O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat
On the Sunday and Monday before the conference, Bradley (a local I've
known for probably 20 years(!)) took me, and two others (Daryl and Jessica)
to an overnight expedition at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat. It made me
think of something from The Simpsons when Homer tries to make his own
backyard amusement park for kids. In other words, really sketchy.
We stopped in Canungra for lunch (at the Bean In Cafe) which was decent,
especially since it was kind of the last town before going into Lamingtton
National Park. We also stopped at the IGA a block away to pick up
some snacks and supplies, since we didn't really know what to expect.
We headed out of town and got to the road to O'Reilly's. The sign said
it was like 2 miles away and accurately reported it would take around
40 minutes to get there. Bradley drove and I'm glad he was. It was a
steep, twisty, windy road, with lots of blind switchbacks. Nominally
it was 2 lanes (one in each direction) but pretty tight. There were
times when it was only 1 lane for both directions. We had a close-call
on the way down the next day, where as we approach a blind turn, a pickup-
truck or SUV comes around the bend fast, straddling "both" lanes. Bradley
hit the brakes and swerved as the truck did the same, with both of us
swerving away from each other. Ooof!
We got to the top and to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat.
The place is really nice with lots of trails and vistas and more.
We only had the late afternoon and morning to explore a little. Also,
the places where we stayed were amazing. It could have easily accommodated
twice the number of people (we all had our own bedrooms). The porch deck
was great for breakfast and the views were amazing. Also, the exchange
rate of USD to AUD was pretty favorable.
We went on the Booyong Walk and Treetop Walk
that day, and went to the Morans Falls Lookout
the next day after a breakfast
of some stuff we brought from the IGA, joined by some of our parrot-friends.
I took some pictures of a pretty spectacular
sunset behind the mountains.
We had dinner at the restaurant. While there was a Prix fixe menu,
none of us felt like having that much. Two of us got single entrees,
and two shared a platter (that was enough for more than two). It was
all quite good.
That night back at the suite where Bradley and I stayed, we
started a fire in the wood burning stove (the wood had already been
arranged to make starting a fire easy). It got dark. I wanted to
take some pictures of the stars since there was so little light pollution
in the area but I discovered there was a high haze in the sky, so there
were no stars to see, no pictures to take. Still, the sunset was amazing.
We all called it a night relatively early.
After breakfast and the morning hike, we had more twisty, turny roads
to get back to bigger roads, we were back in Brisbane within a couple
hours. It was quite an amazing retreat.
Sunday October 13 - Monday October 14, 2024
2024 Australia Pictures
Part 1: Sydney (75 pictures)
Part 2: Toronga Zoo (96 pictures)
Part 3: Manly Beach (36 pictures)
Part 4: Featherdale Wildlife Park
(48 pictures)
Part 5: Blue Mountains (78 pictures)
Part 6: O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat
(76 pictures)
Part 7: Brisbane (34 pictures)
Part 8: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
(59 pictures)
Displaying all 76 pictures
001a-DSC_9402.jpg
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The Booyong Walk at ground level is the first
part of the hike.
002-Booyong_Tree_Pan...
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The Booyong Trees are freaky
with their ribbon-like roots. Also note the vines...(more)
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The vines growing around a tree have taken over
becoming the outside of it.
006-Booyong_Tree_Pan...
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Twisty Strangler Fig vines strangling other
vines in bright sunlight.
008-DSC_9411.jpg
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A Strangler vine going all H.R. Giger Tree/Face Hugger.
B&W felt appropriate.
009-DSC_9412.jpg
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The Treetop walk starting to go a bit higher up.
Max 6 people per span.
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Jessica behind Bradley on the higher parts of the
Treetop Walk.
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The suspension bridge boardwalk, 16 meters up, and has
a viewing deck 30m high.
014-strangler-fig_Pa...
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Panoramic shot of a Strangler Figs strangling
a tree.
015-DSC_9425.jpg
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A pretty flower at O'Reilly's. I don't know what it is.
016-DSC_9430.jpg
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Strangler Fig vines sure do move fast, making friends with
Frank.
017-DSC_9433.jpg
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It looks like some ancient mechanical droid in a
post-apocalyptic movie (and...(more)
018-DSC_9434.jpg
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I was told that this is a wattle (maybe a
corkwood wattle or irish wattle).
019-DSC_9436.jpg
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The mountains in the distance looked like they were a
backdrop.
020-DSC_9439.jpg
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Hazy hills of Lamington National Park (and shitty lens
sensor artifacts).
021-DSC_9440.jpg
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Bradley spotted parrots (crimson rosella) by the
benches in the common area.
023-DSC_9445.jpg
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Daryl takes a picture of a new friend (crimson rosella parrot).
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An Australian king parrot taking flight off of a branch.
