Lizards, Monkeys and Turtles, Oh my . . .

So we set out to Macritchie Trails.  It is a nature reserve and there are trails winding about.  On the start, there are nice paved walkways and a lot of people picnicking and visiting.  Then the trails get more adventurous.  We are not an outdoorsy family.  Our idea of camping is putting up our tent (that's right, we own one) in our backyard and camping out there.  Although we have heard strange noises even back there that have scared us.  In my defense, we have seen two deer and foxes in our backyard before.  And well, don't even get me started on how freaky I think possums are.  UGH. 

So off we go, my little hiking family.  Me, in my very earthy, I like to hike shirt, which is hot pink.  Um, guess I should have worn something that blended with nature a little better.  We have a bridge we want to see that looks really cool in the books so we set our sights to walk there.  We decide what trail we want to take and since there are several, the one we are on (the longest) isn't very crowded.  So we have to get to Tree Top Trail.  M is hauling our backpack full of water and food since there is no McD's on this route.  This is going to be quite a hike.

We walk for hours before we come to the Tree Top Trail yet right before we get on the bridge, we see this cool giant lizard.

Keylime is taking a picture of him. 

Then I am thinking, um ranger man, where ever you are, do you know there is a lizard just walking around with people around?  A local person walks past us and makes a hissing noise at the lizard and now the lizard hisses back (um, thanks guy, cause that makes me feel that I have my seven-year old now taking a picture of an attack lizard.)  He looked kinda cute and cuddly before then. 

So we get to the bridge entrance.  It is a free standing suspension bridge that connects the two highest points on the reservoir.  There are all kinds of warning signs before we enter the bridge. 

• Branches and trees may fall.  Take Care. 
• Walk single file and only go forward, only one direction on the bridge.
• Do not turn around. 
• Only 30 people on the bridge at one time (wait a minute, is that 30 kids or 30 adults?  Exactly how strong is this bridge?) 
• Silence is golden (Um, I don't think this is a good match for us.) 
• My personal favorite was . . . if you come across a snake (you know, dangling from the really long, tall, single-file, and wobbly bridge.) here is what you should do.  It says to be quiet, back slowly away, don't make any sudden movements, and slowly walk away.   (My instincts, of course, would have me doing the opposite of all of this.) Then let the ranger (you know the one that is sitting at the beginning of this very long bridge.) know about the snake. 

Well, we have walked hours so there is no turning back now.  So walk on the Tree Top Bridge we go. 

It is long and high above the group of trees. 

There is a roping along the sides.  (not metal but rope.)

The girls want to lean on the sides, I practically scream

(although that would be breaking a bridge rule.)

 M was lagging a little behind on this one.  The bridge swung in the wind so the treetops and the bridge were both moving.  Nothing but a long way down when you looked. 

(Rember this H . . . isn't into height)

It was amazing!  Even M said he would do it again.  It was a little freaky though.  I am pretty sure if we would have seen a snake on the bridge that would have changed our opinion but we loved it! 

Right after we left the bridge we came across a family of monkeys.  I should have taken a picture of the whole monkey family.  They were just hanging around, eating berries in a tree.  Well, I guess just being monkeys then.  I took this picture with my inexpensive Canon Powershot and that is how close they were to us.  They were so very cute. 

And to complete our trifecta of animals, we saw a turtle as we were coming back off the trail.  I won't mention the giant ants (didn't even want to take a picture of those.) and the squirrel (since we have too many of those at home.)

We walked almost 12 kilometers (that's right I'm using the metric system.  It sounds longer when you say/type it that way.  You will have to do your own conversion.  Or get an app on your phone, like I did.) 

So instead of lions, tigers and bears, oh my. 

Our journey was lizards, monkyes and turtles, oh my! 

TIE DYE'S 10TH BIRTHDAY IS THIS WEEK.  JULY 27 (WHICH COMES 13 HOURS EARLIER FOR HER HERE.)  IF YOU HAVE A MINUTE, LEAVE HER A BIRTHDAY MESSAGE ON HER PAGE THIS WEEK.