Up at 4.20 (!!) and away by 5, we arrived in Canungra at the base of the road to O’Reilly’s at 6.30. The family seem to think it’s a long way - it’s only as far as Snettisham and on a much faster series of roads. Much to our surprise - the place is really a village - we found an open cafe despite the sign saying ‘open at 7’. We both ordered bacon and egg baguette but only rolls were available, fine by us, admired the Elvis memorabilia on the back wall (the Elvis clock had his leg moving in time to the tick) and sat down to read an OK magazine whilst we waited. Only 10 minutes, most efficient.
The road up to the Lodge starts pretty gently through foothills past the O’Reilly vineyard. The last 30 Ks is steep, often single carriageway and fiercely bending. At this time of the morning we only met one car coming down. The views are often stupendous but not to be admired by the driver.
10Ks before the top, we turned off to Kamerun Lookout ( Scotsman who couldn’t spell?), on top of a grassy mound with a 365 degree panorama of valleys, mountains and forests, down to the Gold Coast to the south and, the Dividing Range to the north. A beautiful Golden Whistler sped through and two Grey Shrike-thrushes fossicked for insects.
Such excitement along the road in the darkest section of the forest. A Noisy Pitta walked across the road in front of the car and disappeared into the trees before I could photo it. A much sought after bird.
Having walked a couple of hundred yards down the Balancing Rock Trail and neither seen nor heard anything, we continued to the top. Parked at O’R’s by 8.45 on a blue sunny morning, still not hot. We then walked the Booyong Trail and returned to the centre before realising we’d missed the small Mountain Garden - and we’d only seen a single Wonga Pigeon doing what it should be doing, rustling importantly through the rainforest leaf litter and the ubiquitous never-stopping Scrubwrens. Time for morning tea in the cafe.
We walked past the Parrot feeding area to find it fenced off with locked gates and a notice saying 4A$ entry fee (inc food) and only open 11-3. Plenty of birds hanging around waiting though. Mainly Crimson Rosellas, King parrots and a few Red-browed Finches. I stopped to photo them in their natural habitat and, a male King flew onto my shoulder. They are so accustomed to being fed.
Male King Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Red-Browed Finch
One male and a couple of female Satin Bowerbirds showed fleetingly in the forest trees.
The cafe was empty apart from a family of three French people so we could choose to sit in the open overlooking this misty view to have a drink and half a semi frozen muffin each.
A couple of Crimson Rosellas sidled along the balcony edge, before one swooped onto the family table and made off with a piece of toast. Not what they should be doing.
Back to the Booyong track and the gardens, very pleasant but virtually no birds. Such a poor time of year. We were also reminded how annoying and frustrating this very popular and lovely place can be. The number of walkers increased, multi national and exceedingly noisy, the adults as bad as - often worse than - the kids. It was humid too.
We drove back to Kamerun Lookout to eat our sandwiches before calling in at the vineyard (also O’Reilly’s) to buy some Picnic Red which Sara and Mike liked previously.
The journey home was smooth and uneventful. We got in to find Ryan still here, Jonno having recently departed. The boys, especially Josh looked whacked. They’d had a competition to see who could say awake the longest and were also up early this morning, spending much of the day in the pool.
We downloaded pics etc until Sara came home, Ryan’s mum called in for him and we had Tina’s chicken dish for supper. Yes, it was delicious and Sara asked for the recipe. No Banana Bread left... the males had scoffed it all.
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