Sunset in the Rainforest
The sunset from the deck was quite beautiful. An orange sky, some
silhouetting of the forest in the foreground, a few groupings of trees,
and all the different layers. The solitary point peak in some of the
pictures might be Mount Lindesay that's right on the border of
Queensland and New South Wales (NSW). Or it could be Mount Doom or
Mount Thunder.
026-DSC_9449.jpg
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The shadows from the setting sun on the mountains looks cool.
027-DSC_9451.jpg
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Mt. Doom in the background (I think it's Mount Lindesay).
030-DSC_9456.jpg
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A longer shot with around 7 different layers and a brighter
glow.
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Trees and some sunset colors, with the peak of
Mount Lindesay in the center.
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At dusk, from our porch, I saw a wallaby, just wallabying around.
034-DSC_9467.jpg
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Yeah, they are pretty cute. This is what I imagine
Australia is like.
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Bradley enjoyng the fire in the wood burning stove at O'Reilly's.
Morning Wallaby, Breakfast, and Parrots
The next morning we got up. There were wallabies wandering around
the open grassy common areas by the edge of the woods. There were
also red birds around there hanging out, specifically Australian
king parrots (yes, I looked it up and found this site to be a
good guide on
Australian parrots). The birds were happy to hang out on or on
top of people. They were also curious about what was inside, but we
kept the door closed when we saw them looking in that direction curiously.
There was also a crimson rosella that slipped into another picture and
it looks like I just edited it in but I didn't.
We had more than enough food for breakfast from the IGA, so we had fruit
and other things. It turns out the birds like fruit or maybe any food too.
I did not feed them, but they did get fed. Clearly, this was kind of a
routine for them.
038-DSC_9475.jpg
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Another quintessential Australian moment: a Wallaby
lookout.
039-DSC_9476.jpg
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A wing-ed friend brings Bradley a message of the news of the day.
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Next door, I saw Daryl and Jessica on their deck, the center
of bird-activity.
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Daryl, in the morning, before she's had time to get the
birds out of her head.
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Notice how it's holding whatever it's eating (a banana?)
in its claw.
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Jessica going with the flow. The parrot enjoying the perch.
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The parrots seemed used to finding food on the porch table.
049-DSC_9491.jpg
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We had a happy breakfast. The bananas were slightly different
than US ones.
052-DSC_9494.jpg
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"Awwk! There's a human under my perch, isn't there?
Raaawk!"
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This was where we stayed (there were 3 suites, we had
2 of them).
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I didn't notice the crimson rosella parrot
when I took the picture.
Morans Falls Lookout Hike
After breakfast, we walked on a trail to Moran Falls in Lamington
National Park. Aside: The O'Reilly family settled in this area to
farm in 1912. In 1915, Lamington National Park was established
around their land. They started the retreat in 1926. So they are
surrounded by national park.
Anyway, we went through the rainforest,
seeing various twisty trees, and assorted animals including a black
skink (technically called a "land mullet", probably because
of it's fish-like head. Really, it looks like a snake with arms
and legs. The view of the falls was great. It probably took us 20-25
minutes to get to the overlook and we probably spent 15 minutes there.
We had someone who was walking by take a group picture of us. We
turned back, got back to the suites and were out just at 11am, the
checkout time, as cleaning people arrived to clean.
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This plant is slowly flipping off all animals
(it's a rude-odendron).
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More rainforest trails.
Looks like a movie set.
068-DSC_9516.jpg
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I'm assuming this is some kind of slipknot tree,
unless it's a half-hitch...
069-DSC_9517.jpg
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A more advanced phase of strangulation.
Not sure what the fallen branch is from.
072-Lamington_Panora...
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The Lamington National Park rainforest
near Moran's Falls.
073-DSC_9533.jpg
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This might be Mount Lindesay, which is bisected by the
Queensland/NSW border.
074-DSC_9534.jpg
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My picture of Bradley taking a picture
of Daryl taking a picture of the sign.
075-DSC_9535.jpg
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Bradley, Jessica, Frank, and Daryl with
Morans Falls in the background.
077-DSC_9539.jpg
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The Stinging Nettle (or Stinging Tree)
wants to fuck you up (species...(more)
078-DSC_9540.jpg
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The tree has stingers on the top and
bottom of leaves and on the branches.
2024 Australia Pictures
Part 1: Sydney (75 pictures)
Part 2: Toronga Zoo (96 pictures)
Part 3: Manly Beach (36 pictures)
Part 4: Featherdale Wildlife Park
(48 pictures)
Part 5: Blue Mountains (78 pictures)
Part 6: O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat
(76 pictures)
Part 7: Brisbane (34 pictures)
Part 8: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
(59 pictures)
This page last modified Jan 25, 2025.
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