Twin Falls Loop Trail

The main part of the Springbrook Park centres around the Twin Falls loop.

The wet season is probably the better time to be there because the many waterfalls around this escarpment weren't running.

The trail descends through the dry eucalyptus forest and through the two crevices above. Once we exited from the second crevice we were suddenly in the cool rain forest and looking up at the waterfalls & escarpments we had just been walking along.

We reached the pool at the bottom of twin falls, but the Twin Falls was missing a leg. This seemed to be a theme for a few of the other cascades & waterfalls in the area.

The last waterfall we came to is called Blackfeller Falls. I'm not sure that you can call things that anymore because of the whole political correctness thing, but that's what they're called.

Time for a couple of arty shots now.

Eventually we climbed the switchbacks to the top of the plateau. We stopped at the top of Blackfeller falls (below) to look out over the Gold Coast. The haze had the better of us, but we we still able to make out most of it.

We jumped back in the car & headed back to Brisbane. That night we took mum & dad out for dinner at a flash restaurant to thank them for looking after us & lending us mums car that week.
The next day we were on a flight back to Perth.
Next trip, Thailand!

Natural Bridge

This little gem is the payoff for the pleasant walk through the forest past the dragon. I remember being in this cave when I was in primary school (at night to see the glow worms).

The loop takes you back to the top of the bridge. The top side of the little waterfall isn't nearly as phogenic as the cave.

Water Dragon

At the start of the Natural Bridge track, we nearly trod on this guardian of the forest sunning himself.
He's an Eastern Water Dragon (I'm pretty sure). Pretty fierce looking don't you think? Not really. These guys were often hanging around in the back yard when I was a kid. He's a close realative of the more famous frill necked lizards that you'll see in the tourist brocures that hang around in the desert.

Springbrook Rainforest

Tuesday - Springbrook National Park

Breakfast was included with our hotel room so we stocked up our energy reserves with a very nice buffet before packing up our gear and checking out.

We headed South to Muwullimba so that we could take the scenic drive into the ranges. It's some of the most picturesque farmland I've seen. We didn't loose sight of Mt Warning for long until we crossed the border into Queensland. Maybe the Rocky Mountain Foothills near Calgary are a rival but very different. The road was a bit twisty but nice & interesting. The only blight was the local drivers not paying much attention to double lines on blind bends.

We did make it in the end. Our first stop was Natural Bridge. It's in a differnt valley to the main part of the park, but was along the way.
There's a nice shortish loop through the temperate rainforest that takes you down to the bridge.

The rainforest was full of birds including the noisy catbirds that make a sound just like when you pull a cat by the tail. (Or maybe country & western music.....)

Monorail

Before heading for home we did a lap on the monorail. It's always nice to get a view of Seaworld from above.

We stopped one last time at the polar bears before heading out of the park & back to Brisbane.

Back to the Bears

We couldn't help but go back to the Polar Bears. Who wouldn't? They weren't as active as earlier in the day, but they were still up to mischeif as you can see below with the milk crates.

Nap time. It's a hard life being a bear who lives in an air conditioned den with a huge swimming pool.

Check out the paws on these beautiful animals!

Rides

After the dolphin show we found some lunch (and got gouged for it) then headed to the rides.

The Cork Screw was always a good ride but I forgot how short it was.
Seaworld has a new one called Jet Rescue which is a ground level roller coaster that packs a surprising punch. Instead of being dragged up to the top of the roller coaster track, you are launched from where to climb on board. It's a really cool ride but they seemed to be having some reliability problems which was a shame because we only got to go on it once.

The ski show is under renovation so we didn't get to see it this time. Pity because it was always a highlight.

Dolphin Show

After the sharks we scurried of to catch the inevitable dolphin show. It never loses its appeal. As always, the dolphin show is a hit with the kids. I'll let the photos do the talking now.

Tastey Residents

The Sharks must be pretty well fed because aside from not eating the divers, they don't eat the huge table fish in the enclosure. Above are some very old pink snapper (or nobbies if you live in Queensland) and below are Spangled Emporer (or Norwest Snapper if you're a Western Australian). There were also Yellow tailed Kingfish & a couple of varieties of trevaly to name a few.

Shark Bay From Below

The underwater viewing area allows you to come face to face with some of these formidable predators. I would not want to get near one of these on one of my scuba dives let me tell you. Most of them are bronze whalers but there are a couple of big bull sharks as well.

Meet the boss. Below is the biggest meanest inhabitant of the reef. This is the same 8ft bull shark from the previous post. Nasty lookin' yes?
There are also some not so cranky sharks in the big pond. Below is a shovel nosed shark. They're very busy bottom foragers.