Not this weekend, but the one before, we had our first
weekend long excursion. I was too busy
to write about it then, but it was amazing and I wanted to share my experiences
now.
We started out by visiting the Australian PlantBank at the
Mount Annan Botanic Gardens. We got to
see and handle the cones from the Wollemi pine, a critically endangered species
of tree. There is a wild population somewhere
in the Blue Mountains, but the Australian government keeps the location secret
to keep the trees safe. The most recent
fossils from the same genus are dated 2 million years ago and were found in
Tasmania. The remaining trees, fewer
than 100 wild ones, are almost genetically identical and have been struggling
to survive.
From there, we went to Scenic World and took a ride on the
world’s steepest train track. The slope
is 52 degrees! After the train down the
mountain, we explored some of the trails.
We saw two lyrebirds! Lyrebirds
are amazing mimics and the males have an elaborate courtship display in which
they try to mimic as many different birdcalls (or other sounds) as they
can. They’re timid, so they’re uncommon
to see.
We visited Jenolan Caves, they were stunning. I come from Tennessee, so I’m familiar with
caves, but these were something else. These
caves are one of the best places to see helictites, a sort of sideways stalactite. There are tons and they wind up forming balls
of them that look like crystals. To finish off our trip we did the Grand Canyon
hike and had lunch at the top of a waterfall.
Tomorrow we’re headed to a small island off of Tasmania and
we will not have an internet connection for a while, but if you have a question,
feel free to send it to me at ameliaberle@lclark.edu
and I’ll get back to you when I can.