This weekend is my mum’s birthday weekend, so while some of you are reading hard with the Dewey’s Read-a-thon, we’re taking a bit of a road trip to one of my favourite places in the south east corner, and in northern NSW.

We hit O’Reilly’s which is a tourist spot at the top of a mountain in Lamington National Park. It has cabins to stay in and loads of great walking tracks, but is particularly known for its amazing bird population. There are stacks of rosellas, in particular, that have no fear of humans and will even harass you while you’re in the cafeteria if you aren’t careful.

You can also get a tray of seed and feed the birds. Do be aware, they have no manners at all. Just as well they’re so damned cute.

There was also a birds of prey demonstration which was wonderful. 

Bill was a very impressive specimen, but we didn’t get to see him fly as a wild wedgetail appeared in the sky. This photo is a good one to give you an idea of size though. I know my US friends are proud of their Bald Eagle, but this guy is bigger. And the females are bigger still.

We were given the opportunity to have a couple of the birds on our hands. This is Des the wedge tail (younger and smaller than Bill) and he was amazing up close. Mum also took the opportunity to get up close and personal with Des, and with one of the barn owls, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this non-bookish instalment! We will return to our regularly scheduled programming soon.