Chapter 55 - A Rather Disappointing Excursion to Lamington National Park

In which our hero discovers that Lamingtons do not in fact grow on trees .... 

Well. This is awkward. It's been so long that I forgot my password. Sorry about that. I've been super busy. Like, really really a lot.

Lets do the Lamington story first. It goes like this. The new housemates (I'll explain that bit later) decided we should go on a super fun and exciting excursion to celebrate the end of exams. It was decided that we'd go up to O'Reilly's, which is kind of a little cafe and hotel situation up in the mountains, and then go on a bush walk from there. Then come back for a big fancy Devonshire Tea at the cafe afterward. So off we went. It took about 1.5 hours to get there, I think. The roads were very windy and switch-backy, and made my stomach all weird.

Part of the way up the mountain there was a sign that said "Welcome to Lamington National Park", which was, naturally, very exciting. Now I think there's a bit of back story required at this point. The first time I'd heard of Lamington National Park was last year during O-Week, when there was an expedition there for new students. Unfortunately I missed that trip, because the bus got filled up before I signed up for it. Since that time it has remained in my imagination as a mysterious and magical place in which Lamingtons grow on trees. Well, what else was I to assume, with a name like Lamington National Park?

I will now add some even further back story. We (Annie and I) first discovered Lamingtons back in 2008 when we were here for World Youth Day. They're cakes. (See below).

They're also delicious. I believe they can be plain, or with a layer of either cream or jam in the middle. Now you see why I was so excited when I thought there was a magical place where they grew on trees. And why I'm now so disappointed. It turns out the cakes and the park were simply named after the same person. Bah. Now I want Lamingtons. Here's a link to a recipe. You should make your own.

I also want to find some fabric with Lamingtons printed on it, then have Trez make me some PJs out of it, then I can call them my Lammie Jammies. Bah ha ha ha! Sorry, I digress. Seriously though, if someone finds that fabric, tell me about it.

Right. So back to the bush walk. It was cold. It's winter here, which basically means it's a bit chilly at night, but the days are quite pleasant. I actually quite enjoy the winter days, because it's sunshiny, but not too hot, and it doesn't really rain like ever. It rained in the autumn (not the fall, because the leaves don't fall off the trees). And it rains in the summer, and that's when the epic hail storms and things happen. But the winter's quite nice. At least, down at sea level. Our bush walk was considerably inland and higher up, so it was probably like 10 degrees when we arrived at 9 a.m. I was in shorts and a t-shirt, but I'd brought a hoodie. I figured it'd be warm enough once we started walking in the sun. After about two minutes I put the hoodie on, because it was really cold. I think I took it off again about an our into the hike, but it was still apparently 13 degrees. Like seriously, good grief. It was a good hike though.

We'd initially planned on doing a walk that was only about 3 hours max, but then we decided to branch off onto another path called the Border Trail, which actually went along the border of Queensland and New South Wales, or at least very near to it. From one lookout point we could see Mt. Warning, which is down in NSW. You remember Mt. Warning, right? I think I told you about it. Anyway. Basically the hike ended up taking approximately 5 hours, instead of 3, and we were all thoroughly dead by the end.

Here are some pictures:

Slight bit of boardwalk to get to the tree-top walk (it's what O'Reilly's is famous for).

Sorry for the blurriness, but these trees are just so cool. I think they look like dragon tails or something.

Walking along the tree-top walk. This one's blurry because the bridge was moving.

Christian climbing up the first ladder to the top of a tree. There were two ladders. They were very cold. I thwonked my knee on one of them coming back down.

The view from the top of the tree.

Bush Turkey!

Look Annie! Rock!

Tee hee hee ... Bollywood! I had no idea that was a real thing.

Some lovely trees that have tied themselves all together. Reminds me of Lord of the Rings.

The view from our rest spot.

Gollum eating lambas bread.

Look Annie, rocks!

Beautiful waterfall. There were heaps of beautiful waterfalls. If it hadn't been so cold I would've stood under them.

A pretty amazing looking swimming hole. Again, if it hadn't been so cold ...

Some people having a picnic on Picnic Rock. At the beginning of the trail when I saw a sign that said Picnic Rock, I definitely read Panic Rock. But it didn't say that.

A nice friendly warning to not fall off a cliff.

Bush turkey! When we got back to O'Reilly's at like 2 p.m. there were people feeding the birds, so naturally the bush turkeys came around too. There was other birds as well.

Like this one, which is red. I don't know what it is.

And now for something completely different, check our our new Space Kettle! It's got a blue light in it, so it makes me feel like I live in Star Trek! How cool is that!?