Already it's nearly a week since I left home and departure from O'Reilly's is imminent. The journey out here was fine, if somewhat long, and I arrived in Brisbane on a beautiful day. Before we had even landed I was amending the itinerary for this tour which will run in March 2010 - there was some fantastic-looking wetland habitat which we flew over and I thought it would make a good beginning to the tour, rather than heading straight to Lamington National Park. I was dead lucky - THE birding guide for that area is here with clients at O'Reilly's and we've been able to discuss it all. He's a super guy called Roy Sonnenburg - several of you will probably have heard of him or met him at the British Birdwatching Fair.
The first section of my trip is almost over - I leave after lunch to return to Brisbane ready for the flight omorrow. O'Reilly's is a famous birding destination in Lamington National Park which is now third-generation run. The family originally bought land in the area and cleared some of it for dairy farming - a condition set by the Australian Govenment of the day. It was a hard life and doubtless still is, but what the original settlers would have thought of it now is nobody's business! The birding is good with many of them so accustomed to humans that they are very easy to see - not least the Regent Bowerbird which is a seriously handsome specimen - here he is:
This photo doesn't actually do justice to him - the plumage is brilliant and almost unreal. It's the kind of thing which, if you did a painting of it, people wouldn't believe the colours and would just think you weren't a very good artist!
The first day was wonderful with every single species being a lifer for me (and to those of you who aren't birders, a lifer is a bird which you've never seen before). The rainforest in which O'Reilly's is set has lived up to its name over the past few days but it hasn't deterred me from joining in the walks and outings in 4-wheel drive vehicles. We also went out after dinner one night to see the glow worms which were amazing. Apparently it's a case of the wetter the better for them and so they were obvioulsy in 7th heaven. We got home soaked to the skin, but it didn't matter. However, I was really glad that I'd decided to pack my walking boots - it would have been a bit of a disaster in trainers.
I'd better not rabbit on and on. Suffice it to say that this is an intriguing place with some really lovely birds and it's been a real experience. I'll try to get on line before too long to let you know about the next stage of the journey.
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