Lizards And Leeches. . . Oh My

Jolly's Lookout

Paul had last Tuesday off and we drove to D’Aguilar National Park which is just west of Brisbane. Paul wanted to do some walking in the rain forest. It had rained a bit in the morning but Paul said that it would make the forest nice and cool. We drove to Jolly's Lookout. Here is what the D’Aguilar National Park has to say about Jolly's Lookout:
         Named after Brisbane's first Lord Mayor, William Jolly, this lookout offers expansive
          views of Moreton Island, Samford Valley and the Glass House Mountains. The Mayor
          was so taken with the view that he agreed to build a road to the lookout for better access

From the lookout we headed out on the Thylogale walking track which takes you through subtropical rainforest.

Thylogale Walking Track

The first ten minutes were quite lovely. The forest was damp and cool, a nice change from the hot sun of the morning. Everything was lush and glistening from the recent rain. And then Paul told me to look at my feet. I looked down to see these inch-worm like creatures crawling up my shoes and ankles. Some were steadily heading to the bare skin above my socks. Others were trying to descend through the mesh of my shoes. The closer I looked the more I saw. And what were these creatures? Land Leeches.

Upon discovering there were critters crawling up my legs so they could suck my blood

Yes, dear readers it seems it is not enough for Australia to have snakes, spiders and jelly fish that can poison you (not that I have seen any. . .yet) and crocodiles that will devour you. Australia is also home to blood sucking leeches that live on land. The land leeches commonly reside in the rainforest underbrush in damp areas. And after a rain they are very hard to avoid. The leeches have suckers on both ends. Usually I would get one end unstuck and then it would suction on to my fingers. I wasn't as talented at flinging them as Paul seemed to be.

Leech on my ankle and a couple on the shoes if you look closely

Once I had divested my self of the first batch, I continued along carefully avoiding brushing up against any leaves or branches. It didn't make a difference. A short while later I check my ankles and once again there were leeches looking for their next meal.

a drier part of the forest

The rest of the walk had a periodically stopping and swiping off leeches. Luckily there were sections of the trail that went through drier forest and the leeches were not as prevalent. The only other wildlife we saw was a skink. I managed to get a picture.

Skink

We decided not to return to the car via the trail because of the leeches. Instead we walked back the road which was leech free. Surprisingly I managed to avoid being actually bitten. Paul wasn't as lucky and he had two bite marks on his ankles. Next time we go to the rainforest I am wearing pants and long socks. 

a beautiful gnarled tree trunk