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This past weekend I took a day trip with the James Cook Student Association to Paluma and Little Crystal Creek. There were about 30 students that went on the trip, a large majority being American. We left campus early in the morning and drove in vans for about an hour. Our first stop was Little Crystal Creek. The creek wasn't all that little if you ask me. There was a large waterfall with swimming holes along the creek. There were also large boulders that you could jump off of. I jumped off of a rock that was about 10 feet high. There was a bigger jump, probably about 25 feet, but I chickened out. I was standing on top of the rock and one of guys told me that I had to jump in the exact spot he was pointing at or else I would land on some large rocks that were hidden under water, and if I didn't jump out far enough then I would hit the ledge of the rock I was jumping off of. That was all I had to hear to decide against taking the jump. The area around Little Crystal Creek was really beautiful. We spent about an hour or so swimming and jumping off the rocks.
After Little Crystal Creek we headed up the road further to Paluma. Paluma is a rain forest area. We went on about a 3 mile hike. The hike started at McClelland's look out which was really neat. There was a big clearing in the trees and you could see for miles and miles. From there we headed up to another look out. Once we entered the rain forest it got about 10 degrees cooler. By the time we were done we were all shivering because we still had wet swimsuits (togs in Australian) on. The sun was barely able to penetrate the tree coverage. The Witt's look out was really beautiful too. It was much higher than the first and you were able to see twice as far. From Witt's we headed to Cloudy Crystal Creek. This was a much tougher hike. The creek is at the bottom of a hill so coming back was quite the work out. Cloudy Creek was just another creek, nothing too special about it. We were told that a lot of people get bite by snakes around the area because they all swim in it and there are water snakes in the creek. After our guide told us that we all decided it was time to leave. There was a big aussie BBQ waiting for us when we got back to camp site. From Paluma we headed back to another swimming hole and cooled off before the ride home. We had one last stop to make and that was at The Frosty Mango. The Frosty Mango is known for it's fabulous ice cream and fresh fruit. That was the prefect way to end the afternoon.
previous travel blog entry
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