and sunny days we were out the door pretty quickly to attack some of the trails.



The view from the living room looking out at the lanai. Spectacular...even in the rain that came later in the week.



And the view from the lanai. Great place for a cup of morning coffee or an evening glass of wine.



Since we were at eyeball level with the trees we had lots of visitors...especially in the mornings and evenings, including this Kookaburra who decided to adopt us after the first day, and who roosted in this tree next to the lanai the whole time we were there.



Saw this sign on the road heading up to the house.



And as soon as I walked out onto the lanai once we arrived I looked up and saw this little guy in the tree next to the house. There was also a female with a Joey nearby.




Another frequent visitor - one of a group of Lorikeets that usually stopped by in the evening. The forest around here looks and sounds as if they opened the gates of the aviary at the San Diego zoo and just let all of the exotic birds spill out into the countryside.



Lots of pretty vistas along the trails. The tracks here range from easy half-day walks to multi-day excursions of 40 miles or more.




A photo op along the trail.



On our homeward leg one day we chanced upon this 6 ft. Carpet Python trying to cross the path ahead of us. He looked like a baby compared to the big bruiser we had seen about a week before, but was still big enough to calibrate my startle reflex. It was a standoff for a few minutes - he stopped and we stopped, and each waited for the other to make a move. I finally grew impatient for him to get on with and hit him with a rock which diverted him enough to allow us to pass. A couple of hundred yards up the trail we passed a lady heading the other way, so I warned here about the python just ahead of her. Her response was typical Aussie: "a python, eh? Well, they're harmless" and she proceeded on with barely a break in her stride. A few days later we encountered leeches in one of the boggy places after it rained (had to pick them off our boots and trousers in fact). A bit further up the trail I alerted a group of middle-aged hikers heading the other way that there were leeches ahead (thinking they might appreciate the head's up since they were all wearing shorts) but the bloke's response was "ah, they don't eat much and, besides, they drop off when they've had enough". Gotta love the Aussies...



One of our lunch spots along the Coomera River. (No leeches here).




Different day but another pretty lunch spot along the trail. This pond was full of freshwater crayfish, or Yabbies as they're called here. Most were only about 2 or 3 inches long, but we saw a couple that were the size of small lobster...must have been 5 or 6 inches long.




And here he is. Good eating too, I'm told.

And finally, a chance for you to practice your Aboriginal language skills courtesy of this signboard in one of the nearby forest parks we visited one day.



Here's a better look at the Yabbies in the creek. Must have seen 10 or 12 of them just in this one pond.



Our week here passed much too quickly but we're now headed towards the interior of New South Wales on our way to Adelaide...with enroute stops in the Opal mining town of Lightning Ridge and the Silver mining town of Broken Hill.