12th & 13th January 2010
Something that Aunty Mary had asked us to do while we were here was to help sort out a laptop for her and Billy, so yesterday morning was spent shopping for the right computer. With our mission achieved we returned home.
Then we went for a drive around Sanctuary Cove, which is an exclusive development on the Northern Gold Coast. Ed had just finished saying how we hadn’t seen any Kangaroos and disputing their existence when we rounded the corner and there were three of them sat in the middle of an island on this exclusive housing development looking just like large bunny rabbits.
Unfortunately, most of the roads on the complex were gated so although we saw some nice houses, we couldn’t get round to see the really big properties with boat moorings. Instead, we headed to Runaway Bay opposite Stradbroke Island where we sat and watched the jet boats and jet skis and enjoyed some great views of Surfers.
Today we decided to make the most of the car and once again head out into the hinterland, but this time going south. First we went to Natural Bridge in Springbrook National Park. Natural Bridge is a most unusual geological feature created over millions of years by water tumbling through the roof of a basalt cave. The cave itself is home to an amazing colony of glow-worms, which we obviously didn’t see because we were there during the day and also a colony of bent-wing bats who we did see flying about in the dark recesses of the cave. We took the short circuit walk to the natural arch over Cave Creek to view the unique waterfall and cave and were also lucky enough to spot a small mouse and a wallaby which looked like a giant mouse on our walk.
After Springbrook we continued along the road a short way and crossed the state border into New South Wales with some amazing views over the state. We then went onto our next destination, Green Mountain at Lamington National Park.
Now, while we’ve been away we’ve experienced some really high and meandering mountain roads, but I think this road is probably the most windy and slow going, a lot of the time down to one lane with a sheer drop on one side and hairpin bends doubling back on theirselves. It took us quite some time to reach our final destination which was O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, which has been going since 1926. This complex is a true nature paradise and home to over 200 bird varieties, 500 waterfalls and has 160 kilometres of walking tracks.
We started our visit to O’Reilly’s with a spot of lunch. Firstly we sat outside with the lovely views over the lush, green sub-tropical rainforest, however shortly after we sat down we were joined by a Crimson Rosella, then another and another, until there was a group of about 5. This wasn’t a problem because we had no food, but one of the crafty birds stole a sugar sachet which had been left on an empty table and then proceeded to open it and suck all the sugar out. In the meantime, some of the other birds had spotted someone with a sandwich and were sat on his hands while he ate trying to get a bite first. When our food arrived, we thought it would be prudent to move inside . 
After lunch, we walked past the statue commemorating one of the O’Reilly brothers rescuing two men from a downed plane in the surrounding bushlands. He went when all others had given up hope of finding them. Then we walked past the bird feeding area, stopping to take some photos, but not really wanting to feed them.
Then we arrived at the Tree Top Walk, where we were able to walk through sub-tropical rainforest and up into the rainforest canopy for a closer look at the wildlife and views. Part of the walk along swing bridges takes you to a large tree with ladders and platforms fixed to it and which took us way up into its branches with more glorious views. Our final port of call was the mountain gardens full of its ferns, cycads and camelias.
We came home via Mount Tamborine again where we walked along Gallery Road and visited the cheese factory which was unfortunately closed and the brewery which featured a Lotus Exige done out in the brewery colours and which probably interested us more than the beer at this point. It was very hot, and time for our customary dip.