The Accidental Hike in North Tambourine

I will start off with a confession.  When our family goes on bush walks we show up prepared.  We have the appropriate clothing, including footwear, plenty of water and some snacks. I confess that have judged those whom we have seen out in thongs and a skirt and I have judged them to be less intelligent than myself.  Now I get it.

So the day started off normally and after a while of hanging around at our accommodation, A and I opted to go for a walk up around the local lake.  There were no plans for the day that involved us and we wanted to see the Gold Coast.

We wandered off and sure enough we stumbled up signs for a women's health expo.  We're women, we like to be healthy. Done.  So we hit the expo and it is just rooms and rooms all full of vendors and SWAG! SO. MUCH. FREE. STUFF.  We tasted probiotic concoctions, we got free pens, free toothbrushes, candy, water, glass nail files (shanks?), crayons, juice, FUDGE and so much more.

Then we get a call from the men in our party, apparently we are part of an expedition heading out for the day and they are coming to pick us up. So we hop in the car and we are off. Do we need our wallets? Well too bad as the blokes don't have house keys.  Footloose and fancy free we set off for what we are told is a trip to a local town that is a *must see*. 

It turns out the first stop is a family lunch so we ducked out by grabbed the car and headed in to the local town.  At least we thought it was the local town.  After driving past the restaurant a couple of extra times about 10 minutes apart in our search for *the* town we found *a* town and just went with it. We stopped in to the local IGA to purchase lunch.  The deli counter ladies were lovely. They cut us up some cheese and meat and even sliced the rolls for us. #winning We picked out some fruit and hit the check out.

So it turns out that in *this* town they can't accept tap and pay from my phone at the grocery store and that is the only payment method that we have between us.  Uh oh.  Don't worry, leaving our groceries at the cash and walking out wasn't the most embarrassing part. NOT AT ALL.

The most embarrassing part was when we were in line at Subway ordering our lunch (we checked to be sure they took tap and pay) and one of the lovely women who served us at the deli got in line right behind us and made eye contact.  Yup, there it is.  If we could have melted in to the floor we would have.

Humbled, and with subs in hand we drove to a lovely look out spot to eat and...

admired the lovely view.

I can't imagine how amazing it would be to live here.  The views on a daily basis would just be incredible. Would you get tired of it?  I mean, that would suck.  If THIS vista become boring then I feel like it would take a lot to top it.

 Here's A catching an amazing panoramic shot.

With time still to burn and there not being much to do in *this* town (why did people say it was a *must see*?) we opted in to a bush walk.  In to the woods we headed with our thongs on

So we hiked the Cedar Falls Track in Mt Tambourine National Park.  Keep in mind that taipans, pythons and paralyzing ticks live here. The Australians say that it is a "class 3" hike. No bother. Thongs, a singlet and a skirt it is. Now I understand.  To be fair, I have a blister on the back of my heel from the Spartan Race anyhow, so it isn't like any other footwear is even an option.

 The trees here were pretty cool.  This one fell over and took a boulder the size of a small car with it in it's roots.

This tree here...well...it was dark and mossy at the bottom with a ball like lump coming out of the side...and the it went straight up, with a slight curve, right up the sky.  It's possible that we laughed so hard we cried...

I would love to know what was going on above.  It just looked nifty.  Clearly that meant that I needed to be in the photo with it!

 Finally, we found the waterfalls.  Quick, I need to get a selfie with the falls!!

 LOOK!  A WATERFALL!!

It was shortly after this that our party realized that after wandering around *the* town that they had not yet caught so much as a glimpse of us.  So we drove 15 minutes to meet them, passing the restaurant once more for good measure, only to discover that *the* town was 3 minutes away from the town that we had been hanging around in. It is fair to say that I understand pretty clearly why we were not asked for directions even once more for the rest of the trip.