Binna Burra

Rainforest hike: check.
Seeing Australian animals in the wild: check.
Not being bit by snakes in Australia: check.
Seeing a snake: check.
Still not being bit: check.

How did you spend your weekend?  Did you get to see an Antarctic Beech tree?  I didn't think so.  Eat your heart out, Rich...  While not a Jeffrey, Ponderosa, or elusive Foxtail Pine of the Sierra, just the name alone to me says that this tree would have been rare.  Unfortunately not.  It was everywhere.  The rainforest was FULL of them.  Its ancient heritage is from Antarctica apparently.
So, yes, my first day off in this beautiful country I went 110km from Brisbane to the Lamington National Park into the Binna Burra rainforest.  One item off my bucket list: walk in a rainforest.  A couple of minutes into the hike there is a small little station that you can sanitize your shoes.  That is a clever little idea not to bring nasty pathogens into the ecosystem.
     After duly sanitizing my shoes, I head up the trail.  We don't have a ton of time for the trails and can't make it to a waterfall that is 11km away, but that would be a great destination.  It would be a negative hike too and not having my boots for the hike would have made it a bit uncomfortable. FYI: negative hikes mean your destination is lower than your start so going back to your car is all uphill.
     All told, we walked a nice loop with a side trail to an interesting rock formation and then went to look at some what they called "caves" which are really just rock outcroppings that made my hands itch to climb.  The views were nothing short of stunning.  To borrow words from another author: "There are moments that will live with a person for ever."  I have pictures, but as most who have been to majestic places have been, they really pale in comparison to being there.
     Certainly one of the highlights will be seeing a pademelon.  Unfortunately, the lighting and the timing of the shot I was able to get only afforded me a blurry shot of vegetation.  Still a cool experience.  The other wildlife experience was marginally benign.  The snake was merely sunning itself and slither away harmlessly.  I did see about half a myriad of butterflies and many, many very small lizards.  It seems they either don't grow very big in the rainforest there or get eaten once they are a bit bigger.
     Lunch at a bunch of rock formations they named caves was a very cool way to end my outing in the rainforest.  The view out over the valley was incredible and quite worth my first day off in this country.  My loose plan for my weekend next week is to have Friday off for a Football (Rugby) game (Broncos versus Cowboys) which should be a good rivalry game I'm told.
     I got home in time to catch the last vestiges of the setting sun.  This is my view for the next few weeks at night:

Nearby is a very cool pedestrian bridge to south bank that I decided to see if I could meander and find.  No worries about finding it at all.  The views are spectacular, but better pictures will be posted when I have them.  Apparently there was a smudge on the lens for all those shots.