On our way down the road from Binna Burra we kept our eyes open for more Koalas. Once again Christine spotted one in roughly the same area as the one we had seen the previous day, so perhaps the same individual.
We stopped at Hinze Dam, a massive structure in Advancetown that was completed in 2008 to provide a water supply to Gold Coast. The reservoir is huge (1500 hectares) but on our brief visit the water body had little bird life, and its margins and shallower waters retained the trunks of the huge number of rainforest trees that had been killed when the forest was inundated.
We drove up the road to Springbrook village, and beyond it located our next residence, Springbrook Lyrebird Rainforest Retreat. There we had booked three nights. As we approached the high-altitude Rainforest Retreat we saw several small wallabies by the roadside, and as we turned into the narrow drive to the Retreat’s office we saw many more. These were the first kangaroo-type marsupials we had seen and go by the name “Red-necked Pademelon”; they proved to be common inhabitants of the high elevation forest, seen especially in the mornings and evenings.
The Retreat manager directed us to our accommodation that was accessed by a narrow track through the forest. Our timber chalet, named “Rosella”, was one of four rustic but luxury rooms, isolated deep in the forest. The chalet had lounge with a wood-burner, kitchen with a small dining area, bathroom with a large hydrotherapy bath, washing machine and tumble dryer, a double bedroom and a wooden patio with table and chairs that provided intimate contact with the sights, sounds and smells of the rainforest. For us it was heaven, albeit with the frustration of hearing so many birds that we could not see! And this included our “mystery bird”, but its identity was soon to be revealed!
From this “home” we were in easy reach of a wealth of rainforest tracks, and also had easy access to Springbrook village, where we could buy food and drinks, along with light meals and coffee. These we could consume on a balcony overlooking gardens that provided birdwatching opportunities in comfort. This was accompanied by another benefit that was new to us during our rainforest adventure – five days of sunshine! The ambience of Lyrebird Rainforest Retreat and in Springbrook National Park was such that we booked an additional two nights!
Most of the walking trails included waterfalls. The forested mountain tops on their eastern side fell away down sheer cliffs, providing extensive views over the equally forested lower ground below and, less attractively, to the high-rise edifices of Gold Coast about 25 km away. Streams, some large some small, tumbled over the rim in spectacular visual and auditory displays, carving out channels in the rock on their way.
The forest was alive with bird songs and calls, some of which we were by now able to identify but many remained unknown to us. On our second morning in Lyrebird, however, we heard our “mystery bird” singing loudly close to our chalet veranda during our breakfast. Despite its proximity to us it remained hidden for a long time in the dense foliage. Eventually, however, we caught a glimpse of bright yellow plumage. Subsequent movement revealed a black crown and chest band bordering a white chin: our “mystery bird” was a magnificent Golden Whistler! Clearly very abundant and widely distributed in the rainforest, this magnificent songster has an amazing capacity to remain hidden in its leafy habitat!
While we saw, and were able to identify, a large number of bird species in the rainforest and its approaches, our excitement was not restricted to birds. Somewhat remarkably, despite our extensive wanderings, we did not see a single snake! Our encounters with reptiles were limited to the world’s largest skink, the half-metre long Land Mullet (no, they do not have a strange haircuts!), and Eastern Water Dragons, which are agamid lizards, also up to half a metre long. During the day, our veranda was regularly visited by a totally fearless Australian Brush Turkey and a more wary Pied Currawong, both presumably accustomed to being offered titbits by visiting tourists. This was probably and the motivation for nocturnal visits by Brushtail Possums. One night we had four on the veranda, a large presumed male, and two smaller presumed females, one of which had a small joey clinging to its back.
In addition to these animals, evening sounds heard from our veranda included deafeningly loud choruses of cicadas, while at the café in Springbrook Green Treefrog calls shattered the evening peace.
The high Springbrook Plateau, its forest, its wildlife, and its magnificent scenery brought to a conclusion an amazing month. From beginnings on Norfolk Island, and living for 10 days with our student friend Simon Gorta on otherwise uninhabited (by humans) Phillip Island, we had experienced many aspects of Pacific Island and Australian wilderness. And we boarded our flights for return to a UK winder infinitely fitter, physically and mentally, than when we arrived on Australian soil a month earlier!
Wild Bird Conservation 