Monday, April 13, 2009

Two for two (Apr. 7/09 - Brisbane, Australia, mileage 104km)

As our luck would have it, the skies were clear and sunny this morning, so we drove over to a lookout point where we had a huge vista out over the spectacular Glass House Mountains. The dozen or so spires/mountains/humps that jut up out of the coastal plains are the remnants of 25 million year old volcanoes. Some remain as narrow vertical towers of rock, while others are modest lumps blanketed with forest. We picked a trail that sounded appropriate and headed for the trailhead, passing fields of pineapples and macadamia trees along the way. The trail meandered for two hours through a variety of forests - pine, scrubby oak, and bare eucalyptus trees amidst stumps and grasses that suggested the passing of a recent forest fire. We kept an eye out for black cockatoos and grey kangaroos, but no luck. The trail climbed up to a lookout point where rangers scan the landscape for forest fires, giving us a fantastic view of the land below. It was a beautiful, peaceful walk that was rounded off nicely with a picnic in the parking lot.


Continuing south, we passed Steve Irwin's famous Australia Zoo, which he and his foundation have developed into a major conservation and education center for Australian wildlife. We ended up being already surprisingly close to Brisbane, where we navigated our way to a family relative's house for yet another visit. We had to double check that we had the address right when we stopped, as the matching house was gorgeous and massive - not at all what we expected! Our little camper van looked pretty ridiculous parked in front of their multimillion dollar house, but they were so welcoming that it didn't matter. We were spoiled with a spectacular home cooked dinner (we're two for two now!), wine, an amazing shower, a monster load of clean laundry, and lots of play time with their awesome Dalmation, Connor. So once again, we get to sink into a cozy bed that's not full of mosquitos or small enough to smash your head into the ceiling when you sit up. Gotta love this "camping" stuff!

No comments:

Post a Comment