At first I laughed, because this is what we saw when we first entered the Glass House Mountain National Park. But, as I learned, these mountains are not to be reckoned with!
These are a few of the 12 peaks that rise sharply from the landscape. The mountains were named by James Cook as he sailed up the coast of Queensland in 1770 because they looked like the greenhouses, or glass houses, in his native England.
We checked out the view from the lookout at the parking lot and decided which mountain to hike.
There are several farms surrounding the national park. This one is a macadamia farm.
There was a short loop at the lookout that we walked, and Anna The Medicine Woman showed us the medicinal properties of all the plants!
This is a bottle brush plant - it's called that because the flowers look like bottle brushes! I've seen all different colored bottle brushes down here.
We decided to hike Mt. Beerwah because at 555 meters high it is the tallest of the Glass House Mountains and we wanted a good hike. Who can't climb 555 meters?
We saw all kinds of gorgeous plants.
And Anna found a new home!
After a short and easy start, we encountered this part of the "trail".
We decided we would climb to the cubby at the mid-point and figure out from there if we wanted to go any further. Anna went first and climbed up no problem, but coming down looked a bit iffy...
Then Sev went up and took this picture. He went past the mid point.
Finally I went after Sev, and found the climb terrifying. I made it about half way to the cubby and promptly turned around! The people that we met at the bottom told us that Mt. Tibrogargan was easier to climb so we decided to head there.
We drove past Mt. Coonowrin, pictured here, on our way to Mt. Tibrogargan. According to Aboriginal tales, Coonowrin is the son of Beerwah and Tibrogargan. It's the most dramatic looking of all the mountains.
We saw more pretty plants at Tibrogargan.
And Quita got a little break from walking.
After a rock scramble of a hike, we again hit a rock wall.
We hummed and hawed for a few minutes deciding what to do, and Sev had to lift Quita up some of the ledges.
I went first because Quita wouldn't follow anyone except me, but I did not like what I saw!
I looked above and decided I didn't want to continue any further, but Sev was determined to find a summit this day!
So Sev went to the top alone. The orange marks the trail here.
Here's another spot on the trail.
He got a great view of the mountains, farms, and even the ocean at the top.
Meanwhile, Anna and I took Quita to the bottom and walked the trail that goes around the mountain.
We looked for koalas, and when we didn't find any we decided to be koalas. Somehow we got lost and poor Sev had to wait for about 45 minutes in the parking lot for us to find our way back! Luckily he made some friends and had a little picnic with them!
Anna and I were still starving so we went to a roadside cafe for lunch, which also happened to be a farm. These two goats had quite a rivalry and the young one kept head-butting the old one in order to eat all the leaves we were feeding them!
Quita barked and whined at the goats and they head-butted her through the fence! I think that's why she's backing away from them in this picture!
On the way home we went go karting! As usual, I was so much faster than Sev and lapped him at least 2 or 3 times!
Anna brought us a few plants from the farm, and loaned me her clippers to trim the pupper patch! It was such a treat to have our first visitor in Brissy, and we can't wait to visit Anna at her home!
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