(photos: the "Vince" suite, RRZ with a Crimson Rosella)23 Sept Sun
We packed up and checked out of the hotel and drove to the north side of Alice where there is a large park with trails and also an historical exhibit of the buildings of the telegraph enterprise that strung one strand of wire using 36000 poles from Adelaide to Darwin and then undersea to Singapore connecting Australia with the rest of the world back in 1870s. The park is great and deserves a lot more time than we had available, and the historic stone buildings would be interesting to explore also.
But we had a plane to catch, so we headed to the airport south of town, turned in our car, cruised through security with shoes on and water bottles un-confiscated. We ordered breakfast with cappuccinos and watched parrots cavorting outside until it was time to board our Qantas jet to Brisbane. We hated leaving Alice and hope to return someday.
The red sand gradually turned to green agricultural fields and after two and a half hours we circled around the beautiful coastline of Queensland and landed in cool 65 degree Brisbane. Amazing to be cool after more than two weeks in the 90s!
We picked up our rental car, Ford sedan this time, and Bob drove south through Brisbane, with Hil navigating, about 100 km before we started driving up and up on a very winding and narrow road into Lamington National Park. We were heading to O’
Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, a famous birding destination. It’s also a favorite weekend escape for Brisbaners and, being Sunday, they all were heading back home as we were going up which made for a lot of stopping and careful maneuvering, as much of the road is one-lane. We finally got to O’Reilly’s at five in the middle of a gala wedding reception and made our way to the reception desk.
I had reserved a two-bedroom accommodation last March and had been told recently that renovations were behind schedule and they would upgrade us to a nicer room. Well, we lucked out and got the “Vince” suite, named for Vince O’Reilly, patriarch of the clan during the 80s and father of ten (most of whom seem to run various jobs around the hotel). The “Vince” is a beautiful house with two large bedrooms, one with a view spa bath, living room, wet bar, and a large porch for viewing the tame birds and Red-necked Pademelons (very small kangaroos) who live in the meadow below. We settled in and headed for the bar, drinks and small dinner before hitting our king-sized four-poster beds.
We packed up and checked out of the hotel and drove to the north side of Alice where there is a large park with trails and also an historical exhibit of the buildings of the telegraph enterprise that strung one strand of wire using 36000 poles from Adelaide to Darwin and then undersea to Singapore connecting Australia with the rest of the world back in 1870s. The park is great and deserves a lot more time than we had available, and the historic stone buildings would be interesting to explore also.
But we had a plane to catch, so we headed to the airport south of town, turned in our car, cruised through security with shoes on and water bottles un-confiscated. We ordered breakfast with cappuccinos and watched parrots cavorting outside until it was time to board our Qantas jet to Brisbane. We hated leaving Alice and hope to return someday.
The red sand gradually turned to green agricultural fields and after two and a half hours we circled around the beautiful coastline of Queensland and landed in cool 65 degree Brisbane. Amazing to be cool after more than two weeks in the 90s!
We picked up our rental car, Ford sedan this time, and Bob drove south through Brisbane, with Hil navigating, about 100 km before we started driving up and up on a very winding and narrow road into Lamington National Park. We were heading to O’
Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, a famous birding destination. It’s also a favorite weekend escape for Brisbaners and, being Sunday, they all were heading back home as we were going up which made for a lot of stopping and careful maneuvering, as much of the road is one-lane. We finally got to O’Reilly’s at five in the middle of a gala wedding reception and made our way to the reception desk.
I had reserved a two-bedroom accommodation last March and had been told recently that renovations were behind schedule and they would upgrade us to a nicer room. Well, we lucked out and got the “Vince” suite, named for Vince O’Reilly, patriarch of the clan during the 80s and father of ten (most of whom seem to run various jobs around the hotel). The “Vince” is a beautiful house with two large bedrooms, one with a view spa bath, living room, wet bar, and a large porch for viewing the tame birds and Red-necked Pademelons (very small kangaroos) who live in the meadow below. We settled in and headed for the bar, drinks and small dinner before hitting our king-sized four-poster beds.
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