The Climb

This past Saturday was a day full of adventure and information. Four of us hopped on a bus and headed south to Springbrook National Park to look at some of Australia’s most beautiful waterfalls. Not only this, but along the way we would get to taste some exotic fruits native to Australia and see a natural bridge formed by rock millions of years ago. Jenna, Julia, Cathy, and I boarded the bus promptly at 7:25am (so early, I know) our bellies full of Red Bull (sugar free of course) and joined our tour guide, John, for a day of fun. After picking up the other 20 passengers, we made our way to Tropical Fruit World. The guide at Tropical Fruit

World taught us all about the native fruits of Australia, including, but not limited to, dragon fruit, star fruit, and jakfruit which weigh about 20kg on average. He also told us that dragon fruits are a natural way to lower blood sugar, so needless to say I tasted about 5 pieces. After purchasing some honey-roasted macadamias and tasting chocolate macadamia nut spread, we got back on the bus and headed to the natural bridge. Once we arrived I was immediately reminded of a tour I took this past summer in the White Mountains of New Hampshire of the Lost River Gorge. They are similar because there were beautiful waterfalls at both places and caves; however, in New Hampshire there was a lot more freedom. I was not able to climb through tiny openings of holes at the natural bridge as I was in the White Mountains, but we had fun nonetheless. Our tour guide educated us about strangler fig trees, which wrap around other trees and kill them until all that is left is the outside shell of the fig tree. It was really quite riveting. We asked if we could eat the figs because we were now in native-fruit-trying mode, but he said that although the figs are not poisonous to birds, humans should not ingest them. After admiring the beauty of the natural bridge and seeing bats fly in and out of the cave it had created, our tour took us on to the next stop. Along the way, we looked out the windows to the amazing countryside of Australia. Most people tend to this that Australia is just like the coast of Florida and is all beaches, however, there are more green mountains and sugar cane fields in Australia than I’ve ever seen in my life. Unfortunately for us, Saturday was a little cloudy so we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains too well. John explained that on the highest mountain you could see the outline of Mount Warning, which is a volcano that erupted millions of years ago. An hour drive outside of Southport is where Queensland meets New South Wales, the state in which Sydney is located. John pulled over so tourists like us could take pictures on both sides of the border. Our last stop before lunch was at the Best of All Lookout where you could literally see for miles and miles. Even though it was cloudy, it was still easy to make out where we had just driven from and where we would be going next. It was amazing, truly breathtaking. For lunch we stopped at the Springbrook Manor, a little inn located inside Springbrook National Park. We saw a pony and ate some lunch before heading out to see the last three waterfalls of our tour. The first falls we looked at were at Goomoolahra and come from MundoraCreek, which is the main water supply for the Gold Coast. John explained that we would see two more falls after this and that Goomoolahra was the smallest of the three, but it was also the falls that we could be closest to. Next, we headed to a lookout spot for Rainbow Falls. It is given this name because when the water is falling the bottom acts as a prism and creates a rainbow. Finally, and most remarkable, was Purlingbrook Falls. This waterfall flows off a 106-meter drop. As we stood in awe, I noticed that there were people far closer to the falls than we were, so I asked John if we could take a walk down. His replied, “Sure, if you’ve got an hour and a half to spare. It’s a 4 kilometer walk, I’ll come back for you tomorrow and pick you up.” Needless to say, we didn’t get to go down there. It was still gorgeous though. John was so charismatic, funny, and informative that we decided if the chance ever came to do a tour again, we would try to get him as our guide. More tired than ever before, Cathy, Jenna, Julia, and I boarded the bus one last time and headed home after a fun-filled day.

Click here to watch The Climb video I made (not the Miley Cyrus song)!

p.s. if you missed it:

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