Lamington National Park

We've now crossed the border into the state of Queensland.  We've covered about one third of our total trip up the east coast of Australia to Cairns in northern Queensland.  Unfortunately, we are already used up 1/2 of our 4 weeks of car rental.  So we'll have to pick up the pace from here on in.

The first town we passed through was called Texas, appropriately enough.  We'd already seen two cattle stations named Wyoming in New South Wales.

After the deprivation of the last few days and because rain was in the forecast, we decided to treat ourselves to a few days at Lamington National Park's O'Reilly's Nature Retreat, a bird watcher's mecca just across the Queensland border.

Unfortunately Google Maps decided to send us up a 4WD track.  When we reached the end of the pavement there was a sign noting "road closed, flood damage." So we had to drive back for 45 minutes and then take the winding single track paved route to the resort.

Our home for a few days 

Luxury, we liked the aboriginal design on our many fluffy pillows.

As soon as we arrived we headed out the elevated walkway that takes you up into the canopy for a bird's eye view of the landscape.  No birds at this time of day but a great view to the valley below.

The bird to see here is Albert's lyrebird, to be found only in this small corner of Queensland.  It differs slightly from the superb Lyrebird in that its tail feathers are not as large or fancy. Leo got a glimpse of one, but though we returned to the same spot several times we were out of luck

The resort feeds the birds, so crimson rosellas, Australian king parrots, and regent bower birds hang around and beg food.  This seems like cheating to me, but we were able to get photos of birds we'd already seen in the wild.  And after all, we feed the birds in our backyard at home.  It's just less interactive.  I lost my patience though when I tried to eat breakfast on our porch and a regent Bowerbird landed right on my bowl.

The resort also gives a morning bird walk every day at 6:45 am.  Again the guide feeds the birds and as we walked along the rainforest boardwalk various birds came out to get their regular snack.  The parrots, again, were fairly aggressive;  thus tourist friendly shots like this.

Glad I wore my hat

Leo was able to get some good shots, like this Eastern Yellow robin.

Our guide showed us this impressive Satin bird bower.

Here's the whole bower, with the chamber he built to court his mate.

After the walk was over, we stared down the Centennial Trail that leads to Moran Falls.  It started gushing down rain, and we were immediately soaked.  We retreated to our room then went to the lodge for complementary coffee and muffins, and some precious wifi time.

The rain finally let up after noon, so we started our hike again and were rewarded with this view: