THAT'S MORE LIKE IT !!

Being retired has lots of bonuses and today was one of them.

The sunny Brisbane weather has returned and so with a packed lunch we set off through the western suburbs towards Mt Glorious. ( good choice of name don't you think?)

It wasn't long before we left the houses behind us and began to drive through the bush.

As we began to climb the trees got taller and closer together as we headed towards the rainforest.

It's amazing how tall and straight these trees are as they grow straight up towards the light.

In Australia our mountains are not very high.

 The highest, Mount Kosciuszko is only 2,228 metres (7,310 ft)  high .............

and they are mostly completely covered with thick bush and trees.

Today's mountain, Mt Glorious, is only a baby mountain of just over 2000 ft but as you can see it is densely covered with trees - some of it is rainforest.

The rainforest part is a National Park - set aside to preserve it in its natural state and everything in it is totally protected.

These areas are very popular recreation places for family gatherings and picnics followed by a rainforest walk.  

A section of the mountain has been cleared for picnics and there were a few others there enjoying the quiet of a mid-week picnic without the weekend crowds.

As soon as we unpacked our sandwiches this fellow appeared.

He's a Bush Turkey.

They are very common and are even found in the outer green leafy suburbs where they drive householders mad as they destroy gardens by scraping up all the mulch and leaf litter into huge mounds in which the females lay their eggs.

As they are totally protected there is not much you can do when they wreck your garden and even trapping them and taking them way out into the countryside before releasing them doesn't work as they are back

within a couple of days.

It was very tame and is obviously used to crumbs from picnicers and it wasn't long before the word was out in the bird world and we had Kurrawongs, 

Magpies

and a couple of Kookaburras descending on us in their numbers.

It felt a bit like that movie "The Birds" !

After consulting the map we opted for a short 2km circuit walk through the rainforest.

This is a Strangler Fig.

A seed, left in bird droppings high up in the host tree, germinates and the seedling sends out lots of long roots which snake towards the ground. The seedling lives off the tree till these roots reach the ground where they quickly establish themselves and the host tree is gradually squeezed out of existance.

You can still see the carcass of the original tree in the middle of all those roots.

There are palms everywhere.

as well as moss covered logs,....

......... Bird's Nest ferns high up in the trees, .....

........ lethal looking fungus, .......

......and Epyphytes ... ( we call these ones Staghorn ferns )

After a pleasant walk ( and no leeches !!!) we set off for home.

I was able to capture these views of the valley below as we came back down the mountain.

Today's maximum temperature was 25 degrees.

It's hard to beat Winter in Queensland !!

Cheers.