Springbrook - World Heritage (Day 2)

I was awake at my usual 5:30am and even though I was eager to go outside and explore my surroundings, I didn't. I lay there for a while, snuggling into my husband, thiking of what a magical place Springbrook is. I was actually feeling more de-stressed than I thought possible. Once I got up, I grabbed my camera and went to look at the outside world. From the outside the chalet looked like it had been there for many years. The forest growth was untouched. How beautiful the ferns, old rotting logs and moss looked. The birds were awake and singing. Such diversity around me. I took my fill of photos just as my body was telling me it was breakfast time. I cooked a 'big breakfast' for us both. Bacon, sausages, hashbrowns, tomatoes, eggs and toast (plus mushrooms for me). That with a nice cuppa and we had all our energy for our mornings activities.

Our first stop was the "Best of all Lookout". Yes, that was the actual name of the lookout and the best it was. The view really did make you feel like you were on top of the world looking down. We could see from Brisbane in the north to Byron Bay in the south and in the middle was the Gold Coast. Absolutely the 'best of all'. Pity it was such a hazy day.

From the "Best of all Lookout" it was just a short drive to our next stop. Goomoolahra Falls. This waterfall was only a short walk but just as spectacular as Purlingbrook Falls. I did notice however that the rainforest at Springbrook was not as dense as the rain forests up in north Queensland. I pondered this a bit until I thought that the Gold Coast Hinterland does not receive the amount of rain as North Queensland does. I accepted this and looked at the cover of trees and the floor of the forest more closely. I was not disappointed as this forest, in this area, was just as perfect as the forests I remember up north. How strange that some plants and animals only grow or live in small pockets of forests that you won't find anywhere else in the world. In this particular section of forest grew a giant lily with a massive flower head and they say that it only grows here, nowhere else. Another fascinating fact of Springbrook.

Across the road from the picnic ground was a place called 'The English Garden". As I am fond of flowers and gardens we paid the two dollar entry fee and wound our way around the winding paths. Another thing that I found interesting on our journey was that this English garden was owned by Japanese. As we walked around, each Japanese person we came to did a little bow and greeting us in a very friendly way. Beautiful gardens and friendly people, something else that was special.

Our next place of interest was the Tallanbana Picnic Ground. This is where the beautiful Twin Falls is located. I was hoping it wasn't too far of a walk as I am not the fittest person and I really didn't relish a 10km walk. To my surprise it was only a 4km trip (the easy walk they say) and being the ever energenic person that I am (NOT), four K's didn't seem that far to me. Besides, I walk more than that on the treadmill. So off we started, eager to see what was in store. We crossed little bridges at first which were pleasant enough to stop for a short break and then we got into the harder stuff. Nah, joking....it wasn't that hard at all because it was mainly a downward walk. Some places steep, others you walk through caves and rock groupings, and a few places where it was quite flat so you could stop and look at smaller waterfalls or little running creeks. We were doing a zig zag kind of downhill walk to the base of Twin Falls and what a wonderful experience it was. Mind you, I wasn't much looking forward to the walk back as most of it was up hill....still, I didn't let that worry me just yet. We could tell we were getting closer to the falls as the noise of rushing water was becoming louder with every step. As it had been a while since there had been any rain in the South East, I was wondering if these falls were going to be as spectacular as they say they are. As I was pondering, the Canyon opened up before us and yes, it certainly was spectacular. Huge rocks, a beautiful crystal clear lagoon and falling into it was the most gorgeous twin waterfalls. We sat and looked on in awe. The sheet of water falling over the sheer cliff face, never ending. The plant life it was feeding, so lush and green. The coolness of the mist enveloping you. The looks of wonder on the people's faces surrounding you. A place where each and every worrying though leaves you. A place to delve deep into your inner soul. Mother Natures beauty putting on a show so beautiful that you couldn't do anything else but enjoy it. You could spend all day here, I think, just sitting and looking....still not seeing all that nature provided. So truely magical. As we started the path back to civilisation, following other people, we realised that the path actually led you behind the waterfalls themselves. Another welcome surprise for those of us that enjoyed seeing our land of beauty. Walking behind the falls was exciting and a little wet. What a glorious day this was turning out to be. A lot of new memories to tuck away into my heart. Full of natures energy, I started to walk with eagerness. I was quite surprised that yes, I did stop a few times but they were very short stops and I made it back to the picnic area without too much stress. It was here that we found a shady picnic table and had our very meagre lunch. A chook and some breadroll. Both using our fingers mainly and both enjoying it very much. Once rested, it was off to see more of the mountain.

