Today I took another eco-tour. It started out at Mt. Tamborine, which was a drag. They made it sound like, you know, a mountain. It was tall, but on top it only had cutesy gift shops and such. It was a let down. Luckily, the next major stop, Lamington National Park, was amazing.
We traveled up a mountain through eucalyptus forest and then, quite suddenly, we were in sub tropical rain forest. There is no blending of the two eco systems whatsoever. At one moment it's sunny and warm and the next, it's cool, dark and damp.
The bus dropped us off at Lamington and gave us two hours on our own. I started off at a bird feeding station, where you could buy food to hand feed wild birds. I skipped the birdseed and took pictures instead.
After this, I set out on the path that leads to the tree top tour, an elevated wooden path through the canopy of the rain forest. This was neat, but I didn't see a whole lot except for trees. I saw the strangler fig tree, which grows from the top of the forest downward, taking over and sucking the life out of a host tree. By far the most interesting tree is the stinging tree. Just when you thought everything in Australia was terrifying enough (when I hear even the faintest of insect buzzing, I run), you learn that even the most harmless of plants is awful and evil. If you brush against the stinging tree, you'll get a nasty sting that lasts three days. THEN after THAT, every time you get the sting wet, it will hurt like it originally did... for the next SIX MONTHS. Pretty scary.
After the treetop walk, I walked through the botanical garden, which was much more exciting. There were more trees and tons of cool birds! I then took a little and unused path back to the bus. I saw a mouse. It was probably venomous.
Back near the bus, a wallaby was spotted! I got some good pictures and then more of another wallaby on the way back.
I hope you enjoy the pictures!
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