Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture. There are five pages of photos in total):
1) The second day of the REI tour started with a drive from Cairns into Davies Creek National Park. We stopped briefly to stretch our legs and to check out a section of the creek. This panorama shows just how beautiful this area is with sequences of small cascading waterfalls separated by shallow pools.
2) Larkin and the ladies, hanging out creek-side.
3) The reason for our trip into the Davies Creek National Park was to do some hiking and camping in the rainforest. The first day we hiked 6 miles on the Kahlpahlim Rock trail, climbing 2,500 ft up through dense rainforest to a peak called the Lamb's Head. The trail was an old logging road which has been mostly reclaimed by the rainforest but is maintained enough to function as a hiking trail.
4) Australia can be a dangerous place to explore. This innocent looking plant is known as the Stinging Tree (aka Gympie-gympie) and is perhaps the most dangerous plant in Queensland. The top of the leaves are covered with silica tipped, poisoned hairs which cause debilitating pain for up to three months. Definitely not something you want to brush up against while walking around the rainforest!
5) The water in the rainforest is clean and pure...supposedly safe to drink straight out of a stream. We opted not to test that but as you can see from this photo, the water is so clear in this streambed that it is basically invisible.
6) Another artsy shot, this time of a rainforest tree leaf which has almost completely decomposed. There were dozens of these delicate looking ghost leaves along the trail visible throughout our hike.
7) And another artsy shot, this time of a sunlit giant fern frond. This fern plant was taller than our heads, easily standing 8 ft tall!
8) The view from atop Lamb's Head was spectacular. This view looks out onto the rainforest of the National Park, then down onto Cairns and finally off the coast to where the barrier islands of the Great Barrier Reef were visible. (Sadly, the camera washed out the colors near the horizon so the water isn't visible in the photo.)
9) Want proof that Australia is less litigious than the US? About three feet in front of Larkin in this photo is a 100ft drop straight onto big rocks. No guard railing, no "Stay back" markings and no warning signs. I guess if you can survive the toxic plants, poisonous snakes, giant spiders and everything else found in the Australian rainforest it is assumed you know how not to fall off a rock as well.
10) Alan, trying to look like a bold adventurer.
11) This part of Australia was logged heavily throughout the 1900s and the most prized wood was the giant eucalyptus trees. Only a few old growth trees remain and we came across a few, like this one, during our hike. I'd guess this tree was 75 ft high with a trunk that was probably 40 ft in diameter. Wow!
12) Our camp for the night along a different, but equally beautiful, section of Davies Creek. Here Jonna explores some of the vines hanging in trees along the creek bed.
13) This camping spot, called Dinden campground, was ideal. We spent about an hour hanging out in this series of cascades just marveling at the view and enjoying the sound of all the little waterfalls.
14) Larkin, who is seemingly immune to cold water, went in for a soak in one of the pools.
15) While Jonna preferred to just sit back and take in the serene views.
16) One advantage of camping with an eighteen year old is an endless supply of energy...here being put to good use splitting firewood. The downside of that endless energy is it requires an equally endless supply of food to maintain. We were quite happy that this REI tour covered all the food!
17) For the second day's hike, we took off directly from our campsite and hiked up to a lookout called "Turtle Rock" in Dinden National Park (which neighbors Davies Creek National Park, in which we'd hiked the previous day.) The hike was 2.5 miles in length with a climb of 800 ft. This view looks out onto the Atherton Tablelands, an area we'd be exploring at the end of the trip.
18) Our guide Shawn conspired with Larkin to mock up this photo of Larkin falling off the top of rock. Sadly, we didn't get a chance to email this to Larkin's parents during the trip to show them how safe their son was in our care.
19) This photo, which was not mocked up, would probably have been equally frightening to Larkin's parents. Yes, that is Larkin standing on a rock out-cropping on the other side of a "Danger" sign. Given that a sign wasn't atop Lamb's Head, perhaps your imagination can work out what the drop was like on the other side of this rock to warrant an actual warning!
20) Our lunch stop after hiking Turtle Rock was at Davies Creek Falls. This spectacular water fall emerges from an idyllic series of pools and then plunges 200 ft down the face of a cliff into a rainforest valley. Wow, once again!
21) During lunch, Larkin decided to go for another cold water swim. However, his enthusiasm was somewhat reduced when he discovered small leeches on the rocks at the edge of the water. Meanwhile, two young boys who were visiting were so struck by all Larkin's muscles they immediately dropped down and started doing push-ups which Jonna found hilarious!
22) A panorama trying to capture at least a few of the smaller waterfalls along the creek which lead up to the pool shown above and then finally over the 200ft drop.
23) The REI guides packed in all the food and then made up superb lunch trays each day during our hiking. These two platters were served up creek side while we were enjoying the views at Davies Creek Falls.
24) This little fella, an endangered Waterfall Frog, decided to join us for lunch. The guides were very excited to see one of these in the wild which, in turn, got all the rest of us excited as well.
25) Our last stop of the day was to a small cave which contained an aboriginal cave painting. These are normally kept secret to honor the aborigine's religion but the National Park has been granted permission to show this one. Our guides had been told where this one was located, so we got to stop in and take a look.
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