Natural Bridge

Another weekend without plans = another day trip to see the beautiful country that is Australia. In March we headed to the Gold Coast Hinterland, which I think I've mentioned before is the forested and often mountainous area just inland from the coast.  It's usually beautiful, lush and many areas have some pretty amazing land formations.  Which is just what we found in the midst of Springbrook National Forest at Natural Bridge.

Formed over millions of years by water tumbling through the roof of a basalt cave, Natural Bridge is a rock arch stretching over Cave Creek and it is a sight to be seen.  Not only is the natural wonder worth the day trip, but the last half hour of the drive there is full of beautiful things to look at as well. Unfortunately those last 30 minutes are on a two-lane, twisty-turney steep road, so there is not much opportunity to take photos.  At least not with the blessing of my husband :)

Once we pulled into the car park for the Natural Bridge, it was everything a rainforest promises to be: dark, wet and wooded.  We set out on foot and here are some of the things we saw along the way...

 We're goin' on a bush walk.

Someone please tell me their smiles get more natural the older they get!

Beautiful babbling brook.

 Apologies for the blurry photo, but couldn't help but share that a 

photo shoot was happening while we were here.  

 Cute little family on a cute little bridge.

And there it is.  Magnificent in person.  Not sure the photos do it adequate justice.

Heading into the cave, where there is a large colony of glow worms.  

Too bad you can only see them at night!

 From the inside looking out.

See Natural Bridge, check.

From the top looking down.

A little friend we found along the way. 

And we out.

I had honestly forgotten how perfect the day was until I got back to these photos of our picnic at Apple Tree Park on our way to Best of All Lookout.  It was one of those adventures where we took the day at our own pace and had the opportunity to relax. There was no schedule to keep, no one to please, and nothing went wrong.  The kids were good, the weather was good, the family time was at it's best.

 Bringing some American football to Oz.

 Marin and our picnic spread.  I think we're getting this down.

Who can have a play at the park without bubble time?

Once our bellies were full, we headed on to the lookout.  It's called Best of All lookout for a reason, because on a clear day you can see the Gold Coast all the way to Byron Bay.  I'm sure it's phenomenal, but when we arrived it was completely socked in (foggy).  We stayed for a good 15 minutes watching the clouds move, and were finally able to get this shot, but as you can tell, while breathtaking, it wasn't all that we had hoped for.  Oh well.  Still a fun and successful day!

Overall, this area would be high on my list to take visitors.  It showcases a lot of what the hinterland is about with beautiful country driving, great lookouts, rainforest and waterfalls.  You can bet we'll be back sometime in the future.