Had my first cold night since I started this trip! Found myself completely zipped up in my sleeping bag and still a bit chilly in the wee early hours of the morning. Checked my thermometer and found it was 14C (upper 50’s F) which really isn’t THAT cold, but it sure was nice for a change. A heavy fog rolled into our mountain-top campsite by morning and my tent was soaking (again), so I left it there and went for a wonderful scenic 5km hike down the road past waterfalls, giant Bunya Pines, and other dense rainforest stuff. Many of the Bunya Pines were chopped down in the 1800’s for their cedar, but there were still quite a few of them. Absolutely huge trees with soccer ball sized pinecones (nothing that you’d want to drop on your head, mind you) that were believed to be alive in the age of the dinosaurs.
After spending several hours hiking and photographing the area, I returned to my campsite to pack up my tent and head back down the mountain towards my next campsite. Someone tipped me off that a nasty heatwave was moving into the area, and sure enough, I found the temperatures back up over the 100F mark while I was driving my car. I was pleased to find myself being directed back up another mountain range and the temperature dropping fast as I climbed, but only continued on to drop off the other side and into a hot stuffy creek valley where the campsites were located. At least there were some nice places to swim nearby.
Saw yet another bush turkey, but also a huge monitor lizard move though my campsite a few times. The campsite was a reserved one that actually turned out to be nice, shady, relatively private, but just a bit too hot this time.
