Sunday 19 February 2012

Minyon Falls

Warning: If you don't find trees even faintly interesting this will be incredibly boring for you.

Yesterday we decided we weren't going surfing. That left options of staying at home or doing nothing, or....well that was all we had. We asked around as there are lots of boys staying here at the moment, and Caleb said that Minyon falls was good for a trip. So off we went.


We spotted climbing routes! Only problems being getting to the start of the routes, topping out into thick Australian bush full of nasty wildlife, and the fact that we have no rope. Not to mention my ability to climb. But....

After going to see the falls close up we decided to embark on a Walk down to the bottom of it. I was scared but we had lots of food to fuel me and the promise of as many rests as I wanted, so off we went.

A helpful sign told us to look out for the progression in the plantage from wet sclerophyll forest to sub tropical rainforest, so this was duly noted. And to start with, a squiggly tree!

Cool roots

As we descended down deeper into the forest, it got generally darker but bright sublight charged through in bits, making the photos look all enchanted forestesque.



Snazzy lichen
Crazy rooties of the Bangalow Palm



There are a couple of cheeky fern things that have set up shop in the upper branches of this big tree, using its height to get lots of light.

It felt like a long walk and I had a couple of rests, but finally we found the river coming away from the falls.

We found a pool and decided to stop there and have lunch and a swim. The waterfall was just a few hundred metres further over some boulders but I was knackered and wasn't too fussed!


Zappa spotted a big eel! I was very excited. For someone that isn't that bothered about wildlife he's very good at spotting it. You can kind of just about see it in this photo. It got annoyed with me being seemingly inedible (or maybe it didn't like having its picture taken) and it properly splashed me with its tail and got me all wet.

I felt much better after the rest and food and we started talking about stuff we'd like to do, kind of like New Year's resolutions but a bit late. We talked about going camping and making things and going hang-gliding and stuff and I got so excited, and we talked about it on the walk back up, and other stuff, I was chatting away and I was so happy and distracted I didn't have time to get worried about if I could make it or if it was too much for me, and I didn't have a single rest and I was fine! It was a 2km proper uphill walk! SCORE. It is so insane how much our minds affect us.

Before we go, guess what this rather beautiful thing is?

Someone's windscreen!

4 comments:

  1. So nice to see a picture if YOU in Australia. Zappa looks good too by the waterfall. Those lichens are HUGE and the epiphytes were awesome. What a lovely place. The eel was very unexpected - doesn't make you want to paddle!

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  2. Ahh well, we needed the loo too badly to be picky. We peed on the eel. Do eels bite? Does anyone know?

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