Last week when the surf was bad I felt like I want to go for a little hike. I always have to do anything as I can´t sit around doing nothing. Most of the time there is at least a few little waves to surf but then there are these days where its flat and simply impossible to surf. That´s when I go out and explore the region.
Last week I decided one morning that I want to hike a little and do something for my legs. Since Mount Coolum is just around the corner and only a 5 minute drive away it was an easy decision. Mount Coolum is one if not the most popular Mountain on the sunshine coast to hike. Many people come here every day, some to explore the forest and the mountain and some just for the physical challenge. Some people struggle to make it to the top and some do it twice or even three times. It´s a really good place to train.
It was a beautiful morning with lots of sunshine and almost no clouds, so I brought my camera with me in the hopes to see some wildlife up there. I´ve been on this mountain a few times in the past but since I haven´t used my legs that often in the past weeks I started to feel them after the first steps through the forest. :)
It´s actually a pretty easy walk and the sign says that it will take 2 hours return. In fact, if you´re fit and don´t have any problems with your feet you can easily do it in 1 hour. The walk starts with a beautiful stroll through a forest. As it was still morning and felt a bit cold without the sun but that changed quickly when I left the trees behind me.
After only 10 minute walk through the forest the first steps appear but these first ones are still easy to manage.
After a while these steps are getting steeper and without the trees that protect you from the mean australian sun it gets quite exhausting. But as soon as you have managed some really steep steps you get rewarded with a first glimpse on to the beautiful coastline.
As I turned around again to continue my walk up tot the top I realised that it was still a bit of a walk. Not as steep as before but also not that easy to walk since the path is very slippery from the dust and uneven. You definitely have to watch your steps otherwise you will get a nice ligament strain. :)
Until here there was no wildlfe unfortunately. I only heard all these birds chirp but haven´t seen any since they are so small and quick.
As I reached the top and one goo lookout I finally was able to get a shot of a bird. No idea what kind of bird but I still like that photo and the view on to the beaches down there and the small Mudjimba island in the distance were amazing. Thats why I liked it that much up here you can see so far and that whole coastline is so beautiful.
Also found another bird hiding in the bushes but he did not want to come out.
From up here I saw that the waves are getting a bit better and bigger so I was getting nervous again as I really wanted to surf that day. On the other hand I was a bit disappointed that I haven´t seen any wildlife apart from the bird. If you follow me closely you know that I love wildlife and that I usually quite lucky when it comes to spot wildlife.
This time someone else was quicker than me, lucky for me because I wouldn't have discovered it this time. I heard a woman scream while I was sitting on a rock enjoying the view. I immediately grabbed my camera ran over and there she was...a beautiful Carpet Python, at least thats what I thought it is. It definitely wasn´t a dangerous snake. She was already on the run and starting to disappear in the bushes but I managed to get some shots of her.
Awesome, now it was a perfect morning and I got what I was looking for. As said many times I´m always lucky when it comes to wildlife. If you go on a hike with me I guarantee you wildlife as I´m the wildlife magnet :) haha just joking. That moment reminded my at south africa where a cape cobra dropped right in front of my feet while hiking...wasn´t that nice of a experience.
Anyway, I got my photos and tried to get down that mountain as quickly as possible to catch some waves before lunchtime. I know, its crazy but I need that.
As you can imagine getting down wasn´t as easy as expected especially with lots of people coming towards me. I was quite happy when I was back in the forest as it was heating up quickly...although its winter now.
That was such a great morning walk and the surf session I had after that was pretty cool as well although waves were still pretty small. Unfortunately not every day starts like this but thats ok because otherwise it would probably get boring at one point.
Hopefully the weather on the upcoming weekend will be nice so we can go out and explore a different area. There is plenty of National Parks, waterfalls, hikes and mountains that want to get explored.
you will find this post on pinmapple as well
[//]:# (!pinmapple -26.56241 lat 153.08455 long Climbing the most popular Mountain on the Sunshine Coast d3scr)
