This week was also the week that my roommate and I decided it was time to start traveling and seeing more of Australia. She had won a trip to Fraser Island through a raffle and I decided to go with her. We were both stoked about the trip, three days of serene beaches, beautiful rainforests and the opportunity to swim with wild dolphins just couldn’t be beat. We were scheduled to leave first thing Friday morning, but as we were packing on Thursday we got a call that the trip had been postponed because of a mechanical issue with the van that was supposed to drive us up there.
With our weekend suddenly open, we went about finding local trips that we could do and started planning out our remaining weekends to make sure we would have the opportunity to travel everywhere we wanted over the course of the semester. After flipping through all sorts of brochures, we found one company that offered all sorts of day trips and had a deal that gave us one free trip if we booked two others. We decided to do a trip into the hinterland and up to Springbrook Mountain that would let us see five waterfalls, the Natural Arch and Tropical Fruit World.
We booked our trip late Thursday night and had to be up first thing Friday morning to get picked up by the van with all the other travelers who would be joining us on the trip. Needless to say, we didn’t quite know what to expect. And we certainly wouldn’t have guessed the group we ended up with.
Because it was our understanding that we would be seeing five waterfalls and the Natural Arch, we dressed for a day of hiking. Our fellow travelers seemed to have missed the message. One older couple on the bus was dressed for a day of betting at the track complete with tasseled shoes on the guy and high heels on the lady. Other than that the rest of the 14-seater van was Asian (and non-English speaking) with the exception of one Australian couple who sat in the very back giggling about something for the entire ride (nobody dared look back for fear of getting a glimpse of what they were actually up to).
After a beautiful drive through the countryside, our first stop was Tropical Fruit World, which was actually much cooler than it sounds. The site was huge with over 20,000 fruit trees, but the small store where they sold the fruit looked surprisingly quaint. Our primary activity there was tasting all different kinds of fruit (I’d try to name them but most of them I couldn’t even pronounce at the time), most of which were quite delicious. They also made us avocado dip that they mixed together using some fruit sauces. I don’t usually like avocados, but it tasted AMAZING.
From there we headed into the hinterland where as far as we could see in every direction was amazing shades of green. We later learned that the hinterland is referred to as the green beyond the gold (Gold Coast) and it makes total sense. The area was so pretty. We drove up the mountain for a while before stopping at the trailhead for the Natural Arch.
The walk to the arch was truly breathtaking. We passed waterfall after waterfall while walking along a trail surrounded by some of the tallest moss-covered trees I’ve ever seen. The Natural Arch is supposed to be covered in glow worms visible by night, but since we were there in the morning we missed seeing them.
From there we stopped at several large waterfalls before eventually stopping for lunch at Springbrook Manor, a small estate hidden in the mountains. After lunch we saw even more waterfalls and went to “Best of All Lookout,” which was supposed to have absolutely amazing views of the coast, but the fog had beat us there so we didn’t end up seeing much.
On our way back we stopped at a fudge shop also hidden in the mountains before finally boarding the bus back home. I really enjoyed the trip because it was nice to see the rest of Australia, beyond the beach. When I had pictured the country, I had imagined lots of green everywhere and with this trip, it finally made an appearance.
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