Having a break from the rough sea we decided to stop at Eungella National Park - Australia`s Oldest Rainforest, even older then the Amazon.
Eungella lies 80km east of Mackay and means translated from the Aboriginal language - land of the clouds , as it is mostly covered in rain clouds.
First stop is the Finch Hatton Gorge walk half way down the pioneer valley.
Featuring nice rainforest walks passing two picturesque waterfalls - where you could theoretically swim!
"Theoretically" because the water temperature was freezing 10deg only!!!
Carmen as certified ice diver in Austrian lakes just took it with a grin ;-)
Coming back from the hike you will be desperate awaited by curious koookaburra`s looking for a quick snack. AND there are many of them - so watch out!
Following the endless seeming sugar cane field to the end of the valley until the road changes in a very steep mountain road, which leads us finally up to the Eungella town 1000m above sea level.
From here you can enjoy a great view down the valley as far as to the 100km away coast line, just by laying back with a cup of coffee and fresh baked scones.
This area - more exactly the area around broken river - is the best place to spot the very rare PLATYPUS in its habitat.
The platypus has very unique and unusual features. In fact, a platypus is considered to be an assortment of a number of species, namely the duck (bill and webbed feet), beaver (tail) and otter (body and fur).
They become active during dusk & dawn and you really can be lucky if you spot one as they are very shy.
And lucky we were - we spotted even two of them!
With a sugar cane branch as lolly we returned back to the coast to relax and lay back at on of our most favorite NP - Cape Hillsborough.
Can you imagine of any better place to wake up?
Don`t want to leave
More on:
http://picasaweb.google.at/marco.schoeggl/TheOldestRainforestWorldSMostWeirdAnimal#