Entering the Tamborine Mountain Rainforest is the most beautiful assault on the senses – lush green vegetation everywhere you look, the songs of a million cicadas and hundreds of birds ringing in your ears, butterflies as big as Pam’s hand flitting about…just when we thought we couldn’t stand another forest…this!
The Tamborine Mountain Rainforest was formed more than 22 million years ago by lava flow from the eruption of Mount Warning (great name for a volcano, don’t you think?). It is home to 210 different species of trees, 40 different types of shrubs, 75 species of vines, 55 kinds of ferns, 26 varieties of orchids, 10 types of lilies and gingers and numerous herbs, mosses and fungi. Apart from two of the tree species everything in the forest is evergreen. At one point in history, eighty-five percent of the Australian continent was covered in forests like this; today that percentage has been reduced to 22%. To protect the remaining forests Australia has passed a number of conservation acts, including one that prevents any further development in this area. There are three villages on the mountain now, none of which have running water or sewage. They rely on the collection of rain water and septic systems.
Standing on the steel suspension bridge that connects the visitor center to the forest walkway, it is amazing to realize that many of the trees that surround you begin their growth on the forest floor nearly one hundred feet below and continue their growth more than one hundred feet above you. These are some tall, tall trees!
Following our walk, we visited Mount Tamborine Village, a quiet shopping village with a variety of boutiques with locally made wares, and then on to St. Bernard’s for lunch. St. Bernard is the oldest hotel on the mountain and is beautifully situated on a hill overlooking the valley below, providing a view that goes on for miles and miles and miles. The surrounding gardens and landscaping provide a perfect compliment to what nature has to offer. The hotel has two St. Bernard dogs as mascots, and after a delicious lunch of extremely generous portions our hostesses brought the dogs out for petting and picture taking.
After lunch we visited the Witches Falls Winery, where we were treated to a very informal wine tasting. It was very hot, so everyone sought shade under the voluminous olive trees. We weren’t crazy about any of the wines, but we did enjoy the company and the scenery.
On the return trip home, we stopped at a viewpoint hang gliders often use for their launches. Just as we were loading the bus to pull away one of those hang gliders approached the ledge for landing. We weren’t fast enough with the camera to get a picture, but it was cool. The perfect ending to a perfect day!
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