The welcoming committee in the parking lot. There is a quite large
parking lot for the day visitors, and another restricted one for
O'Reilly's guests. Details of
Brush Turkeys
are shown on the forest boardwalk.
Lamington National Park is atop the plateau immediate to the west of Springbrook. But, of course, you can't (easily) get there from here. So Springbrook down to the motorway and up to Narang then through to Canungra which is the beginning of the road to Lamington National Park and (the famous?) O'Reilly's Guesthouse. The guesthouse is within the park, basically because they were there first! The park itself is now on the World Heritage List.
The road distance from Canungra to O'Reilly's is 36 km, and it's not a high speed road. Narrow, with many one way sections and mostly turns, it is not for the faint of heart. And not much opportunity to sample the view along the way.
The welcoming committee in the parking lot. There is a quite large
parking lot for the day visitors, and another restricted one for
O'Reilly's guests. Details of
Brush Turkeys
are shown on the forest boardwalk.
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These brush turkeys are quite accustomed to people walking through their
territory, and were not exactly shy. This one found something on the
boardwalk much to its liking. It would hop off onto the forest floor
and wait for people to pass before hopping back up and continue to feed.
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| Wooden bench shows size of tree. | Inside of fig where host tree used to be. |
In rainforest conditions, Strangler Figs germinate in the branches of host trees, never on the ground. Many birds rely on the prolific supply of edible fruit provided by the seven species of Figs that grow in Lamington National Park. Figs only germinate in mature trees and take some 200 years to establish themselves. If still alive the host tree would be well past its prime by this time so the fig actually replaces the host tree and could live for another 400 years.
The view looking roughly west from O'Reilly's Guesthouse. The terrain
is certainly quite rugged, and was obviously a major factor when attempting
to locate the crashed Stinson aircraft of 1937.
The bush turkeys are quite tame, though feeding is not allowed, except
in one specific location. Even so, this one looks a little wary of
the photographer!
The view from the back of
Mountview Alpaca Farm,
which is located within the Lamington National Park.
Not being thirsty of hungry, no time was spent savouring the view.
However, I did peruse their shop and bought a pair of socks.
Turned out the owners used to live in Hornsby, as one of them
recognised the dealer's name on my bike!
Not exactly dense bush, but difficult enough to move through
if in a hurry.
The local wildlife was enjoying this meal. Though as is often the case,
one of the rosellas was pushy, and kept the third one form eating.
The farm has an alpaca out the front so that visitors can have a
close up look at one. It was quite accustomed to people, and had
a certain interest in anybody who came up to the pen.
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Springbrook
Morning Boating
Queensland or Bust