The Great Dividing Range

Woke quite late, avocados spread on toast and freshly squeezed fruit juice again, this time a Pray Mantas (just a little one) joined us for breakfast on the terrace!

Today we were setting off for the mountains with a picnic.  The Great Dividing Range is Australia’s most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. It is more than three and a half thousand kilometres from Dauan Island off the north east tip of Queensland and running the entire length of the eastern coastline through NSW then on to Victoria before finally fading into the central planes of Western Victoria. It’s width is 160-300k.

It must have been about an hour’s drive up to the mountains and the most awesome scenery together with diverse wild animal, plant and birdlife. One of the first sounds I picked up on was the magical Bellbird. You couldn’t see him, but could hear him all around just as if there were little bells hanging on the trees and blowing gently in the wind and echoing throughout the forest. We travelled higher and higher along a fairly good road which narrowed into a loggers’ track on the ridge, and kept on going further and further along the ridge and then into the forest.

There was a whole new set of scenery before us around every bend. We were indeed “on top of the world” and as close to heaven as you could get today (thinking of you all back home in Charlbury bellringing and singing).

Sometimes I had to remind Kylie how perilously close we were to shear drops as she happily described some of the vegetation to me.

We stopped from time to time to check out interesting plants like the Giant Stinging Tree which looked completely harmless to me and I wondered why it would want to sting anyone. She said a possibility was that, because there are many growing on the edge of the forest, it was maybe trying to keep people out! She also pointed out the stinging nettle…. haha we have those In England!!!

I cannot find this bird in our book, does anyone know what it is, please post a reply if you think you do.

Before long we crossed over a stream, which I said we would call a brook in back home, a babbling brook even! It came down the hillside through the tree ferns under the loggers’ track where it fell over rocks and stones and continued its way on down through the forest.

We stopped the car for a paddle and to stretch our legs. As Kylie’s game little car motored on over the stony track, avoiding ridges caused by the loggers, we arrived at our picnic spot, a patch of grass in dappled sunlight under the tall pines where we spread a blanket and tucked into ham rolls, specially prepared chunks of fresh vegetables, cheese and fruit. The sound of silence was awesome, save the occasional call of birds we tried desperately to locate through my binoculars. There were tiny birds flitting about in the undergrowth which I felt sure must be some sort of flycatcher but just couldn’t get near enough. Now after seeing Kylie’s Rainforest poster in the loo, I’m wondering if they were some kind of Rufous. We also suddenly caught sight of a wallaby among the tress…. this was still a thrill to me although I was to see many of them in the fullness of time. We relaxed at this spot for a while just taking in the wonders and sounds of nature. Ash went off exploring and brought back some huge pinecones as well as minute flowers to identify.
We eventually packed up and motored on now through unexplored territory for Kylie. Suddenly she slammed on the brakes. There on the track in front of us slithered a rather large snake (by UK standards anyway).

We took a few photos to identify it but decided to remain in the relative safety of the car, although I was told best to keep the windows shut as they can rear up and it is likely to be a killer! Yay is that my third Aussie killer critter! He eventually slithered away into the grasses. We looked him up later and he is a Tiger and (as Ash so rightly says) is one of the top five: i.e. 45% untreated mortality.

Potaroo!! Exclaimed Kylie, damn I missed it… There were so many different species of plants and flowers along the way that I just took photos and we would identify them together later. One memorable plant deserving of a mention was the aerial epiphyte, which trailed across the branches of the trees like filigree. It has no roots and is not a parasite like the Australian Mistletoe.

We finally got to a point where we could go no further; the track became almost impassable although we bravely continued for a bit until we reached a gate which was clearly private property. I found this quite astonishing since we seemed to be in such a remote place.

However it was time to return as the sun was dropping in the sky quite rapidly. It was good to be able to recognise various landmarks on our return journey through the mountains. The blue haze of the distant mountains was caused by the vapour from the gum trees. Kylie had earlier scrunched up the leaves in her hands and the smell of eucalyptus was quite pungent.

The light from the setting sun mingling with the blue haze behind the structural pine trees and stark white bark of dead gums left standing was of course a watercolour painting waiting to happen. We stopped often just to get out and admire the stunning panoramic views.

Potaroo! Kylie exclaimed again and again as they crossed our path, but they were too quick for me. Finally I spied one just sitting on the side of the road and it jumped up and ran in front of us. POTAROO I yelled POTAROO!!!! What a strange marsupial creature, I’d never heard of this one before…. It looked like a cross between a wallaby, a rabbit and a rat.

It was almost dark as we saw movement beside the track …. two ducks, what on earth were they doing in the mountains, we tried to take identifying photos because they were definitely not your normal ducks (although they quacked quite clearly), but it was way too dark by now and we could only marvel at them in the headlights. The final sighting in our headlights as we left the mountain trial was of a Brush Turkey, a large dark bird with a flat fan shaped tail. I had now seen most of the creatures on Kylie’s rainforest poster.  We finally arrived home and started up our barbecue.

It was just so lovely to sit round the fire at the end of the day enjoying steak, sausages, patties, garlic bread rolls and to finish, yes double marshmallows cooked on gumsticks – awesome. Jera also entertained us with his incredible flame throwing and fire-eating skills. These Aussies never cease to amaze me!