Sunday morning and the day dawned glorious and sunny so it called for a road trip which I had checked out during the week. Wivenhoe Lake and Marburg House. We started at the Wivenhoe Lookout with views so typical of Australia - miles of beautiful country stretching out impossibly wide in front of us. In that Lookout the spot of the day by birdwatcher extraordinaire (mm) of a spotted pardalote. Not a great photo but absolutely beautiful little creature singing majestically in this haven of bell bird song making its own voice heard. Found a photo so you can admire the colours of this male who was looking for his mate.
The lake borders the Wivenhoe Dam where we saw two types of figbirds, pelicans, butcher birds, magpie larks, bablers (which are uncommon) and a whistling kite.
Onto Marburg House a beautiful Heritage house built on top of a hill in the 1890s by the Smith family who had a timber milling business and were also involved in the sugar trade in Queensland. They built this grand house on top of the hill which was home to them and their 11 children. The house is surrounded by magnificent woodlands and gardens with mature Mango and Bunya pines, with warnings about falling cones. The cafe and restaurant which sadly were closed, are where Ben Ungermann of Masterchef fame is in charge.
The road through the D'Aguilar National Park was a beautiful route of rainforest and dry eucalyptus and they gave way to rolling hillsides and homesteads of farms with horses and cattle in the paddocks. Back just as the shortest day was ending in this strange year.
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