Bird Watching in Lamington National Park

As we headed up the mountain road to O'Reilly's Guesthouse in Lamington National Park, I wasn't that impressed. The scenery wasn't as spectacular as the Colorado Rockies or the Alps. Then we started seeing smoke ahead in the distance. The area is so dry there have been many brush fires. As we drove on, the hillsides were black with charred grass. The mountain road started to wind more and more; the drops off the side were begining to make me think of Apache Trail in Arizona. Flames licked the side of the road. At one point, the smoke from the brush fires obscured our vision so much, we couldn't see the road. Great, if we lived to the guest house, we wouldn't be able to stay because it would be so smokey. Just when we almost gave up hope, we drove into a new area of rain forest. The area became densely poplulated with trees and there was no fire. Finally at the top of the mountain, we came to O'Reilly's Guesthouse.

For hardy souls, there is camping up there also. But we chose O'Reilly's. It is famous because it has been family owned and operated for almost 75 years. They run the hotel and also various guided tours and walks and activities. Bird watchers from all over the world come to Lamington National Park. I wanted a guided bird walk so I could tell you blog readers what we actually saw this time.

Well, we saw them all. It was a good time of year for the Bower Bird. We saw both the Satin Bower Bird and the Regent Bower Bird. I was looking for this bird near our house in another blog, but this time I'm sure I saw them and I even have the pictures. The male birds build the "bower" or nest looking thing and decorate it with various items. The Regent Bower uses shiny things and shells, but the Satin Bower uses blue items. We came across one bower decorated with blue plastic bits like milk tops and blue feathers from the Crimson Rosella Parrot. The male also brings food to his bower because he has to wait around a lot. First, he has to wait and strut around for passing females and secondly, he has to protect his bower from other males that will vandalize his work. It was amazing to see in action.

Other birds we saw: Brush -turkey, Crimson Rosella Parrot, King-Parrot, Superb Fairy-wren, Red-browed finch, Brown Cuckoo Dove, various wrens, Lewin's Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Green Catbird.....I could go on. One other bird that lives there is the Albert's Lyrebird. This is always talked about as "the elusive Lyrebird." The male looks like a sort of peacock and June and July are the best months here to spot him. He builds a sort of platform from vines and dances and the platform and fans his tail and does a song and dance. We saw a video about it and it looks like something to go back and try to see! However, we are almost certain we saw a female Lyre Bird run across our path on a rainforest walk at 6:30 am. one morning.

Well, this post could go on and on. Just brief note about other wildlife - we saw some little kangaroo things called pademelons hopping about. A moonlight walk brought us to a Glow Worm colony. The stars were fantastic - never seen so many in the sky. The sunsets were spectacular. Even Elliott, with his pre-teen sneering self, enjoyed the trip despite himself. He enjoyed hand feeding the birds and seeing a mullet headed skink (wierd lizard thing). We couldn't get him out of bed for the 6:30 am walk in the rain forest, but we did come across our first Funnel Web Spider web sighting. We came across a guide jiggling a small stick near the web, trying to entice the spider to come out. Luckily for me, it didn't. I'm happy to let that spider remain on our "Didn't actually see List" because it's bite is fatal without anti-venom.

This trip may have been the coolest thing I have ever done. We debated this on the way down the mountain: Bahamas, LaBrea Tar Pits, Grand Canyon...I really enjoyed seeing all the different wildlife. So many spectular birds. If any of you come to visit, you may want to look into this as one of your stops.

Squatter - The Board Game

Spurred on by recent requests, I got out the camera again. I was determined to take some more photos and try again to post them on the blog. On Monday, I played tennis at the University of Queensland. It is such a lovely setting. After a few rains, the sky seemed so blue and the trees were out in beautiful pink flowers. However, I didn't realize till now, the camera was set in Black and White. I am destined to take lousy pictures! Anyway, I'm sure it wouldn't capture the lovely tropical greenery along the river. There is a new bridge going across the Brisbane River. That really could be the subject of another blog- how few bridges there are in the city and how the river divides the city geographically and also psychologically. But another day perhaps...

While I was playing tennis, an Australian lady said something like "Well, it's not like we are playing for sheep stations is it?" This expression comes from a classic board game called Squatter. This game was created in 1952 and seems like an Aussie version of Monopoly, except instead of buying property, you are buying sheep.

