Ballina, Lamington NP and SEQ 2017

This trip has been organised on a rather short notice by our friends from the capable team at Inala Nature tours when we got an opportunity for a break over Easter. Hanna and I had not been to these areas before and decided to go in order to see some new birds as well as having a relaxed break in an interesting area we had never visited before. We have come back totally relaxed having seen some great birds, fantastic landscape and also some extraordinary mammals like the Southern Greater Glider.

Ballina, our starting point, is a relaxed little town and not as crowded as Byron Bay. From here we drove up to O'Reilly's Retreat in the Lamington National Park. The access road to that place was still closed when we arrived to due to a number of landslides following the recent torrential rainfall that had damaged the road up the mountain. We had to join a convoy to reach the retreat. The positive consequence was that the camp-ground was closed and no day-time tourists had access. We reckon that over Easter O'Reilly's would have been significantly more crowded than it was this year. Birding was not easy, because autumn is in general not the best time for birding, but we managed to see all our target species. Highlights were Albert's Lyrebird, Paradise Rifle-bird and a few Russet-Tailed Thrushes.

After leaving Lamington NP we lined up with Matt Wright from Faunagraphic, who showed us some exciting creatures of the night - a great experience.

Enjoy some of of my photos here!

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