Forest Flying

Thursday, July 12, 2012

We are now in Mackay, Australia.  Adam had a meeting here after Brisbane, so the kids and I are really getting to see the sites.

0.2 Meter sign by the creek

It was a rainy day, but we still managed to have a great adventure.  We headed towards the Eungella National Forest.  We were going to go Forest Flying, zipping lining through the rainforest.  It took over an hour to get out to the middle of nowhere.  We passed fields of sugar cane and eventually came to the rainforest.  It was especially fun since this was my first time driving on the"wrong side of the road" and on the "wrong side of the car".  The GPS on my phone did a good job getting us there.  It just lost the route at the end.  The owner of Forest Flying said we would have to cross a small creek in order to get to their property.  She said it would be no problem.  When we got to it, the kids and I had to stop and contemplate crossing it for a while.  It was 0.2 meters high.  We were in a four door rented sedan.  Where was my truck when I needed it?  We decided to go for it.  The kids rolled down their windows to watch the water.  They said it reached about half-way up the tires.  Thankfully we made it.  After crossing the "small"   creek we had to cross a few more before we got there. 

This one wasn't mentioned.  We thought it was the small one.

This the small creek we had to cross.

Finally, we made it to the site.  We had to open two gates, drive up a very steep muddy hill,  park in the grass, and walk the path into the woods.  Donna, the owner, came to meet us.  She put us in our harnesses which had built in seats.  We practiced about 10 feet about the ground on the practice run before heading 80 feet above the ground.  We wore gloves because our hands were used as the brakes.

 Dagan went first, then Sydney and then me.  It was a neat experience to view the forest from above.  The trees were beautiful.  On the second run, we saw lots of fruit bats.  They were hanging from the branches.  They are rather large.  Sydney also had a palm branch land on the cable behind her, so I had to move it when I got there.  They are much heavier than they look.  Surprisingly, we didn't get super wet because the branches of the trees worked like umbrellas.  You got the most wet when your body brushed against the palm branches.  I would have loved to get some pictures while we were doing this, but didn't want to bring my camera out in the rain.