The townhall, painted so brightly, showing what Springbrook offers. The information centre that was closed. The camping ground that seemed to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with out any trees or shade. A gift shop that wasn't selling any Springbrook momentoes only crafty things and a coffe shop that didn't seem to appeal to us. There was however, a lookout called Canyon Lookout just across the road and this, like all of Springbrook was just as breath-taking as everything else we had seen. When we had our fill of the panorcmic scenery we stopped in at the small General Store where they served some very tasy scones served with jam and cream, and a delicious hot cappuccino. With some small chatter and feeling relaxed, it was back to the chalet. Glen lit the fire and I had a good long soak in the spa. Thinking of all the wonderful places we had been to, I layed back, closed my eyes and drifted with the bubbles. Our afternoon was spent sitting by the fire or lounging on the sofa....talking a little but mostly wrapped in our own thoughts. How, I loved looking at the ceiling of the chalet. It was like being in a boat. The woodwork glowing from the lights. The big round window making the setting more so. It wasn't hard to dream in this chalet. It was like I was in a completely different world. Before too long night had fallen and it was with great regret that this was our last night in our special haven. With the warmth of the chalet, our tea over, we made our way upstairs to savour the time we had left. A night to dream of the wonderful, joyous time Springbrook gave us.

Springbrook - World Heritage (Day 1)

Heading away from the Gold Coast, up toward the mountains was exciting but no where near as exciting once we started the climb to Springbrook. It was like our climb was never going to end. Hairpin turns, winding roads and still we just kept climbing. The anticipation of what we would see once we got up there was like waiting for Christmas morning to see what presents you received.

It was hard to keep an eye out for our accommodation when there was so much forest around us. Of course we missed the driveway but once we turned around all we wanted to do was see if our Chalet was like the pretty pictures you see in the brochures or online. There wasn't anyone at the reception to greet us, just a note to ring a number and talk to Sandy. Very casual up here I thought. I rang Sandy and she told me to grab the number two key from the desk, gave us directions to our chalet and said she would catch up with us later. Yes, very casual but also welcoming. It isn't often you feel trust like that from any human being. We drove around to our chalet and at first I was a little disappointed because it looked a bit aged but once we were inside, the comfort and cosiness overwhelmed me. Yes, it was a little old, it was cold (a fire would fix that) and it was a shame the spa wasn't big enough for two....but....it was ours for two nights and we loved it all the same. I checked out every room: the toilet, the bath and spa, the kitchen (yes, everything we needed was there) and they climbed the stairs to the bedrooms. The main room was beautiful. The bed was made up nicely very comfy too) with towels and a few toffees to top the look off. The huge round window looking over the balcony was spectacular. I loved how you could look over the balcony and see downstairs. Very open but it still had that cosy feeling. We got everything out of the car and while I unpacked, Glen started the fire. A little while later, once the unpacking was done and we had a crackling fire, we thought we should go for a short drive and discover our surroundings. Our first port of call was Purlingbrook Falls. This had two options.....an easy walk to the top of the falls or a harder and longer walk to the bottom. As it was getting on in the day we decided to go the easy way and do more discovering in the morning. The falls were spectacular. Such a long drop (we couldn't even see the bottom). It really felt like we were on top of the world up here. With our fill of Purlingbrook, it was time to get back to the chalet but first we had to find out where the Glow Worm site was as we had our tour booked in at 7pm that evening. As things were so casual on the mountain, all we could find opened was the Fudge Shop. Yum, all those fudges, I just had to buy some. I made sure I brought enough for the girls and the little family in Dalby. The owner of the shop was very helpful in directing us to the glow worms and telling us of other interesting sites to see on the mountain. Once we were back in the chalet, we rested for a few hours before our nightly tour of the glow worms.

The Glow Worms! Before our tour started (Glen and I were the only two in the tour), Garry Maguire (the owner of the property) told us about his reseach on both the glow worms and mushrooms. All of which are luminous. It was nothing like I expected at all. I was imagining these longish grubs that glowed in the dark but they are very miniture indeed. It was most fasinating. I was also expecting these glow worms to be in caves but they were in crevices on a rock wall. Garry told us that the luminous mushrooms only grew in summer so we wouldn't have the opportunity to see them tonight but he did however, have some growing in his reseach station. Once he turned the lights off I was completely amazed. There were these little mushrooms glowing brightly and the more your eyes adjusted to the darkness, the brighter they glowed. So amazing. I was now eager to see the glow worms. Garry led us down this cement path which within a matter of metres became very steep steps where we had to hang onto the rails to decend. I thought....oh no, it's dark and I am going to fall for sure but whew, I didn't. We were led to this rock face where Garry proceeded to turn off all his solar lamps which were lining the pathway. A few seconds and there they were. Some bright and some you could only just see. Just fantasic. We were so enthralled with everything Garry was telling us. How amazing such a tiny little creature could be so resourceful. Garry told us that as it was a full moon we would not see the worms to their full extent. The more moonlight, the less they glowed. Garry was so kind in answering all our questions and let me tell you, there were a lot of questions. Never before had we seen anything like glow worms or luminous mushrooms. On the path back to the house, Garry showed us his mushroom builds (logs piled on top of each other, each drilled with numerous holes filled with fungi) which, come January will shed enough light on his path that he won't need any other lighting except luminous mushrooms. On the way back to our chalet, Glen and I were both quite as we thought about the 'wonder' we had just seen. We cranked up the fire, had our tea and just relaxed once we got back.....a perfect end to a glorious day. We will definately go back in January and we plan to take the girls with us.