CC-IUCN-Youth: A Very Friendly Cockatoo- By Mila

After the Congress, I had one final day in Australia before heading home to the rain, exams and assignments that await in Vancouver. I embarked upon a journey to the Blue Mountains National Park with a group of about 10 young people from Canada, Australia, the US and the Netherlands. We stayed in the town of Katoomba, which is only about a two-hour train ride from Sydney. My main desire for the trip was to go on a hike and experience some real Australian wilderness. The day ended up being exactly the refresher we all needed after eight days straight of intense thinking, listening and discussing.

We started our hike at Echo Point and the Three Sisters, which were both beautiful spots but swarming with tourists. However, as I usually find is the case with popular park areas, it only took about ten minutes of hiking to escape the crowds. The Blue Mountains National Park is a vast landscape of dense, rolling forest surrounded by dramatic outcrops and sheer cliffs. The view extended as far as the eye could see and reminded me of the immense size of protected areas and how integral they really are for the health of our planet. We descended a set of steep stairs to the valley bottom, constantly listening to the loud squawks produced by nearby birds. Having two Australian Scout leaders along was very handy because they were able to tell us about all of the wildlife, plants and sounds we encountered along the way. We saw two Lyre birds, which were brown and white with long tail feathers (to the Scout leaders’ dismay, us Canadians mistakenly thought they were peacocks at first). Lyre birds are an iconic species of the New South Wales region and can be seen on their Parks & Wildlife emblem, so we felt pretty lucky to stumble across them in the wild. We also saw a blue-tongued water dragon and many, many colourful birds. One thing that was immediately obvious about the forest of the Blue Mountains was that it is host to an immense level of biological diversity; we came across countless types of vegetation, birds and insects during just a few hours in the bush.

At one point, we found a large boulder and all climbed it. After being there for just a few moments, a cockatoo flew over and spent about the next 15 minutes hanging out with us. It came within inches of each of us and was repeating the word “hello!” We were completely in awe and took a number of cockatoo selfies and videos. This was an experience that even the Australian Scout leaders had never had. On the hike back out of the valley, we crossed many streams and small waterfalls with microclimates that were much wetter and more rainforest-like than the rest of the hike. They also felt a lot cooler and provided a nice break from the hot temperatures everywhere else.

Australian hospitality was ever-present that night because the Aussies in the group put on a barbeque for the rest of us in a local park. They cooked all the works- sausages, veggie burgers, and kangaroo meat, and showed us that it’s only a real Australian burger if it has beetroots and pineapple on it. I tried a small piece of kangaroo meat (the first time I’d eaten meat in quite some time), because with my vegetarianism I have always told myself that if it’s something I’ve never tried before, I’ll try it. Kangaroos are only hunted in Australia if their populations are too high and they need to be culled, so it is considered to be sustainable eco-friendly meat. Our hosts topped off the night with Tim Tams and eucalyptus sweets that we ate under the stars and reflected upon the day. I really can’t imagine a more perfect final day in Australia!