Entering the Australian rainforest at Lamington National Park is like stepping back millions of years into one of the ancient epochs when mega marsupials roamed the continent. The rainforest here in winter is cool, but not cold and slightly moist but not dripping. It is lush and green and the calls of its resident birds resound throughout the canopy, bird songs I’d never heard before coming here. The Green Catbirds remind one alternately of cats in a vicious fight or a hysterical, screeching baby. The calls between pairs of Eastern Whipbirds echo around you and if you’re close enough (which is the usual case here) the crescendo ends in a deafening whip-like snap than can make your ears ring. To photograph birds here, I used either my 600mm lens or my 300mm lens so the birds are isolated in the photograph. There is little of the rainforest surroundings evident in the bird shots. So, to give a better feel for our environment here, during one of our afternoon breaks I took about an hour and walked alone into the rainforest using a wide-angle lens. It was a little eerie to be alone and enveloped by the rainforest with its strangler figs and ancient ferns and its unique sounds, none of which were human. While most of the paths meander at ground level, the treetop walk zigzags and sways high amid the lush green canopy.
I’m sure it was comforting in the back of your mind to know that if you just wandered back the way you came you’d be back to comfort and civilization soon. Imagine the isolation the early explorers must have felt being a long way from the settlements of the day. Good renditions of the forest density and vegetation.
Wow- you’ve described it so well- and the photos give me an idea of where you’ve been. Glad a mega wombat or other mega marsupial didn’t show itself ( like Jurassic Park dinosaurs). Very brave to go into the forest alone! Enjoy your last day or two!