Glasshouse Mountains

On June 20 a group of us visited the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane in the area of the Sunshine Coast, and hiked to the top of Mount Ngun Ngun.  The Glasshouse Mountains are old volcanic plugs and were named by Captain Cook who fancied a resemblance to the glass furnaces he had known in England.  These mountains are visible from a long ways away and are, most of them, now national parks.  There are eleven of them and the tallest is Mount Beerwah at 556 meters.

On the hike we saw our first Australian native orchid in bloom, a tiny terrestrial "Helmet Orchid," Corybas barbarae and we saw our first Banksia in bloom, the Hairpin Banksia with its distinctive golden-orange bottlebrush flowers.  The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny, the company was great, friends and family, and we would love to go back and do more hiking among these wonderful and delightful peaks.

trailhead

unidentified mushroom

 Mount Tibrogargan

 Hairpin Banksia

 young Grass-tree

Grass-tree flowers

 unidentified tree

 Mount Tibrogargan

 Mount Tunbubudia (?)

Mount Coonowrin and Mount Beerwah

 Wall Skink (?)

 Mount Coonowrin and Mount Beerwah

Eucalyptus

 Helmet Orchid

 wife

Mount Tibrogargan at sunset