Adventure 2013: Toowoomba and the Bunya Mountains

I think the Gold Coast ACP class was the most fun. We got to sit in a circle on the floor. I did a shit ton of readings (which funded the rest of my trip) and I met some super cool people and it was over way too fast. But alas all good things come to an end so better things can happen. 

So Angelica and Steve were going to go back Saturday night after dinner with me. Then Angelica thought hey wouldn’t it be cool to take Taylor home with me? So they stayed an extra day and took me back to Toowoomba. The original plan was that Angelica would drop me in city centre so I could walk around Monday while she was at work.

What actually ended up happening was Steve convincing Angelica to skip work and we all go hiking in the Bunya Mountains. Who was I to object to a little fun?

The Bunya Mountains are named that because the Bunya tree grows like crazy there. Now it’s funny because while hiking about I didn’t actually get a good picture of a Bunya tree. I got a better picture while I was in Sydney..

Funny. But back to my hike around the mountains. I got to wear an Akubra, which is essentially a cowboy hat.

Don’t I look cute? 

On the was to the park we passed some wallabies.

Angelica and I hopped out to see how close we could get. That hopping wallaby is the dad… he growled at us and we booked it back to thee car. I wasn’t in the mood to box a wallaby. 

The first stop on our hike was this waterfall.

I saw it and there’s a lot of forest around it so I decided to go climbing about in the woods.

And play Tarzan.

Then I had to navigate back down… see that pink dot in the middle? 

That’s where I had to get back to. So I thought why not just go straight down the hill. I did just that. On the way down I walked right through stinging nettles. They sting and tingle and itch a bit and make you turn red.. See…

But after a while you just ignore the sting and keep hiking.

^Tarong Power Station aka the one that supplies most of Queensland with power^

And there was this HUGE Bunya tree that i had to hug

And get a picture with..

So at this park they have a bird feeding in the morning and afternoon. By the time we got back to the beginning of the trail the feeding was over but there were still lots of birds hanging around. Angelica told me to hold my hand out and the birds would land on me. So I did…

 And I didn’t like it, as my face clearly says.

There feet were like sand paper and it was just weird.

There were a ton of Wallabies around eating. And they had Joeys in their pouches! 

Look mommy and joey are eating together.

Then there was this joey who took forever to give me a nice picture. 

Clearly it was worth it though. I was so freaking happy to get this picture. It was worth my whole trip to Oz… okay that’s a bit of a stretch. 

After our hike around the park it was dinner time. We picnicked at Maidenwell!! 

This picnic included wine, and I was happy. And we also made a goat friend…

He walked all across the rock to eat some grass then wandered off. It was nice to chill out and enjoy the sunset.

On the way back to Angelica’s house we stopped at a lookout so I could see Toowoomba at night. In case I haven’t said it yet I was under the impression Toowoomba was a tiny podunk town in the middle of nowhere because that’s just what the name implied to me. Nope. It’s a full fledged city and looks like Christmas lights at night.

The next day was my last full day in Oz. It started with a last little run around the city. There’s a park there with a waterfall…

And a view. 

That’s Tabletop mountain. Creative name right?

And there are these flowers.

That are actually monstrous!

Then it was off to the bus station! I was on my last leg of my journey and it was exciting and scary and awesome! It was the first time out of my travels that I was excited to go home. But before I could bunk in at the airport I had 8 hours in Brisbane!

Cheers,