Kondalilla Falls and Mary Cairncross Rainforests!

I’ve never been to a rainforest before, and today I was lucky enough to hike through two!  Our first hike was to Kondalilla Falls and the second was to Mary Cairncross, both very beautiful rainforests.  Sure I’ve been on plenty of hikes before, but nothing like this.  Hiking in Australia is way different than at home because all the plants and animals are so tropical.  It seemed weird at first to be hiking through a forest of palm trees and other tropical plants.  There were vines hanging down everywhere and trees braided around each other.  The view was absolutely amazing.

Kondalilla comes from an aboriginal word meaning “rushing or running waters” which is a very appropriate name for this rainforest.  There were many waterfalls throughout the mountain with the biggest one falling 90 meters from above and into a nice wading pool.  If it was warmer, it would be no surprise to find people swimming under the waterfalls.

 

During the hikes, we were lucky enough to spot some amazing wild animals.  Many brightly colored birds filled the trees and sang a sweet song all day long.  One of the coolest birds we saw was a kookaburra!  You know, the kind of bird in that one song…  “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. Merry, merry king of the bush is he…” Yeah, so cool! Another awesome animal we found prowling through the bushes was a family member of the kangaroo, it’s called a red-legged pademelon.  It is smaller than a kangaroo and a little darker in color, but every bit as cute.

 

Kookaburra!

Today was a great day because I got to see another side of Australia.  I left the beach and traveled further inland to some rainforests.  It is so cool to see the many diverse sides that Australia has to offer!