Twitching - Bower Birds

O'Reilly's logo is a stylised male Regent Bower Bird. The first and last images today are of this stunning bird. The males only develop this plumage at around 5 years, before which they look very similar to this female, seen here perched on the guest-house roof, and scraping squashed fig from the drive-way. This male builds a most rudimentary bower, but does help with the raising of the young. Metrosexual, if you will.


This splendid bower was created by the male Satin Bower Bird, who becomes this deep blue at about 7 years of age. He is the one with the blue fetish. The female, high in the tree here, is hiding her light green back and highly scalloped breast. He reckons that his elaborate courtship makes up for the fact that he does absolutely nothing else to raise the young.

The bower is for courtship only. Eggs are laid in a nest much higher up, often in Hoop Pines. I have not seen a Green Catbird yet, which is another type of Bower Bird.

To Luke's Bluff and beyond

The 'mad-hatters' was how I referred to them later. Indeed, I had no sooner clambered onto the truck, than I knew Abbott & Costello were in charge! Glen had been at O'Reillys for 26 years, and Michael had been born here, son of Luke, in 1936. They knew the stories every-which-way, and the topography like the back of their hand. They knew the botany; they knew the geology. They knew where the Stinson crashed in 1937 and how Bernard had calculated its flight path and why it crashed where it did!!


The three hours with these two old codgers was worth its weight in gold. Glen was fluent in Japanese. Michael had a swag of old photographs to illustrate his tales of the 'good old, tough old days'. Then when they were waiting for the billy to boil they played harmony on the harmonica to keep us entertained: Daisy, something Scottish, and Bach's first Prelude.

As if that wasn't enough, Glen stirred the tea in the billy in a gob-smacking way!

Walking the canopy

The rain had eased to a scud - what I think of as Irish drizzle - but the temperature was under 20C. Although there weren't many people around, the conditions were a joy. Just right for a walk out along the boardwalk followed by a sway through through the tree tops - more like tree middles, actually.
Each of the boards in the swing bridge has been sponsored,so that is the little white plaque.


Through historical accident, O'Reillys is privately owned land surrounded by National Park. Eleven Irish cousins from the Blue Mountains west of Sydney took up the Queensland government offer in 1911 to start up dairy farming in these here hills. That was not a goer, but catering for bush-walkers and nature lovers was.

The trees are festooned with elkhorns, staghorns and birds' nest ferns. There is a myriad variety of bush orchids along limbs of trees at all heights. Old-man lichen sprouts from permanently waterlogged branches. More on the fungus, birds and trees later in the week. Not to forget the waterfall.

A green Lamington

Well, if I am going to have a tantie over the crassness of New Year's Eve, this might as well be the mountain I wait it out on. This is known as 'eco-tourism' and I suspect it is not for the shallow of pocket.

This is O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat in the middle of The Lamington National Park which is on the border of the states of NSW and Queensland. It is named after a Governor of QLD in the '20s whose wife liked to cook cakes. Maybe ...

Tootsies

How would you go?

This little piggie went to market
This little piggie stayed home.

This little piggie had roast beef,
And this little piggie had none.

And this little piggie went
Wee wee wee wee wee all the way home!

Dun 'n' dusted

Well, I guess that is Christmas over for another year, in this continent, at least.

From me to you

Birds in Flight Arena, Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia

Enjoy the company of family and friends, and be happy in your own skin.

Redhead Beach - Christmas Week (5)

The top shot shows the meander down towards Blacksmiths, and the lower shot the view back to Redhead. A glorious part of the central coast of the state of New South Wales.

It is a very clean and protected beach, even being very open and inhabited by dawgs! My sister-in-law says that the sand-dunes move about a fair bit, but they are more vegetated now than they have ever been. And yes, people have been known to die testing their agility on the headland - kids mostly.

Redhead Beach - Christmas Week (4)

These two cormorants (shags) put on a terrific aerobatic display. Behind them, out toward the horizon, rides at anchor one of the nine coal ships waiting their turn to be loaded in at the Newcastle facility. I gather Newcastle is the biggest coal port in Australia.

My brother said that in 'the good old days', there would be upwards of 20 boats queued up out on the horizon. Every time an anchor goes down, the fishing is disrupted and the beds of seagrass are also damaged. Besides when they sit this close to a port waiting for the facility to become available, they can claim demurrage.

Yep, below you can see the tip of a surfer's head.

Redhead Beach - Christmas Week (3)

There were numerous dogs on the beach; it is an off-leash area. The dogs adore the waves and with those new throwing things (womeras?) the balls were going quite some distance, into the water and along the water.

My heart was in my mouth when we saw this young man fishing from the point. The water was not gentle and about two hours later a massive electrical storm engulfed the area, lighting striking dead a man on a golf course. Rock fishing is very popular, but with hazards. I think they are considering mandatory life vests.

Redhead Beach - Christmas Week (2)

The sand on the beaches along this area of our state are like no others that we know. They are composed from ground sandstone, which makes the sand very fine, and sweetly coloured.

Out to sea, there are acres and acres of seagrass beds, so the water is crystal clean. The waves have the entire Pacific to get up a decent roll through, so the swimming and the surfing are both spectacular.