Taz Day 2—The Top of the World

Today we got up and took what should have been a quick morning walk around the grounds of the Resort—except that five minutes in, we heard a rustling in the bush and had to stop and see what it was. As we stood there, absolutely silent, a padymelon emerged to nibble on moss right on the side of the walking trail. He seemed totally unperturbed by the beeping of our cameras or our whispers. We’d only been awake for half an hour, and already had some great pictures:

Then with hungry tummies, we headed inside to make the most of our complimentary breakfast, determined to ‘eat back’ the money the Grey Gum had stolen from us the night before. Which was actually harder than I thought it’d be. This was not a muffin and cereal bar that you’d find in a Best Western—this breakfast buffet had eggs and bacon and hash browns and sausage and French toast and lots and lots of fruit, and, baked beans and spaghetti—apparently an Aussie breakfast staple. Go figure.

After breakfast, we decided to check out the Devil’s Gullet, just because we were curious about the name. It was a long, slow mountain drive, followed by a fairly steep climb, but here’s the view from the top:

If Table Cape was the edge of the world, Devils Gullet was the top. We stood on this metal platform that hung out over the edge of the cliff. Far down below were bits of broken rock, the pieces that had fallen over the thousands of years past. Water had carved its way through the mountains back then, but now had dwindled to a small river hidden by the trees. It was easy to imagine herds of dinosaurs roaming through the trees, pterodactyls gliding over the mountain tops. It’s the things like this that remind you how small and insignificant you really are.

After leaving the Gullet, we headed to King Solomon’s cave—only to miss the tour by five minutes. So we raced to Karapooka cave for their 3 o’clock tour, but were talked into waiting for the 4 o’clock tour as it was easier to navigate. We were not disappointed:

And as if the impressive stallagtites and underground rivers were impressive enough, at the very end of the tour our guide turned out the lights. Overhead, hundreds of tiny green lights dotted the ceiling—glow worms! We weren’t allowed to take pictures because it makes the worms stop glowing, but you’ll just have to take my word for it—it was awesome!

We were the last tour for the day and the guide was closing everything down, but was still kind enough to help us with directions back to the resort. We traveled through Paradise:

And then through a town called Sheffield that’s famous for its murals. We chased the sunset from there:

And ordered room service for dinner back at the resort. It seems this is the way to go: I got a huge chicken and avocado sandwich with fries and a salad for the price of my 1 ounce entrée the night before. Yay!