Townsville - Paluma Range National Park

Paluma Range National Park is about an hour north of Townsville and made a nice day trip for us. This is considered rain forest area, but it looked somewhat dry to us. In fact, we spotted a few small fires smoldering as we drove up the mountain. What kind of rain forest catches on fire?

The dryness might be seasonal but the types of plants didn’t entirely fit our notions of tropical rain forest either – especially after having lived in Hawaii. As you go further north in Queensland it gets more and more tropical. Nevertheless, we had some nice hikes through the forest and stopped by Little Crystal Creek, which is a scenic and popular swimming hole. Deborah didn’t appreciate the drive on the narrow twisting road up and down the mountain, made all the worse I think by sitting on the opposite side of the car than she is used to. 

Little Crystal Creek







Well-named Camouflage Tree


Payoff view at the end of a hike to Witt's Lookout.


Cloudy Creek





This tree is a bit of a Rorschach Test. Deborah sees a mother and child. I see an elephant vomiting. What do you see?



Rain forest video no. 1 (6 sec). Listen for the very loud bird.




Rain forest video no. 2 (32 sec) - Your moment of zen.



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