East Coast Australia

After a magnificent storm last night, the skies were clear this morning so we ventured onto the Binna Burra 5km Caves Track hike. It’s down hill all the way for 3.5km leading to a small tourist info shelter which has documented the history of The Lamington National Park. After the descent, you can choose to retrace your steps or walk the 1.5km road back up to camp. We did the latter as it offers scenic valley views along the way and you can even see Q1 and the unmistakable outline of Surfers Paradise skyscrapers from 32km away.

As we descended into the dense rainforest, “I tell no lie” we heard a high pitched but extremely melodic birdsong call. I mimicked it’s call as best I could and the birdsong responded in perfect harmony. What’s the bird? We’ve heard it before but not exactly sure of its identity. Hang on, I think it’s... a Lyrebird.

In fact it’s an Albert’s Lyrebird (a songbird / Kulwun), it’s part of an ancient, unique bird group that evolved when flowering plants began to dominate the landscape. It can mimic any sound and often steals the identity of the Kookaburra.

Listen to my video to hear the Lyrebird’s call and for a special presentation from Sir David Attenborough, follow the link below.

https://youtu.be/VjE0Kdfos4Y

The Yugambeh Language group first walked this land following ancestor footpaths to sacred sites. From 1700, most of the early settlers to Australia walked out of necessity (Shank’s Pony) and the leisure term “bushwalking” was coined although the upper class in their immaculate attire referred to it as “rambling”. I like to think of a short hike as a “trundle” so we trundled through Lamington NP today following one of the many trails set down by pioneers in the 1930s.

We walked up to Binna Burra Lodge for a coffee in the afternoon and sat in the panoramic dining room and watched a storm brew on the horizon. Suddenly the atmosphere had changed, low clouds passed overhead, fog surrounded and the heavens opened up. Within no more than 10 minutes from the storm reaching our vantage point, it past by and a beautiful sun and blue sky appeared like magic. Jen took full advantage.

Came across a deadly Brown Snake today but we managed to contain it and keep it from harms way...

With an opportunity for an evening camp fire, we gathered wood, diced some rump steak, potatoes, onions, garlic and, a tin of tomatoes, some veggies and a good splash of red wine and slow cooked a stew in the pot belly stove. Oh and don’t forget the dumplings “inspired by R Kid”. Like the French, i finished it off with a good knob of butter and voila, a taste sensation.

WILDLIFE: Lyrebird, Brown SnakeBaca lagi