It was a lovely leisurely day on Sunday and in the afternoon we decided to go to Mapleton Falls National Park for a walk. The falls carpark was only 5 kms from home (it wasn't a waterbag trip by any means) and we didn't get there until after 2. For the first time, we put a harness on Rebecca to prevent her wandering too far away because we didn't take the pram with us. She kept looking down at the straps and initially tried to get them off but eventually she got used to it. We were hoping that the steady rain we had on the Friday would have the falls running again because we'd been told they tend to dry up during the winter.
We all walked down to the lookout after parking the car. It was a platform which reached out over this precipice the likes of which I hadn't seen for a long time. I couldn't even go near the edge. It reminded me of the Nullabour cliffs and the sheer drop, although not into the ocean. It was a long way down so Steve took some photos for me which just don't do the 'sheer drop' justice. Obviously the helicopter flying is working for him because he said he's used to seeing things from that height. The falls were running but we'd been told that they look really spectacular around Christmas time so we may have to revisit them then.
We walked the shortest track called the Wompoo Circuit which went for less than a kilometre. Another track called the Great Walk joins the Mapleton Falls NP with Mapleton NP and is a 4km round trip. Steve and I thought we might do that with the pram while Erin is at school one day because it looked more pram friendly. We walked through palm forests, past giant figs and around the hillside. Everything was damp and dark but the rainforest was amazing. We all had sensible footwear on (thongs) although Rebecca did have closed toed shoes on. 
While walking along, Erin got a leech on her ankle and was in a frenzy trying to get it off (lets see if you can imagine it). The leech was only the size of a thin piece of string and she got rid of it but I must admit I was watching our legs from then on. We know we're in Queensland because the national park signage gives tips for removing leeches. Great!! Along a drier section of track I noticed these thick white webs which belonged to the Whistling spider (or Australian Bird-eating Spider). Oh yes I have done my research and found out about the thing that creeps me out the most so was quick to walk past. They just seemed to be in rock crevasses along the track. We sat at another lookout which was adjacent to the other one but wasn't nearly as scary. It was dedicated to a man who had some connection with watching birds of prey in the area and the seat had a nice plaque on it.
The walk took us over an hour with Rebecca walking most of the way except for a few shoulder rides from Steve. We didn't see any animals but I can imagine there would be quite a few around during late afternoon and early morning. That night we all did a 'tick check' which becomes an essential procedure after bushwalking up here. Erin had one crawling around in her hair last weekend after her friend's birthday party. We had walked through long grass on the council verge to get to her house and that's generally where you can pick them up. There were no hitchhikers on us this day though. The next morning however, Rebecca woke up with a couple of huge lumps on her hand from bites. She couldn't help herself and liked picking up everything off the ground along the track. We weren't sure what it was but the area had swollen up like a blister. A trip to the local pharmacy for some 'stingoes' type cream helped to stop the itching. So our Sunday stroll was generally a great success although coming from Adelaide, one tends to feel like you're in the jungles of the Congo compared to what we are used to down south (as creepy crawlies go).
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