Noosa Everglades

It took me the better part of four months to finally get around to doing this. The Everglades had been on my Noosa to-do list for ages, and I honestly don’t know why it took me this long.
I joined a tour and immediately felt like I was bringing down the average age of the group — until I remembered I’m not exactly that young anymore to be smug about it… 😁

The bus picked us up in Noosa and took us out to Habitat Noosa, a campsite set right on the shore of Lake Cootharaba. That’s the lake you cross to enter the Everglades. It’s surprisingly shallow — only about 1.5 metres at its deepest point — so theoretically you could walk across it if you wanted to. The water ranges from orange to red to deep brown, like a strongly brewed cup of English Breakfast. The Melaleuca and Manuka tea-tree forests surrounding the lake release tannins into the water, giving it that intense colour.

Now, about the Everglades. The region is one of only two everglades systems in the world — the famous one in Florida, and this one in Noosa. Unlike Florida’s, the Noosa Everglades are not known to host resident crocodiles. (There have been the occasional reported croc sightings in the broader Noosa area over the years, but wildlife authorities haven’t confirmed any living in the Everglades themselves.)

We cruised up the waterways, soaking in the quiet, mirror-still scenery. The guides pointed out wildlife whenever something interesting appeared. Apart from two species of birds (no idea which ones — your guess is as good as mine), the absolute highlight was spotting two koalas!

The first little guy, with his tiny claw over his mouth, was incredibly hard to see. It took us about fifteen minutes of squinting into the trees to make sure everyone had spotted him. Yes, I was last… 😁
On the way back he’d shifted into a different tree, which made him much easier to find.

The Everglades water is so still and tea-tree-oil rich that it turns into a perfect natural mirror. Pictures 13 and 14 are actually upside down — what you see is just the reflection.

For whatever reason, one guy on the tour had a bee that just decided to sit on his shoulder like a tiny pet parrot for most parts of the tour. That’s the story behind picture 15.

Towards the end of the tour, before crossing the lake again, we hopped off the boat for a short 400-metre bushwalk. And guess what? We saw another young koala!

After our tiny walk, we headed back to Habitat Noosa — which is basically kangaroo central. The kangaroos show up constantly to graze on the grass and socialise.

To sum it all up: today I saw beautifully serene nature, tea-tree-coloured waterways, and not one but two iconic Aussie animals - 2 koalas and 17 kangaroos. I’m still pretty elated about all of it — and yes, still slightly disappointed that I didn’t see a single snake… 😁 Czytaj więcej