LOST IN THE WILDS OF BUDERIM....

The subject line is a slight exaggeration, because we didn't get lost.  But who knew about wild Buderim?   My daughter did and she took me for a walk last week in that extremely populous suburb.  I had heard of the Buderim Forest but never visited before. 

I found it to be very therapeutic and am pleased to have found such a lovely walk which is not too difficult even when you leave the board-walk.

There are steps that are easy to climb... 

although you do need to be careful in some places and when crossing the steam...

The board-walk meanders along and over a gurgling stream before finishing and then you walk up to several waterfalls using the well beaten track. 

There are other board-walks leading elsewhere from the falls.

You can get right down under the falls. Wonder what that's like after heavy rains?

 

Lots of tiny birds were seen high in the canopy but unfortunately, they were too quick and too small in the fading light to get any snaps.  I did manage to take a blurry shot of a green cat bird before he flew off.  We didn't see any snakes or lizards although my daughter has seen lizards there before.  In fact, aside from the birds, it was almost devoid of wildlife that day.

 
Plenty of interesting berries and fruit though.  The blue is a blue quandong and they were everywhere (don't you love that colour?). The red, is one of the lilly pilly varieties but I'm not sure what the tiny yellow fruit is. Perhaps a fig of some sort?

All in all, it's a lovely walk with plenty to interest most people and I will do it again, perhaps when it's a little cooler.

As a bonus, we were treated to a delightful sunset on our way home.

ROO THE DAY IF YOU EAT IT...

 This is the flower of the kangaroo apple or bush tomato which I'd never heard of before visiting Werribee Zoo recently. I noticed it was growing in abundance in the various enclosures and while on the Open Vehicle Adventure Tour, spotted it growing out in the fields.  Rhonda, our driver, kindly advised me of its name.

Some of the fruits were orange but from what I've read they have to be a dark orange to be edible and the green (or unripe) fruit is said to be poisonous.  We also saw them growing at the foot of Hanging Rock the following day although all the fruit was green on those shrubs, perhaps because it is a cooler area.  I read here that the flowers are hermaphrodite.  I haven't found anything to say whether animals eat the fruit although aborigines certainly did and it has a range of medicinal uses as well.