Last weekend we all rented an 8-seater van, and decided to have a few days of touring around Toowoomba. On Saturday morning we packed our lunches, put on our sneakers, grabbed our books, and made the 1.5hour drive to the Bunya Mountains. The Bunyas are located north-west of Toowoomba, and rise to an elevation of around 1300meters (Toowoomba is at 700.) Basically they are these steep mountains that raise up from the brown fields of the Darling Downs area. Essentially, they were like green islands growing out of the desolate land. The lush green grass and tall trees of all sorts were nothing like we had seen before around Toowoomba. We have grass here... but it's like grass at home that hasn't seen rain in a long time... kind of burned.
The plan was to do some hiking through the mountains. There are heaps of trails around the Bunyas, named for the tall Bunya Pine trees that make up the bulk of the trees there. These pines have pine-cones the size of soccer balls. There actually are warnings not to stand under the trees between December and April when they are falling.
As we were driving into the park we saw our first evidence of Australian wildlife... WALLABIES! Basically, wallabies and kangaroos are the same thing. The only difference is their height, kangaroos being taller. As a few of us chased a few around the grounds with our cameras, the others planned the hike we would be doing. After the wallabies retreated back into the woods, I laid down in the THICKEST most LUSH bit of grass I'd seen in a long time. It was quite hard getting up. Especially go go hiking.
The first hike we did meandered throughout the forest providing a few views towards the west as well as loads of informational signs on the trees, the wildlife, and the mountains. I think all in all we did 4km on this hike. We came back to the park and ate our lunch before driving further up the mountains to do another hike, which would bring us to the highest point in the mountains. We planned it perfectly, and we were able to watch the entire sunset from the summit. It was so beautiful. The sky went from a beautiful light blue, to yellow, to orange, and finally to the a deep red. It was gorgeous! We made it back down to the car just as it was getting really dark.
The drive home proved to be very tricky as the wallabies had all decided to come out to graze near the roadside. Now wallabies and much like deer, in the sense that they are (and Kep would agree with me on this one).... STUPID. Every wallaby, and I mean EVERY wallaby, would jump into the middle of the road when they saw our car coming... without fail. So a 1.5hour drive turned into 2 hours and 15 minutes... which was fine. I'd rather go 40kmh then hit one of those guys. The road to the mountains was also very interesting. Parts were only half-paved. This means that they paved directly down the middle of the road, and the other half (a 1/4 on each side of the paved bit) was left as dirt. The locals in their big off-roading-SUVs didn't seem to mind nearly throwing their vehicles into the ditch at 80kmh, but our Toyota van wouldn't have held up so well. We made it home safely though. :)
On Sunday we all piled in the van again, and drove to Brisbane for a Rugby game (not Aussie rules.) We were cheering for the Brisbane Broncos, and because this was like the rugby we have in the US, we actually kind of knew what was happening. Sadly, the Broncos lost the game... but it was incredibly close near the end. Regardless, it was nice to spend the day everyone in the afternoon sun, eating greasy food, enjoying a beer, and watching the game. We did a little walking around Brisbane... bopped into a few shops, and then called it a night and drove home. It was a great day, and it made me remember how much I liked Brisbane the first time we went. I think it may be my favorite city in Australia. Brisbane or Sydney... it's a close tie for 1st.
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