Bushwalking, gravel roads and ginger

Most of the last 2 days has been spent bushwalking but we fitted in some other trips and activities.

After some housekeeping yesterday morning we headed off to find the Boondall Wetlands. This should have been very simple as the area is only about 5km from where we are staying. Faithfully following directions we arrived in the Boondall Entertainment Centre where we wandered about aimlessly along the many pathways of a huge complex. Finally a young man came to our rescue and we discovered the centre. Our walk was called the Billai dhagun Circuit (Place of She-oaks). Of great interest here are Nurri Millen Aboriginal art totems. These are cast aluminium totems symbolising aspects of Aboriginal culture in Boondall Wetlands. They are quite difficult to spot, mainly because the area was quite wet and muddy underfoot and the fall-prone Fionnuala was spending much time picking her steps. At any rate of the 10 on our track we saw 8. Somehow we missed number 4 and despite much searching we could not find number 10. They are very interesting - many of them are supported or framed by local weapons including shields or boomerangs.

Later we went for a trip up the sunshine coast and on seeing the Glasshouse mountains from Moreton Bay I had to agree with Captain Cook that they did indeed resemble glasshouses - the type you see in Botanic Gardens.

Having promised ourselves that we would revisit the beautiful Blackall Range area we set off early this morning in order to see, hear,smell and feel the nature in the area - we didn't taste as there are lots of poisonous plants! Our first bushwalk was at the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve. this comprises 52 hectares of National estate listed subtropical rainforest overlooking the Glass House Mountains. Here we had a spectacular view of the mountains - the best we had seen so far. Our bushwalk here was really interesting and a bit more challenging than yesterdays. There was lots of wildlife - the birds were particularly noisy and busy. One bird sounded a bit like a gunshot - I have forgotten its name. Another, the Green Catbird, sounds exactly like a baby crying. In general the birds here are much noisier and melodic than the birds at home. We are wakened every morning by a really melodic bird which has a lot of singing to do. The strangler fig trees were huge and are among the tallest and oldest trees at the reserve. They begin with a fig seed germinating high in a tree sending roots down nto the ground. Eventually the host tree is strangled and dies. We saw one brush turkey and not one, not eeven three but sis Pademelons! Pademelon is the Aboriginal name for the rainforest wallaby. A great experience!

Our next stop was Gardner's Falls. We took a short walk along the Obi Obi Creek brushing invisible cobwebs from our arms and legs - we had to feel nature! The trees soar high above the creek and the area is an oasis of tranquillity. We reached the falls which are not particularly spectacular as waterfalls and watched as a group of young men crossed the creek, accessed a manmade swing type thing with a really long branch, hung on to the swiong and jumped into the creek beyond the falls. It was very exciting but Jim wouldn't allow me to do it.

At Mapleton we had great views of rain forest valley and we did another walk - quite different to the Mary Cairncross one but also interesting. Leaving this centre we noticed a sign for Kenilworth which was our next port of call. This was a minor road which turned into a gravel road with a rather steep descent. When we started having misgivings about the wisdom of our choice and considered turning back, we realised that the road was one-way and there was no turning back! The road got narrower and narrower and the descent steeper and steeper. I held my breath for 10 minutes until we reached the bottom. We joined a mainer road and came to a detour because of road work - the roads certainly need work! The detour led to more gravel roads and finally we decided to give Kenilworth a miss and take the next normal road we could find. This led to Noosa Heads on the coast so we followed seaside after seaside until we came to a turn off for Yandina where there was the Buderin Ginger Factory - the world's largest ginger factory. There we lunched on freebies of products which were very gingery and very yummy. Unfortunately we can't take any home with us. I nearly bought a tee-shirt for Jim - it said "Adventure before Dementia" - but I realised it was too late!

Tomorrow Kerrie and Daniel are coming to stay with us for a night - they are the couple that we had the party with on the sleeper train. I expect we'll have another party - there's no option really!