We apologise for any inconvenience, and if you try to go for a hike we’ll fine you $225.

A few days ago, Lisa, Maria and I took a quick daytrip to Mount Tamborine, one hour’s drive south of Brisbane. We spent about ten minutes to plan the trip, another ten minutes to get ready, did some picnic-food shopping and got in the car – all ready for our little adventure. Little did we know that nature apparently was far too unsafe for human beings.

The drive down south was fairly uneventful, save for the odd display of Australian brilliance at highway driving… Somehow, highways of at least two lanes going in the same direction seem to bring out the Formula-1 driver in quite a few motorists!

Having dodged a couple near-hits and witnessed a number of overtakes that surely should have brought out the black flag, we were at the foot of Mt Tamborine. About 20 minutes and 20 litres of diesel later (the good-old Landcruiser consumes about the same amount of diesel as a small Latin-American country), we were at the top of the mountain with stunning vistas on all sides.

From the east of Mt Tamborine are simultaneous views of Surfers Paradise and Brisbane (which are some 60 kilometres apart), and from the west you can take in stunning hinterland vistas.

Having no time for such things (my little wife finds views a wee bit boring after about 90 seconds :p), we headed half-way down the mountainside on the opposite end of the top, towards Cedar Creek Falls National Park. That area has a whopping 1.4 kilometres of walking tracks that take the determined hiker past a lookout point overlooking beautiful waterfalls and down to rock pools at the bottom of a deep gorge.

Unfortunately, we came nowhere near the rock pools, much to Maria’s dismay (she is very, very, very fascinated by rock pools – a fascination I must admit I share with her to a certain degree. It’s my dirty little secret :o). Apparently the walking track (which is sealed in asphalt and has railings all the way down the gorge) was far too unsafe for any two-legged creature to traverse, and serious injury, death and a $225 fine would result from any attempts to brave Mother Nature.

Since there was a Norwegian among us (me, me, me), nothing nature does could possibly harm us. However, we did not like the prospect of a $225 fine per person, so we headed back up the mountain to try our luck in a different national park (they have managed to cram in 11 of them just on this particular mountain).

Ten minutes and yet another 20 litres of diesel later, we were back up on the top of Mt Tamborine and parked at the entrance to Joalah National Park. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, Joalah sports rainforest tracks, a large rock pool and “an impressive view of the falls and surrounding columnar basalt rockface. Swimming is prohibited at the falls. A restricted access area below Curtis Falls protects an important glow-worm colony…”

Joalah sounded quite nice, so we wanted to check it out…

Having parked the car and attempted to peruse the on-site public toilet, we were ready to start our big hike. This wouldn’t have been a problem, had it not been for a big “STOP” sign blocking the path leading into the park. According to the park ranger we talked to, a very, very big tree had fallen over the path leading up to the lookout point with “an impressive view of the falls and surrounding columnar basalt rockface. Swimming is prohibited at the falls. A restricted access area below Curtis Falls protects an important glow-worm colony…”

Like I said, a big tree had fallen… So the rangers had closed off the path to clear the way and make sure the area was safe. Apparently, the area was safe enough now, except for the path leading up to the lookout – where the fallen tree was. So the ranger gallantly let us pass the big “STOP” sign. We hiked merrily into the rainforest, down the path leading to a creek running through the bottom of a little valley, found pretty fungi growing on tree branches, said hello to a construction worker in coveralls, tried to spot an eel that another merry hiker had seen, took some pictures and had our walk cut short by a big sign telling us that the part of nature behind the big, big fence just there was closed for our safety. Serious injury, death and a $225 fine would result from any attempts to climb the fence and brave Mother Nature.

Apparently, there was great danger of rock falls in the area. While we couldn’t spot any hillsides or cliffs steep enough to cause a rock to come tumbling down the valley and kill anyone in its path, we didn’t like the prospect of a $225 fine this time either. So we decided to head back up to the car, find a nice, safe spot without too much nature and eat our picnic food.

After a bit of searching, we found the way to the Tamborine Mountain Botanical Gardens. We found a nice, safe spot where we could just barely hear the noise of two lawnmowers and a boat-like contraption that was clearing the ponds of weeds and other water-growths, and commenced our picnic…

The food was quite nice: Bread rolls, Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese, 200-square-centimetre-sized slices of roast beef, softdrinks and Christmas pretzels.

Thoroughly satisfied, gastronomically speaking, we decided to give up on nature, get some fudge and sit down and watch the views from the top. Afterwards we headed back to Brisbane and agreed that it had been a nice and safe day out in fairly natural surroundings.

Beware of signes,- they might fall down!
Better stay home,- much safer to make a small bonfire in the fireplace! You can even cook a cup of tea. But beware, it might get hot,- You can burn your tongue!!!
And sitt on the floor,in case the chair......
Life is dangerous,- life is good! Have a nice day, but don't fall off (I mean,- since you are hanging "down under". Much safer i Norway,- we're on top of the world ;-) But then we have the polar bears wandering around in the streets....

Hei hei!
Vakkert!
Likte spesielt godt det 3. siste bildet!
Alltid godt å vite at noen passer på og vil en det beste når en ønsker en real skautur!
Ser for meg at Buvannsløypa ble asfaltert.....det måtte være ei lette!
Videre ser jeg for meg kr 1000 for å klatre opp det bratteste til veden(en må nemlig passerer litt løse stener enkelte steder)......