Feed the birds, tuppence a bag...

So we've been settling in and finding our way around our new neighbourhood. We have been moaning about the severe lack of winter too, but that is another story.

I have had another temp stint with the same firm I was with just as we moved. It was another of those two week assignments that stretched to four weeks and it was good to be doing something again. 

In the weeks in between there had been the usual job application process taking up much of my days, but I did manage to catch up with some of the other Yellow Pages family who now call Brisbane and Queensland home. Hopefully we will be able to do it all again soon.

I also went to the Brisbane DNADownUnder event on EKKA Day and soaked up all the knowledge imparted by the speakers who included Blaine Bettinger who has been visiting our shores from upstate New York. (Random fact: we have some upstate New Yorkers in our tree - from the same and neighbouring counties !) It was great as well to meet up some alumni from UTAS. Now to use some of that new knowledge and enlightment to wrangle all those DNA matches we have been accumulating since testing.

We also went for a drive one weekend to Lamington National Park. We thought we should start checking out places we could take visitors (when they come). It was a long drive, but eventually we started the climb up the mountain and into the rainforest. 

The road was one way in a lot of places but there wasn't too much traffic. Signage wasnt great either, but our destination was at the end of the road so we figured we would get there eventually. The bird song in the trees as we drove was delightful.

At the end of the road is a resort. It is almost on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.

We had heard about bird feeding opportunities but when we first located the only place where visitors are permitted to feed the birds there were far more people than birds and not a lot of encouragement to join in. I had heard about Echo Point which apparently has the most amazing echo, again information wasn't well displayed so we didnt even attempt to find our way there. But we had also heard about a tree top swing bridge walk (the first in Australia when it was built some years ago). So we went to investigate. It was a bit underwhelming though and could have offered so much more. There were extra climbing challenges along the way, which we didnt do, but there was no information about them either. We wandered through a mountain garden also bereft of information but filled with birdlife and some pretty shrubs and flowers. On our way back we thought we'd try the bird feeding again and what a treat it turned out to be.

Not sure I would put it on my list of places to take visitors though - even though almost every Queenslander I have spoke to seems to think it is the best place in South East Queensland.

Islands and islands

Living on a large island as I do, and growing up in a nation comprising three main islands it is just part of life to see nearby off shore islands. Not that I even visited any while in New Zealand - some of them are on my list for "maybe" this year - Kapiti, Somes (Matiu). I lived in Auckland for almost two years and never made it to Waiheke, so maybe that should go on the list too.

Australia has many more islands to explore and a lot of them are on that list too - Rottnest, Daydream, Hayman, Hamilton, Fraser... But I have at least visited Australia's island State. Tasmania, rich in history and unspoilt forests, rivers and beaches.

Since leaving landlocked Victoria we've been enjoying the fresh sea breezes and visits to the beaches. Sometimes only for fish and chips and sunset watching, because why not. But there are many off shore islands in Moreton Bay some which can only be explored if you have a boat (or a friend with a boat). The largest though have regular ferry services.

We spent a day or part of a day at Stradbroke Island in January. Lauren had a weekend away and we met up on the last day to go exploring. We didn't realise the bus service was quite as rudimentary as it was, so we are planning a revisit and taking the car. 

 This is an Australasian Bittern, they are a secretive species and apparently not often seen. (we saw two) Their initial reaction when seen in the open is to adopt their infamous freeze stance. They are so good at this at first I thought it was a sculpture.

We finished our day back on the mainland, with fish and chips near the lighthouse and watched the sunset, all the while planning another trip across the water.