Noosa Everglades

This past weekend, I was up in the Noosa Everglades with two friends from UW on a camping/canoeing trip. It is one of two freshwater everglades in the world, the other being in Florida. On our first day, we canoed north from our campsite up the Noosa River. We saw a couple eagles, one of which swooped down to the water and caught a fish. We made our way up to Lake Cootharaba, which was huge and was less than a meter deep across the whole lake, except where it was dredged so that boats could pass through. We then visited Boreen Point, which is home to the second oldest pub in Queensland. After a short nap on the beach, we paddled back to the campsite. The trip back across the lake was arduous and seemed to take forever, since we had to fight against adverse winds and rain.

Along the Noosa River

The next day, we traveled south down the Noosa River to Lake Cooroiba. There was a creek we explored that was stained a blackish brown from tannin and tea tree leaves. The water was super reflective and made for some good pictures. After a picnic lunch, we paddled to the edge of the lake and hiked half an hour to the ocean. On the way, we came across a group of people on a camel safari in the everglades. Finally we ended up on a giant beach that is part of the Great Sandy National Park. There were a lot of SUVs driving along the beach, full of campers and fishers.

Great Sandy National Park

On our last day, we spent a little time fishing in the river with a hand reel. We caught a few small fish, about the size of bluegills. On the way home, we had a slight mishap on the train and accidentally ended up at the wrong stop. Faced with the options of waiting two hours for the next train, or walking to the next stop and catching a train that runs every half hour, I decided to walk. The next stop seemed like it was only a five minute train ride, but the trek ended up taking an hour and forty five minutes! It was pretty fun though- we had to wade across two creeks, cut through a macadamia nut orchard, jump a barbed wire fence, and we ended up seeing two wild kangaroos- the first of my trip! It it was a long day, but a fun end to a good trip.

Lamb Island

What started out today as a day trip to North Stradbroke Island turned into a long adventure to Lamb Island thanks to a small public transportation misinterpretation. Both are located in the Moreton Bay just outside of Brisbane, but having taken the wrong bus 45 minutes to the wrong ferry, I decided to check out Lamb Island instead. It's a small place that is probably only 2 km long and has a population of about 300 people. It was a pretty interesting visit, with excitement provided by two small lap dogs I almost got mauled by. Other than that, there were some nice "beaches" and mangrove swamps that I enjoyed hiking around.

An old boat with North Stradbroke Island in the background

Glasshouse Mountains

Yesterday I took a train an hour and a half north, to the Glasshouse Mountains. There are several national parks up there centered around these small mountains, which are actually volcanic plugs that are about 26 million years old. I spent much of the day walking, first from the train station to the national park, then hiking to the top of Mt. Ngungun.

The Summit of Mt. Dgungun