Day 135 We started our morning as usual, coffee and breakfast. We then headed for Curtis Falls. It was a very nice hike. The path basically never left the side of the creek. There were a few very small falls along the way creating rock pools. It was not the best trail for location however. The return leg of the hike was very close to the main mountain access road, so we could hear the cars and the occasional truck struggling up the incline.
From there we drove to the Glow Worm Caves. They were a side attraction at one of the local wineries. We got there and signed up for the next tour. The tour guide a pretty funny bloke took us into the "man made" rainforest. This particular forest was started 12 years ago, and along with the caves was built for the Glow Worms. These worms were just fascinating. They have been around some 60 million years, and were doing great till tourism. They are now only found in Australia and New Zealand. They are very sensitive to pretty much everything, white light, touch, noise, even people breathing on them. We walked through a red light lit corridor and into the cave. It is pitch black, except for tiny red lights down the center of the path. In order for us to see each other we were given glow in the dark necklaces. Anyway you walk in and it is like the stars on a clear night up north. Thousands of teeny little glowing dots, some brighter than others. The brightness can depend on the worms hunger factor or its size. The little ones you can see glow but they are invisible otherwise. The worms glow to attract food. Their bioluminescent light is the most efficient light on the planet as it is 99% light, 1% heat. Compare that to an energy saver light bulb that creates 10% light, 90% heat. Their light genes have even been used in cancer research. The gene is fused with cancer cells and put back in the body. When they test drugs on the cells the light either fades or not depending on whether the drug is affective. They live on the cave walls and ceilings, in what looked like tiny hammocks. The tour guide lit one up with a red night light. Hanging in front of the hammocks were little inch long strands of silk spit up by the worm to catch the attracted insects. Because the cave had doors the guides go out every morning and catch insects in butterfly nets and release them in the cave. The insects think the glow worms are stars and try to fly away but end up in the silk. The worm sheds its skin 4 times in a year to reach maturity, eating as much as it can before it turns into a mosquito like insect. During this transformation it loses its digestive system and replaces it with a reproductive one. They then live for about 48 hours, reproducing for 30 of that and spending the rest laying 130 or so individual eggs. Sounds like a lesson but it's crazy when you think about it. We had lunch after the cave and fit in one more hike at the Palm Grove Trail. This was on the other side of the mountain facing the Gold Coast. You could clearly see all the high rise buildings of the busy coast from this secluded mountain plateau. The walk was as cool as all the others. We did however see a massive Black Bean tree which was astounding. The Black Bean tree seed has also been linked to cancer research as it contains an enzyme that is used as a suppressant. Some of the biggest trees in the forest started out as vines. They wrap themselves around other trees grow all around them till the wrapped up tree gets smothered and dies. We missed having a BBQ for breakfast so for the night we headed back to the Knoll.