The first time I traveled to Australia, I spent about a week in Cairns. In my hostel, there were free tours and I decided to do two of them. The first one was to the Crystal Cascades, the second one to Mount Whitfield Conservation Park. I had read about the gardens and the park and really wanted to hike there.
An Annoying Travel Companion
During the previous tour to Crystal Cascades, I was with a bunch of girls and one guy from Taiwan, A. He was a bit weird, spending a lot of time taking pictures of us. Since we were at the cascades, we were all in our swimming suits and it felt uncomfortable. Especially because he then posted all of them on social media without asking if we were ok.
Anyway, I had the bad idea to say that I was doing a hike to Mount Whitfield Conservation Park on the next day and he decided to join me. In the end, it was just him, me and the guide.
I tried my best, but the more I was with him, the more I found him annoying.
What To Expect From A Hike In Mount Whitfield Conservation Park?
There Are Several Paths
To visit the park, you have several options, some easier than others, some longer, some shorter. The green arrow path is the most complete to see the conservation park, but also the most difficult.
Since A. hadn’t done any research, he hadn’t realized how long it was and said he’d rather do the shorter hike. However, since I wanted to do the long one, he changed his mind and replied that he could do it, because he had been in the army. He was very proud of that. Despite his so-called training, he really struggled and complained a lot.
How Is The Green Arrow Path?
You start at the botanical gardens. That’s where we parked. Originally, I wanted to see the gardens, but that wasn’t the plan and we might not have had the time to fully enjoy them.
The green arrow path includes a lot of steps. You go up for quite some time. I don’t think it’s that difficult, but it can be intense. Because it was raining a lot, it felt even more challenging. Then, you go down and go back to the botanical gardens.
There are some signs, but I would recommend going with a guide.
What Animals Can You Encounter?
You can see some wild animals, but nothing too big. We saw a few wild turkeys. They look a bit different from the European ones: they are smaller, and the males have a massive yellow thingy jiggling from their neck. To me, it looks like omelette. We also quickly saw a wallaby.
I started to remain behind the guys because A. had brought a speaker and was blasting his electro and pop music in the park. And I hated that. I find the sounds of forests very calming. Also, I thought that because of the noise, no animal would come near us…
Away from him, I could hear crickets and the rain falling on the trees and on us. It was really pouring, we were soaked. A. and the guide removed their shirts and squeezed a lot of water from it. I didn’t because I would have been in my underwear.
What Others Things Could You See In Mount Whitfield Conservation Park?
Despite the rain, we continued. The guide was in front and nearly hit his head on the net of a giant spider. My advice is: never walk in front of the group to avoid weird insects. The guide said that it showed that very few people took that path.
You will also encounter mosquitoes and… leeches. Ugh! At some point, after walking in tall grass, we felt stuff on our ankles. Leeches everywhere! On and in our socks, on our shoes and ankles. I had never seen any that close. They are disgusting! So elastic: you try to pull them away and they extend and slip. And then, you’ve got blood spots all over your socks. Also, once you throw them away, they try to come back and they are incredibly fast!
We finally reached the top of Mount Whitfield. Finally, we went down, back to the botanical gardens, regularly checking our socks. At some point, I found a round white spider in mine…
I enjoyed the hike and the wilderness, but it might be more pleasant in a nicer weather…
To see more photos of Australia, you can visit the gallery Australia.
