We arrived Tuesday morning in Sydney, on a sunny morning about 6:20. Five large airplanes from over seas arrived within minutes of each other. Getting suitcases, and then waiting in the customs line took quite a bit of time, and Betty was waiting for us when we finished. We were happy to be "home" in Carlton, and relax for a breakfast with Betty. The day passed with lots of conversation and no need to take a nap! We slept well... Barre went to the Botanic Garden on Wednesday, and Betty and I spent time at home, working on the quilts the Rainbow Conection ladies have in progress.
Saturday morning we flew to Brisbane to visit with Gail and Paddy, who now live near this large city in Queensland. (Barre lived with them when he was in Sydney for 6 months.) They live in a suberb of the city and today, Sunday, we took a boat ride to the city on the Brisbane River. With a stop along the way to visit a park, and tour the gardens, it was a leisurely trip up the river to the city. We did a lot of walking, and saw what was once the City Hall. It is now surrounded by many extremely tall buildings, which have apartments. Lunch and a visit to another large garden to explore the flowers, shrubs, and trees was also interesting. The most unexpected view in the garden was watching some lizards that look very much like iquanas. They are called "water dragons" here.
The second day of our visit to Brisbane, Gail and Paddy took us for a ride west to the City of Toowoomba. Barre has been through here a number of times with Surrey on their way north. Barre also was here for 5 days giving a waterlily presentation. We visited the Japanese Garden in the city. The weather cooperated, clearing inland.
The last day we headed southwest to Lamington N.P. We drove up to the high elevation subtropical rainforest throught the large rainforest trees. At the end of the road was O'Reilly's. This is a private ecotourism area on the top of the mountain. We walked through the botanical garden and along the tree-top walk.
There was an area to feed the wild birds. These were priamily Crimsom Rosellas (above), King Parotts, and Scrub Turkeys.
On thw way north we went up onto Tamborine Mt., a beautiful high elevation area with many beautiful homes. The view above was from the launch site for hang-gliders. The weather was beautiful for most of the day with only exception a cloudy period with light showers at the higher elevation of Lamington N.P. Thursday we headed to the airport with Marion going back to Sydney and Barre to Cairns. There he was met by Andre Leu and then to Daintree. Tomorrow Barre and Andre head west on the Waterlily collecting trip.
