THREE IN ONE DAY

When I opened up my calendar of events on my phone last Thursday I thought this is going to be a big day of eating and celebrating. Three of the groups that I belong to were all having their Christmas celebration on the same day. Oh dear its a hard life but I managed somehow.

In the morning we played tennis and then had a special morning tea as it was our last game for the year. It was a very hot day so we had cool drinks instead of hot tea. Helen and I both had to rush home have a shower and dress for lunch with the Birthday Bear group.

We celebrate Christmas with Birthday Bear after all it is Jesus' birthday.

Chris dressed bear for the festive season. Bear also brought some little bears to share with all of us. 

Knowing that I had another dinner to go to on that night, I ordered the smallest meal at the "Black Forest German Restaurant". There was enough ham to feed me for a week. We got home in time for me to get ready for the next outing.

The Playgroup Ladies of the 70's have a Christmas get together every year as a reunion of the times when we used to meet with our toddlers to play together. Now we share stories of our adult children and our grandchildren. We were at Belesis restaurant. It was a bit noisy sitting outside near the road. I rolled home with the fattest tummy that night. Three parties in one day not bad for an oldie but now I have to try and lose some weight,

FINGER PAINT IS FOR FINGERS

When I was in LA with the grands we had a finger painting session.

I tried to get Fox to make patterns in the paint with his fingers. He was more interested in experimenting with the texture of the paint on his fingers. I said you are supposed to rub the paint on the paper and then make patterns in it. he said ,"No, its finger paint its for fingers!" He did enjoy mixing colours on the paper.

 Little brother, Banjo, copies everything Fox does. Wet wipes are the best invention since sliced bread.

IT STARTED TO HAPPEN

It has been ages, but I am going to add more posts to "My Story". When I finish these posts I hope to publish them as a book for my girls. If you are interested in reading earlier post you can click on the label 'My Story' at the bottom of this post or go to the links in my sidebar.

1962 was a good year for me. I had made a big mistake in 1960 and messed up my life but I tried to make amends and start a new life for myself and in 1962 it started to happen.

Firstly my old school friend asked me to go on holidays with her and more importantly I was accepted into Teacher's College after applying for three years.

In January 1962, when I was nineteen and living in Sydney, my friend Margaret and I went on holidays to Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland. In those days it was everyone's dream to go there on holidays.

We saved up and bought a coach ticket and off we went for a week's fun in the sun. The coach took all night to get there from 6pm to 6am. I couldn't sleep in the coach, it was uncomfortable and I was excited. (Now I live 30mins away but we don't go very often as it has been spoilt by skyscrapers and commercialism)

Margaret and I share a pineapple

We surfed, sunbaked, enjoyed the 'Beachcomber Hotel's'  accommodation, food and entertainment. One evening we were entertained by a young boy band. Eight year old twins Robin and Maurice and their older brother, Barry. They were very good, any wonder as they grew up to become the famous Bee Gees.
We had a great time but too soon it was time to board the coach for Sydney and my new life at Teacher's College.

ANOTHER WORLD

 On our last day at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat we went for a walk in the rainforest. It is like visiting another world. We were sneaking along the boardwalk quietly to try and see some of the exotic birds that live in this forest. We could hear all the different calls especially the whistle and crack of the Whip Bird which does just sound like a whip cracking. Unfortunately, none of my bird shots are worth publishing. It was so dark in the forest and I used a zoom lens without a tripod so the result was a blurry mess. So instead of birds you'll get trees. They tend to stand still.

TOH and George lead the way

Some of the trees have huge buttress roots like the one on the left. Other trees have been strangled to death by the Strangler Fig like the one on the right. When the host tree dies and decays the Strangler vine is strong enough to support itself. You can get inside this tree see below.

 Chris is standing in front of a gap where you can look inside.

A small person  like me can get in there and look up inside the tree

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Further in the jungle there is a tree top walk. The first one ever built in Australia. Hopefully it is still safe. It swings, bounces and squeaks as you walk amongst the treetops metres from the ground.

George even climbed further up a giant tree on a ladder inside a cage to a platform built even higher up. Looking down can make you feel dizzy.

 Even though we were high some tree tops were even higher with a huge green canopy. Many trees have elkhorn and staghorn ferns  growing on them.

 It was reassuring to be back on the forest floor and treading on the spongy leaf litter on our way back to the Retreat where we boarded a 4 wheel drive bus for another excursion.

 This time we visited Luke O'Reilly's Farm. He was the original owner and it has been occupied by the O'Reilly's ever since. Unfortunately none of the children today want to continue on living and working here. I believe they want to sell. The farm house is rented out for holidays. What a view to wake up to.

We continued through the eucalyptus forest to yet another beautiful lookout and morning tea of pumpkin damper, honey and billy tea in the quiet serene forest. Soon it was time to check out and wind our way back down the mountain to the rush of traffic and city life.

BIRTHDAY BEAR COMES TO DINNER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Our Birthday Bear group spent a few days at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. It is in the Green Mountains, which are part of the McPherson Ranges on the border of NSW and QLD. The resort and O'Reilly's land are surrounded by Lamington National Park.

