Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

Australia’s third-most venomous reptile, a young male tiger snake warming himself
on the trail.
The natural history lesson continues on the second section of the walk, which
connects Lamington National Park with its eastern relative Springbrook. An intense
fragrance in the air turns out to be patch of lemon-scented teatrees. A lattice of
roots around a tree trunk is a strangler fig, imperceptibly killing its host over
decades. And then my second Indiana Jones moment occurs: strung across the
path, one after another, are spider webs 10ft (3m) wide at head height, each
patrolled by a golden orb spider the breadth of my hand.
© Michael Hoeck | Shutterstock
a strangler fig grips its victim
No sooner do we reach the valley floor than we start on the steep climb up to
Springbrook National Park. Michael Hall, who has been a park ranger for 30 years
and is the ranger in charge of Springbrook, explains that people have had as much
influence on the landscapes of the Great Walk as volcanic power. ‘Aboriginal