You start out with a bit of money and a few sheep. The idea is to improve your pastures and buy more sheep. Ulitimately, you end up with all your many sheep in irrigated pastures. However, we have never seen a more depressing game in all our lives! As you go around the board, you land on squares such as: Sheep Dipping, Drench Sheep for Worms, Footrot Treatment, Shearing Costs, Taxes, Vaccinate for Pulpey Kidney. And those are just the standard ones...You really want to avoid Local Drought and Bore Dries Up. Even the Tucker Bag (Community Chest) is full of tales of woe: Fire destroys Haystack and Outbuildings, Injured by Tractor and Blowfly Attack. A family decision was taken - we had to eliminate the card that said Stud Ram Dies. It was just too sad to allow that; we decided our stud ram would just be incapacited for 1 round of the board instead.

It would be funny if it weren't so sad! I just finished a book called "The Road from Coorain" written by Jill Ker Conway. She grew up on a sheep station during a fierce drought in the 1940s or so. The book is extremely well written, but incredibly depressing. By the end of the tale, she leaves Australia to study in America. I believe she goes on to become the president of Smith College. The book is worth a read. Between that book and the board game Squatter, I feel I have a better understanding of the Australian psyche! No wonder why people are so hard. You have to be here to survive!

We are off for the weekend to a National Park for some bird watching. This time I hope to have some guides to point out what it is we are seeing - and of course more photos.

Election Day in Queensland

This week all the news has been about the death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. The newspapers have devoted pages and pages each day to his life and the circumstances of his death. The kids at Elliott's school had a khaki dress day on Friday to raise money for Irwin's charity. They worked in the rainforest to raise awareness of conservation issues. Irwin was such a popular figure in Australia, and even more loved here in Queensland. This sad event pushed all the news of the Queensland elections to the inside pages of the news.

On Saturday, September 9, the vote was held in Queensland. The Labor government with Peter Beattie at the helm won a fourth term. Some interesting differences that I noticed here were: 1) No term restrictions 2) Polling places can be churches and 3) Voting is compulsary. Everyone must vote - you can vote in person or by mail. It all seemed very low key to me. We never watch TV, so maybe I missed most of it. There is no set date for the election. The party in power must call it within a certain amount of time, but it can be any time. It was 2 1/2 years since the last election and the Beattie government could have had up to 4 years between elections. So, they seem to call the election and campaign and vote all within a fairly short space of time.

There are several main areas that really need to be addressed here - water and healthcare being the two main issues. They are starting to meet tomorrow about Level 4 water restrictions. It is raining today and we have had a few days of rain, but I've read the dam the serves our area is only at 22% capacity. I've had a few days of tennis canceled with the rain and one day we were blown off the court with high winds.

We have encountered one more form of dangerous wildlife here in Brisbane. A friend from tennis knows two dogs that were killed by Brown snakes last week. But our closest personal encounter is with the Magpies! The birds are nesting now and get quite protective of their eggs. Tim was attacked while on his bike, but was luckily wearing his helmet. The signs in the local park recommend wearing a hat and carrying an umbrella to beat the birds when they swoop down. Even magpies are scary in Australia!

Riverfestival

Well, we have had yet another celebration here in Brisbane. This week is Riverfestival - a week long celebration of the Brisbane River. As if we haven't had enough celebrations, this one lasts 10 days. One major difference is there seems to be no public holiday to go with this festival. We rode our bikes downtown along the river to Southbank to check out all the action. Last night we went up to Mt. Cootha to check out the city wide fireworks demonstration. It was set to music on a local radio station - starting with "Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp. Tim and I thought we were in some wierd time warp. Two F-111 fighter planes did some "dump and burn" at the start and finish of the show. Pretty impressive! I am hoping to check out some of the art exhibits that go along with the festival.

Last weekend we were invited to Tim's work for a tour. We had to read a leaflet and sign to say we would comply - no photos, no trade secrets, no improper footwear. Bizarely, there was a paragraph saying we agreed to good personal hygene. I did inquire as to what that meant, but the woman was rather vague in her response. Do I need to shower more? Have clean hair? Wear deoderant? Not urinate in public places? I had no idea and still have no idea what they had in mind when they wrote that. Anyway, it was good for Elliott to see what Tim actually does for a living. It seems like Tim talks on the phone and types on his laptop. It is good for Elliott to understand that is only a small part of things and there is an interesting product coming out of it all.

We are in the midst of Abe Lincoln - the Board Game today. A term's long project based on the life of Abe Lincoln. Both Tim and I are experts now; I'm not sure what Elliott has learned. We have done cross-word puzzles, speeches, and now the Board Game. Tim and I are hoping for High Standard for all our hard work!

Lastly, we have had rain this week! Several days worth! It has been thrilling. Not sure if it is enough to stop the more severe water restrictions, but we can hope.