Lamington National Forest

Our second excursion to the wild was a trip to Lamington Rainforest. In a flat, sunburnt country, a rainforest is a diamond in the rough. As exotic as the landscape is, it is only an hour and a half out of Brisbane. In fact, at a peak in Lamington, you can see the coast and the developments of Surfers Paradise. We stayed in bunk houses, about 8 people to a bunk. I had an all male bunk, and shit went downnnnnn. Well not really... but I leave it to your own imagination. The first day we kicked it, did a little field work, etc.

Bunk House.  Sweet

The second day, my group went out with two tutors, and we did a 17 k walk around the rainforest. We really did not do all that much school work, just enjoyed the forest, looked at waterfalls, talked about J- seshes, etc. All the good things in life. It was a totally cool walk, saw some humungous Eucalyptus trees amongst rainforest flora. Saw some crazy ants and bugs, and some tight waterfalls. On Wednesday and Thursday we partook in similar activities. Check it out...

On Suprise Rock... Looking down at the Rainforest Canopy.

High up...Looking down

Cool waterfall. Lots of leeches.

Thursday was our day off, and was definitely the coolest day of the trip. I went on the blind trail with a few people. The blind trail allows for blind people to do a nature walk by providing a rope which can be held onto during the entire walk. It was about 750 meters total. We had our eyes closed for the first half, when our tutor realized that we were missing out on some amazing sights. We saw a wild koala and a wild Goana lizard that was about four feet long. Totally awesome stuff.

Goana Lizard.

Koala Bear. Awesome.

That night a camp ranger lead us in bush dancing activity where all the kids got to learn some native boy/girl dancing. It was super fun, very similar to the stuff we used to do in sixth grade PE. Later that evening we attempted a campfire that failed miserably. Dad, it reminded me of the fire we worked hard to start over in Yellowstone. I tried to get it going for a half hour in your honor, but to no avail... and then it started raining, which compounded the problem. That night we listened to a ghost story courtesy John Hall.

Harassing Shannon, my lover.

The next morning, we did some field work in the rainforest when it was really foggy and wet. Being there in that condition opens your eyes to a different personality of the rainforest... A picture of the mist, and a few others randoms! Lamington was awesome, a trip I will never forget.

The mist.

This tree has some serious root action.

As always, I stole pics from people, thanks to you artistically gifted people.