It seems that you can’t go very far into Australia’s wilderness without stories of deadly wildlife being told by tour guides. I think the locals secretly enjoy reciting juicy tales of death and peril in the hands of exotic spider species or brown snakes. On this occasion, I think my tour guide was also using it as a way to make sure our small group of curious visitors stayed on the narrow path that wound its way from rain forests, to waterfalls to expansive vistas clinging from the side of cliffs.
Besides helping us to identify the strange noises the forests…often times mating calls, our tour guide, Nev, also showed us edible plants and berries on the forest ground and bushes. I tried every single piece of fruit that was picked up included some small black apples. What was the most surprising aspect of the experience was how bland the pieces of fruit tasted.
Not appetizing at all. In fact, I would imagine I would not have any trouble staying in very fit shape if I had to forage through the forests in order to hunt down these pieces of fruit for sustenance. Far more work than reaching into a fridge and definitely not as tasty! It made me fully appreciate how our civilization has selected naturally and through engineering for qualities that make food even more appetizing to our senses and convenient to acquire, which has also led to less desirable side effects.
Our hike of the Springbrook National Park lasted almost the entire day with a wonderful sandwich lunch midway to replenish the energies. The highlight of the trip for me I think were the waterfalls. We came across many of them. In one case we walked under the falls. In another, the falls broke into a pond in which members of our group decided to swim under them.
