After several weekends of being rained out of our planned rainforest hike we managed to find an absolutely stellar, clear, day. This is a good thing, because Lamington NP can get up to 2500 mm (or 9 feet) of rain in a year! And so we fit in our 25 km Border Track bushwalk between the Binna Burra and Green Mountain sections of Lamington National Park.
"The park’s beautiful rainforests include one of the largest upland subtropical rainforest remnants in the world and the most northern southern beech cool temperate rainforests in Australia. The roots of the oldest Antarctic beech trees are over 5000 years old.[4] The park protects one of the country's largest remaining forests of hoop pine.[5]
Many of Lamington's plants are found nowhere else on earth, such as O’Reilly's Pittosporum (Pittosporum oreillyanum), the Lamington Peach Myrtle (Uromyrtus lamingtonensis), and the Mt Merino Eyebright and Everlasting Daisy which are subalpine relics from the last ice age. In 2006 it was realised that an old collection of the Eastern Underground Orchid (Rhizanthella slateri) from Lamington was actually a separate species and has been described as the Lamington Underground Orchid (Rhizanthella omissa). This Orchid like the two other related species has no chlorophyll and depends entirely upon a symbiotic fungus for survival. It is also one of only four flowering plants on Earth to complete its life cycle entirely underground. Sadly one of Lamington's more than 100 fern species is now presumed extinct, Antrophyum austroqueenslandicum was known from only a single plant which has since died and no other plants have been found.
The area is an important refuge for the region. Lamington is home to an incredible variety of wildlife including rare and threatened animals such as the Coxen’s fig-parrot, Eastern Bristlebird, Albert's Lyrebird, Richmond Birdwing butterfly. The blue Lamington Crayfish is found only on the Lamington plateau in pools and streams above an altitude of 450 metres.[6] The vulnerable Large-eared Pied Bat is found in the park". (info from wiwipedia)
(photo of Regent Bowerbird - courtesy of wikipedia)
The pointy peak is Wollumbin, or Mt Warning, the volcanic neck in the center of the Tweed Caldera. The Border Track that we were walking upon runs along the rim of the Caldera. We had a previous post (#28 - Aug 2008) where we spoke about respectfully climbing Wollumbin, a sacred site to the Bundjalung people.
We camped out at the Lamington campground the night before our hike so that we could be close to the shuttle to Binna Burra in the early morning. It was fun to see the little pandemelons grazing on the campground grass, and to sleep snug and cozy in our tent (in the interest of full disclosure, it was really windy and pretty darn cold. Someone slept with her head wrapped in her expedition down coat! So let's not delude ourselves that is was "cozy"!)--it's been too long since we camped out. We slept so well without the "sounds of civilization" of Robina (the remodel construction sawing and nail guns next door, the leaf blower on the other side, the almost everyday lawnmowers on the neighboring golf course, the roar of the highway, the racing anad tire-squeeling of the cars along the local streets), it was glorious. For fun, we took along our lightweight backpack stove and pot on the trail, and stopped along the way where there was this nice view, to brew a spot of tea for refreshment. Fine, indeed! And much more civilized than motor noises...
There was not a cloud in the sky for the entire day! While most of the day was spent in the cool shade of the rainforest, we did see views out to the ocean (That little strip of blue out there is the Coral Sea). Despite it being the subtropics, it is Wintertime here, down under, and we were glad to have our pile jackets, long pants, plus hat and gloves when the wind picked up.
It's difficult to find the birds in the rainforest canopy, but we did manage to identify a white-browed scrubwren scratching around in the leaf litter, and the Albert's lyrebirds taunted us with their remarkable vocalizations. We'd tiptoe forward, thinking we could sneak up on the lyrebird that was surely just around the bend in the trail, only to have them fall silent when we must have been almost on top of them given their noisiness. But we never saw them--they disappeared into the forest when we should have been able to see them, only to start calling again as soon as we shuffled despondently off down the trail. Nancy = ;-(
Having completed our bushwalk, we arrived back at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat where they have a tree-canopy-level suspended boardwalk and viewing platforms. We climbed the ladders to a platform (~20 m or 60 feet off the ground) to get the bird's-eye view of the rainforest, hoping to catch the early evening sunset. We stood our ground in line to climb the ladders, unlike the other "adults" who staidly waited aside to let the herds of kids climb up while they stayed behind.
(note the gloves and hat - the temperate rainforest gets downright chilly!)
Perhaps someday we'll complete the entire "Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk," of which this was a part.
From the EPA website:
"Discover beauty, mystery and history along the 54 kilometre Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk linking the species-rich, Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area of Lamington and Springbrook plateaus via the scenic Numinbah Valley. Walk through the ancient volcanic landscape of the Tweed Volcano, which is still being eroded by rushing streams and plummeting waterfalls, through lush rainforest with relicts of Gondwana flora and fauna.
The walk offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences — where else in Queensland can you walk along the rim of an ancient volcano?
The Great Walk passes through Woonoongoora, the place known to the Yugambeh as “Queen of the Mountains”, whose story tells of the formation of the rivers and valleys of this area. The Yugambeh are descendants of the traditional Aboriginal people whose ancestors walked this land a long, long time ago. They say to you now… Kulli bugoram dhagun nya nya yahngahla (This (is) special land — walk carefully)."
http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/great_walks/gold_coast_hinterland_great_walk/#walk_highlights
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