In 1912 eight men of the O'Reilly family cut a track into these mountains cleared some land and started farming. In 1915 the Lamington National Park was established around their land. In 1926 they built a guest house as farming wasn't that successful. Guests used to be transported by horse and wagon along the precipitous mountain tracks. Today there is a narrow winding road, many rooms, suites and self contained villas. There is a variety of activities but the main attractions are 160k of walking tracks, many waterfalls and an abundance of wild life..

In 1937the family became famous because Bernard O'Reilly, against all odds cut through the jungle for two days in search of a Stinson airliner, which crashed on its way from Brisbane to Sydney. He found two survivors after they had been there for 5 days. Bernard returned through the jungle to organise a rescue party and then he lead them back again. It was an amazing feat of strength, bushcraft and heroism. The story is worth reading. 

After our early morning bird watching session we waited for the 4wheel drive bus to pick us up for an excursion through the forest to some lookouts.(Unfortunately some of us are not able to walk long distances so this is a welcome activity, which we all could enjoy)

 We went through rain forest and then into Eucalyptus forest.

Shepherd Lookout

Kerry lookout

Boiling the billy (a tin of water with a wire handle hung over the fire) for morning tea.

 The boys

 The girls

We returned to the retreat for lunch and a bird of prey display before going to dinner with Birthday Bear. All this time Birthday Bear had been relaxing in Mary's room because she dressed Bear for Ann's birthday. For those readers unfamiliar with our Birthday Bear tradition read here.

 Bear was waiting for us in the dining Room. She was dressed as a holiday maker for Ann because Ann is always organising holidays (vacations) for us.

 She had a calendar to block in holiday times. She also had a camera and a travel bag full of maps and activity books. There is a money box to save for future trips. With her travel wallet, sun hat and new sneakers she is ready to roll.

We had a lovely round table for 9 of us and a picture window (left) where birds and night animals came to feed.  

UP WITH THE BIRDS

We were up with the birds on our second day at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. We joined a bird ramble around the resort. The birds are plentyful as they know there is seed given to them. They land on all parts of your body to look for seeds.

These are male Regent Bower Birds, they are beautiful. It is also the emblem for the resort.

A little Swedish tourist enjoyed feeding the birds.

This male Australian King Parrot tried to eat George's hearing aide.

The Crimson Rosella joined us for lunch on the deck. It had its eye on the crusty bread.

Top left: Lewin's Honeyeater, right:Wonga Pigeon
Bottom left: Pied Currawong, right: Eastern Yellow Robin

Female and male Regent Bower Bird.

Male and female Satin Bower Bird

 The Bower Bird builds a nest in a tree for the eggs but the male builds a bower on the ground. He spends time and care weaving the bower from twigs and then he decorates around the bower with blue objects. Some of the things they find is amazing. I wonder what they did before plastic and humans came close to their habitat? When the bower is complete he does a mating dance near the entrance to the bower, hoping to attract a female to come into his boudoir where he hopes to mate with her.

A MOUNTAIN RETREAT

I just returned from LA in time to join my friends for a get away in the mountains with Birthday Bear.(next post). We had booked for a few nights at "O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat" in the McPherson Ranges on the border of NSW and Queensland. It is only a two hour drive south east of Brisbane. We stopped on the way at the little town of Canungra, where we met the rest of our group and had coffee.

Left to right: Chris, Ann, me. Bob, Bill, George and Paul. Mary took the photo and Helen disappeared.

After coffee we decided to check out any places of interest. So we headed for Lahey's Tramway Tunnel.

It wasn't that exciting but it had an interesting history. It was built in 1901 by the Lahey family, who owned a timber mill. Hauling logs by bullock was timely so a private rail line was built into the rainforests where timber was being logged. Locomotives hauled logs up very steep mountains and at this spot through the mountain. Ironically it was one of the sons, Romeo Lahey, who became a conservationist and campaigned for this forest to become "Lamington National Park" in 1915. Logging stopped and locals used the train for transport into the National Park until the line was pulled up in 1935. During WWII the tunnel became an ammunition dump.

Then we moved onto something a lot more exciting, wine tasting at O'Reilly's winery where we also had lunch.

 There was a pretty picnic area behind the winery and a stream where the shy platypus can be seen sometimes.

We didn't see any platypus but we did see many turtles. It was getting close to check in time at the retreat so we headed up the mountain. It is a very steep, narrow and winding road but the scenery is breathtaking.

It had started to rain as it does most afternoons in the sub tropics but the view from our room was still stunning.

Soon the rain cleared and we were treated to a visit from some locals.

The Rozella Parrot came to our balcony and helped me eat an apple.

The sunset was pretty and told us it was time for dinner.

The steak was to die for and the dessert too much. Bill and I shared this mixed platter for 2. There was lemon meringue, apple dumpling, berry mess, and pumpkin pie reconstructed. (We couldn't eat it all).

We were looking forward to some more adventures the next day.