Today we headed up into the mountains west of the Gold Coast for a hike with Ben & Jasmine. Our first stop when we got to Mt Tamborine was at the hang gliding park, where there are some great views over the valleys to the west. It was really windy so unfortunately there were no hang gliders to watch. We then headed into Tamborine National Park for hike.
The hike we chose took us through a large area of rainforest, thick with strangler figs, piccabeen palms and other rainforest trees.
Strangler figs are interesting trees, begining life as a seed dropped by a bird on an existing tree. They then grow on the host tree like a vine, eventually enveloping the whole tree, which often dies and is replaced by the full-grown fig.
Here we are crouched beside the fallen trunk of a yellow carabeen tree.
Eventually we pass out of the rainforest into an area of drier open eucalypt forest on the edge of the escarpment with views of Cameron Falls.
As we returned to the parking area we came across this fellow - a large monitor lizard called a goanna. Goannas are found all over Australia and can grow to up to 2m (6.5ft) in length. They have sharp claws which they use for digging and climbing trees in search of the snakes, birds, small mammals and eggs that they like to eat.
