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I awoke to pounding on my bedroom door. The first thing I thought of was why in the devil someone would be waking my slumber early on a Sunday morning. I answered and was greeted by Christian, one of my German friends.
"Come to the hinterland with us!" He said.
Still dazed from my dream time, I replied with a slur, "Umm, okay."
After being able to make my bed, take a shower, and eat some toast in less than twenty minutes, fourteen Germans and one American (me) were off to the Australian jungle in three rented cars.
While in the car, I was briefed on what we were planning to do. Our clever itinerary had us going on two jungle walks, and experiencing numerous lookout points on the Gold Coast Hinterland. Just twenty kilometers outside of the Gold Coast, the hinterland here offers some amazing sights.
Now, when my friends said walk I was expecting a nice little trot where we would take some pictures. Through my weak understanding of German, I soon realized that our walk was a six-kilometre hike. The path was the jungle floor. It felt exciting being among the towering trees. Everything was so green. Part of me started thinking about what the first people must have felt when they discovered this area. Sure, I had the luxury of knowing where I was going, but being out there and hearing the hooting and howling of the animals was exciting. Since we are so close to the coast, the South Pacific was viewable from atop every ridge.
We passed numerous waterfalls, but it was our goal to reach the pools where we could swim. Upon arrival, most said that they were not going to swim because the jungle water was ice cold. Still, I thought, "heck, how many times will I get to swim in the rainforest in Australia?" I stated to strip down to my skiffies, or better known as underwear.
When I started walking into the water, it was so cold that I completely went numb. So, I dived in! Smart. Oh, but that was not the end of it. I decided to get on a ledge and dive off back into the water. It did not take too long for my body to start shaking from the cold, so I took that as a good indication that I should get out.
After changing back into my warm clothes, we trotted back the three kilometers we came to return to our rented cars. Now, I am scared of snakes. I will scream (admittedly) like a schoolgirl when I see one. We did not run into a snake, but a quite large lizard, and I was surprised at my reaction toward the harmless (but big) reptile. I was uneasy, but kept my "cool" as they say on MTV.
On the way back to the Gold Coast, we ran across a group of wallabies. Now I thought that they were baby kangaroos. Nope, just a smaller version. Picture a kangaroo being washed too long on hot.
The Gold Coast hinterland and rainforest is a must see. Only 20 kilometers from the heart of Surfer's Paradise, our team at OZtralia.tv recommends very highly.
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