The Hinterland

We took a break from the ocean today (it was tough to do, but it had to be done) and headed west. The hinterland along the sunshine coast is the mountainous area that lies between the sandy beaches of the coast and the scorching desert of the outback. It had been calling our names for a while now and we decided to finally make the trip. Along the sunshine coast, the hinterland is absolutely picturesque: rolling hills, sparkling lakes, creeks, waterfalls, and plenty of wildlife. Since it is much higher in elevation than the beach, it offers amazing views as well. Our trip west certainly had to wait until we had another transportation option besides the scooter. I can't imagine had we tried the trip on the adventuremobile. We probably would have had to get off and walk up some of the steep grades:).

We took off pretty early and were the first cars in the parking lot at the Mary Cairncross Park. At the park we took a 3K trek through the most amazing rain forest. I don't think words will do the place justice, so you can just check out the pictures. I will say, though, that it sounded like we were listening to one of those rainforest CDs where you hear all these crazy calls of birds and water rushing. So, just for fun, close your eyes and pretend you have one of those little headphones on. You've pushed the button marked Rainforest and now you have some pictures to go along with it...

This view is from the parking lot - You can see the Glass House Mountains in the distance

Ready to depart...
You can't read the signs well, but the one on the left says Rainforest Walk and the one on the right says Toilets. We found that kind of humorous...I'm not sure why
The Rain forest
We saw dozens of wallabies. This one is a bit blurry (sorry) but it came bounding across our path.

I have to put a quick word in, at this point, about finishing up our hike. We were walking towards our car when Jonathan realized he had a leech stuck on his toe. He had a hard time pulling it off, and it grossed me out immensely. I think leeches might be on my top ten list of grossest things in the world. When he was still bleeding as we started the car, I decided we might want to look ourselves over and make sure we didn't have any more leeches. Sure enough, I looked my toes over and realized there was one stuck in between my littlest toes on my left foot. I (of course) started screaming really loudly, wripped off my chacos, and yanked the leech from my skin. In all reality, it wasn't that big of a leech. It was just the thought of the leech, sucking the blood between my toes as I walked through the rainforest obliviously. Ugh! I documented the occurence with this slightly blurry photo:

After finishing the hike and surviving the leech incident, we visited the nearby town of Maleny, best known for its art galleries and its dairy products. We had coffee at a cafe and enjoyed walking into a variety of shops. Then we made our way to the cheese factory and split the best cup of mango yoghurt that I've ever tasted (we decided to pass on the cheese since we didn't have refrigeration, but vowed to return after tasting the samples). Then we headed to two more towns: Montville and Mapleton. The drive between these small towns was unbelievable. We were riding the Blackall Ridge. To the left were green rolling hills and the ocean. The the right were more hills/rain forests. Here is just one picture of the view and it definitely doesn't do it justice.

In Montville we split the most ridiculous Australian meat pie. It was covered half in gravy and half with a creamy pea concoction with a mini Australian flag piercing through the center. I kicked myself for forgetting my camera in the car at that point:). It was quite delicious, actually. After far too much shopping (or boutique wandering to be more precise), we decided to stop and take another rain forest hike. This one was beautiful as well, but far more traveled. I've always had this thing about wanting to feel like I'm the only one in beautiful places. I know it's silly, but I hate feeling like there's a thoroughfare to the top of the mountain, or the waterfall in this case. Here are a few pics from our second hike of the day.

After a LONG day of hiking, shopping, eating, and driving, we made it back home. I took the dog on a run, made a little Indian curry for dinner, and now am trying to keep my eyes open as I finish documenting our day. More to come later...