28 April, 2012
Blue Mountains Tour
We took the train a few hours west to the Blue Mountains. It was a beautifully clear day, so the sometimes misty mountains were very visible. We had a fabulous guide, Dindy, from the National Park Services who gave us a great ecological hiking tour down an enormous canyon into temperate rainforest! If you are trying to imagine it and have hiked Watkins Glen gorge, think 10X deeper and greener and you are coming close.
The most important and amazing sighting (for me anyway, as an animal behaviorist) was seeing a lyrebird scratching through the leaf litter. It has the most beautiful song and amazing mating display. It is so gratifying to see in person for the first time an animal that you have described in class so many times. There is a wonderful video on youtube from the BBC that is part of Attenborough's Life of Birds, I believe that shows the behaviors of the lyrebird.
Other wonderful things were primitive tree ferns hundreds of years old, cascading waterfalls, eucalyptus trees, cockatoos and parrots flying overhead, and majestic sandstone formations.
Students had a great time hiking the trails and taking the steepest railcar ride in the world back up to the top. We have an enthusiastic and engaged group and that makes all the difference!
Lynn G
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