Sunday 29th November

An excellent day, a day of beautiful beaches, surfers, the best fish shop ever, rainforest, parrots, Land Mullets, Silver backed Pademelons, a misunderstanding, 4 Binna Burra members, multi-coloured parrots & a cat bird ....!!!
We woke early & agreed on a plan. This does not happen often so this must have been a good plan. We were to drive up the gold coast taking in Byrons Bay, Kingscliff, Tweed Heads, Palm beach, Burleigh Heads, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise. Then, if Binna Burra had vacancies, drive inland to Lamington national park, stay there for 2 days & walk in the rainforest.

Byrons Bay is the most easterly point in Australia, and very much like the west coast of the USA, chilled, relaxed, a bit Glastonbury and very cosmopolitan. It has a really nice atmosphere, very hippy, very alternative & much focused on having a good time, which explains the huge numbers of young people milling around. I was reminded of Glastonbury on a warm day. We parked up, walked along the beautiful beach back towards Byrons Bay which is set in a huge bay with a soft sandy beach that seems to go on forever, then we moseyed into the town. First stop, a bar with a stage & a couple of hundred people, doing a ‘heal the planet’ ceremony. Music, chanting, painted faces, 60’s dressed people dancing in a psychedelic fashion, the sweet smell of smoked weed. If we’d been high on drugs or had a few drinks inside us, well, maybe we would have joined in, but stone cold sober at 10am on a Sunday morning....no thanks. But they did not seem to mind 2 tourists watching as they healed the planet. I heard afterwards that the ceremony was a success & the planet was healed but unfortunately later that day the planet was involved in an accident with some American tourists driving a Ford galaxy. All are ok but I think the planet had no insurance & may pay a heavy price.

We left Byrons bay & drove along the coast road taking in Kingscliff, Tweed Heads, Palm beach, Burleigh Heads where we stumbled upon a fish co-operative. This was a wonderful (for fish eaters) establishment that sold wet & cooked fish. We purchased some salmon & barramundi, but there was so much to choose from, we were like kids in a sweetshop. They had all manner of fish & molluscs & crustaceans ready to cook for you with chips!...mmmmmm..
Back in the van, a phone call to Binna Burra....success..they had vacancies, this was turning out to be a great day. After about an hour and a half we arrived at Binna Burra. This is a rainforest resort at over 1000m above sea level in Lamington national park. It is so peaceful & tranquil there; if you ever get the opportunity please visit. We parked up, settled ourselves then went up to the lodge for pre-dinner nibbles on the patio watching the sunset. It was the day of the Binna Burra members AGM. Edwina was the first member we met, a wonderful lady of 84 years of age who delighted us with tales of her life & the early days of Binna Burra. Then we met Patsy, a retired bush nurse who originated from Dublin also 84 years of age who again was a lovely lady who shared some of her life with us. Next for us to meet was Keith an expert on Australian bird life & finally Jeff another very lovely gentle man who also obviously loved bird life and the natural world. We chatted & learnt so much, it was a huge privilege to share that moment with them & they were so kind & helpful. We learned about land mullets, although at first I did think they were mocking my haircut & rather foolishly grabbed Keith by the scruff of his collar & pinned Jeff to a gum tree before Edwina intervened & convinced me that a land mullet is a fish/lizard like creature with legs & not a derogatory critic of my hair! (which has still not been cut).

Note to self, I must do more yoga to help relax me.

My apologies all round were graciously accepted & we quickly laughed the matter away & returned to the local wildlife. They then told us of silver backed Pademelons & once again my insecurities took over & I thought they were mocking me but this time thankfully refrained from any man-handling. Apparently these are a small kangaroo like mammal that we later watched feeding on the lawn in front of the lodge. Then they explained in great detail the birdlife that we may see while staying there. This included the cat bird, which Keith explained has a call much like a baby or child lost in the forest calling ‘where are you, where are you, here I am’. So like a human cry is this that several visitors have told the parks rangers that a child must be lost in the forest & they must go and rescue immediately. We, later on that evening, heard the Cat bird’s call & it is remarkably like a small child calling out & if we had not met Edwina, Patsy, Keith & Jeff earlier that evening & if they had not shared their knowledge & time with us, we too would have raised the alarm with the parks rangers that a small child was lost......

An excellent day indeed....
Love & hugs,
Jeff & Janet