Organic Pete, Tics and Big Trees

Am back in Byron Bay just south of the Queensland border. I was warned that Queensland is not as good as NSW and I have to agree. The coastal developments are all a little too highrise. The Sunshine Coast though nice is glutted with cheap and tacky apartments. Inland however the National Parks are beautiful with collections of waterfalls and rainforests to explore. Last Sunday after leaving Nambour we stayed at an Eco village called Crystal Waters, about halfway between Maleney and Donningvale. We were looking for some work in return for accomodation and food but none was available. The next day we headed for Kennilworth State forest to check out some huge trees we had heard of. We stopped by a river near the forest at which point I heard a cry of distress from Evelyn. She had discovered one of the downsides to rambling through rainforests, a tic, a tiny little parastic insect which burrows into your skin, sucks your blood and possibly leaves nasty diseases after it drops off. Then started a frantic bodily search for more of the little buggers. After about 3/4 of an hour we had discovered at least 15 on Evelyn and only one on me. Arghh


Kennilworth State Forest was amazing. We went on a short walk called fig tree walk where there were trees that must have been thousands of years old. Some of the trees had trunks with a girth larger than a double decker bus. Trully amazing stuff. We then spent Monday night in a camp site within the forest where I hardly got any sleep. We had cooked dinner and as usual I don't bother washing up till morning. I stacked all my dirty steel cooking equipment by a tree and we retired to the tent. As soon as we turned off the light I could hear movement outside the tent. The animals had awakened. Specifically a gang of pesky bush turkeys spent the next 10 hours or so doing their best to scrape whatever food they could find off my pots and pans. However in the process they put up such a racket I almost went mad. I got up in the morning to find stuff spread everywhere and our rubbish bag torn open and the contents strewn. One bush turkey was still hacking at a plastic container which in fact contained no food but the turkey was intent on destroying it and had in fact manage to crack the lid by hammering it for hours with it's sturdy beak. If Evelyn hadn't been Vegetarian we may have had strangled turkey for breakfast.


The next day we called in at Eumundi to stay with "Organic" Pete, a Vegan / Fruitarian surfer who was transforming a property back into rainforest. A trully nice guy who lent us surfboards and didn't work us too hard in the garden at all. We weeded and mulched, cleaned up and even built a primitive shed out of tree cuttings. However if you are a meat eater then beware, Pete pulls no punches in informing you of the evils of your ways. The food he cooks is delicious. I can thoroughly recommend taking a handfull of macadamia nuts and throwing them in a blender with a little bit of lemon juice and water to make a delicious sauce to go over salad or potatoes ( or dare I say a nice juicy steak. ) With the delicious food comes a history lesson in the culinary habits of people, whales, monkeys and anything else that walks or once did walk this fine planet of ours. A bit full on but his heart is in the right place. Four nights there was enough for me to feel guilty about coveting a meaty dinner so after some discussion decided to head on back to Byron where we are trying to find Evelyn a surfboard to come shredding with me.

Catchya all.

B