| Day 21: Wooroonooran Rainforest October 12, 2005 Today I went with a tour guide into the Wooroonooran Rainforest. (I can't even say the Aboriginal name for this ancient rainforest without tripping over my tongue, regardless of how many times I've asked my guide to repeat it.) Our guide Kirsty led several hikers and I on a brisk trek up the steep, lush green slopes of Barte Frere Mountain - the second tallest mountain in the Queensland region about 4500 feet. This fragile ecosystem, a bouldered rainforest that's been here for 35 million years, is thick and overgrown with trees and vines of every possible shape and size. Twisting patterns of odd green leaves were everywhere, racing upwards, always upwards to the forest canopy.  | |  The cool air was filled while the sounds of exotic birds, cookooing and cackling from the canopy above us. Laughing at us perhaps? The trail was narrow with the overgrowth of arching branches and vines, and after an hour or so, you could see how easy it would be to get lost in this maze of green lights and dark holes. And while the soft trail floor was thick with rocks and creeping vines, I kept my eyes on the ground mostly to avoid the poisonous snakes that I was knew lived here. Death Adders and Red-bellied Black snakes. |