WHEN A BUSHWALK GOES WRONG
ON a sunny June morning, my husband and I are walking at a decent clip through Lamington National Park’s World Heritage-listed rainforest, our favourite place to hike. It’s our first getaway since Queensland’s initial pandemic lockdowns, and we feel emotional and grateful to be once again immersed in these enchanting, ancient forests.
As we descend anticlockwise along the 21.8km Albert River Circuit track, about 8.5km from our starting point near O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, I step on a flat, damp, leaf-covered rock and proceed without issue. Tony, however, traipses on it in a slightly different place, slips, and hits the ground.
“Are you ok?” I ask. Accustomed to at least one of us slipping or tripping at least once during just about every bushwalk we’ve done over the past 20 years, I wait for him to confirm, as usual, that he’s fine.
“No,” he grimaces. “I heard a
