Wanggoolba Creek

Having turned back inland we stopped in the middle of the rainforest and were offered the opportunity to walk along the trail down by Wanggoolba Creek.

This really is a special place  and still feels wild and untouched by man. The sun was shining high above the tropical canopy and filtered down sparkling and reflecting on  the crystal clear waters of the fairly shallow creek.

Blair and I opted to follow the trail to "Central Station" a spot higher up in the forest  where the bus would await us. The trail within a few steps takes you from  an open picnic area into dark, lush rainforest wilderness.

The tall straight trees  give way to moss and lichen covered logs, rainforest trees  vainly shrugging off strangler figs, piccabeen palms and the giant green Angiopteris Ferns which have the  largest single fronds in the world.  This link is a very short video about the fern.

http://www.fraserexplorertours.com.au/interactive/wanggoolba.htm 

One plant here in the creek  is recorded in the Guiness Book of Records as the largest ever. It is quite difficult to see the water in the creek it is so clear and pure and because of its sandy bed it is almost silent.  If   you listen you can hear the sounds of lizards rummaging through the leaf litter, birds calling to each other, the wind rustling in far away trees and the sometimes eerie and deafening sounds of armies of cicadas whose "whooshing" sounds build up to a crescendo in the same way as  drumbeats before quickly dying away to nothing!

Some of the scenes from the TV Series "Walking with Dinosaurs" was filmed here.  I can  really envisage   such creatures in this place and can only imagine how man coped with the extremes of this   environment. This is a truly amazing place and I can't find the right words to describe its beauty, the sounds and the feeling of the tropical, humid heat seeping into my bones and  secretive creeks slipping around dark forested corners. Strangely there are no smells or nothing I can identify.

Another place to remember forever, a feeling and time for  quiet reflection  and a need to be away at times from a harsh and a sometimes stressful world.  In some ways it reminds me of my favourite spot underneath the "troll bridge" along the millenium footpath (sadly torn away a few weeks ago when the river flooded) on the Devon. Different temperatures and plants but a special place.